Aug 13, 2018, 11:55 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
United Airlines Strengthens Commitment to Top Corporate Customers with Launch of United Corporate Preferred
New exclusive program provides multi-level benefits to airline's top business travelers
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines today debuted United Corporate Preferred, the industry's newest corporate travel program designed to offer top travel benefits to the airline's most loyal business customers. United announced the new program this morning at the Global Business Traveler Association (GBTA) Convention in San Diego.
United Corporate Preferred is a new and exclusive benefits program that provides added perks for the airline's top corporate customers. A multi-level program, United Corporate Preferred offers escalating benefits at three levels, including United Corporate Preferred, United Corporate Preferred Plus and United Corporate Preferred Elite. Eligibility for the new program is determined by a corporation's contract status, revenue contribution and loyalty with United. Eligible corporate agreements include United corporate share agreements, United PassPlus and United Meetings.
"Every day thousands of road warriors are jetting off on United to work events and business meetings all over the world," said Jake Cefolia, United's senior vice president of Worldwide Sales. "We designed our United Corporate Preferred program with the customer's entire travel experience in mind, from booking to landing, to identify opportunities to show our appreciation to our loyal business customers with a program that offers extra perks and travel benefits."
Benefits offered to all United Corporate Preferred customers include:
• Preferred upgrades – tie-breaker preferences for upgrades.
• Preferred standby – prioritization when traveling on standby for a different flight and when waitlisting for a seat in a different cabin or booking class.
• Operational adjustment protection – protection during travel interruptions, as well as seat protection to retain the same or similar seat in the event of an aircraft swap.
• Preferred discounts and offers – eligibility to receive exclusive promotions offered by both United and its partners in the near future.
Customers in the airline's new United Corporate Preferred Elite level will also receive the following:
• Additional travel waiver flexibility – when United has a travel waiver in place, customers will receive additional flexibility to adjust their travel beyond restrictions in place on the standard waiver.
• Preferred boarding – later this year, customers will receive priority boarding in group two.
• Preferred seating – later this year, customers will have access to book designated standard economy seats closer to the front of the plane.
To receive these benefits, tickets must be flown on United or United Express flights, reservations must include the customer's corporate account number at the time of booking, and the travel must be for the corporate customer's business. Companies invited to participate in United Corporate Preferred will receive a tailored webpage with information on benefits eligible to their employees. For more information on the program, visit unitedcorporatepreferred.com.
New exclusive program provides multi-level benefits to airline's top business travelers
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines today debuted United Corporate Preferred, the industry's newest corporate travel program designed to offer top travel benefits to the airline's most loyal business customers. United announced the new program this morning at the Global Business Traveler Association (GBTA) Convention in San Diego.
United Corporate Preferred is a new and exclusive benefits program that provides added perks for the airline's top corporate customers. A multi-level program, United Corporate Preferred offers escalating benefits at three levels, including United Corporate Preferred, United Corporate Preferred Plus and United Corporate Preferred Elite. Eligibility for the new program is determined by a corporation's contract status, revenue contribution and loyalty with United. Eligible corporate agreements include United corporate share agreements, United PassPlus and United Meetings.
"Every day thousands of road warriors are jetting off on United to work events and business meetings all over the world," said Jake Cefolia, United's senior vice president of Worldwide Sales. "We designed our United Corporate Preferred program with the customer's entire travel experience in mind, from booking to landing, to identify opportunities to show our appreciation to our loyal business customers with a program that offers extra perks and travel benefits."
Benefits offered to all United Corporate Preferred customers include:
• Preferred upgrades – tie-breaker preferences for upgrades.
• Preferred standby – prioritization when traveling on standby for a different flight and when waitlisting for a seat in a different cabin or booking class.
• Operational adjustment protection – protection during travel interruptions, as well as seat protection to retain the same or similar seat in the event of an aircraft swap.
• Preferred discounts and offers – eligibility to receive exclusive promotions offered by both United and its partners in the near future.
Customers in the airline's new United Corporate Preferred Elite level will also receive the following:
• Additional travel waiver flexibility – when United has a travel waiver in place, customers will receive additional flexibility to adjust their travel beyond restrictions in place on the standard waiver.
• Preferred boarding – later this year, customers will receive priority boarding in group two.
• Preferred seating – later this year, customers will have access to book designated standard economy seats closer to the front of the plane.
