joecool1885

So in obsession of coming trips, I've been carefully monitoring how full my flights are becoming. Today I logged on to find all remaining seats had been taken except a select few.... but those few were in what was E+, and now they were marked as white instead of blue. I selected 18A (exit row), and hit "next". The website took me back to my reservation, and I checked the seats again to find my selection still valid, but the seating chart went back to normal (the seat next to me is back to blue)... I didn't pay anything extra, despite this being an obvious E+ seat. (CRJ-700 V2)

Has anyone else had this experience? Will I go back to my original seat at check in?

I have no status, FYI.

jewels421

I've not had that experience, but I bet you'll get to keep it (unless there's an equipment or other change). When a non-elite is traveling under a different reservation as an elite, phone agents will often manually move them up to E+ (e.g., if my husband and I are on different reservations, I can call and get him an E+ seat next to me). So, it's not like it's will be something that will be flagged at check in, since there are reasons why a non-elite would be in E+ without paying.

Enjoy your good fortune...

joecool1885

Sounds good to me.
I was debating paying that extra $27 to guarantee my comfort, but now looks like I won't have to! Flight is on Tues

travel.flier

any seat on a cr7 is quite uncomfortable even F.

gobluetwo

It's all relative, and E+ on a CR7 is definitely better than regular economy on that same bird.

eghansen

Non-elites are in E+ all the time without paying. I have been on flights that were completely full and 5 people were boarding in boarding group 1 and 2. I have no doubt that most of the people on these flights were in E+ simply because they checked-in late and there was no more seats in E-. This particularly true on flights to leisure destinations like Vegas and Mexico.

I flew to Hawaii recently and sat in a (paid) seat in E+ in an exit row. Next to me was an Italian couple who a) did not speak English, b) were on the first trip to America, c) had never heard of Mileage Plus or Star Alliance and d) had no idea why they were in the seats they were except that when they checked in at the airport, those were the seats they were given.

It is for this reason that I will never pay for E+ again. It is aggravating to pay for the seat and sit next to people who are in E+ only because they checked in at the last minute.

DavidRS4

If you do not have status then you are paying to be "guaranteed" in E+. You can always take a chance and check in last if you are willing to sit in E-.

joecool1885

I concur. I do my best to avoid E- in general. On this short haul flight, I was still debating.

Disappointing to hear. Flying F on the way down. But just because they're all uncomfortable doesn't mean that some aren't worse than others.

DavidRS4

They even shrunk First on the new 737s. So with United First is definitely going down. Next they will announce the new United 767 with "Big Front Seats"

mgcsinc

It's not about check-in time.

In any case, E+ is not a class of service. If you want to be somewhere that the riff-raff is kept out of, that's what F is for. E+ is a seat assignment. Do you really want UA to refuse to sell additional seats on the plane because it would require placing the unentitled in E+?

WineCountryUA

Sort of like those that paid for first class feel when they have upgraders as seatmates

joecool1885

Well, flew F on the way down (Row 1) and E+ on the return. Return flight much more comfortable. Owing in part to no person next to me. But regardless, a lot more legroom in the exit row. Seat itself wasn't as cushioned, but I'd gladly sacrifice that in the future for more space. Definitely not worth the extra cash I paid for first on the way down.

Zip

Why were non-English speakers permitted to sit in an exit row??

joecool1885

Old topic I know.... new experience. Booked SMF-CUN a couple months back. E- sold out several weeks ago. Logged on today (flight in a few days), about 4 dozen E+ seats still available, and several of them were no longer blue, but instead white. Immediately changed my seats to these new spots with no charge. Only 6 out of 20 F sold, with nobody on the FC upgrade list. It's been $700+ to upgrade ever since I booked, so I'll be interested to see what it'll be at the airport.

WineCountryUA

What is the scheduled aircraft?