clkc86

Booked an award ticket in Business, but a couple of segments to and from EWR are in E-. Being ocd I check on seating everyday. The leg from EWR to ORD has seen prices fluctuating from day to day. Today I was offered a price over half of the normal, I jumped on it and have an email confirming premium seats, hope they honor it! Just weird to me that the price isn't the price. It typically would vary 5 to 10 bucks depending on the day.

Azmordean

The only thing for sure is E+ has gotten more expensive in general, and the price varies based on the perceived desirability of the seat (recline, middle vs aisle/window, etc). Beyond that it still varies, but how or why, who knows =P.

I remember when it was pretty regularly $89-99 for the SFO-IAD transcons I frequent, now I more often see $105-125.

I just status matched into UA Silver, but T-24 makes me nervous -- E- is a total no-go for me (both for comfort reasons but also because I tend to work on the plane, and E- plus laptop isn't the most fun), and I greatly prefer aisle seats, so I tend to book E+ at booking.

Because of that, and the higher prices, I actually bought the E+ subscription -- it's gotten to where E+ on 2 round trip transcons is about the same price as the subscription, so for me (4+ transcons round trip per year, along with some other miscellaneous flights) it represents a good value.

Kacee

I've been checking pricing on an award I booked for a friend CTU-SFO. Last week 16A was $159. Yesterday it was $179. Today it's $199. Sorry, that's just crazy. (And btw, the demise of inherited status on awards was sure one heck of a massive benefits cut.)

I wonder if the dynamic pricing takes into account the specific user's search history . . . i.e., it knows I've been checking, and keeps raising the price trying to spark a "panic" purchase. I bumped into this on the Hilton website last year, where switching browsers (and thus evading the tracking cookie) dropped room price back down by $40 to where it had been previously.

spuck20

Didn't realize these E+ prices were dynamic until today and probably really blew it, at least on the first leg. Checked on a transatlantic reservation last week that's for March, 2017, and the SLC-EWR leg was showing as low as $19. Today, the lowest no recline seat is $66. The only good news is that the EWR-DUB overnight segment dropped by about $60.

diffuse54

Just was wondering ... when flying overseas, the e+ seats have varied prices when you buy them, aisle vs middle vs bulkhead, etc. At the same time, it seems United considers all e+ equivalent, as far as them reseating you in cases of equipment change and such, without crediting you for getting a worse seat, plus it looks like United just bills generically for "economy plus seat". So, if you just buy cheap middle seat, and then the next day log in to change seats, given that you now have e+ eligibility, can you freely choose any of the seats, even the pricier ones, with no added cost?

Also, this may be worth a separate post, but while I'm here... if someone has an economy plus subscription, and they book two+ people on one reservation through their account, do all passengers get the free e+ seat? Or, if the subscription holder just buys a ticket for someone else through their own account, does that person get free e+? [it seemed to work that way when I had silver status - whoever I booked via via my account got free e+ when checking in].

Thanks

Baze

Depends on the kind of E+ subscription you buy.

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/app...onomyPlus.aspx

It is customizable. For you alone, for you and a companion. Need to look on the UA site.

diffuse54

Ah, the subscription in question was actually a free trial that United just gave, unrequested last month, good for the rest of the year. I never saw the details, but I assume it's probably just the single person version.

Baze

I think if you log into your UA account you can look at your subscriptions and it should tell you what kind of E+ subscription it is. But I think it was the individual for domestic flights only kind. If you see it is something different come back and let us know.

When you log in, go to your account and there should be a section called My Travel Options. It will list your subscriptions.

diffuse54

I'll try to check that out, thanks.

Otherwise, is anyone familiar with the pricing/seat-change situation?

swiftaw

If you change from one E+ seat to a more expensive one then you have to pay the difference.

If you change from one E+ seat to a cheaper on then you don't get a refund.

spuck20

Simple answer, no.

Even if booked in E+, next day you still pay whatever the price is for the other seat is that day. If price has gone down, no refund if you change to a cheaper seat. If more expensive, then apparently they refund the original purchase and charge you the price of the new selected seat.

JerryFF

I regularly book flights from SFO to PHL and find that the cost of E+ seats varies dramatically from flight to flight on this same route - as much as 2-3 fold differences in some cases. I just wonder how UA prices these and whether the cost is set for a given flight or varies depending over time and availability.

mahasamatman

That part will always remain a trade secret.

Kacee

Actually, if you check prices on a flight you have already booked, you will see the price varies day to day on that single flight. It always moves within a fixed range, which you can figure out if you watch for a week or two.

NoLaGent

Agreed. I don't think it's as much of a Yield Management definition as more of a Dynamic Pricing one.