Originally Posted by
SFflyer123
The key is buy early. If you buy late, the seats are blocked.
Before I buy tickets with my family, I look at the seatmap. If the seat map shows that it's not possible to sit together, I don't buy tickets on that flight. I want to buy tickets and assign seats immediately.
Next time, don't buy unless you see seats together. Saves you a lot of headache and stress.
This is true. Even the experienced traveler will often switch flights to get better seats; if you've got a situation like the OP, where seating is important and UA isn't providing the options you need on that flight, you should book elsewhere or on a different UA flight that does give such options. If the OP booked UA because it was the cheapest, without thought to other important considerations... well, lesson learned for the next trip.