Originally Posted by
Flying Machine
Just checking in to see if you’re gonna be making the trip and how you’re making out with your seating
I am taking the flights especially since my Marriott SNA cleared for an Executive Suite which makes this trip all the better.
All day I've been watching the seat map and while the flight remains J1 Y0, the seat map has slowly had quite a few seats open up including middle seats in E-. I was starting to get nervous as there was 1 E+ window, several E+ aisles and the exit row window available (the one with no seat in front of it). I almost bought the exit row for $60 but decided to wait.
At T-23:10 I checked the seat map again and the window in E+ just disappeared (was there 10 minutes prior). My thought process is that as soon as I start the check-in process I'll be auto-assigned seats and they stick until I talk to someone in the lounge or at the gate. Well, I started OLCI and after getting the big orange warning about being on a basic economy fare I saw my seat assignments: 8D (E+ window for the short trip to EWR) and 8F (that one E+ window) for the long haul across the Atlantic. Somehow UA decided to auto assign me the last E+ window. THANK YOU, UNITED!! On both planes there are quite a few E- seats open. The EWR-TATL flight has 5 E-, 11 "Preferred" E- and about 5 E+.
Interesting to note: during OLCI it tells me I can select an E+ seat for $35, similar to the poster above. However, I can only select an E+ seat on the 30 minute short hop to EWR. And it wants to charge me $35 even though I'm in an E+ seat already. For EWR-TATL, the seat map will only show me E- seats and offers no chance to buy an E+ seat even though there are 5 unassigned right now.
Bottom line...I couldn't be happier (unless I'm able to take a bump and get comp for it and then route via FRA/MUC - haha). Still no idea why I got assigned E+ given the empty seats in E-.
Note: after the auto-assignment happened Tuesday night, no other seats have been auto assigned from what I can tell. I also have not been assigned any seats for the return on Monday.
PS - this is my first ever 'teal' colored boarding pass from the app. I'm not sure if this is a new color for "Travel Ready" (never was in the past) or it's a combo of Basic Economy + TATL? I thought Basic Economy was orange colored for BPs.
Edit 2: I was finally offered a $35 fee to change my E+ seat on the EWR-TATL flight. I think the $35 offers are only valid once the 24 hour check-in opens for each flight. Since I'm already in the best available E+ seat for free I think I'll pass
-RM