MatthewLAX

B6 flies SFO-EWR too with Mint. You could have split the difference and flown B6 to EWR and UA to SJU!

Lux Flyer

The general rule, is they will adjust your flights for an equipment swap if the change results in going from a lie-flat seat to a recliner, since they do realize people book certain flights for the lie flat seats, even when it is marketed as domestic business and not Polaris. However going from a lie flat to a different generation of lie flat doesn't necessitate a change, nor would I expect the majority of people in reservations to know there is a different style in lie flat seats. Their system tells them it is a lie flat or not, it doesn't get into the nitty gritty of whether it is the old generation of seats or current.

Just because it doesn't fit "your timeline" doesn't mean the agent was wrong stating this occurred due to IRROPs. The equipment swap occurred in the morning (this was not simply a tail swap, as the actual equipment configuration flying this route changed), SOP in this situation is to assign a new flight number, as LarryJ indicated. That should have occurred at the time the equipment was subbed, but that didn't occur for whatever reason, whether that be the staff making the swap didn't know they were supposed to reassign the flight number for this situation (and someone on a later shift caught the oversight/corrected it), or the staff/system wasn't available to create the alternative flight until later in the day but they wanted to get the equipment subbed so it at least showed that plane assigned (and unavailable for other equipment swaps) and allowed the rebooking engine/other departments to begin making any necessary changes to seat assignments/staffing/catering/etc for this flight. Regardless the flight number change and equipment swap were still associated with one another and occurred due to the same event, even if the actual change in the system took place ~8 hours apart.

Plus now that the agent was calling it "IRROPs" you probably could have argued with them to change you to a different flight, which was apparently what you originally wanted. Although as I suspect you'd find if you had done this, there wasn't availability on other flights.


As others have indicated, the 3000 flight number series is used for replacement flights. They don't necessarily load all the same information from the original flight in to the system for these flights (it's more important to them that the segment exists they can confirm passengers in, as opposed to if it shows if wifi is available, or which meals are going to be served). Reservations agents who are answering these questions don't have access to dig through all the different systems, especially in the case of a last minute equipment swap. They look to see if it shows a meal will be served or not, and if the symbol for a meal isn't there, then the answer is no. Nothing is flashing in their face saying "this is an equipment swapped segment and might not reflect the correct amenities of this flight". Hell the majority of them wouldn't even know this was a special segment for 6/13 only, when they go to review your itinerary, they're going to see that the the old segment was cancelled and a new segment was added to the itinerary to replace it. Long story short, the meal will be catered and sent to the catering company per UA's published guidelines for meals.

That may be true pre-pandemic, but everything I've seen regarding B6 lately, both with their Mint and regular flying products, has not been stellar reviews.

Regardless, I'd just be happy to still have a flight going and that they were able to sub different equipment in. The alternative is they could have outright cancelled the flight.

halls120

If I was part of a party of four, the older IPTE seats are close to perfect

STARAFlyingPenguins

Even for 2 if you snag the window side. Plus they still have the backwards facing seats which are great for looking out the window backwards 😁

ijgordon

Curious having never been on this config - would a party of 4 be better off with 2x2 facing one another or 4-across the middle section?

IAH-OIL-TRASH

the 2x2 pairs positioned facing each other doesn’t actually allow pax to see each other (unless standing up) because the mount for the monitor is basically the privacy shield.

TomMM

And IMO provide a more comfortable position with your head slightly elevated above feet.

LarryJ

The flight was cancelled, and new segment created, to facilitate the process of transferring passengers between seat maps that differed significantly in the number of seats they had in each class of service. The tail swap is a separate process from reconciling the seat maps. There's no reason to expect them to occur simultaneously.

Buster CT1K

OP, sorry to hear this. United is not to be trusted! My partner bought a lie-flat seat and it was changed on day of travel to recliners. It is very frustrating that UA has such wildly differing products.

Remember, United does not care about the customer. Remember Dr. Dao and remember also United reneging on lifetime United Club memberships.

Kacee

Not really noticeable on a 772. The 744 had a more pronounced nose up attitude in flight.

You can approximate this by fine tuning the recline in any event.

cfischer

UA will pay compensation if lie-flats are not available on premium TCON routes, I think it is $500.

nomad420

Absolutely! It happened to me I think I got $400 but that was pre pandemic pricing. They were literally handing out information on how to claim your compensation at the gate during boarding.

After reading much of the above it appears to OP indeed is getting a lie-flat product. My comment was based on a lie to a non lie flat config change, if you've had that happen to you, especially last minute, it is not a pretty situation at the gate.

COSPILOT

OP got an upgrade, not a bait and switch. For a family the old seats are superior to new Polaris, because you can actually see each other. I’ve done everything from the middle 4 to 2+2 on the side and have zero issues with family. Back in my monthly OGG-DEN flights I would end up wherever on the HD 772 and I was fine.

OP needs to issue UA a thank you and change the thread title.

Kacee

For a family of four, I concur. The old IPTE seat itself is super comfortable, though the lack of at-seat storage can be frustrating.

Buster CT1K

Well that’s your opinion that it would be an upgrade for you, cospilot. However, OP believes it’s a downgrade and not the product he thought he was buying. Furthermore, there are other passengers on this flight who probably consider this a severe downgrade. I know I would.

United is not reliable.