Originally Posted by lhrsfo

On the whole, I favor computer sweeps. However, the fairness and efficacy of a computer sweep depends upon what the computer knows - garbage in and garbage out.

We all know that UA's computer doesn't know everything and, sometimes, one bit of it knows one thing and another bit doesn't know that same thing. Also, we all know that UA's computer simply has no space for requests, however reasonable they may be (examples such as preferring recline to leg room, or wanting to sit with a companion on a different PNR).

A gate agent can easily accommodate such things - a badly programmed computer cannot.