UA E+ with AC*E?
 

Will be flying UA 747 next week and was wondering if I will be able to get an E+ seat assigned at checkin/gate. Res agent indicated E+ will be offered at the gate to all non-UA/CO *Gs but I cant confirm that on the website (http://www.united.com/page/article/0...omy_Plus&pos=3
Can anyone confirm this from recent experience please?
Cheers

You are not entitled to it.

Ask nicely, and you never know. But I would not count on it.
btw, its only 3" on the 747.

I am sure it will be "offered", for a price.

I'm not *G, but I travel with *G colleagues on UA reasonably regularly. I have never seen them offered it.

I've never got E+ for free off UA when travelling as a *G.

As for your ride on a UA 747, I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully your not heading to SYD lol...

I have mentioned in other threads; I have almost ALWAYS gotten E+ for free from UA except for two flights which were to be fair UA Elite heavy and 100% full.

I ask nicely for a "seat with more leg room" at check in, or if not convenient at the RCC in the hub I'm travelling through.

Perhaps they all feel sorry for me at 6'4"?

You're not officially entitled for it, but everyone has different experiences.

I have ALWAYS gotten E+ for free as both a *S and a *G.

How often do they have E+ sold out before the day of flight?

How have you 'gotten it?' Automatically? Or have you had to ask?

Hit and miss IMO....I get usually HKG-SIN but in SIN they NEVER give it out for the return flight to HKG.
FYI, you are not missing much...ratty old 744's that are in worse shape than some of our own B763's on AC!:td:

I should clarify...I've never gotten it free before hand. I always get it by either asking the gate agent for a 'closer seat to the front', or sometimes I've been upgraded at the gate automatically

All *G received E+ until several years ago when it was restricted to UA (and now CO status pax). In my view, E+ is the only reason to choose UA in long haul economy. I just did UA923 LHR-IAD today in a beaten up old 763 and I much prefer AC. Better food, free drinks, AVOD, etc, even on the old 763 warhorses (although I will admit it took AC years to get this far).

Finally, you can do what someone did on my flight today...scramble up from E- before takeoff when no one is looking.

I fly UA with regularity whenever flying within the US and am 100 per cent on E+ as AC *G. Some times I have received it automatically and other times I have asked and been given it just by asking "is E+ available?". It has been hit or miss for my travel companions.

Depending on the route I find that E+ is often sold out. But my experience is mainly out of SFO. SFO-PVG and SFO-PEK have always been completely full when I've flown them.

UA does have free drinks on Pacific routes (not sure if this includes 5th freedoms or only TPAC, EZESE would probably know). But I agree, even with E+, UA longhaul is a pretty miserable experience. It's always fun when the already inadequate IFE gets broken too!

As an AC E, I have always asked at check in (in person, never OLCI).

If the flight load is light, then I have found that I have usually been upgraded for free.

If the flight is totally full, then I am usually ignored or dismissed.

Never hurts to try.

^

For some reason we've received E+ as long as I can remember for the past 4 years with mileage AE redemption tickets.

If you wait until the night before to do seat selections, seats will open up.. and there may be an opportunity.. otherwise ask at check-in.

If I'd known that people were getting E+ so easily on *G I wouldn't have worked to get 2P! I'm probably switching to UA to get 1K next year anyways though. I really couldn't care less about domestic lounge access, especially when some of the lounges are so terrible.

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I usually get E+ when I ask in the RCC as well. I haven't been as successful when outside of North America (South America or Asia) but I find the agents in both regions *really* stick to the rules. On a flight from South America on the ground they kept almost giving it to me then decided I was only *G so it'd be $209 but on board they were selling it for $119. I woulda been mighty upset if I paid the $209.

Anyway, I'd suggest asking but if it's really important to you just pay for it.

I've never seen E+ selling for more than $119 on long-hauls (SFO-PEK/PVG). I think it's the same on SFO-HKG so I have no idea where they got $209 from.

if i recall, last time i paid $129 for HKG/ORD one way and they wanted an additional $29 or $39 for ORD/YYZ..... they charge by the segment...so I am not surprised a round trip can cost $208 or so.

getting a free upgrade to E+ is now a hit and miss....sometimes they do, sometimes they want u to pay, some will stubbornly stick to the fact you need to pay, some will ask in the cabin if u wanted to pay an upgrade....the most funny scenario i saw was FA seeing people switched to E+ seats and then asking them to move back to E or they will bill their CC.

i think the check in system now is changed, so even if u OLCI it still shows E+ as an additional fee seat. Will know later this year when i fly them again

Yikes, that's a long one on UA, not sure if I could handle that!

Me too!..can barely make it on there beautiful service from HKG-SIN for 3:40 hrs!:D

I can't even stand their E+, or J, as a matter of fact. F may be an okay.:D

AGREED!
UA's F Product is nothing to get horny about IMHO!:D

I flew UA F last week in a 777 from ICN-NRT.
The seat was the equivalent of AC's J pod, however I was astonished to see
that they had no AVOD, the TV screen was the old 5" PTV, and only 3
channels of viewing.

those 747 reminds me of the good old days.... big screen TV, panels turned yellow..... squarish overhead luggage space..... honeycomb style ceilings

Seems that my experiences are in line with most on here. I've never made a habit of asking for E+ (my UA/CO flights are usually short haul), but every so often when I check-in online I am pre-assigned in E+.

Yep that would be them!:td::D

Could be their NA Airbus or 757 fleet as well.:eek:

My arranger is instructed to avoid UA...they treat *G like second class citizens and their aircraft are tired at best.

UA is not that bad..... just treat it like an Express bus.....dont have high expectations.....

i've gotten E+ for free when i asked the gate agent, at check-in i believe they still charge for E+ but you'll be able to see how many empty E+ seats they have

i just asked nicely for a seat closer to the front (when i'm in the back) or a seat with no one in the middle and pointed out i was *G and asked if there's anything they can do for me (though it was a couple super short LAX-LAS and return legs)

Well said! +1^

A lot of bitterness here about having to ride in the very back on United while we get your precious "premium" seats on AC :D

Well yeah...if I was running this airline you "people" would be in the very last row 39 DEF non-reclining on B763!^:D

Make that one of the 3 Amigos in the last row and we agree:cool:

+1 LOL!:D^

On one of my two AC flights last year, I sat in 12B, next to a SuperElite (proudly displaying his luggage tags) who was whining how there is empty seats and employees up front.

I felt bad for the chap, so I told him I was 19/19 in free upgrades last year, and I even get these premium seats for free when flying AC!

Oh the anger in his eyes.

you did not tell him the fine prints..... like mapping your route out carefully and avoiding certain days etc?

of course I'd be singing a different tune if I flew like IAD-SFO as a lowly 50k a year flyer, but at least I'd be in an exit row :)

I guess I should count myself lucky because I have always been given E+ seating on united as an AC*E. Never had to ask and always assumed this was standard practice. Apparently not!