sannmann

I seem to remember there being a Member of Congress who proposed legislation requiring that families be allowed to sit together on flights at no extra cost. The airlines better not trick people into thinking they have to pay more for E+ or else they risk being legislated out of having any E+ revenue.

arctikjon

Ha.. I think we have a better chance of UA dropping the PQD requirement then that of congress passing actually useful legislation against big money industry...

seenitall

If I can't get an E+ aisle seat at booking, I simply won't book that flight. This Gold and close to MM level won't have any reason to prefer UA. International lounge access is nice, but not nearly enough to compensate me for my aching back and bruised knees after a long trip in E-.

Cargojon

UA can do this if they want, but I can't see the benefit to them. It's not like they'll sell more E+ to kettles. I mean, when I was a Silver I was 100% getting E+ at T-24, whether it was a TATL flight or a mid-con.

All it will do is continue to push the people like me who try to stick with UA despite all the crap over to AA/US. And God I don't want to move to AA even though I live in PHL.

raehl311

This is one of those things where you're just moving benefits around. Lower level elites on average get worse seats, but higher-level elites - especially those booking late who tend to generate the most money - get better seats.

If I were United I would definitely change the policy.

HatAndJacket

The free drinks are on domestic flights 900 miles or more, so, for example, NYC-MIA would qualify

CHOPCHOP767

Bad experiences with US? Were the E+ seats middle seats?

I'm cautiously optimistic that this seating benefit stays for AA Plats when the programs are fully merged next year. Even without a true E+ on US planes, it's still a nice perk to be able to select seats with them at time of booking up front. Right now it seems like AA is willing to differentiate their product from AA/DL, but we'll see how long that lasts. Personally, I'm glad I made the switch from the UA to AA, as even with lowly Plat status, I feel like I get a little more than I did as a Gold or Plat with UA. To the thread though, given where MP, or MileageMinus, is going and has been going, I can see our pals at Willis tower green-lighting the change and perhaps linking the state selection at booking 'perk' to the Chase Card or something like that.

iflyuaaa

why? aa has so far been great!

swm61230

Ssshhhhhh. Don't tell them about how much greener the grass is for the defectors.

Cargojon

95% of the time it was aisle seats in E+ (my preference). Once it was a window but that was during Irrops.

For now its primarily my EU travel and detesting connecting through LHR.



*eta thanks to mod for merging my failed multi-quote...

bhrubin

I actually doubt that UA will remove automatic E+ booking for Golds. With it being harder to qualify for Gold based on the newly increased revenue requirements, there will be fewer Golds. And with fewer Golds, there are more E+ seats that UA already can sell/upcharge.

IF UA were to preclude E+ booking for Gold, that would be a major devaluation of 1 million mile/Lifetime Gold benefits--and probably subject UA to a class action lawsuit since once one qualifies for Lifetime Gold, there is a legal assumption of continuation of comparable benefits.

SF1K

Doubtful they are worried about that - since they "won" the suit from PMUA MMs when they got rid of the two RPUs (Confirmed Regional at the time).

jiburi

...and probably a great way for United to distinguish a major difference between Premier Gold and Premier Platinum. A perk, which can reprogram you to book additional $2500 in booking and 25000 miles of additional travel.

Jiburi

PS- On my most recent flight, two people sitting E+ declined on-board late F upgrade, as E+ offered better leg room. There is definitely value in sitting E+ and some actually prefer it than F.

bhrubin

Changing benefits due to a merger between airlines is a different scenario than changing benefits due to simple policy preferences. The parameters of that RPU case and those with a potential post-merger United dropping a significant Lifetime Gold benefit would be quite different. A merger gives airlines an excuse to drop benefits that one airline enjoyed and the other didn't. That isn't the case here.

Again, I still doubt that UA would drop the automatic booking benefit for E+ for its Gold and higher elites. Until then, this is all academic.

sbm12

Nope...the snacks are on 900+ mile flights in C+. The free drinks will be on all flights per what's been published by the company.
It is coming. The A319s are getting MCE starting soon and I would bet that other aircraft will be more than not.