Originally Posted by jah294

I searched for a thread on this and found one from 2010; apologies as I do not have ninja-level search skills so if there is an appropriate thread please feel free to point me that way!

I was looking at flights ORD-SFO-SNA on July 10th and noticed that UA821 is on a 777. However, booking business is not an option - if you search for the flight with business class it doesn't even show up, and first yields an $1,800 fare. When you book economy and go to select seats it says, "available for purchase after reservation is booked."

Couple of questions - I assume they would fly a 777 for positioning purposes? I checked a couple of other Fridays and it appears this may be a regular thing. If I book in economy does R space ever open on these flights or is that not an option? Sorry if that is a dumb question - I've only been on three class planes internationally so am not sure if there are differences when flown domestically.

Apologies, the questions on the 777 and the repositioning remain, but I just checked by segment and it appears there IS R space if I just look ORD-SFO and drop the SNA portion.