Booked in F, equipment swap to a plane without F
 

I used miles to book a 777-200 in F from SFO to AKL in December. Today I checked and our flight is now scheduled to be operated by a 789 I'm guessing as part of the refit of the new Polaris seats.

I have a couple of questions about this. I was a few thousand miles short of affording the F seats so I bought some United miles to book a seat class that is no longer offered on the route. Any opinions on how successful I would be in asking for a refund for the point purchase? While I would still have the points from the class difference refund I wouldn't have bought them if the F seats hadn't been available.

Anyone thing there is a decent chance there would be another plane swap back to a 772 with F?

Lastly would I be out of line in asking for additional compensation since I could have configured the trip differently to take advantage of options that are, in my opinion, better than United's J?

Thanks all!

don't expect an equipment swap back to the 3-class 777. They will certainly refund the difference in miles between O and I. Probably a hard sell to get them to refund the miles purchase, but if you push them on it you can probably get an ETC which may cover the purchase price of the miles.
The 789 J seat is fine IMO, small difference to the 777 F seat.

I suspect you'll be disappointed even further if you're anticipating retrofitted Polaris seats on a 789. It will be the current 2-2-2 sCO J seat.

Yep, those hideous CO seats.

Thanks for that information. I agree the seat is fine but I'm taller than average with broad shoulders and large feet so I prefer the added space and not having to try and snag a 789 bulkhead for reasonably sized (for me) footwells

No definitely not expecting new seats on it. I've done the 789 J and current 772 J seats so its at least better than the 3 class 772 J but thats a pretty low bar

Beyond unlikely that UA refunds the purchase price for the miles. When you file for your refund, you might point out the added inconvenience and UA might throw some smallish customer service gesture your way.

While I would not expect the 3-class to return, I would also hold off on seeking a refund of the miles until after you return. Unlikely doesn't mean impossible.

IPTE 772 isn't coming back on that route.

The 787 is a great plane, but while I find the sCO J seat mostly fine on the 777, on the 787 it's dimensions are smaller b/c of the fuselage. I find the window seats almost claustrophobic since you face inwards towards the windows. It's definitely a far cry from an IPTE F Suite, IMO. I even prefer the 2-2-2 C seat on the 767-300ER 3-class (which is even narrower), because it doesn't feel as clauatraphobic (and of course is longer in length).

So in sum, try and get a center seat, or better yet, center bulkhead.

When these schedule changes happen, I have heard that United proactively contacts customers within a week of the change. Maybe you can wait for that to happen?

The equipment change happened months ago... OP just happened to now notice it.

And I once saw a unicorn...

Ha! Good one!

Thanks guys! Normally I like windows but I always try for the center bulkhead seats on United's 789

I don't know if I've ever gotten an email from United about a plane swap although I certainly don't fly them as much as many on here.

It would be nice to at least say "Hey your booked class no longer exists so you have no seats assigned". At least I was lucky and 1D/E were available despite an almost half full J.

United Customer Service will contact you about a few months prior to the flight. This happened to me when a 3-cabin 767 was swapped with a retrofitted 2-cabin 767. In addition to promising the refund of the difference in miles, they also offered an additional 10K miles as customer service gesture.

Don't think I've seen an email for a plane swap, but in this case your booking code/class of service changed which should have triggered one. I also made two SFO-AKL bookings in O when UA was strangely opening every day at the EOS.

One of those two bookings I got an email about "Reservation Change Notification" and then a few minutes later an email that said "We are trying to reach you with an important message regarding your upcoming United flight(s).
Please call us at 800-451-2461 regarding confirmation number XXXXX".

But they never tried to call me. And never got an email/call regarding my other res.

I also got bounced from SFO-AKL 772 F to 789 J. Wasn't super pleased but there's ultimately no recourse beyond asking UA for the mileage difference back.