Baze

When did UA get MD-80's? Or is this a typo and should have ben AA?

west_end_NYC

I am traveling EWR-PBI tomorrow morning along with my wife & daughter both of whom do not have Premier status. When I did OLCI this morning I went to purchase an extra E+ seat (my Gold status only gets me +1), I was shocked to see that the fee went up to $77 for a middle seat! This represents a 57% increase from the $49 I paid just a couple months ago. Seems very high for a ~2.5 hour flight. By comparison Jet Blue still charges $40 for its version of E+, and that's for an aisle seat and/or bulkhead.

It's very clear this airline is in desperation mode as it relates to revenue generation.

CALMSP

what is desperate about charging what people will pay?

halls120

That is expensive. Last week I paid $95 for an exit row seat with unlimited legroom on OS for a 7 hour TATL flight.

trk1

Economy plus uses dynamic pricing. Prices become higher as flight approaches and changes by day/flight/time and route. This is the same as most professional sports teams use for individual ticket pricing.

Singapore_Schwing

Yep. Just paid $50USD for an aisle exit row on SQ PVG to SIN. It wasn't because of excess capacity either. I needed to to get an assigned seat. UA is on drugs (unless they realized it was three traveling together and that to leave one in E- would be draconian and decided they had you by the short ones).

mherdeg

A couple of questions: (1) Did you pay? (2) If the price seemed too high, will this make you more or less likely to buy UA tickets in the future?

west_end_NYC

Did I pay? Yes, so guilty on that count. The other option would have been to leave one of my party in a middle seat back in E- (which would have been me and that ain't happening).

If I had to shell out more then $200 for the three of us than absolutely not.

mgcsinc

Sounds like UA had the pricing right.

PV_Premier

if I were you I'd fly B6 next time, $120 for 3x E+ versus $77 for 1+2, and a better experience all around. i bet the flight would have been cheaper too.

west_end_NYC

It's debatable whether or not E+ is even necessary on B6 as standard coach offers 34" pitch vs the 31" sardine can on UA. I'm sticking with UA for now as I've re-qualified for Gold in 2014, but remain skeptical given recent devaluations along with the possibility of more coming in the near term. As discussed in other threads, 'likable' changes to current E+ policies seem like a real risk. With the vast majority of my travel (personal and business) to either the West Coast or FL from NYC, B6 is a very viable alternative.

BrisbanePE

Here's an experience I haven't seen or heard of before SYD-SFO Nov 13 and just as doors were about to close were advised that due to a weight and balance issue (heavy cargo in nose, FC and BF full, economy half empty) all the E+ passengers in rows 19-23 had to be moved back - approx 25 people.

They gave out those incident forms to everyone affected to mail in for refunds if appropriate. Very good service on that trip though ;-)

g46r

I paid for an E+ seat on a Dec. SFO-PVG flight back in September. Sometime in October UA raised the price for E+ seats on that flight (and my seat assignment was unaffected then).

Yesterday morning I got an email telling me there was a change of my itinerary. When I looked the only thing changed in the itinerary was the departure terminal. However to my horror UA's computer took away my E+ seat and put me into a regular economy seat.

I called UA right away and demanded that they put me back to my original E+ seat that I already paid for. The rep I spoke to offered to refund my original E+ purchase, and then have me pay the new (higher) price for that same seat. I refused, and I asked her to transfer me to a supervisor.

While I was on hold waiting for the supervisor I had to hang up the phone and deal with another matter. I took a mental note to call UA back a few hours later. I expected having to repeat the same song & dance before reaching a supervisor there.

About 4 hours later when I was free to make another phone call again to UA I checked my reservation - to UA's credit they have already put me back to my original E+ seat. Apparently the rep I spoke to did follow through with the supervisor and the supervisor, whoever he/she was, moved me back to the original seat even though I was off the phone.

Morale of the story: be persistent, and ask to speak to a supervisor when it's apparent that the rep you're speaking to probably don't have the authority to make certain changes.

anc-ord772

I'm glad it worked out!

If UNITED was the airline we all wished it was (or it purports to be?), the first agent would have placed you back in E+ without skipping a beat.

honmani2

Looked through the thread but didn't see an answer to my question.
I booked six tkts from HNL-MCO on same PNR so as a 1K, we are all in e+.

Question: my niece decided to go so if I book her on a separate PNR, can I sponsor her into e+?