<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pinniped:
Only redeeming factor is that a few of their aircraft have Economy Plus (available to Premiers in theory), but they've ripped that out of most configurations.</font>
Actually, UA hasn't taken E+ out of any planes that had it. AA on the other hand will be getting rid of MRTC on 757s and A300s.
UA does lack E+ on ex-United Shuttle 737s and on 767-200s (which are rare these days). And of course no E+ on United Express (although Air Wisconsin's RJs aren't bad).
And E+ is a bit more legroom than even MRTC, and is available for pre-booking to premiers and to pax on full fare.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Premiers are left to scrap for exit rows, because they aren't going to sniff first class except on "undesirable" routes (e.g., a 550-mile flight like MCI-DEN).</font>
If a UA premier avoids prime business flights (7-9am, 5-7pm or so) and avoids small planes like 737s and Airbus aircraft, they can do pretty well for upgrades. Same theory as AA that since domestic upgrades aren't 'unlimited' there's less competition for them. And since UA flies the most widebodies domestically there are planes where upgrades tend to be gimmes ... eg 747s flyings ORD-LAX/SFO and IAD-LAX (and 777s for that matter).
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View from the Wing: A blog about Free Miles and Free Markets