Originally Posted by
747FC
Whenever I see orange seats in UA F seat maps, I have been able to select them. Blocked UA seats traditionally appear on their maps as taken or do not appear at all.
The issue is they are not F seats, they are J seats. If you request the cabin as Business then you see the available seats as available. If you do a Flight Availability search you'll see that UA isn't telling "First" on the flight, that cabin is sold as business. On UA.com you'll see the cabin class as "D" which is a Business class fare code.
As to why UA is returning the available seats as blocked if you request First vs Business that you would have to ask United.