smassey22180

I am Silver and used points (25k each) to book 3 one way tickets for my wife, kids and dog to fly SMF-IAH-JAX. 6 weeks out the SMF planes are 95% full. I can only get 2 seats together in the last rows. Is there anything that I can do other than spending $300 for E+ which is currently 95% empty. They are all small so E+ is a waste for them.

This would not be an issue if Silvers were allowed to take E+ more than 24 hours before takeoff. It is too bad they don't worry about the downstream affect of all of these new changes.

thanks

noah

Other than religiously monitoring the seatmap, no. Welcome to summer flying + UA strategy. They want you to spend that money for the E+seat. Somebody will to seat their family together and they'll get more revenue.

Tchiowa

"United Strategy"??? So United is somehow colluding with passengers to buy a lot of weekend tickets during the summer just to they can deprive families of the ability to sit together? Really?

Problem is that for popular destinations, particularly in the high travel times and particularly on weekends, flights fill up weeks and sometimes months in advance. OP waited too long to book.

As above lesson learned for you is that you need to book way ahead for weekend summer travel. (Or whatever high travel season is in the destination of your choice). I've already booked my travel up to and including January 2016. I get the seats I want.

As far as Silver getting special benefits: Sorry, but Silver is the bottom of the rung. A lot of people get Silver just for being alive (and owning the right CC or being lower level elite in a hotel program like Marriott Rewards). I suspect (no proof, just my gut) that there are more Silvers who got their Silver from other sources than Silvers who got there by flying. Good chance that of those 95% of seats already taken, there are enough Silvers (and Golds) that if Silvers could take E+ ahead of time those would already have been snatched up.

PsiFighter37

Why didn't you choose your seats when you booked the tickets? I never, ever complete a reservation booking without selecting seats.

I do feel sympathy for your plight, but if you snooze, you lose...especially during peak travel season.

smassey22180

I did select seats at booking. Sorry that was not clear. I get my Silver status flying around 45k miles per year with a $10k+ spend. The quantity of people who get Silver from other sources will be the number 1 reason I give up on this silly old school loyalty of flying only one airline .

RandomBaritone

I hope we can all agree that's a good thing. UA is a for-profit company.

Revenue is good.

smassey22180

SMF flights are not popular. The market is under served by United when compared to other similar cities.

mahasamatman

Underserved = limited capacity, so it's not surprising the seat map would be on the full side.

lost*in*cyberspace

All you can do is keep checking to see if other seats open up.

freeflyin

If you choose not to spend the $ for E+, try to at least get aisle seats near each other if possible. If they end up having to swap onboard, at least you have something to offer other than middles.

noah

To clarify -- summer flying is results in full flights. The United Strategy I referred to was in response to the OP's comment that UA should, "worry about the downstream affect of all of these new changes." My point is that the UA strategy now is to maximize the revenue from ancillary services like E+, which is why they changed the silver benefit so E+ was no longer available more than 24 hours in advance. They absolutely did worry about said downstream affect, and it seems to be working.

Doc Savage

Many airlines do the same thing and have the same problems.

Grab an aisle seat for the third person for now to make it easier to trade, and check in right at T-24 to get your best chance at 3 together.

aacharya

The OP should waitlist for Saver F. Or book alternate flights for Saver Y with open seats.

dsgtc0408

OP: may we have exact information on how many kids you have? Also, need clarification if your flights are mainline (either Airbus or Boeing) or if these are United Express flights (on commuter aircraft). The strategy might be different given the different aircraft seat maps.

Other thoughts - not sure if it's too late for you to do these things.

1) What sorts of seating arrangements are you willing to accept?
If you're sitting in a 737/A319-320, economy seats are arranged 3 by 3; if in UX aircraft it's either 1 by 2 or 2 by 2. So how will you group yourselves with your kids? Note too that some flexibility (ie you and your wife sitting far apart) at least officially at boarding is better than nothing. (See point 2 next).

2) Be prepared to negotiate seat swaps with your neighbors once boarded.
You and your wife need to be booked in aisle seats (suggested by another poster), also as far forward as you can within E-. Doesn't matter if you're in different rows, many fliers find aisle seats preferable to window. If you've got an aisle but can swap with someone in a middle seat so you can sit with your kids, someone will always be willing to swap with you, but if you're in a window/middle seat, good luck swapping with someone in an aisle seat. If you're separated, but your family has got all three seats across, you can probably get a row of three seated closer to your spouse to swap your three seats with theirs.

3) Further point 2, if you are indeed stuck in a window or middle seat (so lousy bargaining position), willingness to offer drink chits or purchase a BOB meal might change said person's attitude.

Finally, hope for the chance that there are at least a few elites on board who through CPU may get moved into the E+ seats at the gate.

MSPeconomist

Most importantly, don't demand that people switch with you and don't insist that your family keep the better seats as a result of the trade.