jsloan

I think you mean Basic Economy (BE). "E-" is generally used to refer to non-Economy Plus seats.

Sure, but passengers on board the aircraft are unlikely to know what specific situation caused the issue, and are likely to jump to conclusions. I agree that it's best to get it sorted out ahead of time at the gate. It's possible that UA has blocked some seats from assignment that could be given out; it's also possible that some people will decide they'd rather spend an extra day on the islands than head home, and they'll miss their flight. Letting the GA know the situation as soon as practical is a must.

OP: If you haven't already, sign up for ExpertFlyer. While the paid service has some great features, seat alerts are included in the free service. You can set an alert and get an email if the seat map changes in specific ways (e.g., two adjacent seats become available, or the specific seat next to one of the middles you already have opens up). Then, you could go in and update your seat assignment to take advantage.

Good luck!

John Aldeborgh

Please relax, weight and balance envelopes on aircraft used as air carriers are large and the airlines are extremely careful with loading cargo to make this invisible to passengers so please stop making inexperienced people unnecessarily nervous. Yes, sometimes passenger counts are reduced on smaller planes but this is due to total weight on hot days and has nothing to do with weight and balance. Also, the Concord crashed in Paris due to debris puncturing the fuel system and had nothing to do with weight and balance. Concord was grounded because the aircraft had reached their maximum airframe hours and were expensive to maintain nothing more ominous than that, so again, please stop trying to inflate things. BTW, I’m a licensed pilot and know what I’m talking about.

Hammer0425

At the risk of sounding snarky, weights on "smaller" planes are not only reduced because of weight on a hot day. More often, it's due to reaching overall max take off weight, the probability of being over max landing weight (the most common restriction you'll see - due to required alternate fuel for weather at the destination that requires a distant alternate), high altitude at the departure airport which affects take off and climb performance regardless of temperature, obstacle clearance in the event of an engine failure at take off at the departure airport regardless of temperature (Reno for example), or if flying over mountains, drift down clearance should an engine fail enroute to the destination.

Every airline flight has a weight restriction and reason for it - every single one. Many however are never going to reach that number even with every seat and the cargo bulked out. Some though do - typically weather related but by no means always (driftdown for example). Can't simply equate weight restrictions to "total weight on hot days" though.

Richym99

Putting aside personal arguements that have nothing to do with the OP's issue, the fact that UA are still quite happy to sell nine seats on UA643 suggests that this is nothing but a holding issue pending another equipment change.

Just keep an eye on the seat map over the next few days and you will most likely find it opens up again with the seats that haven't been allocated once the reshuffle has been done.

zoned_post_meridiem

Not trying to challenge this statement, but I've been just last week on a plane where the pilot had some people move from front to back because the weight was "nose heavy." It happened a day after major cancellations and re-bookings, with some of the luggage sent to our destination on an earlier flight, so maybe there was less luggage available to balance?

Richym99

And it is still totally off topic from the OP's problem, which is that SEVEN DAYS before the flight, their seat allocations have been changed, splitting the children from the parents and the entire plane is showing full despite it not being so (if it were, you wouldn't have a K4 or a V9 fare bucket would you?)

@Nuggety. It might be worth your while calling United back and asking them why the plane is shown as maxed out seating wise, while the reservation system is clearly showing seats available for sale.

This could just be a case of an IT glitch, which failed to release available seats once the reallocation for the equipment change took place. Hopefully, pointing this out to a rep might pursuade them to follow up with tech support to see if there is an issue. At least they will be alble to check the overall loading.

zoned_post_meridiem

Yes ... I addressed the OP's problem in an earlier post.

Tizzette

It could happen and did happen that the baby was checked in and boarding pass scanned. His boarding pass was issued wrong and this fact there was no assigned seat on it was not noticed by us till the gate area. It is a workaround to check the box for over age 2 if you are buying a seat for your baby, just to avoid the assumption that under age 2 are lap babies. You do enter the correct date of birth in the space provided for that.

findark

I'm assuming (like Kacee) that you are booked on UA643 on 11-Aug. Every seat in Economy is currently assigned (not blocked) so there's nothing to be done at the moment. However, if you have an hour or two to dedicate and click fast, you should be able to get your family seats together.


The current seatmap is a "skeleton" placeholder for the 737-900. A number of seats don't exist that will be on your aircraft, namely 12DEF (hard-blocked), row 14, row 15, and row 39. These seats will be released and you can choose them when the actual tail number of your aircraft is assigned*, which should be the night of 8-Aug (Tuesday night), probably between midnight and 3 a.m. CDT. You should watch your reservation like a hawk during that time, and fix your family's assignments. If you can spare the time to do this, this is probably the easiest fix.

*Technically there is also a smaller seatmap which will add only row 15 and unblock 12DEF, but only 3 of the 149 737-900s still flying have this configuration.

Often1

First, ignore the foolishness in this thread about weight and balance. It is irrelevant. Whatever the physics of w&b, front-line agents do not vary from entering data properly. You have a paid seat for your <2, and there is no need to lie or fool around with the booking system.

Second, stop worrying about your seat being "stolen." It is a fantasy.

Third, do appear at the airport early and explain the problem. Don't dwell on the past. UA does not guarantee seat assignments and things happen. If you berate a supervisor about them, you will get a "sorry" and no satisfaction.

It is easy enough to shift people around because middle seats are easy to trade. You may not be happy with what you get, but your 7 YOA won't be left alone. Remember that it is not only about sitting next to someone, but having them sit immediately behind or in front of you. Lots of options.

Check the seat maps constantly and feel free to call in regularly. People cancel, are upgraded or change to other flights. What is fixed in stone today won't be tomorrow.

Avoid panic. That only leads to a "best you travel when you are calmer."

emcampbe

which maybe isn't statistically that likely, but can make a huge difference if you're scheduled on a tail number of one of these three, especially if the seat map indicated the higher capacity version, is alerrady overbooked and they assign folks to all of the seats that don't exist (14 and 39 - so 12 seats) and only realize this glitch once people with these seats can't find their row once they get onboard. Sounds theoretical, yet happened on my last ORD-YYZ and took about an extra 30 minute delay to sort through all this (which i actually consider not bad for this type of error, but one that was obviously completely preventable).

weero

Yes. But I as a passenger don't know that. I booked 12C three months out, am 2MM and 1K and the waitress wants me to move back between the obese brothers to accommodate a family? No way - it's not her job to overrule the system and the GA.
Given that my seat assignments are honoured with great reliability, I blame the family for laziness, entitlement, and being cheap and will raise a yuge stink.

Martina70

I'm not suggesting that you be forced to move, I get the reluctance to give up a preferred seat for a dreaded middle seat in the back. Unless it was small children involved, I wouldn't want to move either.

I just wish there was a way for passengers/families without status to be assured assigned seats together , even if they had to pay a premium.

weero

I have accommodated seat swap requests by passengers if brought forward with decency and a compelling reason.

And FA helping out a family does not fall into that category - I am not saying that I would absolutely refuse but I'd be very miffed.
That option absolutely exists. Of course you can pay for seats.

jsloan

No, it absolutely does not exist. While you can pay for a seat assignment, you cannot pay for a guaranteed seat assignment. UA can absolutely move passengers from paid E+ seats. If they end up in E-, the passenger is entitled to a refund of the E+ fee, but that's it. Heck, they'll swap seat assignments around in J/F sometimes too.

There is simply no way for another passenger to know whether an onboard swap request is due to an issue caused by UA or if it's a passenger being cheap.