Originally Posted by
mduell
Ambushing someone in a seat you want onboard is a lousy way to go about it.
Agreed - if pasengers approach it as an ambush, often trying to trade a middel for an aisle. My response... "uh, NO but let me help you figure out how to help you". I then proceed to help them secure a like/like trade, such as keeping their middle and trading their aisle for the aisle seat next to their middle. Duh. It's all in how you ask.
Originally Posted by
LilAbner
If all else fails the OP wouldn't have much of another option, but relying on others on the plane to move during boarding is something that CANNOT be relied upon and suggesting that it would be easy is cavalier advice.
True, but as indicated - if done with the right approach you generally have a pretty good chance. Most people are reasonable, and it works even better if you offer to buy them a drink or a snack box, even though many may decline on your first offer, but if you insist later on they'll probably accept. And that approach is much cheaper than reserving E+, although it takes a lot of effort in a very short period of time that is otherwise very crazy on the plane.
Originally Posted by
phkc070408
Keep in mind, there are probably other people who have tickets for yor flight who don't haev seat assignments either, so you will have others looking to get an assigned seat within the 24 hour period as well. That said, the closer to the 24 hour mark the better your choice of selection.
If all seats are truly booked, only Silvers who get E+ at T-24, and last minute standby top elites (relegated to E- for the moment...been there done that, although unlikely on most flights) who could get a battlefield upgrade would be vacating E-. There are several E- seats traditionaly reserved ONLY for gate agents to assign, but they are available to select when you change your seat on the UA app. Beware, these seats show as booked if you look ONLY at the seat map, but they show as available in the seat change section.
Your best chance is to check-in on the app at T-24 exactly and change seats. If you're the first to attempt a seat change, you'll see one or two sets of aisle/middle usually near the front of E-. Ready for the picking. If you can't access the app, then you should be the first at the gate at T-1 to ask for those seats, but know others have had 23 hours to snag them before you. Otherwise, continually monitor seats to see if Silvers have moved into E+. You may need to swap seats several times to get closer and closer to being together, which makes the onboard switch request that much more feaasible.
Good luck!