To receive these benefits, tickets must be flown on United or United Express flights, reservations must include the customer's corporate account number at the time of booking, and the travel must be for the corporate customer's business. Companies invited to participate in United Corporate Preferred will receive a tailored webpage with information on benefits eligible to their employees. For more information on the program, visit unitedcorporatepreferred.com.
What benefits do United Corporate Preferred travelers receive?
Specific benefits are listed below. Being a multi-level program, within each benefit in tie-breaker scenarios, United Corporate Preferred Elite travelers receive the highest priority, followed by United Corporate Preferred Plus and then United Corporate Preferred.
Specific benefits are listed below. Being a multi-level program, within each benefit in tie-breaker scenarios, United Corporate Preferred Elite travelers receive the highest priority, followed by United Corporate Preferred Plus and then United Corporate Preferred.
Refunds:
UA says
Refunds for preferred seating purchases are processed automatically after scheduled departure in the event of flight cancellation change, when travel is completed in a standard United Economy seat, or when travel is completed in a seat of equal or greater value through the purchase of a premium cabin seating offer.
In the event of a ticket refund or cancellation, preferred seating purchases will be automatically refunded.
...
If you decide to change your flight, your preferred seating purchase will be automatically refunded. If the ticket is partially used at the time of the change, only the value of unused preferred seating will be refunded.
...
If you decide to change your flight, your preferred seating purchase will be automatically refunded. If the ticket is partially used at the time of the change, only the value of unused preferred seating will be refunded.
MileagePlus Premier® members will receive access to preferred seating, where available, at no additional cost.
Preferred seat refunds (changed flights, upgraded, purchased E+, ...)
New Corporate Preferred (upgrade tiebreaker) / new 'preferred' seating section
May 3, 2019, 10:47 am
#151
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,410
There is no clear policy covering your situation. But if you purchased some Economy Plus seats and then later wished to moved to different Economy Plus seats, you would have to pay the full amount of the new seats and be refunded your original purchase (effectively paying the difference - I think there might be no refund if the new seats are less but I'm not sure). Both E+ and the new "Preferred" section have prices which may vary over time as well as by particular seat choice.
May 9, 2019, 7:42 am
#153
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: WAS-ish
Programs: UA 1K-MM + UC, Marriott Plat, National Exec
Posts: 1,341
Huh. I think I just discovered an odd bug in the website. ("What?!?", you say? "A bug in .bomb??? Unpossible!").
I purchase tickets through my corporate travel agency, and there's generally a 5min - 24h delay between reserving and ticketing. Naturally, I go to united.com immediately and select seats, which you can do during that window. Anyway, it appears that the site won't let me select preferred seats until after ticketing. I can select E+ (I'm 1K), and I can select normal E-, but when I hover the mouse pointer over a "preferred" seat, it changes from a hand to a pointer arrow, and clicking does nothing. As soon as the purchase clears (status goes to "ticketed"), I can select preferred seats.
I can't think of any logical reason for this, so I'm calling it a bug. I wouldn't have even discovered it except that one of my flights is on a CRJ-200 (where the so-called E+ seats are actually worse than the regular E-) and all the remaining E- seats happen to be "preferred".
Sigh. Definitely not a big deal, but confused me for a while. And posting here is a good way to procrastinate before work.
I purchase tickets through my corporate travel agency, and there's generally a 5min - 24h delay between reserving and ticketing. Naturally, I go to united.com immediately and select seats, which you can do during that window. Anyway, it appears that the site won't let me select preferred seats until after ticketing. I can select E+ (I'm 1K), and I can select normal E-, but when I hover the mouse pointer over a "preferred" seat, it changes from a hand to a pointer arrow, and clicking does nothing. As soon as the purchase clears (status goes to "ticketed"), I can select preferred seats.
I can't think of any logical reason for this, so I'm calling it a bug. I wouldn't have even discovered it except that one of my flights is on a CRJ-200 (where the so-called E+ seats are actually worse than the regular E-) and all the remaining E- seats happen to be "preferred".
Sigh. Definitely not a big deal, but confused me for a while. And posting here is a good way to procrastinate before work.
May 9, 2019, 9:43 am
#154
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: WAS/ BOM
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold
Posts: 1,567
Huh. I think I just discovered an odd bug in the website. ("What?!?", you say? "A bug in .bomb??? Unpossible!").
