Sep 21, 2017, 9:00 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Economy Plus subscriptions
E+ subscriptions are available in various packages
Key T&Cs
Additional key points
What will happen with a reservation that occurs after the E+ subscription expires? Will my E+ seat assignment be changed?
-- The E+ selection can only me made if the travel is within subscription period
Can I have an E+ subscription but credit my flights to a different *A program?
Yes, but it will take some effort. If you remove your MP account from the reservations and there is any change in aircraft you may lose your E+ seat assignment. Best to wait until you have checked-in and have your BP. If you have multiple segments, it can get tedious to switch the program account multiple times. There is a small risk if you have a problem changing accounts, the flight credit might go to UA.
E+ subscriptions are available in various packages
- Number of travelers who will receive the benefits of the subscription
- Subscriber-only
- Subscriber and one companion
- Subscriber and eight companions
- Region
- Continental United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii)
- North and Central America
- Intra-Asia and Oceania (excludes flights from Honolulu to Guam)
- Global
Key T&Cs
- Subscriptions are non-refundable and non-transferable.
- Subscriptions will expire on the date indicated on the term at purchase of the subscription.
- Economy Plus is offered on select flights operated by United and United Express.
- Economy Plus seat requests and specific seat assignments are not guaranteed.
- Customers who are traveling on a Basic Economy ticket are not eligible to receive Economy Plus subscription benefits.
- Subscriptions may be customized to benefit additional travelers on the same reservation as the subscriber. Travelers not covered by the subscription benefits are subject to additional charges.
- Flights must be scheduled to depart within the subscription period.
- The subscriber’s MileagePlus number must be included in the reservation in order to receive the subscription benefits.
- Subscriptions may be upgraded at any time.
- Upgraded subscriptions are valid for one year from the time of upgrade.
- Any unused value from the previous subscription will be applied to the upgrade price.
- Subscriptions can be renewed and can be set-up for auto-renewal
Additional key points
- E+ subscription allows selection of E+ seats at the time of booking (Same as UA Gold and higher elites -- UA Silver do not have access until check-in)
- Subscription applies to individual segments, so if a segment of your itinerary is in a covered region, that segment is eligible. Segments outside your purchased region are not eligible.
- E+ access subscription only applies to UA/UX operated flights. Does not provide any benefit on partner flights.
- There is no requirement that it must be a UA-issued ticket (016). There are successful reports for bookings on non-016 / UA tickets.
- E+ subscription applies to award and paid flights (but not Basic Economy fares)
- Coverage for additional travelers (if purchased) only applies to those on the same PNR {but you can try calling -- might get lucky}
- An E+ access subscription does not provide other benefits like premier access (check-in, security or boarding)
- If upgraded, there is no E+ refund for that segment (unlike purchasing individual E+ segment access)
- The purchase price of the E+ subscription qualifies for PQDs and will credit in the year of the purchaseThe recipient of an Economy Plus gift subscription is given PQD credit for the price of the subscription purchase when the subscription is activated.
What will happen with a reservation that occurs after the E+ subscription expires? Will my E+ seat assignment be changed?
-- The E+ selection can only me made if the travel is within subscription period
Can I have an E+ subscription but credit my flights to a different *A program?
Yes, but it will take some effort. If you remove your MP account from the reservations and there is any change in aircraft you may lose your E+ seat assignment. Best to wait until you have checked-in and have your BP. If you have multiple segments, it can get tedious to switch the program account multiple times. There is a small risk if you have a problem changing accounts, the flight credit might go to UA.
Economy Plus Subscriptions -- Q&A, issues, ....
Feb 9, 2019, 8:33 am
#151
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 5
We each paid $600 more for Economy Plus on the round-trip ticket. It was apx. $300 more for EP each leg of the IAH-SYD trip. It sounds like that was too much for that option?!? We don't fly anything other than Economy usually so we don't know how much others pay for this kind an upgrade. The $600 was a significant bite out of my retirement income but figured it would be worth it for a 15+ hour flight.
Feb 9, 2019, 8:38 am
#152
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,393
United's schedule change policy is quite liberal, however. If your reservation has been updated to show a change that you don't like, look up an alternative that you prefer and call. They'll change it for you at no charge, within reason. So, if the nonstop flight is operating the day before or the day after your flight, and you're OK moving your reservation by one day, call and ask.
Alternatively, if the new schedule simply won't work for you, you should be able to get a full refund. This is particularly useful if you'd like to go back and select the E+ subscription instead.
You don't need to decide what you want to do right away, but you only get one bite at the apple, so take some time, figure out what works best, and get UA to help.
Feb 9, 2019, 8:57 am
#153
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 75
We each paid $600 more for Economy Plus on the round-trip ticket. It was apx. $300 more for EP each leg of the IAH-SYD trip. It sounds like that was too much for that option?!? We don't fly anything other than Economy usually so we don't know how much others pay for this kind an upgrade. The $600 was a significant bite out of my retirement income but figured it would be worth it for a 15+ hour flight.
Feb 9, 2019, 9:00 am
#154
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,028
Feb 9, 2019, 9:06 am
#155
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,600
We each paid $600 more for Economy Plus on the round-trip ticket. It was apx. $300 more for EP each leg of the IAH-SYD trip. It sounds like that was too much for that option?!? We don't fly anything other than Economy usually so we don't know how much others pay for this kind an upgrade. The $600 was a significant bite out of my retirement income but figured it would be worth it for a 15+ hour flight.
