mahasamatman

You mean force them to lie? As much as we might like our seat assignments to be guaranteed, they simply are not.

WineCountryUA

In 1,100+ UA flights this happened the first time to me recently. What was interesting was it occured somewhere between T-36 to checkin and occurred to both myself and +1 (on separate PNRs, paid and award). Note aircraft number did not change, so the change aircraft story did not go far with me.

Given the different PNRs and given it 1AB on 777HD to the middle 2 seats in middle section of row 2 -- (which were the only open seats at T-36), this one smells. I was pissed and bend the ear of the supervisor -- but no joy.

That is until I asked for a change to a flight with window/aisle seats available (surprised to find it that close in but moved quickly once found). Zero push-back, still pissed but the recovery took the edge off.

EmailKid

Thanks for reporting on that. I started to wonder lately how they would react to request to change flights after a seat change.

That said, IIRC only had this happen once, maybe twice in my hundreds of flights unless there was equipment change.

Actually .... prior to merge and renumbering coach seats, my exit row seat in row 12 on CR7 magically became non reclining row 12 right in front of lav on CRJ

So technically no change in seat assignment, but ....

Aussienarelle

Glad to read this happened to you as well WineCountryUA, as although not quite as many UA flights as you, it happened to me in May for the first time (and I am a MM) so perhaps there is a change in policy. There was no change in the aircraft. I did not push back on the issue as it was only a short flight but it sounds like that would have made no difference based on your experience. But instead of the single window seat (3A), they moved me to an aisle seat (1C) so I moved back to a window (3D) next to someone else so they did not move me to accommodate a family.

This is not a good change in policy if this is what it is as the only reason I can think a 1K would be moved from their assigned seat before check-in would be for a GS.

findark

There have been multiple reports of SNAFUs involving 1AB on the 77G. They are blocked for crew rest on some flights (like ORD-HNL), and other people have reported getting dumped out of them randomly around T-48.

Also note, for other cases, if "there was no change to the tail" - did you check the full flight log on flighstats? A common culprit of seat scrambles is an A-B-A frame swap that happens over the course of 10 minutes (sometimes one 739 config for another).

elitefreak

I am furious. I booked UA15 (EWR-HNL) months ago under three separate PNR's for my family of 4 (one paid - no status, one on miles, and two through AMEX). My wife and I are *G so we can seat all 4 in E+. I called to get the paid/no status moved to E+ which they did with no issue. So E+ Row 22 booked two and two. All good.

At some point, I get a notice that UA15 is now UA61. Same departure or maybe a slight time change. No issue, right?

WRONG. Apparently, even though the flight is still the same 763, they moved my no status to E- and moved me alone in E+. Moved my other two to center E+, not row 22. Of course, E+ is booked solid for my flight on 7/15. What they finally managed to do is move two of us to bulkhead 16DE (saved for disabilities) but if someone shows up that needs it, we get bumped to E-.

First question - Why would they scramble the seats if only the flight # changed? Is this normal? I've never experienced this?

Second question - Does anyone know how typical it is for the disability seats to be claimed on day of flight?

Third question - Should I be compensated for what they did without any notification or permission?

xliioper

Normal. Since you are on different reservations, the system does not know you are together and as far as it is concerned, the non-status passengers are not entitled to E+.

elitefreak

Yes, of course, but how does a change in flight # require them to re-scramble preassigned seats on the same 763? All this does is make people mad. Why would they do this?

fumje

Well, it probably makes the people who got your good seats happy.

(Sorry about your frustrating experience; just poking fun.)

mduell

1) They'll scramble seats even without a change of flight number. Totally normal since the merger.
PMCO 2003: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...twice-why.html
PMCO 2005: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...s-advance.html
PMCO 2006: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...ge-flight.html
2012-2015: Random seat changes to UA itineraries after they are booked & purchased [ARCHIVE]
2015-present: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...solidated.html

3) LOL no. This one is so clear it's even covered explicitly in the CoC.

fgirard

Two months ago, I booked SNA-ORD-BRU-LIS-EWR-SNA, and I had selected 1A (me) and 1B (traveling partner). Fast forward today to find that I'm now in 4A, yet she is still in 1B. Since 1A is now occupied, I bumped us back to 2AB, which is still a downgrade as the footwell is not as generous as in 1AB.

And, since it wasn't 1B that was moved, I'm less inclined to believe it was a FAM compared to a computer glitch or someone else wanting 1A.

Imstevek

As an aside, I've noticed DL announcing delayed departure around the 24 hour mark, and on the day of travel, voila, "you're flight number and seat have changed" but "presented with an on-time departure" Pretty devious. And people here complain about ATC and weather being blamed by UA for poor execution.

findark

1) Normal. I'm sure some process of re-loading the schedule blanked everyone's seat assignments and the system re-assigned. For all you know it went 763->764 or to a 3-class 767 for a few minutes and then back.

2) Reasonably uncommon but not unheard of by any means.

3) I would definitely get angry and complain at United. You're not entitled to anything of course but I think you'd probably get a CS gesture out of it. You really get the short end of the stick here.

Kacee

I don't think UA typically compensates for involuntary seat assignment changes.

They sure didn't give me anything when I complained about getting hosed out of prime UD seats on the 744.

LarryJ

There are two versions of the 767-300 with different seating configurations. Did your flight change from one seat-map to the other? That would require the reshuffling of seat assignments.