I purchase tickets through my corporate travel agency, and there's generally a 5min - 24h delay between reserving and ticketing. Naturally, I go to united.com immediately and select seats, which you can do during that window. Anyway, it appears that the site won't let me select preferred seats until after ticketing. I can select E+ (I'm 1K), and I can select normal E-, but when I hover the mouse pointer over a "preferred" seat, it changes from a hand to a pointer arrow, and clicking does nothing. As soon as the purchase clears (status goes to "ticketed"), I can select preferred seats.
I can't think of any logical reason for this, so I'm calling it a bug. I wouldn't have even discovered it except that one of my flights is on a CRJ-200 (where the so-called E+ seats are actually worse than the regular E-) and all the remaining E- seats happen to be "preferred".
Sigh. Definitely not a big deal, but confused me for a while. And posting here is a good way to procrastinate before work.
I purchase tickets through my corporate travel agency, and there's generally a 5min - 24h delay between reserving and ticketing. Naturally, I go to united.com immediately and select seats, which you can do during that window. Anyway, it appears that the site won't let me select preferred seats until after ticketing. I can select E+ (I'm 1K), and I can select normal E-, but when I hover the mouse pointer over a "preferred" seat, it changes from a hand to a pointer arrow, and clicking does nothing. As soon as the purchase clears (status goes to "ticketed"), I can select preferred seats.
I can't think of any logical reason for this, so I'm calling it a bug. I wouldn't have even discovered it except that one of my flights is on a CRJ-200 (where the so-called E+ seats are actually worse than the regular E-) and all the remaining E- seats happen to be "preferred".
Sigh. Definitely not a big deal, but confused me for a while. And posting here is a good way to procrastinate before work.
May 9, 2019, 12:19 pm
#155
Join Date: Feb 2017
Programs: United GS; AA EXP; Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 174
May 9, 2019, 3:22 pm
#156
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
...
I purchase tickets through my corporate travel agency, and there's generally a 5min - 24h delay between reserving and ticketing. Naturally, I go to united.com immediately and select seats, which you can do during that window. Anyway, it appears that the site won't let me select preferred seats until after ticketing ...
I purchase tickets through my corporate travel agency, and there's generally a 5min - 24h delay between reserving and ticketing. Naturally, I go to united.com immediately and select seats, which you can do during that window. Anyway, it appears that the site won't let me select preferred seats until after ticketing ...
, so pick 2B (a preferred seat)
May 12, 2019, 8:32 pm
#157
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: WAS-ish
Programs: UA 1K-MM + UC, Marriott Plat, National Exec
Posts: 1,341
Or maybe it was just a weird one-off bug! I'll play around the next time I need to make a reservation for work and see if I can reproduce it.
May 21, 2019, 11:11 pm
#158
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: BAEC Bronze, PriorityClub Platinum, SPG Platinum
Posts: 236
Access to Preferred Seats for Star Alliance Silver
Just booked SFO-HND using miles. Yay! However, I do not have status with United though am Star Alliance Silver due to status with Air India. Question:
1. If I add my AI number, will I be able to select the preferred seats? Travelled on AA few weeks back and due to my my BA status was able to get the seats generally one has to pay for.
2. If the answer to #1 is yes, how do I actually change my reservation to add AI FF number? I am so surprised that UA does not allow me to change it online. Is this because this is an award ticket? Do I need to call them?
Thanks!
1. If I add my AI number, will I be able to select the preferred seats? Travelled on AA few weeks back and due to my my BA status was able to get the seats generally one has to pay for.
2. If the answer to #1 is yes, how do I actually change my reservation to add AI FF number? I am so surprised that UA does not allow me to change it online. Is this because this is an award ticket? Do I need to call them?
Thanks!
May 21, 2019, 11:17 pm
#159
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
You should have access at checkin (everyone does) but not in advance. Only UA elites or preferred corporate customers.
Preferred seating
Last edited by WineCountryUA; May 21, 2019 at 11:24 pm Reason: link for FAQs
May 22, 2019, 10:22 am
#160
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 14,884
Just booked SFO-HND using miles. Yay! However, I do not have status with United though am Star Alliance Silver due to status with Air India. Question:
1. If I add my AI number, will I be able to select the preferred seats? Travelled on AA few weeks back and due to my my BA status was able to get the seats generally one has to pay for.
