Rommie2k6

If I buy the one-year membership for United Economy Plus, which allows you to pick a Economy Plus seat. Does that also apply to award ticket or must be it be paid flights only?

WineCountryUA

E+ subscription is applicable to award and paid flights (but not Basic Economy fares)

Homer15

I think my current E+ subscription expires in about a month. I am undecided whether to purchase it again (I have silver right now, and not sure how many times I will use E+ over the next year). I have a trip in November where I thought I'd purchase the tickets now, pick E+ seats and hope I could keep them but it seems the website insists on charging me if I want to pick E+ seats.

On the one hand I get that my current sub does not extend to November, but on the other hand I do have E+ right now-- do they now expect me to pay for extending my subscription now (a month before it is due) before they will let me book an E+ seat for November?

Was my plan dumb in any case because they would certainly reassign me if I didn't purchase E+ again?

WineCountryUA

T&Cs state
The renewal may extend the present subscription, not replace it.

tiffany

Hello,
I have a question. I already purchased my refundable tickets last week. If I subscribe the economy plus now, would I be able to change seat on my previous reservation? Thank you so much for your help.

jsloan

Yes, the subscription is good for travel dates during the subscription term. Purchase dates aren't relevant -- you can use your subscription on flights you've already taken, and you can't use your subscription on dates after its expiration, even if you buy the tickets prior to expiration.

(Note that Basic Economy tickets are not eligible for E+ seating, even with the subscription, but since you mention refundable tickets, I conclude you're not in Basic Economy).

Yeezywesr

Can I use a subscription on award tickets booked thru partner airlines?

for example if I book thru air Canada or avianca

WineCountryUA

Welcome to FT!, Yeezywesr

Useable on any UA / UX operated flight where your MP account is in the PNR (that can be tricky for some award programs).

Yeezywesr

thanks for answering! I have some MR points that I plan on transferring to air Canada to make award bookings .

i already have one booking and E+ cost is about $600 for 3 people (ORD-GRU)

former1k

I have an E+ subscription for domestic. It is not offering E+ for free on an award PNR next year, which is dated after my subscription would have run out.
..
.
I did not book this PNR, but I don't think it matters for using the subscription. I can see the PNR in my united account, and can change my seats. But united wants to charge when I attempt E+ seats, as though I didn't have a subscription.

I am assuming that I need the E+ active when I make the seat selection, not necessarily when I fly. Am I mistaken?

jsloan

Yes, of course you're mistaken. Otherwise, a one-year subscription would be valid for nearly two years.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...nomy-plus.html

RNE

Can former1k renew now?

WineCountryUA

former1k

I get how my interpretation could be up to two long years, and that's not reasonable to United. Okay. But the opposite is also not reasonable, to the customer. The sub can could be good for 12 months or as little as a month, depending on where someone is in their subscription year. Mine is up in two months, and is now essentially useless for another month.

Like many fliers, I like to schedule flights and seats as the 11-month scheduling window opens up. I can't, unless I coincidentally just started a new subscription year. And then my forward looking window shrinks and shrinks to near zero, then back up another year. Not an ideal customer experience.

I am willing to pay for two years at a time to eliminate this problem. Not sure why UA doesn't want to take subscription money upfront...? /rant

jsloan

The vast, vast majority of flyers do no such thing. I suppose "many" is correct -- there are certainly plenty of people who do exactly that -- but you're not the common case. (FWIW, you're likely paying a substantial penalty in terms of the fare -- UA very rarely offers its best price immediately. It may be worth your time to check occasionally to see if the fare has dropped).

I mean, you can -- you don't have to reserve seats immediately. You can reserve them once your subscription renews. And I understand that you may be somewhat nervous about that -- presumably, the reason to book 11 months in advance is to reduce uncertainty -- but you're flying an airline where seats can (and do) get reassigned on a whim, for no apparent reason; where the schedule 11 months out is aspirational at best, and where you can generally count upon having to babysit your reservation if you want it to stay pristine. And considering that a relatively tiny percentage of the seats will be reserved more than, say, 6 weeks in advance, you're probably not taking that much of a risk here.

Try an experiment. Open the flight map for 6 weeks from today for a flight you'd consider taking. I'll do (without looking) IAH-FRA, and I'll pick a Friday to try to get a high load. The seat map (Sep. 23) shows a smattering of E+ seats claimed, but 30 still available of 46 (and some of the unavailable ones may actually be blocked for gate assignment -- e.g, bulkheads reserved for customers with limited mobility).

This, on the other hand, I can't answer, except that perhaps UA doesn't want to let people lock in future benefits at current prices? But I'm stretching here.