ReverendCJM

Flying long haul to Manila, not enough points or $ to get out of econ. On the route home, broke into three more manageable flights rather than Manila-SFO in econ. Have seats all booked and paid for

I keep checking to see what the seat changes are going for (praying somehow to get out of econ for SFO-MLA). On a 7 hour leg of the return, i am getting two different prices for Polaris on 777-300ER
-On the web, same seat, same Polaris cabin = $2770 description is "Business lie flat", premium economy $499
-On the app, same seat, same Polaris cabin = $499 description is "Business wide seat more legroom", no seats avail in premium econ

If I go through the "upgrade cabin" route, I get the higher price (as opposed to just a seat change)

Seems clearly to be a glitch but i've tracked it and it has not been changed over a few weeks. Can select my Polaris seats and go all the way to checkout. Is this something folks expect they will catch?

Flight is not particularly full at the moment, and have two barely decent seats in economy. but don't want to show up at checkin to be told only things left are center seats.....

UPDATE - It was a glitch. When I went to book it, it would not let me choose a Polaris class seat, only Premium Plus. Given the timing and length, I took it, but bonus was the next flight, which was a true redeye, first class dropped by 50% so picked that up too

jsloan

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

I'm not sure if it's a glitch or just UA trying multiple pricing strategies. There's no reason to think that the price you're getting is invalid -- UA's marketing department has just managed to confuse itself with the many things it calls "United Business."

For the sake of anyone not intimately familiar with UA's route maps, OP is asking about GUM-HNL. Note that if you purchase it, you do not have Polaris service on that route, and will not be admitted into the Polaris lounge once you get back to the mainland. Also, while I'm pleasantly surprised that they're still using the 77W on that flight, note that it isn't guaranteed -- UA used the 772HD domestic configuration for a long time on that route. (It'd still be lie-flat, but ti'd be the 2-4-2 configuration).

ReverendCJM

Thanks, yes that is the flight. Couple questions though. On the web, the seat I choose - let's say 11A - is lie flat. I don't know the intricacies of Polaris (only flew it once in my life) but if I google 777-300ERs, i get 4 levels of service - polaris, prem econ, econ + and econ. Is that not Polaris? Or maybe there's a difference between a Polaris lie flat seat and Polaris service? Don't care much about the lounge, we aren't on the ground that long and entry back to mainland is our home.

Also, on the web that seat is 2270 and prem econ is available for 499. On the app that seat is 499 and shows no prem econ available at all, so seems less a conscious choice and more a glitch. But i've no idea how to run an airline /shrug

At any rate, getting out of econ for at least one of the legs seems worth it. Currently mired in row 56. Same row for the 15 hours from SFO to MNL /sad

Apologies for any questions that are daft... only fly once or twice a year and rarely out of economy

WineCountryUA

I have seen and taken offers that fail after purchasing but I was able to get UA to honor them. So even if a glitch, go for it.

11A is a good Polaris seat on 773 and is full service. PremPlus / PremEcon stats at row 20.
E+ / Economy are the same cabin and service, just the first 1/3 of economy has extra leg space and a seat fee for non-elites.

jsloan

It's the same lie-flat seat -- the difference is in the service. IIRC, the amenity kit is slightly downgraded; I don't think they catered slippers. The meal service is... something I tend to sleep through. The bedding is the same -- or, at least it was when I flew HNL-GUM earlier this year (I returned via a nonstop from Asia). BTW -- I wouldn't normally have called out a specific flight when you didn't, but GUM-HNL is a bit of an outlier in terms of their service, and I didn't want someone else to get confused reading what I wrote.

I'd take a screenshot to protect yourself later, but while $499 is low, that particular flight is usually not crowded in J. It wouldn't shock me if they were offering it at $499.

Absolutely; at that price, I'd do the same thing. That flight is brutal -- a too-short redeye from MNL followed by an all-day flight to HNL tends to confuse my body mightily.

Jaimito Cartero

I�ve flown F and Polaris for $25 plus tax long haul from Asia, and never a peep.

ReverendCJM

Thanks much, appreciated

Any thoughts on the lesser hell in econ SFO - MNL? Just my wife and i, so took the side by sides in the back, row 56, seems to be the only econ seats in that plane people say are survivable for that length of time.

Jaimito Cartero

If you see a good deal, and can afford it, jump on it. Too often, the next time you look for it, it will have evaporated.

findark

I think that is about as good as you can do in Y as a couple.

Jaysonb22

I'm assuming this wasn't in 1965. How did you swing that price?

rankourabu

My memories say $16 was the fare. Was it $25?
Good ol Global First in the nose of the 747 right before they took it out..

Bottom line, just book the glitch, don't ask questions!