iluv2fly

No offense to you, Matthew, but if someone asked me how I got that seat, I would tell him it was none of his freaking business.

MatthewLAX

Well, that is your prerogative, but if anyone thinks it's cool to pull their GS card to boot people from their assigned seats, then

I really am curious if this is a GS, perhaps like poor Mr. Pillows before he got the axe, who demanded a certain seat and twisted the arm of the GS agent to displace a passenger who may have been seated there long in advance.

I'd like to think the more likely reason is a FAM, which has happened to me on multiple occasions, or an aircraft swap.

The OP has every right to be upset.

I'd still be curious if Mr/s 3B turns out to be a pretentious DYKWIA...

iluv2fly

I agree that he has every right to be upset. I would be too if it happened to me. I would never ask to boot someone out of an already-assigned seat.

But what is not known, however, is how that passenger got the seat. I have always been told that we cannot kick a passenger out of an existing seat. For example, when an upgrade would clear, I would ask for a window. The agent would say there are only aisles left. So be it. An aisle for me. Perhaps the circumstances were such that the seat opened up during an aircraft change, and the agent assigned him that empty seat.

MatthewLAX

This is absolutely the most likely explanation.

But I do know one GS (not you ) who has kicked people out of an assigned seat!

fumje

How do we know which flight this is? It seems like the only possible ones for going DEN-ORD-Alaska today are UA532, UA2679, UA1155, UA2312. But I don't see more than two swaps (three tails ever assigned) for any of those.

UA532: 1. N61881, 2. N37525
UA2679: 1. N27477, 2. N73445
UA1155: 1. N68836
UA2312: 1. N47512, 2. N37516, 3. N37527

Are some changes made not shown publicly?



Did you figure anything out when you got to the flight? And did you manage to get a trade done on board if not before?

WineCountryUA

But based on the testimony on FT, many GS have said that is no an option for them. That may be a few cases of this but I thing the evidence suggests it is one of the rare reasons.

As there have been multiple aircraft swaps of aircraft type with different seat configurations, a GS in the seat does not even mean this was a GS shenanigans. As the GS may have been seated there in the case of a normally seat scramble on aircraft config change. So querying will be inconclusive.

Hope your trip is going well and you were able to work out sometime in real-time.
A useful piece of information is, were you on a single PNR or separate bookings?

yeh8389

Thank you all!! We arrived in Chicago safely and we got to sit together…thanks to the 2 hr delay…hahaha!

Well, we went to United club and asked the agent to see what she could do. It ended up the flight was 2 hours delay and the passenger in 5F changed his/her flight and my spouse was able to move to the seat next to me! When I asked the agent whether GS agent can change peoples seat to accommodate GS and she just smiled and did not respond and told us now you both were sitting together. After we boarded, we noticed the guy sitting in 3B (my original seat) was one of the very first people who boarded. We thought he was GS!

Well, I monitor my flight everyday and it was changed two days prior to departure. I don’t think it’s computer error in this case since there was no schedule and plane change. My 3B seat was suddenly taken by someone else and I was moved to 5 E.

Anyway, this is just frustrating and I don’t think it’s fair that GS agents do it to make GS happy by sacrificing other passengers. I know United always say that they don’t do it. However, I guess it depends on agents. United should enforce its policy of practice if it wants to earn loyal flyers trust and should not allow “exception” in this case… Thanks for all your feedback! Take care!!

fumje

I see you must have been on UA1898 and overnighting in Chicago before continuing to Alaska, then?

Then there were indeed 4 tail swaps for that flight: 1. N75853, 2. N57852, 3. N75853, 4. N57864, 5. N75853.

Seems quite possible it was a random shuffle and not a poach. I can't really imagine someone being so fixated on seat 3B on a 753 to pull rank for it.

findark

Also, as WineCountryUA notes, there have been many instances on FT of GS trying to get someone bumped out of a seat (often to fix the results of a computer-initiated shuffle) who have been told no. While it's certainly possible (I swear I have heard of GM honeymooners talking a gate agent into evicting FTers from their seats before), it's not normal and not particularly likely.

WineCountryUA

Why? 1Ks also preboard before first class passengers.

You are not able to easily see plane changes on united.com if there are the same type and for some reason (this thread's subject) changes in assigned aircraft (even of the same) type trigger this weird seating changes? The prior poster did some research and appears there were multiple changes even though in the even it appears the original scheduled aircraft was used.

Were you an a common PNR or separate PNRs?

There are other more likely explanations, however it is doubtful what happened to cause this will ever be known.

Have a good trip!

jsloan

I'd say the chances are 50x higher that it was a federal Air Marshal than it was a GS who specifically asked for 3B. Air Marshals are assigned to flights very near the travel date, and are always given aisle seats near the front of the plane (but not necessarily in row 1). The agent is prohibited from informing passengers about where an Air Marshal sits, which would explain the lack of response to the question.

Especially if you were on the same reservation -- and I imagine you were -- an agent isn't going to split up traveling companions without a very good reason.

If it wasn't an Air Marshal, it was almost certainly a random computer swap, as described. (Yes, your plane really did change, several times). That's the reason this thread exists.

yeh8389

Thank you all so much! Two days prior to departure (the day when my seat was moved), I called and the supervisor told me no change to the aircraft. This was why it became so annoying to me.

We thought the guy was a GS because he boarded when it was GS’s turn. Anyway, I think it all depends on agents…some would do it while others follow the rule/practice and not doing it. It was an opportunity for me to learn that this can happen. Hopefully it won’t happen to me and many other passengers again!!

By the way, earlier this year I was running to the gate (I almost missed it) for the connecting flight in IAH, the gate agent was professional. She just told me that a GS requested to switch seat with you after you board…just a heads up. She let me know instead of just switching it. I think they should at least ask or notify the person first before moving the person.

Also, to use the travel credits, we needed to book on two separate itineraries. The agent told me to call and let them know we travel together next time! 😀

it’s summer travel season! Hope all your trips go smoothly if you have any. Take care!!

WineCountryUA

The agent probably though you were asked if the type of aircraft changed, it did not. But the assigned aircraft did change and that can, on some occasions, trigger the reseating

1Ks also preboard before first class

This is important piece of information. The computer process that does the reseating generally will not separate folks on a single PNR. But the computer will treat separate PNRs independently. This is always a risk of separate PNRs to get separated. Notes, comments, so called links in the PNR are ignored by the computer in the reseating process.
This issue is far more common with separate PNRs
Some agents say that but it does not work that way

same to you, hope to return to normal travel levels, multiple trips planned -- even a couple fun ones

mathprof

Traveling in 2 days Ina 739. Had 21CD booked with 21B and 21E unassigned for now. Suddenly moved to 8C and 20D, and 21ABCD assigned. Still a 739. Not too happy but only a platinum so they don’t care if they jack my seat assignments.

WineCountryUA

739 is notorious for this issue. There are 4 different E+ configurations varying from 39-42-45-48 E+ seats Depending on the initial and new config can lead to a load of shuffle and many times there may be multiple changes of configuration before things settle,