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-   -   United's Basic Economy - Discussion, Q&A, ...Now cancellable for a fee (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/1802527-uniteds-basic-economy-discussion-q-now-cancellable-fee.html)

kb1992 Jan 12, 2022 4:24 pm

Saw this regarding adding Economy Benefits to BE

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...fd6484e64b.jpg


https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...c-economy.html

But where can I add Economy Benefits? Can't find it in the reservation.

Ario Jan 19, 2022 2:42 pm

Booked a basic economy ticket last November (11/2021) using travel back credit expring in May this year (05/2022). I have to cancel the reservation due to confilcts. United says I could pay $45 to upgrade my Basic Economy ticket to Economy ticket, with the economy ticket . United says I could then "Change or cancel your flight without paying a change fee".

Does this mean I could cancel my upgraded basic economy ticket and get my economy fare credit? My travel credit will expire in November this year, irrelavent to my travel bank expiration date (05/2022), correct?

emcampbe Jan 19, 2022 5:11 pm


Originally Posted by Ario (Post 33917429)
Booked a basic economy ticket last November (11/2021) using travel back credit expring in May this year (05/2022). I have to cancel the reservation due to confilcts. United says I could pay $45 to upgrade my Basic Economy ticket to Economy ticket, with the economy ticket . United says I could then "Change or cancel your flight without paying a change fee".

Does this mean I could cancel my upgraded basic economy ticket and get my economy fare credit? My travel credit will expire in November this year, irrelavent to my travel bank expiration date (05/2022), correct?

Yes, if you ‘upgrade’ your ticket from BE to regular economy, presumably you’d now have fare rules of the regular economy bucket, which don’t have change fees.

TravelBank is irrelevant in all this - your ticket will still be non-refundable, so if you cancel, the value will be in an FFC. Typically, the FFC is valid for a year from original date of purchase, but they extended again last year, so all are valid until Dec. 31, 2022. That means your first flight must depart by then, but further flights can depart later than that.

The only way TravelBank would be relevant to anything is in the case of IRROPS and you opt for a refund. Then the value would go back to your Travel Bank - have not see. Many reports on expiration policy in this case, so not sure if that takes on the existing expiry or it gets a new one.

Ario Jan 19, 2022 6:34 pm

Thanks for your reply. I intend to get an ETC so I could purchase a tickert later. Thanks again!

emcampbe Jan 19, 2022 10:39 pm


Originally Posted by Ario (Post 33918048)
Thanks for your reply. I intend to get an ETC so I could purchase a tickert later. Thanks again!

you can no longer get an ETC for canceling - only an FFC. The window to have a choice was pretty limited - sometime not long after the pandemic started (maybe April 2020) to maybe early fall 2020. There were definitely some reports of agents manually converting after that on request, but definitely not many recently…even on request mostly stopped in the early months of 2021, IIRC.

i wouldn’t say an ETC won’t be done for sure, but I’d give very low probablity, that it’s barely worth asking, but you can always give it a shot. The prime benefit of an ETC over FFC is the ability to use it for any traveler, vs. the same traveler required for FFC. If you know you are going to travel again by end of the year, it’s definitely not worth the hassle (IMO) of trying to get it changed.

boat stuck Jan 26, 2022 6:30 pm

What does a BE boarding pass for a MP gold/plat look like? Does it say both GROUP 1 as well as BASIC ECONOMY on it?

And does a Gold/Plat on an intl itinerary still get United Club access?

Relatedly, has any one here with status ever tried to change from one economy seat to another economy seat (either + or -) on a BE ticket with an airport agent, and gotten declined? I know there's a lot of successes in changing seats reported in this thread, so just wondering if anyone tried and failed.

Lurker Jan 29, 2022 4:34 pm

No longer able to block visibility of BE fares on United.com?
 
I used to be able to ask United.com to not show me BE fares. Has that capability gone away?

Thanks in adavcnce

Lurker :)

Flying Machine Jan 29, 2022 4:58 pm


Originally Posted by boat stuck (Post 33938963)
What does a BE boarding pass for a MP gold/plat look like? Does it say both GROUP 1 as well as BASIC ECONOMY on it?

And does a Gold/Plat on an intl itinerary still get United Club access?

Relatedly, has any one here with status ever tried to change from one economy seat to another economy seat (either + or -) on a BE ticket with an airport agent, and gotten declined? I know there's a lot of successes in changing seats reported in this thread, so just wondering if anyone tried and failed.

