tarheelnj

Same here, but I've never come into FRA late so haven't had the chance to test whether you would be met. On the EWR flight, though, I've seen them call the GS passengers by name to make sure they're at the front of the crowd before boarding.

reamworks

They're getting better at handling us GS customers again. I've been seeing the GS concierges at more routes, even ex-Con ones.

I still have to call several times to get things like 5/5 upgrades. My rule is, "if I get a Cont., hang up!." It's not worth dealing with a Cont. whose never heard of 5/5. Just try again until you get a United person.

But:

I had an interesting and unpleasant experience on my flight 901 several days ago. I had a business seat, and I was forced to "involuntarily downgrade" myself to E-. Why? The person next to me had a severe cold and was coughing and sniffling continuously.

They announced the flight wasn't full; in fact there were some empty rows in E-, according to the F/A. I asked if I could be moved. There were no empty business seats, but I suggested an entire E- row. I asked all this BEFORE the door closed and the gate agent can still do things. I was hoping to get a re-issued E- ticket so I could get credit for the downgrade. They wouldn't do that.

After takeoff, as soon as the seatbelt sign went off I moved downstairs. Unfortunately the E- unwashed masses had already squatted on the empty rows, lying down across them. I asked the Purser if she could ask some of those people to return to their assigned seats so I, a GS with a paid business ticket, could have an empty row, and she said she didn't think that was appropriate.

So, to avoid getting the plague, hepatitis, Dengue Fever, or whatever it was that the guy sitting next to me had, I sat in a limited leg-room exit row seat--the one where the slide mechanism on the door impinges on the legroom--because that was the best choice given all the squatting in E-. Because the armrests don't go up in that row, nobody was lying across it. (I still had to tell random E- pax who would sit in the seats next to me and try to bother me to SHUT UP. For some reason, people like to parade around with their toddlers in E-, and they think that everyone else thinks their kids are amazing and wants to acknowledge them.)

So United really screwed me on this. I asked BEFORE THE DOOR CLOSED to be accommodated, and I ended up wasting thousands of dollars on a business seat that I didn't use. (On the positive side, I didn't get sick!)

rudling

Sorry, but I don't really see how United screwed you on this - particularly in E-, possession is 9 points of the law. I'm not at all surprised that empty rows in E- were occupied by the time you got downstairs (if you mean you went down as soon as the seatbelt sign went OFF, not ON). I think most seat-poaching happens as soon as the door closes. In your situation, if I had wanted a whole row, I would have gone down and occupied it before takeoff.

Your request to have a FA evict passengers from E- seats was pretty extraordinary. It would have been a nice gesture for a GS, but certainly not something you should expect. If they were E- passengers who had squatted in E+, then you'd have had a better shot, since they were enjoying a product they would otherwise not be entitled to. But then, you weren't technically entitled to 3 adjacent E- seats, since that's not what you purchased.

Did you consider approaching one such squatter, with a row to him/her self, and offering to trade your lie-flat C seat, with the accompanying service, etc.?

On a related note: does UA have a policy about sick (and potentially contagious) passengers? IANAL, but it seems like UA might have some liability here, in the event of something serious...?

reamworks

United screwed me because I asked BEFORE THE DOOR CLOSED for them to adjust my service and they didn't. When they could still re-issue a ticket.

I have to admit, your suggestion of offering my business-class seat to a row-squatter is very clever, but usually the staff in the Business cabin is on alert for people who suddenly appear there. Plus, it wouldn't be nice to trick a person into sitting next to Typhoid Mary. Even E- people are human beings!


Not really. I was just asking the FA to ask people to return to their ticketed seats, so they could accommodate a pax with a "defective seat." But on the new United, E- pax are more important than premium passengers.

rudling

Ah, ok. So your issue is not with any of the onboard crew, but with the GA who refused to make a change "officially"? Did you speak to the GA, or were you counting on the FA to take it up with the GA?

If your request to the GA was to swap your C seat for a Y seat and have it officially assigned to you, then that seems more reasonable (although maybe problematic if you were on a paid C ticket, since that could mean a refund from UA's perspective) - but if you were going to do that, why not just go down and occupy a seat / row before takeoff?

Sorry, but it's not really clear what you were expecting to happen - were you thinking that the GA would assign you to an E- seat, block the two adjacent seats, give you a new boarding pass; but that you would go back up to C for the takeoff and then down to E- to claim what was rightfully yours?

I don't see what else the GA could have done, and access to the GA seems like the only reason you'd want to handle something like this BEFORE THE DOOR CLOSED, as you say.

SAN 1K

Similar thing happened to me once on a flight oversold in business from Riyadh to London (I think). I took a good chunk of cash for the downgrade (almost $1000 I think) and was role I'd have a row of E to myself and get business class service. Well I did board into my economy row and had to fend off several people trying to poach one of the seats, including one accompanies by an FA. Then after take off I asked about my business class dinner and was met with blank stares. So I just slept.
Moral of the story:
1. A bird in the hand...
2. Get it in writing (even an annotation on the BP).
3. Better yet, if you can, have the GA come on board and talk to the pursar.

cesco.g

My experience on a multitude of TATL arrivals into FRA. UA-FRA concierge staff is simply too thinly stretched to do more than that - even though they'd like to show more presence for their GS (and other) customers.

tarheelnj

I agree, although it is painful to get off your LH flight in FRA and see the Mercedes waiting for the HON LH flyer while you get on a bus to take you to what will after a while be your UA departure.

maddie1004

As GS, If I book an award ticket for someone else with miles from my account, is it still cancelable with no penalty? I wasn't sure if that only applied to me.

Thanks!

German Expat

Yes, what counts is whose account the miles are coming from. So if they come from your account all fees are waived. For this you just need to be Platinum or higher.

tarheelnj

On some of the older BP's, the Global Services designation was just a "GS" near your name. You certainly can't miss it on the new BP design.




[IMG][/IMG]

blueman2

Yes, just noticed the much larger Global Services on BPs I printed today. Prior ones had GS so small, no one could see it. It was actually about 1/2 the font size of the person's name! Now it is about 2X the person's name.

UA-NYC

The only question - are they now shrinking the 1K printing to 1/2 its former size?

UAGLOBAL

Love the new BP design! Can anyone post photos of new designed airport printed BPs? Did they redesign the ones from the airport?

orff

Just flew (11/17) DEN - EWR - BCN. I printed my tickets out at home with the new layout; however, of course I left them on the printer and had to get new copies in DEN. Same old layout for now.