fwfdan

Not worth it...

tods27

You are correct that it's not hard to search these things, but there is no end to the stories of people who complain about not knowing about the add-on fees at Spirit and/or Frontier. Same holds true for the BE fares at United. Let's face it, there is a pretty large segment of the population that doesn't really research these topics.

azepine00

I am embarrassed to read the replies here. People seem to sincerely believe that a kid sitting with mother is a luxury and mother needs to pay extra for it...

i guess demands to pay for carseats and strollers in cargo are not far behind - clearly those parents are getting away with free allowance other pax are not getting...

jsloan

The problem with this -- and it's a core problem with the entire Basic Economy idea, which is a terrible one in the first place -- is that the optics are terrible. "United charges more for families with children" is the headline you'd see, and if you think this thread is heated, wait until you see that one. (It might also be illegal discrimination, depending upon the jurisdiction).

Aknoff

It seemed as if the first, less friendly GA was UA staff while the second, friendlier one was contracted staff. MSN is a mixed bag.

omaralt

txaggiemiles

copaflyer

Airlines should allow people traveling with kids free seat selection. It benefits everyone. Surprised people think differently.

venomtrilogy

But what qualifies as a "kid"? Is every minor considered a "kid"? That opens up the door for a lot of free seat selection. And if there is a set age, parents will surely find a way to alter DOBs to get the benefit.

Redwood839

Nah, people here only care about your FF status, and if you booked a cheap ticket cause you know, that's what you could probably afford, then you're out of luck and no one should care about your needs.

jsloan

Yes, I do. UA was able to hand-wave BE as an "enhancement" to give people extra "choice." It would be much more difficult to market "families can't buy BE" as anything but a fare increase -- and that's even assuming that they have age information for all passengers. (Hint: they don't, necessarily, until the deadline for transmission of the Secure Flight data).

Trust me, no matter how bad you think the optics of BE were originally, they'd have been much, much worse if they appeared to be discriminating against families.

Aknoff

For starters, I DID NOT buy her fare, so please keep that in mind. Likewise, I've advised multiple times to just buy a "real" fare from the airline directly.

Also, I did try to help out by moving our seats, but again the GA was unhelpful. I received a premier upgrade, so my wife and 2-year old were all of a sudden sitting together. I offered to give up my upgrade if it helped make more seats available in economy to play with and the answer I received was "You can turn down your upgrade, but then I'm going to put you in a random seat in economy away from both your wife/son and your sister-in-law's family." This is where it seemed common sense should have prevailed, but I dropped it and walked away. My wife obviously couldn't move because she was with our 2-year old.

Finally, I didn't browbeat the GA. I very nicely asked/inquired as to if there was a requirement that families sit together. If you read the original post you'll see that I admitted I was confused as to what, if anything, this law (or lack thereof, it seem) says. I'm now clear that there really is no requirement.

To those who have expressed some sympathy, much appreciated. I told my sister-in-law that she put herself in this situation, so I in no way think what happened was fair to the other traveler. But, I do think it could be clearer. Several folks have mentioned that you all are the experts and unfortunately most infrequent travelers don't read the fine print (not an excuse, just reality). There should be some sort of override or refusal to finalize the sale until seats are selected/ourchased based on DOB. Seems like an easy way to avoid these issues in the future.

Aknoff

Thank you for this clear-headed response. It was a 739 out of MSN on a Sunday, so it was not full. Based on my last check of the seat map at the gate there were a couple open seats in F, at least 8 seats in economy plus and probably half a dozen or so seats in Y. Previous to having status I've been moved to an economy plus seat by the GA to accommodate others so it certainly seems like there was a workable solution.

jsloan

That's not what you said, actually. To quote: "I gently reminded the gate agent that unrelated to United's fare policies there's actually a federal law that prohibits minors being split apart from their parents on planes." To me, that reads as a passive-aggressive form of browbeating (especially when the law doesn't actually exist). That may not have been your intent, but I hope you can understand why people are taking it that way.

Except it is an excuse. You're asking UA -- and, ultimately, another passenger -- to make accommodations due to your sister-in-law's failure either to read the fine print or to listen to your advice about what to book. The fine print is there for a reason. Nobody's suggesting that an infrequent traveler should have to memorize the intricacies of the MileagePlus program; heck, in this case, it's not even a matter of failure to read the Contract of Carriage -- the finest of the fine print. The screenshots from Expedia are clear. They're not as "in your face" as you'd get when shopping on the United website, but it's not like the restriction was in 6-point type in a footnote denoted by an asterisk.

Apart from the optics issue I mentioned -- do you really think your sister-in-law would have liked being told, "sorry, we won't offer you the $139 fare because you're traveling with a child, so pay $164 instead?" -- airlines don't necessarily have this information at the time of booking. And the last thing we want is for airlines to be able to go back and cancel reservations sometime after purchase due to a missing DOB.

Then why did the flight attendant have to put someone in a middle seat?

Kacee

I wouldn't even call this "fine print," as that implies the disclosure is buried and requires unusual care and attention to discern. In fact, "no advance seat assignments" is pretty clearly disclosed, even on an Expedia booking.