2. If the answer to #1 is yes, how do I actually change my reservation to add AI FF number? I am so surprised that UA does not allow me to change it online. Is this because this is an award ticket? Do I need to call them?
Thanks!
1. If I add my AI number, will I be able to select the preferred seats? Travelled on AA few weeks back and due to my my BA status was able to get the seats generally one has to pay for.
2. If the answer to #1 is yes, how do I actually change my reservation to add AI FF number? I am so surprised that UA does not allow me to change it online. Is this because this is an award ticket? Do I need to call them?
Thanks!
Preferred seat selection is a benefit of UA silver, but not for *S. That said, you can always try. Free SDC is also only a UA gold (and up) benefit, but isn’t supposed to be a *G benefit, even though the system seems to allow *G to SDC free, per multiple reports.
Jun 5, 2019, 12:49 pm
#161
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: BA Bronze, United 1K, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,477
[After moving posts at member's request, deleted quote which bests resides in original thread.]
At the request of the moderator, I'm editing my post and adding some information:
This past Monday, the Government booked a ticket for me on a Y fare that includes one segment on a CR2. The seat that was automatically assigned to me was in Row 10. I tried to change my seat to sit next to my wife in the Exit Row 8 (a seat that she had chosen 5 days earlier) but now these seats in Row 8 became "Preferred" seats. I was not able to change my seat and since the other choices were Row 11, Row 12 or close to the toilet in Row 13, I'm staying in Row 10.
It's especially painful since the "preferred" seats are Row 2 to 5 and since this past week-end they added Row 8 to that. So, 20 seats out of 50 are "preferred".
For a flight booked this past Monday on a Y fare, I could only get a seat in Row 10. Rows 2 to 5 are totally empty and in Row 8, two are occupied but there were already occupied before the change (as my wife booked her ticket last week and she was still able to select a seat in Row 8).
I do think that my trip was ticketed as I already have an instant upgrade for another segment.
At the request of the moderator, I'm editing my post and adding some information:
This past Monday, the Government booked a ticket for me on a Y fare that includes one segment on a CR2. The seat that was automatically assigned to me was in Row 10. I tried to change my seat to sit next to my wife in the Exit Row 8 (a seat that she had chosen 5 days earlier) but now these seats in Row 8 became "Preferred" seats. I was not able to change my seat and since the other choices were Row 11, Row 12 or close to the toilet in Row 13, I'm staying in Row 10.
It's especially painful since the "preferred" seats are Row 2 to 5 and since this past week-end they added Row 8 to that. So, 20 seats out of 50 are "preferred".
For a flight booked this past Monday on a Y fare, I could only get a seat in Row 10. Rows 2 to 5 are totally empty and in Row 8, two are occupied but there were already occupied before the change (as my wife booked her ticket last week and she was still able to select a seat in Row 8).
I do think that my trip was ticketed as I already have an instant upgrade for another segment.
Last edited by StuckinITH; Jun 5, 2019 at 6:24 pm Reason: See note above.
Jun 5, 2019, 2:46 pm
#162
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2,531
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...d-seating.html
The preferred seating is only excluded for non-status, non-corporate pax.
Jun 5, 2019, 3:21 pm
#163
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: BA Bronze, United 1K, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,477
"MileagePlus members with Premier® status can select preferred seating at no additional cost"
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...d-seating.html
The preferred seating is only excluded for non-status, non-corporate pax.
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...d-seating.html
The preferred seating is only excluded for non-status, non-corporate pax.
And now I feel bad that I highjacked a GS thread. Maybe the moderator can move this to the thread that you refer to.
Jun 5, 2019, 4:55 pm
#164
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2,531
Jun 5, 2019, 6:15 pm
#165
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: BA Bronze, United 1K, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,477
I did not call since I read that at T-24 all the Preferred seats are released and I should have no problem to get the seat next to my wife or in the worst case an aisle seat closer to the front. We are talking about a segment on a CR2 on a Wednesday around noon time from my small city. There's no chances that the seats will be taken. To the point that I will not get seat 1C when it's released as on that flight there's going to be 100% chance that they are going to politely ask for volunteers to go sit next to the toilet (Row 13). And when there will be no volunteers, they will start threatening us that the flight will be cancelled. They always threaten us with that.