bmr12

Hi,

I've read numerous threads debating similar seating questions, so I thought I'd pose mine here, too. My family (2 adults, one child) is traveling to Hawaii on 757s in about eight weeks. I currently have confirmed seats in "regular" economy as a 1/2 row (ABC or DEF).

As a premier member, according to premier reservations, I can "bring" one additional person into E+ in advance, and then take my chances at check-in with the the other. My question is, do I:
(a) leave well enough alone, or
(b) do I book my child in an E+ window, myself the E+ aisle in the same row, and an aisle for my spouse further back in the plane?

My thinking is that whoever ends up with the E+ middle (if not my spouse at check-in) will gladly trade for an aisle in the back to avoid being between me and my 2.5 year-old toddler for several hours. Or, if they really wanted the E+ seats, we can at worst trade with whomever is sharing the aisle in "regular" economy with my spouse and get what we have now.

My wife thinks I spend too much time thinking about such things, but I know I can count on others here on FT to give me their advice.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Right now, there's gobs of empty seats in E+ according to United Connection (disk version).

seanthepilot

You got it. You should try for the empty seat between you. If the plane is not sold out (correct me if I'm wrong) they will not assign the middle of the Premier Seating.

Otherwise the isle should be switchable.

Boy, I've noticed the exit rows are sure popular because the extra leg room.

After check-in keep trying different agents. A polite inquiry at the United First counter to keep the familly together should only be welcomed, or the gate agent or a different gate agent, or a different gate agent.

Last but not least, pick up the payphone, call Premier line ( often forgotten resource from within the airport). They can change seat assignment even if you've got boarding passes. Then tarde in at counter.

Oh yes, there's always the Steward/ess too.

Lotz of luck

Warrenlm

Not in my experience. Once I've checked in, the airport controls those flights.

JS

<< P.S. Right now, there's gobs of empty seats in E+ according to United Connection (disk version). >>

I would hope so, for a flight two months from now!

Check the same flight for tomorrow. Do that every day, and you will get a good idea of the loads (may depend on day of week).

cordelli

Tell them that you and your wife will sit in the Premier section, and that the child will sit in the asile seat in the back of the plane by themselves. They then may put all of you together.

Remember, you can't have a child in an exit row, so don't try for that.

zipual

The empty seat between you would probably be filled as this is a flight to Hawaii and they are normally pretty full, especially with no more direct from ORD.

Tino

That flight will be packed - if it's not full of paid customers, they will fill it with non-revs. Assume it will be full and plan accordingly.

Will these all be on the same itinerary? It would be a shame if you ticketed little Suzy separately back in 33D and she got bumped on an oversold flight.

bmr12

Thanks for the replies so far.

To answer the questions raised: we are all on the same PNR, so the little one won't get bumped unless we all do, and I'm only a 2P now, so I couldn't reserve an exit row in advance anyway.

I know from past experience that every seat will be taken; that's why I'm wondering if I should gamble or stay with what I've already got.

acnev

You could also keep calling UA till you get a sympathetic agent who is willing to move your spouse into the middle seat.

The one thing that we've learned from this board is that if you don't like the answer you get, hang up and call back.

omaprex

Try your plan, no one will want to sit in the middle by a child if they can switch to a asle seat. omaprex

bmr12

I thought I'd follow up my own question with the results of my trip. It took two calls to UA to get what I wanted. The first split our PNR, putting my spouse on her own and then moving my toddler and I into E+. At that point, the CSR would only reserve window/middle for us, so a second call was required to have that changed to window/aisle.

Out of four legs, it worked fine on three of the legs. One two of these three, they ended up moving us to another window/middle/aisle combination in E+ at check-in (don't know if that was easier, or because someone else had our middle seat). We checked in early in both directions (2.5 hours before departure on the outbound, 7 hours before on the return).

The fourth leg was cancelled, and we all ended up in middles on the next flight, with some on-board negotiation with the neighbors of my toddler to convince them to take my middle instead.

As another aside, it was the first time I've flown to Hawaii and had empty seats on board (even empty exit row seats!) on the over-water segments.

My general conclusion is that this works reasonably well. I think it works well to Hawaii because my impression is that there is a lower elite density than many other flights (e.g., the DEN-ORD DEN-SFO flights I'm on frequently).

Thanks for all your help.