WineCountryUA

Yes, if both are tied to the same MP account. Not required to purchase the tickets on UA.com, you can purchase elsewhere and then pull up the flights on UA.com and make your E+ seating selection.

pushmyredbutton

I heard about occasionally getting free E+, but today was my first time actually seeing it in practice when checking my wife in (no status, H fare). It was prominent and looked like this:


Interestingly, it also was allowing SDC's at $0. Flight is currently F2 Y4 IAD-SEA.

If I had to guess, I'd say there is some algorithm that when there are <x E- seats left and >y BE customers without seat assignments, the system will randomly(?) allow paying pax to upgrade to E+ for free, rather than create the expectation that BE will get it for free.

laxmillenial

Hmm. Or if it's also allowing SDC, it might just be giving those passengers a "United half-gold" status, seeing how SDC and E+ are free.

Kacee

Yes, that's almost certainly an effort to make space in E- for BE pax. I would imagine it's the H fare rather than random selection. An H is pretty high up in the fare hierarchy.

nomad420

Would agree, last week I was able to look at available seat charts on several routes a UA employees computer who was looking for SA seating for travel and I was amazed at how many flights displayed E- as full but showed (many) seats available in E+. It was an education to say the least. As has been reported BE pax have been getting E+ seating at check in, how often or what percentage of BE pax I don't know but it doesn't sound like a rarity.

prometa

Usually, when I get free SDC unexpectedly, it's because there's a travel advisory out I wasn't aware of. IAD is currently under one. (Aug 1-4)

CMK10

I was on a Saver Y award ticket (XN stock) earlier this week. I paid $25 for an E+ seat and no PQDs have posted to my account. Are you not eligible to earn them on award tickets?

WineCountryUA

Award tickets are non-mileage / PQD earning.

lincolnjkc

This is generally true, however, I was able to get PQD credit last year for E+ purchases associated with an "award-type" ticket (long story - see * below) with a friendly request to the MPSC. The PQD FAQ says "You will earn PQD for Economy Plus purchases, whether a one-time purchase or a subscription" and doesn't make any distinction about the status of the ticket that the purchase is attached to (revenue/nonrevenue)

So it's worth an ask


*- Ok, so the long story: My company and I have donated consulting/programming/commissioning services to a global NGO that is supported by UA (and others in the travel industry). The deal is that our services and indirect costs are free, but they're responsible for arranging/paying for any travel/lodging. On one of the tickets their travel agency booked what is essentially a MP Award ticket (seems to be linked to a 'phantom' 1K account where donated miles are pooled), failed to attach my MP# to the reservation, and then bought exit row seats (although I had specifically asked "only if they're available at no cost"). Since UA wouldn't refund the purchase, figured might as well make the most of it.

zeer0

The question is specifically about the additional $25 spent on the E+ seat not the ticket itself. I thought the E+ purchase does earn PQD.

WineCountryUA

Award tickets are generically non-mileage earning, PQDs would lead to RDMs. Except for the earlier poster, via manual invention, not aware of any other poster reports of receiving PQDs/RDMs on award ticket E+ purchase. Let's see if others have been successful with manual intervention.

Occasionally in irrops, award tickets have been changed to "paid" fares and sometimes received miles but reports suggest that is getting rarer.

DELee

If you used one of the MP credit cards that earn PQMs when making purchases on .com, then you'll earn those.

David

emcampbe

have never had this situation, but flights that don't earn RDM are also ineligible to earn PQM and PQD. My guess is this extends to an E+ purchase as well.

redynsp

Economy Plus = more legroom? If it's extra legroom then this implies that you must have legroom in Economy seats. I am 6'8" tall and just stood for the entire flight from Columbus, OH to Denver, CO. I would like to sit with my wife when traveling but it is a total waste of money to buy her Economy Plus seat when she is only 5'4" tall. Even when I spend the money for Economy Plus I still don't have near the legroom she has in Economy. I don't want "Extra Legroom" I just want the same legroom that you offer to the other 99.9% of your customers. United and every other airline should offer adequate seating to every passenger. Your average passenger would rather sit in their assigned seat than the lavatory. I would too.

WineCountryUA

You're at the 99.985% height percentile for American males


Since no airline is going to design the standard seat for that small portion of the population, you should be looking at exit rows, some bulkheads, or perhaps first-class domestic

Those will be extra costs but those seats would better fit your needs.