Y+ for children
 

Hi, my partner and I usually fly NZ but for domestic stuff in the USA we end up on UA. We've had Y+ subscriptions covered by work in the past but now that our kid is turning 2 we will need a seat for him as well. Does anyone know if UA is flexible when traveling with children, such that they will throw in a free Y+ seat when we're traveling with our kid? Or to avoid being seated separately, will we need to buy an additional Y+ subscription for kid?

I should hit UA*G soon (on top of current NZ*GE) so will be able to use Y+ seating at booking time for myself, but we are often booked on separate itineraries, so I imagine it will be hard to get my partner and kid seats in Y+ easily/automatically without some sort of subscription.

thanks!

No.

It's not a published benefit, but in practice, UA will extend complimentary E+ in this situation if you call. (As UA Gold, you'd get 1 companion, who needn't be on the same PNR, basically).

Hmm, so maybe before I spring for a subscription for my kid I should try calling them for existing bookings to see what they're willing to do. It's a bit annoying but being super tall makes this stuff actually matter, especially after 12+ hour flights from NZ.

Well, if you're not UA *G yet, you don't have the ability to extend E+ to someone else. (If you're UA Silver, you could potentially call at check-in, but you may find that there are nothing but middle seats available).

What you might be able to do is to change your existing subscription to the +1 or +8 version by paying the price difference.

If OP is looking for an E+ seat for their kid, maybe a middle seat is what they're looking for.

I suppose OP could use their own subscription to get one seat, and then hope that the middle next to them stays empty... but what if it fills?

IME, those free middle E+ seats tend to fill front to back. So, to maximize the odds of winding up with an empty middle at T-24h, I'd pick a seat towards the back of E+. It's no guarantee, of course, but ...


10,000th post! :)

Why buy a subscription for a single trip? Just pay the upgrade fee for E+ for the child.