Silvers: Report your experience with E+ seating at T-24hrs here.
Apr 30, 2012, 11:31 pm
#76
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Western Pennsylvania
Programs: delta PM, united G, marriott titanium, hilton diamond, avis preferred, hertz pres circle
Posts: 66
Yesterday (Sunday). CLE-SFO and SFO-LAS. was able to get bulkhead seats - one on aisle and one at window at T-24. actually believe that 7C or 7D gives more leg room than first class on Airbus 319. also got two full cans of soda on the CLE-SFO flight. overall a great flight experience.
Apr 30, 2012, 11:57 pm
#77
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: South Wales, UK
Programs: UA 1k
Posts: 693
Recent flight to IAD, got the desired aisle seat on check in at T-24 on UA919 LHR-IAD. Returning on April 13th aboard UA922, very few E+ seats to choose from on a fully booked flight (about 10, which hardly changed from 2 weeks prior). Lucky enough to snag the last window seat 27A on check in, and with it a fantastic view of the shuttle flypast.
May 1, 2012, 1:45 pm
#79
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: HPN
Programs: not anymore! I'm FREE!
Posts: 3,459
So, the United system seems to be giving me the same problems as before. This time I'm trying to select E+ for a flight tomorrow from IAD to LHR.
There are currently plenty of E+ seats available, but after I select an E+ seat, although it disappears as available, my reservation still shows me as having my old (regular E) seat.
There are currently plenty of E+ seats available, but after I select an E+ seat, although it disappears as available, my reservation still shows me as having my old (regular E) seat.
Welcome to FT! ^
Recently booked LGA-DEN-SJC-IAH-LGA for a trip home 5/10-5/15 via Chase's travel services (since I have the Sapphire card and have a bunch of points to use for travel). The system allows you to pick E+ seats but has a disclaimer that they were only "for elites". I thought I'd try anyway to pick E+ seats (as I've done in the past) and once the reservation was confirmed, I checked on United's website - sure enough I had E+ seats!
They probably haven't reprogrammed seat booking algorithms yet for all the other booking services out there, so one might be able to do this with other websites as well.
They probably haven't reprogrammed seat booking algorithms yet for all the other booking services out there, so one might be able to do this with other websites as well.
May 1, 2012, 1:55 pm
#80
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: SEA
Programs: United: Gold, HHonors: Gold, Marriott: Gold, AA, US, AGR
Posts: 397
Does CO's SHARES do "sweeps" like pmUA/s computer system? For some reason, I was under the impression that it doesn't.
May 1, 2012, 2:19 pm
#81
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: OAK
Programs: UA-Plat AS-MVPG
Posts: 198
I just booked OAK-DEN-MSN/MSN-DEN-OAK through my company's on line travel agency and it put me in E+ again with no extra charge.
This didn't happen before Silver, I had E- seats when booking and had to pay up for E+. Now I am getting E+ at booking. Must be some agreement between the travel agency and United, that is the only thing I can figure.
This didn't happen before Silver, I had E- seats when booking and had to pay up for E+. Now I am getting E+ at booking. Must be some agreement between the travel agency and United, that is the only thing I can figure.
May 3, 2012, 12:33 pm
#82
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Between EWR & PHL
Programs: UA MileagePlus dirt (former hard-way Silver); AS Mileage Plan MVP; Hilton Honors Silver
Posts: 1,586
UA 1175 (EWR-PBI) for tomorrow (04 May 2012)
Managed to move both my companion & I from 24CD to 11CD (well, initially 11D & 12C, but I checked again after printing the BPs and 11C had opened up - I guess someone got CPUed.) Fair E+ availability at T-24, including the whole starboard side of rows 20 & 21.
Two interesting things:
I still don't like having to play the lottery, and I still dread prepping for my next transcon flight.
Managed to move both my companion & I from 24CD to 11CD (well, initially 11D & 12C, but I checked again after printing the BPs and 11C had opened up - I guess someone got CPUed.) Fair E+ availability at T-24, including the whole starboard side of rows 20 & 21.
