UA-NYC

Not anymore - this is a legit "change you will like" (one of the few). If the int'l BF/C/F leg doesn't clear, but the domestic does, you can get the GPU back.

mre5765

Encountered this for first time last night. Had the exit single seat on an erj145 and noticed I had been banished to the back of the plane. The exit seat was still open so selected it. Checked the res again, and I was in the back again, but this time the exit seat was occupied. Checked it this morning and I was back in the exit seat.

Edit: just did olci and enjoyed three festivus miracles. The seat assignments stayed. The web site said I was wait listed for CPU. I got an actual BP for my international trip.

walkerci

I've been on 12 trips / 16 or so segments since 3/3.

Was upgraded on every flight that had a front cabin.

1K/1MM. Just another data point.

wherestrout

Any data points on "random seat changes", which is what this thread is about?

Trout

JSlo

Returning from Asia yesterday(BKK-NRT-SEA), I had seat assignments when I booked tickets months ago. Had checked probably 10 times since I booked the ticket, all good. I had bulkhead/aisle first row of E+ on the 777 for BKK-NRT and NRT-SEA. Waiting for UG to clear which it did not by check in.

When I actually checked in the res system had moved me to middle seat of a random row halfway back in the plane and some other randomw seat for the next leg. My old seats were not available to change back.

Fortunately in the end, both legs cleared on GPU. Scary none the less thinking of losing your E+ aisle/bulkhead seat randomly at t-24 checkin and being placed in the middle seat of 5 seats in E- with no explanation.

sfo

Have had this happen twice in the past 2 days. Booked several a flights months ago in BC, selected my seat, looked at the PNR yesterday and I had been moved, many seats left in BC but was moved to the seat adjacent to the washroom. Have a flight next Jan 2013, same thing, selected my seat BC and when I looked yesterday, moved to the exact same seat in BC adjacent to the washroom, and according to the seat map, I am the only one in BC at this time. Is this done manually by a Res agent or is this done automatically by a computer.

Peatisback

I was hit with a 12A to 16A on an E145... thankfully when I noticed this 1A/12A were available and I was able to get a seat back.

NY-FLA

When HP and USAir merged, circa 2005, US adopted SHARES. I was a heavy USair traveller at the time, but remember the constant frustrations of both pax and airline staff caused by the unfamiliar command structure required by SHARES. Mrs. NY-FLA continues to use USAir, and one of her itins consistently uses a NY-DCA-FL routing that uses the same equipment on both legs. Upgrades on both segments? Simply impossible to accomplish by any of elite line, airport check-in agent, or GA.
Haven't personally experienced the CO-SHARES random seat swap yet, (DL pricing is keeping me over there since << 3-3) and don't remember seat swaps as part of my US-SHARES experience, but with CO's cavalier attitude to forcing seat swaps to achieve higher order social engineering goals, and SHARES general intransigence in all but the most skilled hands, this sad state of affairs seems predictable.

hjensen79

ARGHHHHH seat changing over and over.....
On todays flight I had no less than 5 seat changes between the same 2 seats!!!!!

Booked seat 9B (SAN-LAX), by Saturday 21st seat was changed to 6B, called an agent asked what was going on, and of course it is this fantastic system that does it automatically. He put me back in 9B, by the time I could check-in online I was still in 9B and got my mobile boarding pass for 9B. Fast forward to today, at the airport, tried to print my boarding passes - and if you guessed it, moved to 6B again, this time the agent at the counter could not move me back to 9B which still was open. At the gate the agent was able to move me back to 9B.

This is is driving me crazy... especially when calling United and they have no clue and will not own up to it, more than saying "Yep you are right, the system is doing it"

777boy

This happens all the time to me! Flying into/out of CLD a lot means staring and ending the trip with EMB-120s. Basically every time, I've been switched out of row 9 into a random seat. Fortunately, I've always been able to get row 9 back, but annoying none the less.

I figure it has to be due to swaps between the two types of EMB-120s (front galley vs. back galley). Even though both have row 9, I'm guessing switching from one to the other causes all seats to be reset. Seems most seats are reassigned as before, but best I can tell, row 9BC are treated as extra leg room while 6ABC and all other seats are not. So, for some reason, it doesn't seem to want to auto reassign these "special" seats. Doesn't seem like it can have to do with exit row assignments, as 6ABC are also exit rows.

hjensen79

From what I could tell from the original seat map it was the 4 seats in row 11 originally - and it was also the configuration I was on, I did not check in-between seat changes to see if the equipment had changed. So not quite sure if it is just the equipment changing or the system cannot handle this super advanced airplane.

Phil Level

Sorry if this has been discussed already...

This morning, about 8 AM PST, I checked my seat for a SFO-LAX flight tomorrow (Apr 24) afternoon, and to my suprise, CPU had cleared and they put me in 3E. This is a 757-200. I noticed 5E is open so I click on it, and it appears to take my requested seat change.

I check the seat map, and I'm still in 3E. Over the next hour, I check a couple more times, and still in 3E, per seat map.

At T-24, I go to check in, and print out my boarding pass, which shows me in 5E.

Back to "View/Change Seats", and seat map still shows me in 3E and 5E is marked occupied. It's now 4:20 PM PST.

I suppose I can understand why SHARES isn't instant like the old UA system, but 8 hours later not to correctly display a "simple" change in seat assignment

expo

i've noticed this as well. cleared for a trip leaving on Wednesday, showing empty seats in row 5 and 6 (am currently in row 4). have repeatedly changed the seats on .com, only to have it revert back to row 4 each time i go back.

FlyWorld

Just adding my two cents to this thread.

Today, I went to check in for a flight to LHR and noticed my seat was changed from a business class seat in the front to a business class seat in the back.

Upon further inspection, I discovered that it was an equipment change. My original seat was on a plane that had the old seats. The new plane has lay flat beds, and fewer of them than the seats on the old plane.

Given this, the seat change is reasonable, and although I don't like being in the back, it was the only available aisle seat, so it seems they respected my wish for an aisle seat.

I do share the concerns raised in this thread about random seat changes. I have had seat changes on a prior CO flight that put me into the worst seat in business class and didn't respect my wish for an aisle seat, but I don't know if it was an equipment change (doubtful, since it was GUM to MNL and I doubt there are many substitution options on that route).

PortableGorilla

Flying IAD-NRT. Seat map appears to have changed from 777 new config to 777 old config. I have two questions:

1) Equipment change to old config seems to have screwed up our seat assignments. Called in to change. Agent confirmed change. When I "view reservation" on the website and look at the seat map, they seem to still be the old ones (no change), but if I try to book a new flight, it lets me select the old ones (they appear vacant) but not the new ones (they appear filled). Is this a sync problem? Do I need to do anything?

2) Anybody know -- are 26AB / 26HJ limited recline or not? Seatguru says "may have limited recline" but united.com doesn't say "(limited recline)" when you move the pointer over them. I would much prefer these seats, but not if they're limited recline!

Thanks!!