Originally Posted by
monkeyhouse2
If I split the reservation and take myself off of it, does the computer automatically strip them of their seat assignments because it's no longer linked to my 1K status and there's no record of an upgrade purchase?
No, it does not.
Originally Posted by
monkeyhouse2
I read on another forum that as long as there is no flight change or equipment change that they get to keep the seats, but if the seats have to be rebooked for any reason then they lose the premium economy.
That is correct. As soon as you are no longer on the same PNR, then any source of automatic reassignment
may boot your family back to E- (although this is not IME a guarantee). Basically, they have lost their entitlement to E+. They will probably get to fly there, but if anything goes wrong then there is no backup nor recourse.
Originally Posted by
monkeyhouse2
Other option I suppose is to just not show up for the flight... check in their 5 seats but not check in myself.. and by the time I get canceled off the reservation they're already seated. The drawback I see in that, though, is whether they lose seats on the return flight, and I lose the entire ticket value rather than just eating a $200 change fee if i canceled ahead of time.
Are you flying on different flights both directions? Even if you split the PNR to change your flight (or no-show the original PNR), you do have the ability to keep your family in E+ on other flights as long as you are still traveling in the same cabin on the same flight.
Also note that if you are comfortable floating an extra ticket (as a UA FF you probably are), you can also just cancel the ticket on the day of departure and still keep the value less change fee.