Originally Posted by
n9536j
I have two 1K's traveling together. If I buy 1 extraseat to leave the middle open how does the upgrade process work? Do I need three upgrades to open up or is the system smart enough to allow just the two?
I accomplished this exact task, back in late 2018 to New Zealand. Economy was $700 each way. First class was $5000+. So, I booked three seats with the third one being empty. I then waited for upgrade space to become available. Once I saw there were available seats, I called and cancelled the extra ticket. I would eat the $200 change fee and get a flight credit for "EXTRASEAT LASTNAME". However, UA rep hated doing this for me, as the seat was linked to the reservation and cancelling just one ticket is a pain I guess. If they cancelled the whole reservation, I would have to rebook at a much higher fare. She told me not to do this again...haha!
This only worked for the return trip as doing this on the outbound would cancel the whole trip for "EXTRASEAT LASTNAME"
After this past year, I got spoiled having a bubble around me and I'm in no rush to rub elbows with strangers for 14 hours straight, so here is what I'm going to try in the future. Book two seats...call and book "EXTRASEAT LASTNAME." Waitlist Plus Points upgrade. Will it work? Maybe but I know that the reservation will be split and the seat could end up getting reassigned somewhere else on the plane in case of IRROPs.
And before anyone asks why spend an extra $700 each way...I ask, why spend 10 times that amount for the same personal space up front?