Premium Plus Seats Sold as E+? Service levels? (economy)
Jun 10, 2021, 8:47 pm
#1
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Premium Plus Seats Sold as E+? Service levels? (economy)
Mods: I can't find a thread that exactly fits this situation, but please feel free to move if there is already an existing discussion on this.
I am seeing quite a few flights particularly on 777-200, where PP seats are sold as E+ but on a PP route -- in this case, LAX - EWR. An example is UA 460 this coming Saturday (6/12).
I am aware that there are no additional perks other than the seat, but it is still very tempting to grab one of those seats. What are the odds that I will be bumped:
-- If the flight is just a few days away?
-- If the flight is weeks away?
I am seeing quite a few flights particularly on 777-200, where PP seats are sold as E+ but on a PP route -- in this case, LAX - EWR. An example is UA 460 this coming Saturday (6/12).
I am aware that there are no additional perks other than the seat, but it is still very tempting to grab one of those seats. What are the odds that I will be bumped:
-- If the flight is just a few days away?
-- If the flight is weeks away?
Jun 10, 2021, 9:09 pm
#2
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Mods: I can't find a thread that exactly fits this situation, but please feel free to move if there is already an existing discussion on this.
I am seeing quite a few flights particularly on 777-200, where PP seats are sold as E+ but on a PP route -- in this case, LAX - EWR. An example is UA 460 this coming Saturday (6/12).
I am aware that there are no additional perks other than the seat, but it is still very tempting to grab one of those seats. What are the odds that I will be bumped:
-- If the flight is just a few days away?
-- If the flight is weeks away?
I am seeing quite a few flights particularly on 777-200, where PP seats are sold as E+ but on a PP route -- in this case, LAX - EWR. An example is UA 460 this coming Saturday (6/12).
I am aware that there are no additional perks other than the seat, but it is still very tempting to grab one of those seats. What are the odds that I will be bumped:
-- If the flight is just a few days away?
-- If the flight is weeks away?
If you are looking to travel on the flight this weekend, book it now. Cheapest fare is currently $689 (E fare bucket already, soon approaching Y/B/M) one-way. Business cabin looks fully sold out.
Jun 10, 2021, 9:14 pm
#3
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The fact that these seats are sold as E+ is somewhat of a mystery.
Jun 10, 2021, 9:36 pm
#4
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A more logical explanation - this flight was going to be a non-Polaris 772 bird (no PP), but it is scheduled to be a Polarized 772 bird (has PP) now.
Also, this is not a PP route per se. There are planes with PP seats, but there are planes on this route w/o PP seats.
Last edited by Repooc17; Jun 10, 2021 at 9:48 pm
Jun 10, 2021, 9:46 pm
#5
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It is less likely if the flight is reasonable near term, that UA will make a switch to selling PremiumPlus.
Jun 25, 2021, 7:43 am
#6
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Adding a data point - originally booked EWR-LAX on a 787-8 for 1 July, with P+ seat as E+. On 23 June, the seats were converted to P+, bumping everyone in the section, including myself, into economy, and I ended up in an Economy Preferred seat due to limited number of E+ seats on this aircraft. I ended up cancelling the reservation and switch to a flight ex-JFK instead, with cheaper P+ fare and larger availability for business class upgrade.
Last edited by PTahCha; Jun 25, 2021 at 8:52 am
Jun 25, 2021, 8:11 am
#7
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-- If the flight is just a few days away? Less likely, because the decision to add a class of service (and thus bump pax out of P+ seats sold as E+) is usually made at the time of filing a schedule, 4-6+ weeks out. Of course, this is not a guarantee, but generally speaking is the case. Caveat emptor, because there are counterexamples ^^^
-- If the flight is weeks away? More likely, for the same reason.
-- If the flight is weeks away? More likely, for the same reason.
Jun 25, 2021, 8:26 am
#8
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Adding a data point - originally booked EWR-LAX on a 787-8 for 1 July, with P+ seat as E+. On 23 June, the seats were converted to P+, bumping everyone in the seat, including myself, into economy, and I ended up in an Economy Preferred seat due to limited number of E+ seats on this aircraft. I ended up cancelling the reservation and switch to a flight ex-JFK instead, with cheaper P+ fare and larger availability for business class upgrade.
I just checked the flight in early July that I have been following (777-200) and saw that those seats have also been converted to PP. In contrast, several flights have departed in the last two weeks with PP seats sold as E+.
Jul 4, 2021, 5:09 pm
#9
Join Date: Nov 2010
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I saw a lot of this especially several months ago when schedules were more uncertain. I fly a lot of EWR-SFO and always look for the new polaris config flights. Sometimes, the PP seats were available as E+ and I could reserve it at time of booking. As other posters have mentioned, I think it's because they didn't want to commit to having a PP plane just yet, so left them as E+ seats. FWIW, it worked out well for me: 2/2 times that I did this, the flight remained a 777 and I got to fly in the PP seat :-) But of course that's not a guarantee that it will always work.
Jul 5, 2021, 8:25 am
#10
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dont know if this fits this exactly - but im traveling SFO - EWR this week and they swapped the 77w (or 78x) i cant remember to an awful 767-400er.
I paid for Prem Plus and when the equip got swapped i got downgraded to Econ+ since there is no PP product on that bird.
I had to call in and get my refund/adjustment, but had to do it manually.
Maybe the system is buggy on a Sunday because when I went to do a dummy booking, it still showed a 77w with Pp being sold even though i know for sure its a767-400er with no PP
I paid for Prem Plus and when the equip got swapped i got downgraded to Econ+ since there is no PP product on that bird.
I had to call in and get my refund/adjustment, but had to do it manually.
Maybe the system is buggy on a Sunday because when I went to do a dummy booking, it still showed a 77w with Pp being sold even though i know for sure its a767-400er with no PP
Aug 3, 2021, 4:20 am
#11
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Similar experience on UA85 for this week on Aug. 5 from TLV-EWR. I'm booked in Premium plus, and was just checking the seat maps for my kids seats and I see that Premium Plus is now listed as Economy Plus. Not sure why, as the incoming flight seatmap still shows the 787-10 with Premium Plus. I'm thinking that there will still 7 PP seats unsold and they decided to open it up to people as economy plus upgrades. If that's all it is, it worked great for me as I got my two kids PP seats for just $150 each.
Dec 7, 2021, 12:52 pm
#13
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Dec 7, 2021, 1:12 pm
#15
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It depends on if they are selling premium plus seats on the route or not. If you were able to choose that seat, then it is likely you'll be in the clear. Note that it is still possible you'll be bumped back to standard Eco+ if there is an equipment swap (i.e. a change of plane type), and you won't get any downgrade compensation (as one would if they had booked an actual premium plus seat).