tl;dr -- Not all GS phone agents know of the perk that allows selection of the former F cabin on three-cabin planes on any business class ticket.

A few days ago I changed a ticket for late December from a two-class pmCO 772 to a three-class pmUA 772. It was a V fare, upgraded to PN. (PN was available on the new flight and I paid the change fee, so all good so far.) A look at the seat map on-line showed all eight seats available in rows 1 & 2. I asked the agent to seat me in 1A. She said, "You are on an upgraded coach ticket so only one class upgrade is allowed. On day-of-departure the airport agents can assign these seats by status and fare priority." I gently explained that things were changed last month (at the same time as PZ replaced R), and now GS and 1Ks can select that cabin on any business class ticket, first-come-first-served, any time in advance." She repeated her statement, saying, "No double upgrades on three-class aircraft. You are in Polaris Business and can't upgrade to Polaris First." I calmly explained we had received emails last month saying that Polaris First has been eliminated, and all premium seats -- even in three-cabin aircraft -- were Polaris Business."

Then she told Whopper #2 -- "It won't matter anyway, since by the end of December all 777s across the fleet will be retrofitted to the new Polaris configuration." At that point, I didn't want to argue anymore and said, "Fine, just put me in any aisle." After we concluded the call, I went on-line and selected 1A without issue.

Equipment swapped into 3 class first seat, will it stick?
 

Just noticed my P fare late December flight on a two-class 772 got equipment swapped to a three-class 772 and the system put me in seat 1K. Think it will stick, assuming the equipment doesn't swap again? Just a silver here.

This topic seems to be partially covered in other threads, but just to note...

I was kicked from 1K (772 GF) to 6K (772 BF) last week (IAD-FRA) in a momentary swap of a 77W for the 772 (second colleague was kicked as well). I was not happy, but it got more annoying.

When I logged in after another colleague told me of the plane swap, all the GF seats were full (phone agent said the same). However, when we boarded, row 1 was empty. After boarding completed, a number of people who looked lost were brought up to sit in row 1 and looked like they'd won the lottery.

I must say I was extremely not happy at that point... extremely not happy.

I'm going to try again IAD-MUC next week.

I hope you wrote a note to UA to allow them to fire or retrain that agent. Quite unacceptable for someone to take calls from GS members and many weeks into that change.

I am 1K but family is flying on a separate locator (same flight, though). Couldn't get to stick online so called in and agent seemed to have done it. Now checking res, didn't stick.

Anyone have luck doing such a thing? HUCA?

I can confirm that was the case on UA895 HKG-ORD the other day. Great service, including the "old" first class perks of refills of warm nuts, more frequent beverage refresh, proactive PJ offers, etc.

I booked EWR BRU in late January, and didn't choose seats, planning to do it later. The system assigned both me and my wife (both 1K, GPU upgraded tickets from Y, on separate PNR's) in the 1st cabin. Nice

I confirmed with 1k desk that new rule applies to GS/1Ks and their companions on same reservation. Same flight but different PNR? No dice. I wasn't expecting the benefit so can't be too disappointed but might be helpful for other to know.

Now I guess I am hoping that my ORD-NRT is a 77W or retrofitted 772 by next June. I'm amazed they fly such old stock on that route.

Know it is off topic, but UA's plane swapping algorithms (or lack there of) are absolutely terrible. They would rather automatically fill seats than think about it in some orderly fashion. Going to become a bigger and bigger issue with PE-configured plane swaps. Brother got hit hard by it on a recent flight.

FWIW, I had a different experience with the 1k desk -- Agent was able to select seats for the "front cabin" for my daughter, traveling on a separate PNR, same flight as me. We opted for different seats eventually, for other reasons, so won't be able to see if it would have held... but I think the system is allowing them to do the selection. Must be agent prerogative/agent-enforced rules vs systemic requirements.

You've just cost me more time from my life - I will try a couple other agents and see what happens!

Tomorrow flying ORD-FRA, the aircraft was originally 3 class, a couple of days ago it switched to a Polaris/PE configuration. Originally selected 1K and was moved to 1L. Just received a notification that the aircraft switched back to a 3 class configuration and that my seat changed to 1A.