Feb 9, 2019, 9:18 am
#156
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: SFO
Posts: 3,941
Feb 9, 2019, 9:29 am
#157
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA, DL
Posts: 7,418
We each paid $600 more for Economy Plus on the round-trip ticket. It was apx. $300 more for EP each leg of the IAH-SYD trip. It sounds like that was too much for that option?!? We don't fly anything other than Economy usually so we don't know how much others pay for this kind an upgrade. The $600 was a significant bite out of my retirement income but figured it would be worth it for a 15+ hour flight.
2) Given the schedule change you can probably just leave a day earlier or later, which hopefully works for you.
3) Economy plus is probably "worth" it on these flights, given the length. You get a reasonable amount of leg room instead of an unreasonable amount. $300/person for each leg seems a bit high, but sort out your money.
4) As noted, a less expensive option would be an annual E+ subscription with one companion for $999. You'll be able to use it for all UA flights for a year, as will your spouse, who hopefully in retirement gets to travel with you a lot. Either way, it's probably a better value than a one-time purchase.
Good luck getting things sorted out and enjoy what will surely be a great trip. Be glad the change happened early on!
Feb 9, 2019, 9:50 am
#158
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Austin, TX - AUS
Programs: AA Platinum, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott
Posts: 1,625
We each paid $600 more for Economy Plus on the round-trip ticket. It was apx. $300 more for EP each leg of the IAH-SYD trip. It sounds like that was too much for that option?!? We don't fly anything other than Economy usually so we don't know how much others pay for this kind an upgrade. The $600 was a significant bite out of my retirement income but figured it would be worth it for a 15+ hour flight.
Best way to distinguish "Premium Economy" from "Economy Plus" is look at the seat map - "Economy Plus" has the same number of seats per row as economy while "Premium Economy" has fewer seats per row than economy.
Feb 9, 2019, 9:53 am
#159
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: San Francisco/Sydney
Programs: UA 1K/MM, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Something, IHG Gold, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 8,156
E+ on IAH-SYD is $229 each way, per person. That's on a route where there have been (pre-tax) airfares this week for below $200 (each way)...
If it was actually $600, then I'd say the OP bought one of the "bundles" with either priority access, extra bag, or lounge access.
Presuming you were referring to the comment about free middle seats, I can't speak for IAH-SYD, but on SFO-SYD and LAX-SYD, my experience is that E+ generally goes out with a much higher ratio of middle seats free than E-. Of course, it depends on the day, and loads, and luck. (This presumes that the OP does the age-old trick of booking their seats as window/aisle or aisle/aisle)
If it was actually $600, then I'd say the OP bought one of the "bundles" with either priority access, extra bag, or lounge access.
Presuming you were referring to the comment about free middle seats, I can't speak for IAH-SYD, but on SFO-SYD and LAX-SYD, my experience is that E+ generally goes out with a much higher ratio of middle seats free than E-. Of course, it depends on the day, and loads, and luck. (This presumes that the OP does the age-old trick of booking their seats as window/aisle or aisle/aisle)
Feb 9, 2019, 12:03 pm
#160
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: SFO
Programs: COdbaUA Platinum 2MM
Posts: 5,532
Economy Plus seats are in blue
Mar 10, 2019, 7:25 am
#161
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 7
E+ subscription service and booking husband/wife separate reservations bc of points
I will be booking a flight for my husband and I in a few weeks. We are using points but the points are in our individual accounts. I spoke with an agent and they advised that we must make two separate reservations since we will be using points from our individual accounts.
First question, is there really no way to have the agent make one reservation and just pull our points from each account?
In addition I plan to purchase the E+ subscription service for myself and one companion. If we have to have two separate reservations I won’t be able to use the subscription service for my companion since we would be on different reservations.
Second question, if we have to make two spearte reservations how can we use the E+ subscription service for both of us?
Third question, can phone agents really not put you in E+ seats without charging you? I asked the rep since I would have already paid for the E+ subscription if they would just put my husband (my companion) in E+ seats without charging and they said like everything else “our system doesn’t allow us”
Thanks for the help!!!
First question, is there really no way to have the agent make one reservation and just pull our points from each account?
In addition I plan to purchase the E+ subscription service for myself and one companion. If we have to have two separate reservations I won’t be able to use the subscription service for my companion since we would be on different reservations.
Second question, if we have to make two spearte reservations how can we use the E+ subscription service for both of us?
Third question, can phone agents really not put you in E+ seats without charging you? I asked the rep since I would have already paid for the E+ subscription if they would just put my husband (my companion) in E+ seats without charging and they said like everything else “our system doesn’t allow us”
Thanks for the help!!!
Mar 10, 2019, 9:17 am
#162
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
1. No, awards from different accounts cannot be ticketed into the same PNR.
2. E+ is only available to a companion ticketed into the same PNR.
Airport agents, most likely at the gate, are most likely to accommodate as they have freedom to move people around. If they need seats to help out a family or some other couple, it may be possible for a GA to provide your husband an E+ seat. It might even be possible to find two together.
2. E+ is only available to a companion ticketed into the same PNR.
Airport agents, most likely at the gate, are most likely to accommodate as they have freedom to move people around. If they need seats to help out a family or some other couple, it may be possible for a GA to provide your husband an E+ seat. It might even be possible to find two together.
Mar 10, 2019, 9:30 am
#163
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,134
How about booking one-way awards? Use your miles for the outbound and your husband's miles for the return. The cost is the same, and you'd be on the same PNR in both directions.
Mar 10, 2019, 9:41 am
#164
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 7
ahhh Yes I didn’t even think about this because I was so mad about the ticketing system in general! This should work.
I guess with the E+ subscription it doesn’t matter who’s account you book it under just as long as the subscriber holder and companion are both on the same PNR?
Mar 10, 2019, 9:50 am
#165
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,134