Two interesting things:
- I was given the OPTION to split the PNR for the purposes of being added to the UG list. Since I'm traveling with my GF (and she's not a great flier), I want to be with her, so I opted not to split. (FWIW, there are still 2 open seats in F, so chances are I'd have been able to upgrade if I wanted.)
- I was NOT given the option of using the mobile boarding pass - which is odd, since this flight originates at EWR. Tried using the 'reprint' trick in the UA iPhone app, and no joy there either. Is there something about having multiple pax on the same PNR that disables that option? (And before anyone asks, I checked the BPs and there's no sign of the dreaded "SSSS".)
I still don't like having to play the lottery, and I still dread prepping for my next transcon flight.
May 3, 2012, 1:46 pm
#83
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Southern, CA, USA
Programs: UA just 8800 mi short of Silver
Posts: 2,815
Does booking an award ticket and choosing an E+ seat before the rules changed put me in the "doesnt deserve them" category?? (I guess I better check my res)
May 3, 2012, 1:53 pm
#84
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Jersey Shore/YYZ
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, Hertz PC
Posts: 12,521
May 3, 2012, 8:24 pm
#86
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
Sun 4/29/12 DFW-DEN flight was zero'd out for almost two weeks with E+ almost empty. The people around me were shocked they received E+ they had and no idea how it happened. Hopefully no Silvers were stuck with e- seats.
May 4, 2012, 9:45 am
#87
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Wyndham Diamond, IHG Diamond, Omni Platinum
Posts: 197
I bought my ticket without status several months ago. I recently requested a Silver status match, which was approved after much delay. The seating chart shows that there are E+ seats available and I can select them but after I click "Continue" it reverts back to my original seating status (well - not exactly. It has me in a different row than my gf despite attempts to correct it in recent days). I called United today and they say that all seats are frozen and can't be changed and to try again later. She said the web support guys couldn't even move us to any of the other economy seats.
This just adds to the negative experience that I've had in recent months selecting seats / getting my status match request approved, so I don't think I'll complete the challenge and instead go for Delta Gold this year. Their loss...
This just adds to the negative experience that I've had in recent months selecting seats / getting my status match request approved, so I don't think I'll complete the challenge and instead go for Delta Gold this year. Their loss...
May 4, 2012, 12:45 pm
#88
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: SFO California
Programs: UA *Gold (1 MM)
Posts: 431
SFO-EWR on a Saturday
Several E+ seats (middle & aisle) were available prior to T-24, for a fee, of course. Right at T-24, 8-10 E+ seats opened - seats I consider to be "choice", i.e. aisles and extra legroom aisle and middle seats (I'm not a windowphile). These choice seats disappeared within 5 minutes during what I imagine was OLCI scrum. There are still some window & middle E+ seats available.
This flight is hub-hub transcontinental, so the competition is tough. Lesson for me is to be compulsive about OLCI right at T-24 on these elite-heavy flights.
This flight is hub-hub transcontinental, so the competition is tough. Lesson for me is to be compulsive about OLCI right at T-24 on these elite-heavy flights.
Last edited by Flexible Flyer; May 4, 2012 at 12:46 pm Reason: typo
May 13, 2012, 9:52 pm
#89
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posts: 1,277
I just booked a flight on Expedia because united.com showed the fare unavailable. I put in my MP# in Expedia and was automatically given E+ aisle seats (I had my seat preference in Expedia as aisle seat.) The flight is ticketed, and shows up in my UA reservations with E+ seats. If I try to pick a different seat, it wants to charge me.
May 13, 2012, 10:39 pm
#90
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: SEA
Programs: DL Gold
Posts: 1,510
Just noticed this thread. Since 3/3 I've had 100% success getting exit rows at T-24 on all my flights (LAS-IAH, LAS-SFO, LAS-DEN, IAH-HSV, LAS-LAX, LAX-COS, and returns on the above). I've also noticed that on checkin at T-24 for the first part of my itin, I can seat select for the return legs as well. 
A little more stress having to wait until T-24, but getting exit rows without 1P is nice.
A little more stress having to wait until T-24, but getting exit rows without 1P is nice.