GretchenJ

My husband is a Platinum, who will be taking his first flight of 2016 tomorrow.

"EconomyPlus Enhanced" has appeared on all of his upcoming flights when viewing his reservation on the app, right under the name/seat assignment. He has not paid for E+ enhanced, but has gotten the E+ seats for free as part of his status.

We are wondering if Platinum and above will receive comp Club passes because of the E+ Enhanced designation? I would suspect not, but am curious why the name of a paid package would appear for someone who has not paid for it.

He checked in for tomorrow's flight, and now the words "CPU requested" appear where "EconomyPlus Enhanced" did before. The app is not showing a Club Pass. Still wondering why the E+ Enhanced text appears on any of his reservations at all.

Gretchen

EmailKid

I'm assuming this is a domestic flight, as CPU requested.

So if not purchased, no UC access.

PVDtoDEL

This might have been a prescient prediction - he has moved from UA to Walgreens, and the documents are nowhere to be found on his website anymore.

runchadrun

I have a LAX-ORD-FCO flight coming up in a few weeks on saver award tickets on which I purchased Economy Plus Essentials for $339/person, which is E+ and an extra checked bag. For two people this is a healthy chunk of change for 3 more inches of legroom.

Yesterday I got a notice that there was a 12-minute schedule change on the LAX-ORD leg. I happened to look at the reservation today and saw that my seat assignments were missing. I tried to add them back and it wanted to charge me $308/each for the seats and no option for the Economy Plus Essentials. So I called and, to make a long story and 2 CSRs hanging up on me short, the schedule change caused my EPE purchase to be canceled and refunded. Talking to the CSRs there was no way they would be able to add it back to my reservations since it's a one-time only offer. Normally, I was told, they would just cancel the reservation and have me start over but there was no more saver economy availability on this itinerary. (I did ask if they would open saver J availability but that was immediately shot down. Doesn't hurt to ask...) After I was hung up on a second time, the CSR on call #3 was able to immediately help. She put me in the E+ seats I originally requested at no charge so now I only need to pay for the second bag at $100/each, which is far cheaper than what I was paying before.

So the moral of the story is: if you have a schedule change they might/will cancel your EPE with no recourse but eventually you might get ahold of someone who will give you a better deal than you had before.

malren

Hello,

I am trying to figure out if the Economy Plus Essentials Option allows me to have 2 checked bags for free on a flight from TLV to SFO and back.
As the first bag is free anyways on these flights and on the Economy Plus Essentials it mentions you get a extra checked bag. BUT it doesn't say if that extra bag is for free so I am not sure if thats true.

Can some one confirm please?

Thanks

gurumanjohn

I have just returned from a trip to Costa Rica on United. When I booked the flights I paid the extra charge for the Economy Plus program which gets you a passable seat and an extra checked bag for free. When I arrived at Newark to check in, the Kiosk machine demanded $80 for two "extra" bags. We went instead to the counter to check in. There i showed the agent the receipt for the Plus Program payment. Her answer? "Sir, this just allows you to pay $40 each for the extra bags". Oddly, this is the same answer that 3 separate customer service people had given me on the telephone the night before when the United system wouldn't allow me to check in unless i paid another $80 dollars for the "extra" bags! A supervisor at the check in counter told the agent to refund my money and she did so. But the supervisor then reversed himself and told her to collect $80. I refused and wouldn'tt give her my credit card. I just walked away.

The exact same thing happened yesterday on the return flight. The agent said the exact same thing. "no sir, you misunderstand. this just allows you to pay the extra $80"! This time, however, an astute supervisor stepped in and recognized that we were entitled to two extra bags at no charge.

United has clearly not prepared either its computers or its employees for this program. DO NOT PURCHASE THE ECONOMY PLUS PACKAGE UNTIL THESE FAILURES OF MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION HAVE BEEN RESOLVED.

findark

I'm confused... Economy Plus Essentials gives the traveler one extra checked bag. According to the baggage calculator, EWR-SJO would normally by $25 for the first bag and $40 for the second bag. With the package, you should be paying $0 for the first bag and $40 for a second bag if you choose to check a second bag. What was the problem?

Note I'm assuming that you don't have status with United or any other source of additional free bags, and were traveling in United Economy.

Yes, you should get two free bags as E+ package is one additional free bag:

gurumanjohn

I don't know about your flights, but the United flights I've flown give you one free checked bag when I fly Economy Plus. So the Plus Essentials package gives you an additional free checked bag. So the total is 2 free bags. The problem is that very few United employees have even heard of the Essentials package, much less know what it includes. So when they read the material I show them, their reaction is "Yes, this allows you to pay for a second bag". Although this is ridiculous, that's what all but a very few actually think. This is why I'd be VERY cautious about selecting the Essentials op

WineCountryUA

No E+ does not include any baggage allowance.

Elite status and / or most international routes include baggage allowance.

And the E+ Essentials package does allow +1 additional bag for the traveler.


This would be true only for the non-elite passagner on most international routes (some international routes have a 2 bag allowance, most have just 1 and North America & domestic have 0)

HOWEVER, it appears EWR-SJO, has no inherent baggage allowance -- so the E+ Essentials covered the first and you should have paid for the seconds -- appears the agents (& computer) were CORRECT.

jsloan

Economy Plus does not add any additional luggage allowance on its own. The Essentials package adds one free bag to the standard allowance. I just put in SJO-EWR on the United baggage calculator, and it does not list any free bags, so the Essentials package would give you the first bag free; the second bag would still cost $40.

gurumanjohn

Did you not read the original post? I said at the beginning we were traveling to Costa Rica. In case it's not clear, that's a foreign country. Thus, 1 free bag. And Essentials gives you another for a total of 2. If you're flying within the US the package would save you (if my memory is correct} $8 in each direction. That may or may not be worth the hassle. But there were 2 of us so it saved us $32.

jsloan

Did you not read the response? In case it's not clear, you don't get one free bag to all foreign countries. UA sets their bag allowance based upon the competition on a market-by-market basis. There is no free baggage allowance on flights to Costa Rica.

gurumanjohn

Go to United and search for flights from anywhere in the USA to Liberia, Costa Rica. Then proceed to buy a ticket and you will, as if by magic, get one free checked bag -- As did everyone on our flight last night and our flight at the end of January.

jsloan

WineCountryUA added an image showing SJO. I just confirmed that the free allowance is identical -- zero -- for LIR. This may be a recent change; I have no idea.

Here, once again, is a link to the online baggage calculator. You can also read your receipt to see your free baggage allowance.

Baze

If you go to United site baggage charge calculator page and plug in any domestic USA starting point and any Costa Rica ending point it clearly says $25 for first bag and $40 for second bag if you have no status, are not in a premium cabin, don't have a CC that gives free checked bag and have not purchased any package that would give you a free bag. So with your E+ package that give a free additional bag you get your first one free and have to pay $40 for your second bag.

And I went to the UA site and went through the steps to purchase a ticket ( did not complete it) at the point where it asks me to click continue I want to buy it there was a link to the baggage fee calculator page, I clicked on it and got the same info we have all been telling you. So the agents were correct in trying to get you to pay $40 for your second bag. End of story.

So now you have multiple people here telling you and multiple agents telling you all the same thing.

Can you post a screen shot that proves it said you get a free bag when you actually purchase the ticket or are we all just supposed to not believe the baggage calculator and all the agents and take your word for it that it said that?