Is Seat Selection Allowed During OLCI for Basic Economy Fare?
 

Advising a friend on whether she should buy a BE ticket for a last minute family emergency trip to he UK. She is looking to fly less than 24 hours from now, so there is no point in her buying a non BE fare if she will get to select a seat immediately after booking through OLCI.

It’s doubtful that BE will be available for a flight that’s imminent.

United states that there is no seat selection for BE.

When I flew UA in BE in early June, I was allowed to change my seat; however, there was a charge. I don't remember the exact amount but it was under $20.

Looking at flights from SFO to LHR, there are 2 flights in the next 24 hours, both of which have Basic Economy (at a one-way fare of $528, it's great to fly off-season.)

You are unfortunately correct re seat assignment, this says that United will assign the seat for you: https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/tra...c-economy.html

This does vary from airline to airline, I know from experience that both Virgin Atlantic and KLM allow seat selection by the passenger at OLCI time.

UPDATE: As a test I started the booking dialog for the flight that was less than 24 hours away, and then the flight that is more than 24 hours away.

For the flight that was less than 24 hours away, it offered me seats for free. For the flight that was more than 24 hours away (27 hours actually), it wanted to charge me for seats.

Do Star Alliance Silver's from other programs still get their free checked bag?

*A benefits for *S does not include a bag waiver. So even on a non-BE ticket there is no bag waiver either.
UA Silver get 1 bag allowance if checking in with UA, non-UA *S do not on UA and UA *s will not on most other carriers.

BE with Chase UA Quest
 

TL;DR: I see chatter about needing to pay with the Chase credit card to access baggage and priority benefits. Is this true?

Booking 4pax (2 minors) OW SJC-ORD-ROC (BE Fare)
No status, but I have the Chase Quest card (2x bags for 2 pax on PNR)

I would like to pay the entire flight with TravelBank, but I am unofficially reading I need to use the Quest Card to access the baggage and boarding benefits?

A. Can I pay a small portion of the BE fare on the Quest card to guarantee my benefits?
B. Will my minors (under 10yrs old) get seated with me at a minimum?

Per link above:

a). You need to pay with the card for the baggage benefit, the boarding priority is applied to the MP account . As long as any portion is put on the UA CC it will apply the bag benefit.
b) Their family seat policy will make sure each child under 12 is in an adjacent seat to at least one adult in the PNR.

Thanks! Big savings coming my way!

Those 2nd bag charges are crushing :D

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9752e161ec.png

I have tickets booked in Basic Economy for DEN-LHR. I am considering paying to upgrade to Economy and then rebooking our return out of CDG. It would make the trip more expensive but more efficient (since we would only need a one way from London to Paris on Eurostar). It would cost me $300 per person to upgrade to Economy. If I did that, would the additional $300 become part of the ticket value, or is it like a change fee, where the ticket value would remain what I initially paid?

not part of the ticket value. It is ‘like a’ fee because it is a fee.

Good to know. Thanks. In that case, the round trip on Eurostar and the last hotel night in London are worth the savings on the airfare.

I noticed something odd when I am booking an UA, in my case a one-way LIR-IAH-ORD-YYZ. When I book Basic Economy and use the United Canada site (charged in CAD$), and I enter my AC aeroplan number (no elite status, just a mid tier cc, which should not have such benefit not even for AC), I have free standard seat selection on all my routes. but if I go to the United USA site (with all same parameters), then I am charged for seat selection. Is this a bug or some agreement between UA and AC? I just tried it again with a dummy booking.

Got a seat 3 days before the flight, may have been even longer than 3 days, didn't check until just now.

Hey, I got assigned a seat in the last row. Now I will get to hang out with the cool kids and chill FA, or I will have the entire row to myself.

This BE stuff ain't too bad.

In BE will a standalone CPAP (medical equipment) bag not count as a personal item, allowing you to still bring a personal item?