I'm trying to book international economy through Amex and they don't seem to be able to exclude basic economy fares. I have tried on three separate occasions to book fare classes and prices that I thought would have given me full fare economy but to no avail. If anyone has any advice it would be very much appreciated.

Apologies in advance for a somewhat newbie question, normally an AA flyer. I have to purchase BE for work purposes since it's the cheapest fare. Not a fan of the cheap seats, so do I have the ability to buy out of BE to first? I've never had an issue with upfareing on AA, but wasn't sure if that was possible on UA. Destination is SJU, if that matters. Thanks!

no way to buy from BE directly to F.

If this is a domestic (or at least not long-haul), you should be able to do this by first buying up to regular economy. Then you should be able to buy up to F (if available) from there.

Hi I just upgraded my travelers from basic economy to economy. In doing so we’re supposed to have the ability to pick our own seats, right? When I go to seat selections it’s asking us to purchase seats with a message that pops up that says

“There are no complimentary seat assignments available at this time. You'll be assigned a seat at no charge prior to boarding, or you can purchase an available seat on the seat map.”

Which it wouldn’t be complimentary seating since we already paid for it when we upgraded from basic economy to economy. Is this right and even though I upgraded to economy I still have to purchase a seat?

Even for regular economy, for non-elites, there are free seats (those in white), and paid seats (Economy+, those in blue with extra legroom, and I think you can also buy preferred now, which are the same as the regular white seats, but they are closer to the front - they are half white half dark blue (IIRC), and used to be only available for certain pax - elites, corporates, etc.). When all the free seats are already selected, the message you are getting pops up, because, there are no free seats left to select.

You can keep checking - things do change - people might cancel, buy up, change flights, etc, so free seats could become available again. Failing that, you could elect to pay for one of the paid seats (IIRC, the option to buy to E+, though not sure about preferred, isn't available on a basic ticket). As you get closer to departure, and especially at check in, things can get better. You have elites (silvers) who are eligible to move into E+, others who might buy up, etc. In the absolute worst case, you;'ll be assigned a seat automatically at check in or at the gate, for free, even if the seat was one of the paid options from earlier.

Lesson learned because I paid $300 mainly so we can all sit together. The carry on was a convenience not a necessity. Should have just bought the seats then and just kept basic economy.

I typically don’t buy BE, but any seats you had available to purchase on your BE tickets are the same ones you would have been able to select for free on a regular economy ticket. If there was no option to buy seats when they were BE, wouldn’t be much of a surprise to else there were no comp. Selections available after upgrading the fare type.

sorry you had to learn the hard way.

Unoccupied Preferred seats are free to any passenger at Check-In

Unoccupied economy seatmap coding
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...482fe91fba.png

So, these seats in white that I'm seeing for purchase would have been complimentary if I had selected Economy in the first place? Since I upgraded to economy these are the seats I have to now purchase? That seems so silly. The difference in ticket prices from basic Economy vs regular economy was $ 299 pp vs close to $700 pp which seemed crazy.

I should have went with delta/Jetblue/AA which was more money up front but would have been cheaper in the long run. They didn’t have all these caveat that you seem to have to navigate with united. I rarely fly so this is a lesson learned and something I will be mindful of in the future. I wonder if I contact united if I can have my ticket downgraded back to basic economy and refunded. It's the principal of the matter. I don't like feeling like I'm double paying for something.

So at check in the united economy seats will be available for me to choose and it's not going to be a case of United assigning random seats for me? My thing is I'm flying with first time flyers and anxiety about traveling will be at a max level. So it's important for us to be seated together and not randomly placed.

They also have a portion of the economy requing extra access fees.

Conditional Yes, depends on if adjacent seats are available at that time

UA has four categories of economy seats
Economy Plus -- bookable for free by some elites or by subscription or occasionally by anyone if the rest of the seats are occuplied
Preferred -- "reserved" for corporate customers or elites, access able before checkin by anyone for fee or free after checkin
Blocked -- UA will block seats for those with medical needs or family groups (especially with minors) -- need to call for access
Rest of economy -- free for any non-Basic Economy passenger

BE passenger have no say in placement which could be in any part of the entire economy cabin (including E+, preferred or rest of economy)

Blocked and preferred seats will open up at check-in for any non-BE. Getting adjacent seats for a large group at that time will depend on how full the flight is.

Note is worth checking the flight from time to time as people plans change and seats may open up. Also at check-in and afterward "free seats" will open up for the above reasons and as elites upgrade or move into E+. There is quite of bit of seat churn closer to departure.

Super helpful. Thanks for your insight!

United Explorer card and basic economy
 

I currently have a United explorer card and an economy plus subscription. I am curious on how priority boarding and my EP sub would play with a basic economy fare? Reading the terms of the benefits gets a little confusing.

Anyone have thoughts or insight how these 2 products/offerings pair with each other?

TIA

Seat selection isn't included with basic economy tickets, so your E+ subscription doesn't come into play at all when flying BE.

With the United explorer card, you do retain your priority boarding order (group 2), have the ability to bring a full size carry on, and check a bag free.

Thanks AUSNYCflyer

United showed me good customer service. I shot them a tweet and they assigned my seats together.