Kacee

Were there any equipment changes?
See multiple reports upthread, including acknowledgment by 1kvoice that there was a known IT issue. It was likely tied to PP application. Has not happened my last two reservations.

Yaddablahblah

It's not limited to PP upgrades. Had travel with my wife in paid F switched on a flight on 4/1. We were in 3A and 4A in a 787 were moved to 1L and 8L. Checked all of my other flights as a precaution and the only other flight where my seat was changed was also paid F, and also from 3A to 8L.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

United just changed my seat for my flight in a couple of days from one I had selected to one I hadn’t. 1K and had PPs applied. Went from 8F to 1A in a 753.

VRFast

Nice upgrade, enjoy the extra legroom and stuff....

juergenor

I have now encountered seat changes in exit row 21. UA1693 on 4/27 from isle seat to window - and again now on upcoming UA2610 4/27 in exit row 21 from isle to window. Called 1k desk and was told that this could be for organizational reasons and it could be an air marshal. Have not experienced this in over 20 years - and I ended up in a middle seat.

There is something awfully wrong and the 1k desk is helpless or is feeding me nonsense (maybe both). Not sure what to do - the two isle seats in row 21 are of course taken.

RobOnLI

Some combo of both possibly. The 1K desk is generally not useless but they absolutely cannot boot somebody else out of a seat if it's occupied just to re-instate your seat. There are legitimate reasons for you to lose a seat assignment and FAM is one of them. As for feeding you nonsense, this is absolutely possible. The 1K agent likely has zero clue why you lost your seat (even possibly for FAM) and will tell you what they think you want to hear to get you off the phone because at the end of the day, again, nothing they can do but assign you a seat that's showing available on the seat map.

Maybe a quick equipment swap happened and everybody lost their seat. I've seen this happen many times, even like-for-like equipment. It depends on how it gets coded in the system.

-RM

wingnuthead

Well, just happened to me again, second time in past 48 hours. Flying tomorrow SAV to EWR, originally selected seats vanished 2 days ago, I reselected, then those vanished and were randomly assigned yet again during check in, but I was at least able to find 2 together.

Could have been eqpt change, 73X to A32X, but I didn't pay attention originally.....

zombietooth

At least you now know that it has nothing to do with your status. It's just an IT problem-although I have seen some pretty good evidence of "shenanigans" in the past.

juergenor

I have not experienced this in 15+ years while getting my 1 million miles status - but now it happened in one week twice. Makes me wonder what is going on. The FAM statement was nonsense since I sat in the exit row in the middle seat and observed the „lucky ones“ in the isle seat.

I suspect that there is a system glitch and will follow up with the UA 1k desk once I am back home per the advice of the 1k agent. I have three more trips booked in the near future and are now monitoring my seat assignments every day - which makes me feel like an idiot having to do this.

juergenor

I did fill out teh feedback section and this is the response I got:

"I'm so very sorry that your seat assignment was different from the one you originally requested. We have been having problems with our seat map lately and I thought our IT department had resolved the issue. I'm so sorry that wasn't the case. I do know they are completely aware of the situation and are working hard to fix it as it has been quite a problem."

Unacceptable and rediculous that United is aware of this problem and is not able to fix it.

DELee

Unfortunately, that is the current UA at its finest. As well as one of the reasons UA FTers spend a good portion of their days checking on their reservations and seat selections.

David

FLYMSY

On 1/2/23, I booked a flight for my wife and I, MSY-IAD-ZRH-IAD-MSY, paid J, same PNR, all on UA metal, both 1Ks. On both TATL segments, we had seats 8A & 9A. Outbound flights are this week.

This past Friday, 5/5, when I checked our itinerary, all was fine for all flights. However, on Sunday , 5/7, when I went to print a copy of our intinerary, I saw that my wife did not have any seats assigned for any of the 4 segments. 😤🤬 When I called in, the rep could only restore 3 of 4 previously assigned seats. The agent couldn’t restore the 8A seat on the IAD-ZRH segment because someone else had already claimed it. The remaining 6 available seats were not particularly desirable, but we had to choose one of them. When I asked how this could happen, especially since we had our original seats for a little over 4 months and the flight is in 4 days, the agent said, “I don’t know” and she apologized. At least I didn’t get the usual yada, yada, seats aren’t guaranteed, possible FAM, blah, blah, stuff.

How in the hell does this kind of stuff happen? In similar situations, United should restore ALL original seat assignments and reassign the new passenger. They can give that passenger the same excuse, since it is apparently an acceptable one, “Sorry, I don’t know the reason why your seat was changed.“

A really strange situation. I empathize with all the previous posters who experienced something similar.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Is row 8 a bassinet row on you long-haul flight? Wouldn’t explain loss of all seat assignments, though.

zombietooth

It reminds me of when my wife and I were separated on the same PNR within 72 hours of our flight. She was moved to the back of the cabin and I kept my original seat. I called and kvetched about it but was told that they had no idea what happened. There was no equipment swap to explain it, and I suspected shenanigans because my new seat-mate looked like a surfer dude in board shorts and flops. I never asked for comp or anything for my situation but I was really incensed by the evasiveness.

I agree that they should give your wife her original seat back and move the interloper elsewhere. You might try escalating your complaint to the C-Suite. See here:

https://www.elliott.org/company-cont...ited-airlines/

Please come back and tell us if you get anywhere. This is one of the really aggravating things that I hate about UA.

FLYMSY

No, it’s not a bassinet row. Polaris cabin on a 763.