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.

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.

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.

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.

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 :)

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

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?

Thanks emcampbe and Wine Country

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

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.

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

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.

Change BE seat on TATL flight *after* check in?
 

Hi -

I've got a flight coming up via FRA, and my ticket is BE. I know that if I do nothing, a seat will be assigned to me at check in time. Right now, coach is only about 30% full, so I'm wondering if I'll have the option (either via the app or at the gate) to change my assigned seat (post checkin but pre boarding) to something in a less crowded row (non E+, I know). Or, should I purchase a window or aisle now for between $31 and $36. On a recent non BE domestic ticket, I was able to change my seat several times after check in (via the app) to be in an empty row, but I'm not sure how the app will behave on this new flight given that it's a BE fare.

Thanks for any guidance!

If Coach is now booked at about 30%, I would politely ask the gate agent for a change (look at the app for a specific seat that you like) and suggest that one. I didn’t see your status but if you’re a premier member of course ask for a E+ seat.. Best of luck and keep us posted.

PS: There will not be any free changes available via the app post check in

Thanks - knowing that the app will not offer free changes is exactly what I was hoping to find out. My plan now is to wait until just before check in and then pay for a seat in an empty row.

Hello, I hold non-UA *G status and I am considering booking a BE fare for 2 of us (my friend has no status) on the same PNR. Would we both be in BG2, and would each of us be entitled to 1 free checked bag and 1 full-sized carry-on? Thanks!

The UA site refers to companions of UA elites, but no mention about companions of *G:
"[...] you're not allowed a full-sized carry-on bag unless you're a MileagePlus Premier member or companion traveling on the same reservation, the primary cardmember of a qualifying MileagePlus credit card or a Star Alliance™ Gold member [...]"

What's the general consensus on getting E+ for 'free' with a BE ticket on a TATL routing? I'm considering my first ever BE ticket because I won't be using PlusPoints for this and I won't even be checking a bag or bringing anything larger than a backpack for the quick trip.

As a 1K, what are the chances of being auto assigned an E+ seat? My outbound is pretty full in the back except for E+ and the return is wide open. Do they auto assign seats at check-in or maybe based on status or just completely randomly?

I've scrolled back up a few pages in this thread and Flying Machine seems to have luck getting E+ automatically or having it manually changed the one time they didn't. Is that the general rule of thumb for other higher elites?

The price difference is $150. I'm also trying to decide if $150 is enough for me to guarantee E+ and know what seat I'm going to fly in given every other regular economy perk won't apply to me.

Thanks,
-RM

My outbound is pretty full in the back except for E+ and the return is wide open.

I think you’ll have pretty good luck with getting E+ especially on your outbound. GAs as I stated before have been pretty accommodating to me as a Platinum. As a 1K I feel the advantage is yours.. Best of luck and keep us informed

PS: is the overall ticket cost to go from BE to regular economy only $150 RT? If so, Are the PQPs valuable to you or RDMs? Something to consider

The entire ticket is $150 more to book regular economy both ways. I basically get to pre-select and guarantee an E+ seat if I pay the $150. I'm going way over 1K thresholds again this year so the PQP isn't super valuable to me.

-RM

Interesting toss up decision for $150.. it was way more the times I chose BE TATL.. if you like the security perhaps it’s worth it.. I’m a gambler and like the unknown 😀

Curious to know if you made a decision and how it worked out

I cancelled my BE ticket and bought regular economy. I'm still not sure how it would have worked out because two days before my flight all non E+ seats on IAD-Europe got filled. With BE pax? With other pax? I have no idea. Then right before check-in opened a few of them opened up so if UA assigns BE seats about 48 hours ahead of time then I might have been given E+. If not then I was likely getting stuck in E- and having to ask a GA to move me. No guarantee they would have done that.

On the return I was able to book myself in a middle E+ seat and get that whole row to myself to lie down a bit. Poor mans business class worked well for me. And the offer to upgrade to J was only $799. Not sure if I would have gotten an offer in BE but I didn't pay it for an afternoon flight back to IAD. I also didn't have confidence that the European station would have moved me to E+ based on status because it's not staffed by UA employees.

-RM