UA Economy Plus Seats
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Location: London,UK
Posts: 38
UA Economy Plus Seats
Good Morning All
As a new member on flyertalk, I apologies if this is the wrong forum; however, as a dc Gold member I have booked an award flight with UA from ORD to LAX (UA123 21AUG.) As UA won't allow C/F class redemptions for other * passengers, I will be travelling Economy. When travelling with UA transatlatic in the past, I have always been able to pre-book a seat in Economy plus. However, for this flight a E+ seats seem to be blocked off. I have spoken to UA who tell me that all seats have been preallocated - I realise that this is what the seatmap tells them - (www.seatmap.com) confirms this. It just so happens that I have a friend who works for UA who has checked the loads and has shown me that this flight only has 22 people booked in M class. What are they doing? Why are they blocking off all of the E+ seats?Anyone else had this problem?
Thanks for any advice in advance!
As a new member on flyertalk, I apologies if this is the wrong forum; however, as a dc Gold member I have booked an award flight with UA from ORD to LAX (UA123 21AUG.) As UA won't allow C/F class redemptions for other * passengers, I will be travelling Economy. When travelling with UA transatlatic in the past, I have always been able to pre-book a seat in Economy plus. However, for this flight a E+ seats seem to be blocked off. I have spoken to UA who tell me that all seats have been preallocated - I realise that this is what the seatmap tells them - (www.seatmap.com) confirms this. It just so happens that I have a friend who works for UA who has checked the loads and has shown me that this flight only has 22 people booked in M class. What are they doing? Why are they blocking off all of the E+ seats?Anyone else had this problem?
Thanks for any advice in advance!
#2
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: SNA, LAX
Programs: UA Plat
Posts: 2,961
Since u are a *gold you should be able to get it. Just call them up with ur status in mind.
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More ROOM, on MORE Airplanes than any other carrier. United.
Channel 9, Free Headsets, E+, Star Alliance only on United.
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More ROOM, on MORE Airplanes than any other carrier. United.
Channel 9, Free Headsets, E+, Star Alliance only on United.
#3
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Singapore and London
Programs: BA Gold; SQ PPS; UA Gold; LH FTL; Flying Blue Silver; Starwood Gold; ICHG AMB; Hyatt Platinum;
Posts: 5,391
On the reservations systems, award bookings sometimes block out the frequent flyer number field, and won't allow a number to be entered (hence your status isn't recognised and Economy Plus doesn't show up). Try asking them to "force" the number into your PNR (ie override the blocking process). Alternatively, fax them a copy of your DC card as proof of Star Gold status (though they really should be able to look this up themselves!).
#4
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 4,117
Sometimes, however, they are just full. You may have checked M class, but remember all those MP members and *G types who have booked their family holidays on cheapy tix or award tix and persuaded the agent to put all four of them into E+ etc...
In all likelihood you'll be ok provided you call again in the week running up to the flight as people will have upgrades clearing etc.
eta: Welcome to FT!
[This message has been edited by Wingnut (edited 06-19-2003).]
In all likelihood you'll be ok provided you call again in the week running up to the flight as people will have upgrades clearing etc.
eta: Welcome to FT!

[This message has been edited by Wingnut (edited 06-19-2003).]
#7
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: GLA
Posts: 613
Only flew UA twice and in E+ both times. I understood that it was not pre-bookable..?
Obviously it appears that it is. Can you tell me, is it just a matter of asking the Travel Agent to allocate seats in E+ or do you phone UA after you have a booking ref / PNR?
Obviously it appears that it is. Can you tell me, is it just a matter of asking the Travel Agent to allocate seats in E+ or do you phone UA after you have a booking ref / PNR?
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Location: London,UK
Posts: 38
bond Boy - It is indeed pre-bookable. The UA system recognises BD G and will automatically allocate you a seat in E+ as long as your dc number is in the booking. If you call them they'll happily try to give you the seat you want...unless you're on an award ticket it would appear!
#10
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: LON
Programs: BA Gold, LH SEN , A3*G & others less exciting that don't fit in my wallet
Posts: 1,202
My experience has been that it can be a bit of a pain to get them to release the seats ... but it is totally possible. Check the seatmap for flight and you'll see that there are loads of Y+ seats free then call up United (in Dublin) and they will probably initially refuse to assign you a seat because "none are available" .. then say that you've checked and loads are available when you look it up on ual.com ( just pretend to make an unrestricted economy booking ) .. usually at this stage after some checking with the supervisor you magically get assigned an E+ seat ... I guess this is only a problem for non-UA *G/*S card holders.
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Location: London,UK
Posts: 38
Just called UA again after checking the available seats on United.com. Unfortunately I got the same story and a rather poor and flippant attitude from the agent!Mt request to speak to a Supervisor was refused?! They insist they cannot give me a seat in E+ but have "put the request in." Mmmm...I think I'll try phoning the States as I have found they are often much more helpful in these matters...Fingers crossed! Any United lurkers here..can you help?
#12
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 4,117
Interestingly, while ual.com shows seats avaiable, www.seatmap.com for eg shows E+ as full by default.
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Chilling with penguins
Posts: 13,032
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Wingnut:
Interestingly, while ual.com shows seats avaiable, www.seatmap.com for eg shows E+ as full by default.</font>
Interestingly, while ual.com shows seats avaiable, www.seatmap.com for eg shows E+ as full by default.</font>
I was able to get E+ seats without a hitch using mmy AC*S. So, I don't see why BD*G would have problems.
If you get a rude agent, just thank them for their time, hang up, and call again.
#14
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Posts: 1,213
I am flying next week transatlantic on BD and then onwards on UA metal but a BD flight number (code share).
When I requrested my BD seats I tried to get them to give me E+ on the UA legs (I'm BD Gold) but BD didn't know what I was talking about and thought I was looking for an upgrade to F.
On phoning UA I was able to get E+ seats.
Stephen
[This message has been edited by sjharte (edited 06-23-2003).]
When I requrested my BD seats I tried to get them to give me E+ on the UA legs (I'm BD Gold) but BD didn't know what I was talking about and thought I was looking for an upgrade to F.
On phoning UA I was able to get E+ seats.
Stephen
[This message has been edited by sjharte (edited 06-23-2003).]
#15
Join Date: May 2003
Location: BHX
Posts: 664
When I flew trans-atlantic and beyond on United, I couldn't get the seats allocated at the time of booking. Couldn't even get the United System to take my BD number (let alone recognise it as *G).
Spoke to United Ticket Desk at LHR who re-allocated me seats in E+
Spoke to United Ticket Desk at LHR who re-allocated me seats in E+