I'm a CO elite, *G. Just booked a flight for next month on united.com. I entered my CO ff# but when I selected E+ seat, they wanted to charge extra. I went ahead and chose an E- seat for now. Is there a way to choose E+ seat at time of booking w/out paying extra? Can I change my current seat into E+?

Welcome to FT!

Sadly there is currently a glitch with UA's site causing this. You have to call UA to select E+ and to ask to be added to the UG list. Hopefully they fix this soon - it's a major pain.

It's a major pain and also majorly stupid. I fly WN as my primary with CO/UA (CO FF) as my secondary. Recently I was about to buy a $1,200 multi city ticket on UA, but the seat choices were all terrible and E+ was unavailable, so I shelled out an extra hundred or so on WN, because I have better things to do with my life than wait on hold to beg UA for E+ and the chance of an upgrade (which let's face it as a CO silver ain't gonna happen anyway!)

Cheers,

Paul.

One other thing to watch for is when you call UA to get the E+ seat, (my) UA MP number ends up in the record. -0- status on UA vs. PLT on CO, so better to keep the UA MP number out of the record, as UA always seems to prefer their program for crediting.

If you call the Elite desk, they can now patch you through to the UA elite desk. No hold time, and no questions asked when requesting E+ in my experience.

I had a similar experience when I purchased a recent ticket on the UA website. When they tried to charge me for E+ seats, I just canceled my seat selections and let the website automatically assign seats at the end. I did not pick an E- seat. After I finished the purchase, my seats were automatically assigned and I was put into E+ and placed on the upgrade list.

Now if I go to try to change my seat, they still try to charge even though I'm trying to make an E+ to an E+ change. Oh well. While not as convenient, a phone call will get the job done.

It seems like the UA Elite Desk is able to overide whatever mechanism is trying to charge for Premium Seats.

I have spoken to the UA Elite Desk twice now and each agent was very happy to help, even for something as mundane as seat selection.

One agent was having trouble with my reservation and we were chatting for a bit while she waited for her supervisor to fix my record. In chatting, she mentioned that she was looking forward to showing CO Elite pax how great UA can be. It turns out that she reads FT and knows that some CO PAX (myself included) are really unhappy about joining up with UA.

If more UA employee are like her, this marriage is not going to be a disasterous as I once feared.

Dan

Thanks guys. All the info. is very helpful.

This is an issue with any ticket booked via CO on UA metal, even for a 1K like myself using only my UA MP # in the reservation. I have no clue if its a CO issue or a UA issue, but its a pain. I too have to call for a change in seats, and even though I get the 1K line I have better things to do with my time.

Point being is that you CO guys aren't alone in your frustration.

Questions regarding E+ seats and upgrades on UA flights:

I am scheduled to fly on a CO codeshare (UA metal) to IAD tomorrow.
When I first booked the flight, I called United reservations to get E+ seats.
When checking the reservation on ual.com, it showed "Flight: Confirmed. Upgrade Pending" and my E+ seat assignment was shown.
When I checked the reservation status tonight (30 hours before the flight), it shows "flight confirmed", but the "Upgrade pending" text is no longer shown. The E+ seat assignment is still in there.
What does that mean? Have all upgrades been process and I lost out? Are upgrades in progress? Should I call UA to get put back on the upgrade list?

(As GE, I don't expect any upgrades on a UA hub-to-hub flight, but I at least want to make sure I maximize whatever chance I may have)

Had the same thing happen to me today. One flight upgraded, with the "upgrade pending" disappearing from the second. I called and talked to the UA Elite desk and they assured me I was still on the upgrade waitlist.

I have the same problem. Once I enter my name on a reservation with UA my MP comes up (I have an unusual name and I guess their computer thinks there can be no other person with this name); I try to enter my CO Onepass but sometimes I cannot override the MP#; I have had to call.
It seems like for now, every flight with UA triggers a few calls to get the seats, change seats, add to UG list, add a person that flies with you, change to Onepass # etc...
For now and until they fix that, as channa has said, you are always better off flying your primary airline - where your status is.
I just flew Austrian airlines intra Europe and apart from elite line check in, I did not see any benefit as compared to flying Air France with no elite recognition. It has been 2 weeks and mileage not even credited which now triggers e-mails back and forth and scanning of papers.
I am in general optimistic that both CO and UA are trying to make things right and eventually will.

I just logged into a UA reservation I have upcoming and I went to change my seats and it says

And it lets me choose them no problem. I am glad this has finally been resolved ^