I’m platinum, flew international BE BP stated Group 1 And BE was in Bold on the bottom of BP. No issues at all with Lounge Access. The four or five times that I flown BE I normally was seated in E+, the time I wasn’t I asked the gate agent politely for a specific E+ seat that I saw was available via the APP and no issues changing

WineCountryUA Jan 29, 2022 5:26 pm


Originally Posted by Lurker (Post 33946967)
I used to be able to ask United.com to not show me BE fares. Has that capability gone away?

Thanks in adavcnce

Lurker :)

I believe that has only been possible on the app but not on united.com

emcampbe Jan 29, 2022 8:52 pm


Originally Posted by WineCountryUA (Post 33947075)
I believe that has only been possible on the app but not on united.com

this. Never was an ability (IME) to block this on the site.

BE does not always show up as an option, however. If the route you are flying doesn’t offer BE (eg, to Canada), the column will not display. I thought it was also that way on domestic routes where no BE fares are possible in your search (ie, the route offers BE, but no BE fares are available at the date/time), but maybe I’m wring and the column does show but it just says ‘not available’ for all options?

Lurker Jan 30, 2022 2:20 pm

Thanks emcampbe and Wine Country

xliioper Jan 30, 2022 3:03 pm


Originally Posted by emcampbe (Post 33947431)
this. Never was an ability (IME) to block this on the site.

BE does not always show up as an option, however. If the route you are flying doesn’t offer BE (eg, to Canada), the column will not display. I thought it was also that way on domestic routes where no BE fares are possible in your search (ie, the route offers BE, but no BE fares are available at the date/time), but maybe I’m wring and the column does show but it just says ‘not available’ for all options?

There are no BE fares offered on LAX-SEA and column does not show at all.

exploreaswego Jan 30, 2022 8:46 pm


Originally Posted by boat stuck (Post 33938963)
What does a BE boarding pass for a MP gold/plat look like? Does it say both GROUP 1 as well as BASIC ECONOMY on it?

And does a Gold/Plat on an intl itinerary still get United Club access?

Relatedly, has any one here with status ever tried to change from one economy seat to another economy seat (either + or -) on a BE ticket with an airport agent, and gotten declined? I know there's a lot of successes in changing seats reported in this thread, so just wondering if anyone tried and failed.

We just flew UA yesterday, from ORD - LAS.
Booked BE, both me and my partner are lowly Silver, and we booked the ticket direct as a group of 4, with her sister and her friend.
We had boarding group 2 printed on our ticker, each checked had 1 free bag, had premier access as well as bolded BE printed on the boarding pass.
We checked in on the app, in person, no way we could switch the seats without charge. Was assigned to the horrid last row in front of the lavatory and no recline.
Tried asking different gate agents if we could change seats after seeing a few E+ seats open before boarding, but was turned down very dismissively almost like I was annoying them. And they were all disinterested to help.

In the past we would be able to switch to BE without issues. So maybe if you are a solo flyer, or a couple, the system could let you switch easily on the app when 24 hours before check in without any charges.
Or maybe they changed that now, but this is my first time flying as group larger than 2, so it could have affected my chances of a seat switch.

WineCountryUA Jan 30, 2022 10:08 pm


Originally Posted by exploreaswego (Post 33949974)
We just flew UA yesterday, from ORD - LAS.
Booked BE, both me and my partner are lowly Silver, and we booked the ticket direct as a group of 4, with her sister and her friend.
We had boarding group 2 printed on our ticker, each checked had 1 free bag, had premier access as well as bolded BE printed on the boarding pass.
We checked in on the app, in person, no way we could switch the seats without charge. Was assigned to the horrid last row in front of the lavatory and no recline.
Tried asking different gate agents if we could change seats after seeing a few E+ seats open before boarding, but was turned down very dismissively almost like I was annoying them. And they were all disinterested to help.

In the past we would be able to switch to BE without issues. ....

That's exactly what you signed up for

MileagePlus members, including Premier members, will not receive:
  • Complimentary Economy Plus seating
  • Paid upgrades
  • Mileage upgrades
  • Complimentary Premier Upgrades
  • PlusPoints upgrades

This has been true from the beginning but an occasional GA will change you to E+ but it is not what your agreed to in booking Basic Economy

That is partially the problem with agents bending the rules, people come to expect it every time.

Flying Machine Jan 30, 2022 10:43 pm


Originally Posted by WineCountryUA (Post 33950110)
That's exactly what you signed up for


This has been true from the beginning but an occasional GA will change you to E+ but it is not what your agreed to in booking Basic Economy

That is partially the problem with agents bending the rules, people come to expect it every time.

Or the GAs will be more accommodating to UA Golds and higher


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