Originally Posted by
Seanish
Hi all! I have read some conflicting information about seat assignments for economy basic on United. Do they allow changes within the economy zone at check-in? ...
Voluntary - no. You do not get to chose you seat, UA will do that. Occasionally, such as minor children, you may be able to request a change
Originally Posted by
Seanish
I bought a seat for my return flight (about 12 days from now) but it looks like they just assigned one for my outgoing (2 days from now). Does that mean everyone currently ticketed has also been assigned? ...
UA sometimes will start assigning BE seats about 2 days out and other times not til check-in or even at the gate. Suspect a less full flight UA will start earlier. UA has a lot of information that is not public. How many have BE, how many regular economy that have not yet chosen a seat assignment, how many are eligible for Economy Plus, how many last minute tickets are purchased, .... those and other factors will impact what UA does.
Originally Posted by
Seanish
... Does that mean everyone currently ticketed has also been assigned? ...
There can be a lot of seat assignment changes in the last 24 hours.
- Airline employees can travel for free but can not get a seat assignment until day of travel However they are very aware of how to read the read seatmap and pick the best available seats
- People whose travel gets messed up can get assigned to your flight
- People on other flights will scan for a flight with empty seats and switch for free in the last 24 hours
- The seats with black triangle in the lower left hand corner become free to any non-BE passenger in the last 24 hours -- so some stuck further back may move forward
- The lowest level elite, Silver, will initially pick a regular economy seat but move to Economy Plus in the last 24 hours (when their access becomes free)
- .... and other less frequent reasons
Not having BE ticket gives others more choices / freedom to move about.