pharmstew, thanks for reporting this to help clear up confusion.

One other thought if you're suggesting a rewrite of the announcement to the powers that be. Perhaps extend the verbiage "reserved for customers who purchased those seats" to "reserved for customers who purchased those seats. It is also free for our most loyal customers flying 25,000 miles per year with us."

That way the announcement gives incentives to the non-qualifying customers either to pay for it, or to become more loyal to United to get it free.

In any case, THANK YOU!! for helping protect the E+ (or I guess in UA-internal-speak, Y+) section. We passengers really appreciate it.