threecap

This is true in the majority of cases where there are enough elites to fill first, although I've been on a couple of flights where there were a number of seats empty and a short upgrade list.

gaobest

unfortunately the empty adjacent seat (social distancing) might be the new best soft product in F - space (or an illusion of more safety). I wouldn’t want a seat next to a stranger when possible.

DenverBrian

My priority stack when I'm forced to fly at the current time:

1) Risk of aerosol contact of COVID
2) How much I can distance from others
3) Track record of the airline enforcing 2
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41) F soft product and whether or not it's "embarrassing"

lincolnjkc

It's all over the map these days.

Today I was on a 175 where I died at #3 on the UG list (1 person showed as cleared, F cabin went out 12/12) -- Saturday I was heading in the reverse direction, my upgrade had already cleared when I looked at the res 4 days out (I didn't think they were doing that in the present situation...) and the F cabin went out at 3.5/12 (me, 1 NRSA, 1 INTL J with a dog under the seat)

Honestly it's creepy being the only person on the A side of F in a 175 and having no one in any of the aisles.

dinoscool3

Right now I have one ERJ-175 flight where its only me in F, one person on the upgrade list. Another ERJ-170 is 4 in F, I'm first of 3 on the upgrade list. Seems it really is all over the place. Y seems also empty though. Half tempted to just sit in E+.

aero219

I've had a few flights now where when the space is getting tight in the F cabin as time of departure nears, the gate agent will ask if you want the upgrade. For example, was in 7A on a 175 and 1/1 on the upgrade list. F was 11/12, 1C was the last remaining. Gate agent actually called me by landline (showed up as coming from 800-UNITED-1) and mentioned that in my current seat I had an empty seat next to me, but with the upgrade I would have a neighbor. I politely passed on it. Was actually blown away that the GA did that.

lincolnjkc

If it showed up as 1-800-UNITED-1 or any of the other 800#s associated with United (for some reason for me it's usually a # associated with corporate sales) it's going to be a call center agent, IME. When UA calls me from an airport it is always a phone number local to that airport (216-5xx or 216-9xx for Cleveland, 402-4xx for OMA, 650-8xx for SFO, etc.)

I've also seen agents at the airport doing the "I can give you an upgrade with a neighbor or no upgrade and empty seat next to you" negotiation at the airport -- usually in my observations its the same result as yours.

aero219

That's previously been mine too - but it was definitely the GA in this case. I was just approaching the gate area -- and we actually ended up waving at eachother when she led off with "Hi this is is SoandSo, the gate agent for your United flight"

TGGDEL

May or may not be the right place to ask this - I'm debating between purchasing a domestic F or Y for the most possible social distancing.
My guess is Y loads are picking up so unlikely I'd get a seat open next to me, so then better to be in F?

Mods - please do move if this is the wrong place to ask.

Lastly, if I go with F it sounds like I'll get a snack box but not much else. Better to eat before I get on...?

dinoscool3

UA isn't blocking F upgrades, so the chance you'll have a seatmate are high there.

TGGDEL

Thanks! Wasn't expecting the F seat to be empty either, just a few more inches between us and fewer people in the F section...

fumje

Take a look at the flight status seat maps for your route this week. Some routes / times get relatively close to capacity in both cabins, but many are not very full in Y, especially E+.

And if physical distancing on board is a primary concern, you might be best advised also to eat beforehand no matter what they serve and keep your mask fully on for the flight. But in any case, yes, at most it will be a snack box for food.

lincolnjkc

"snack" and "box" are both overly generous terms -- you get a bag with a 8 ounce bottle of water, a tiny thing of pretzels and some awful cracker-ish thing (Biscoff? Biscotti?) Although on my last two flights the FA did at least ask if I'd like anything else to drink -- that has not happened on the dozen segments leading up to this week. I'm to the point where I would kill/gladly pay cash for a Classic box.

Spacing is heavily dependent on day of week and route. My last weekend CLE-IAD was booked to 18/76 and I had at least 6 feet between me and the other 2 people in F and Y were scattered about the cabin. The return flight was 70/70 and no one had any space anywhere. My flights this week seemed closer to 80% booked overall, but F was full in each case. It appeared on my last flight (a CR7) that 1D may have been blocked (no one showed up to board it, no one was cleared into it off the UG list, was shown as occupied -- but the FA pulled the guy in 1C's coworker from 11B in Y and reseated him in 1D for "weight and balance" so even blocked seats are no guarantee.

NJSkeeter

My October 2nd flight to Aruba was merged with another flight two hours earlier and I lost my seat assignments in business class. The returning flight was also merged with an earlier flight but I still have my seats for that one. The flight down to Aruba is completely full as of now. Can anyone tell me what kind of hell on earth I'm in for trying to get my business class seats back for the flight down? Do you think they'll move this to a larger plane to accommodate everyone?

jsloan

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

1E & 1F appear to be blocked, so if no other seats become available, you'll get one of those. However, I suggest signing up for ExpertFlyer; their free account level allows for seat notifications, so you can sign up to receive an email if a seat becomes available.

No. I suspect they'll have quite a few people cancel. If they're actually oversold in the business class cabin -- rare, but the old rules don't really apply in 2020 -- they'd reseat someone in the economy cabin and provide a refund of the fare difference plus a customer service voucher. But I'd be more worried about being admitted into Aruba than I would about not having a seat.