Originally Posted by
sincx
A full refund of your E+ fee at the minimum.
Correct and here is what UA's
contract of carriage has to say about this:
Seat assignments, regardless of class of service, are not guaranteed and are subject to change without notice. UA reserves the right to reseat a Passenger for any reason, including from a United® Premium Plus seat, Economy Plus seat, or from Preferred Seating for which the applicable fee has been paid, and if a Passenger is improperly or erroneously upgraded to a different class of service. If a Passenger is removed from a United® Premium Plus seat, Economy Plus seat, or from Preferred Seating for which a fee has been paid, and the Passenger is not re-accommodated in a seat of equal or greater value, or if a Passenger is downgraded from a class of service and is not re-accommodated in a seat in an equal or greater class of service for which a fee has been paid, the Passenger may be eligible for a refund in accordance with Rule 27. UA also prohibits Passengers from selling their seat assignments at any time and/or exchanging them at the time of boarding without first advising a member of the crew.
Based on what the OP is saying, UA is offering seats of lesser value than what they payed for. Perhaps UA can find a seat of equal or greater value that is a middle seat, but I wouldn't accept that. I'd stay in the downgraded E+ seat, take my refund and walk away laughing over the whole incident. This idea of charging for seat assignments (E+ or otherwise) is non-sense when you consider Premiers get it for free. Heck, even on Basic Economy fares I can still get free E+ seating assignments as Premier Gold meanwhile all the kettles are shelling out hundreds of dollars for the same luxury flying in normal economy!
Safe Travels,
James