The exit row numbers depend on the plane they are using.
https://www.aerolopa.com/uo

I find the 1st row good (I am 6"2), especially C&D where you can stretch your feet in the alley/galley.
Pay for U-First, order some food. With a bsg, it will take you to a typical CX fare without lounge and troubles in case of IRROPS.

As CX members (SL/GO/DM), do we get any form of recognition or perks when flying UO?

No, not a thing.

Just an example on how UO is trying to milk customers. I had mentioned it before but it is still hurting.
At HKG checking (U-First) my wife was slapped with a huge "change name" fee. French passport for married women are issued with surname "MAIDEN ép. MARRIED", with both the maiden (birth) name and the married (husband) name. The "ép." is the shortening of "épouse" (spouse). In four decades of flying we used simply the "MARRIED" name, or "MAIDEN MARRIED" as in this case with UO. Never any problem.
The UO agent insisted that the ticket surname missed the "ép.". Called supervisor who showed me a document that ticket name must be exactly as on passport, and that she would be denied boarding if she did not pay the name change fee. And this was at HKG. Time was running out and I accepted. Taken to a separate counter, the agent had difficulty entering the "." so simply added "ep" rather than "ép.", but we made the flight. Later I wrote a complaint at UO with the documents. Never got an answer. My time was not worth the money and stress involved. That plus an IRROPS that was miserably handled at DAD and I stopped using UO.

unfortnuately you get only what you pay for, and don't get what you didn't pay for


https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/36403991-post8.html
isn't it already in the airline's name?
you board to get whisked to your destination, get off for them to 're-accomodate' their next lot, and whatever happens in between is your tough luck
as you say, their recent track record has been (to mildly put it) a bit tarnished as well

HK Express service - Indifferent. Took a friend's mother to NRT. Did the online check-in and brought her to check in at NRT. Agent reiterated there would only be person item allowed, carry-ons, checked luggage. We responded 'we were aware of that, thank you.'

Pretty grumpy from the ground service and inflight service. Another friend of mine has different schedule so she took a different flight than her mother, and managed to grab all of her luggage so her mother didn't bring a thing, but the agent's facial expression seemed to imply we were trying to break any rules.

I never set foot on UO/HX but maybe I'd have to do that later for the destinations to which only UO/HX flies.

I'm not quite as tall as you but I always take the first row instead of the exit row - imagine LH 320 J but with 1-2" extra legroom. It's perfectly comfortable for a short flight, especially if you get a ceo with proper padded reclining seats. The first row is also quieter if the flight isn't full - UO charges for seat assignments in the first couple of rows and doesn't assign passengers to those seats unless they pay.

HX does fly to DAD now, but the schedule isn't as good and there are frequent delays. Also note that the cost of J on HX is about 3x the cost of Y incl. seat assignment, ufirst, etc. so you may want to consider getting 2-3 seats on UO instead. That's what many of my industry colleagues do (we frequently fly to a destination that was formerly well served by KA but is now UO).

HX is also nothing special and also annoyingly parks at the midfield. And not every flight has J.

As far as I know, there is only one seat configuration of the mentioned A321ceo.

At the moment, we'll be on 320CEO or NEO...so I booked 2x exit row and 2x row 1 for the family..... but it will be in July 25 and I expect changes in the mean time...

WOW, you book a LCC 9 months ahead.
As the ancillary services often cost as much as the basic fare,and tickets are nonrefundable, this is a bit surprising.
Schedules can easily change. As these flights were the only ones that fit your schedule, might have been a good idea to wait until the summer 25 schedule is confirmed and then pick the optimal airline.

There was a error-not-error fare last week with UO for Xmas 2025 and CNY 2026
(Not an outright error, but peak pricing was not applied when the fares were loaded)

https://www.facebook.com/share/1JFBvViVne/

https://www.facebook.com/share/b4e2gMqLpf3rivyA/

Clearly, you've not met my wife...