whitethunder

well my seat assignment is still sticking since the announcement, here's to hoping us 1K's can hold onto our previously picked GF seats !!

cesco.g

Looks like you just got in under the wire. Enjoy!

I think UA should and (hopefully) will honor your previously assigned seat.

ExplorerWannabe

The fact is United said the cabin is J. It's being sold as J. They first said only GS and 1K could pre-select the former GF seats then they pushed a policy change that only GS could PRE-SELECT the seats. Period, end of story.
As far as seats left after GS have been gone through, I would imagine the first ones to talk to a gate agent would be the lucky ones. The other 8 are out nothing because they are still getting the J seats they paid for.

goodeats21

Mine is as well. Hoping no equipment swap on my March flight HKG->ORD. I really want to sit in the Global First seat one more time...

onthesam

​​​Thanks. Sounds like the notion that 1K pax can 'swap' to them is mere speculation.

And yes, it's the policy change you outline that rubs some of us the wrong way.

ExplorerWannabe

No, the idea that they can't change from one J seat to another open J seat at the gate is the speculation. All the information posted has concerned ADVANCE selection of the former GS seats. I have seen no reports of GAs letting those seats go empty rather than change 1Ks (or other J passengers) into them when the flight passed into gate control.

onthesam

The point that playing the gate agent lottery for a battlefield upgrade (or seat change, I guess) seems to be the only way for non-GS pax who have not already selected GF seats to get those seats is correct.

The statement is speculation in that the operative words I would imagine reveal a speculative nature to the words that follow.

Not exactly. A week ago this 1K member could have purchased J or confirmed GPU at time of booking and selected a GF seat for himself and SO. This was of benefit. This week this 1K member's experience is that if he purchases that same tickets, he is unable to select the GF seats and suspects (speculating, but based on a lot of past experience on upgrade waitlists) that more likely then not will end up in 2-4-2 J. That change in privileges indicates a lost benefit. I am now out something that I used to have -- the ability to not sit in those crappy J seats while waiting for retrofits to be completed.

Conversely, some GS members are quite pleased that the seats are now available for their selection when making last minute purchases.

WineCountryUA

except

jsloan

I have no idea what will happen if a non-rev passenger clears into the J cabin and there is an empty seat in the former F cabin. Is it possible that the seat would go to a non-rev? Absolutely; particularly, if nobody asks to swap. The two choices to fill the seats are to give them to passengers without seat assignments or to go through the cabin, sorted by status, and try to figure out whom to move. (Which 1Ks? Those with the worst seats? Those with the best seats? Who knows?). The path of least resistance is to give the seats to the passengers without seat assignments -- those who just got upgraded.

However, the point of my message was that this is not a return to the older system where they would clear a non-rev passenger into F instead of cleaning a revenue passenger into J and then doing an op-up. Considering the number of complaints about upgrades not clearing, I can't imagine that there are very many flights that are so empty in J that non-revs regularly clear. So I think this part of the conversation is much ado about nothing.

itsMoe

They were, and they were also greyed out at check-in. Then again, there was only one seat free when I originally selected it, so that unfortunately doesn't tell us much.

prometa

findark

Huh. I kind of doubt they will actually implement that, if only because the seats are going to be gone before they could make it work. That's very odd though.

prometa

I agree that the timing doesn't make sense given all the seats should disappear this year or by early 2020.

A co-worker is on the same flight. His reservation behaved the same way late this morning -- declared it would be $599, then didn't actually ask for payment. That indicates it wasn't just an overnight glitch. I thought this morning the price listed might have inadvertently been UA giving the "TOD" price to go from Y to J, but $599 seems too low given D is the cheapest J-class fare for sale. For what it's worth, my upcoming domestic 3-class 777 flight doesn't let me pick old GF seats, but I think that is because those seats are fully occupied.

findark

I suppose it's possible.. they are managing to do this with the "preferred seats" in Y.

MBS MillionMiler

So...I booked a paid business ticket specifically on the pretext that I’d either get a former GF seat, or a new Polaris seat. If they swap the aircraft out for 10 mins, then back to the 3 class, it sounds like I lose the seat with a slight chance I’d get it back, even if it’s open?

Are there any recent real-world experiences how they are filling the front cabin? Any 1Ks have success moving up at check in or at the gate or at the UC/Polaris Lounge?