E+ without status stradegy?

I just booked the flight getting my 25,000th mile in, so I am still getting sent to the back of the bus. Is there any stradegy to get into at least E+ without status? What is the best way to do this? Sweet talk someone on the phone or get there early and hope row 9 or 16 on the 757 is still open?

I think sweet talking is your best option--to the GA at the airport. Don't call and be a pest--you may strike the nerve of a nasty phone rep and he/she will put in a bad word for you.

Strangely enough, I've been in E+ several times the past week. I'm close but not there yet on status either. I selected seats for most of my flights, I'd have to go look but I think I selected stuff that ended up being in E+. I got there on standby once, too, on a flight that was mostly empty.

Several times I was in E- I noticed that it was practically empty at the front but packed in like cattle in the rest of the cabin. On one I asked about it and apparently a lot of folks ticketed in E+ had bolted to another flight.

If I get a nice GA at my origination airport, should I be able to ask for reassignments on the connections as well?

Hope for a very full flight, and be the in the last group to check in. E+ seats will be all that is left.

I agree with United959, sweet talk the gate agent.

I only few a couple of times last year, so I lost status early this year (end of March I think, even though I thought it was supposed to be end of Feb).

I was flying out of CMH a lot. Being it's a small station for UAL, the gate agents are always the same. I made an effort before I lost 2P to get to know them. When I lost 2P, they were surprised, but did a great job of getting me E+ seats anyway. Now I'm a 1P since I've been here most of the year, so I can book exit rows, but they know who I am.

If you fly a smaller station a lot, it can really pay to get to know the gate agents. It's less helpful at ORD since there are so many, but I'm usually on a packed-to-the-gills monday AM flight anyway, so it doesn't matter as much.

Yes. E+ is only reserved for elite members BEFORE check-in. Once seating is under airport control, a polite request should be all it takes to get you into E+, loads permitting. My parents have no status with UA, but (on my instruction) ask for E+ every time they check in. They've never been denied except when the flight was already 100% full and there were no E+ seats available.

Wow, you're really going for the gold!

You can try, except if you have same-day connections, chances are the GA won't be able to pull up the seat map as it will have already been transferred over to the departure airport of the flight.

I'd also make sure I have an E+ BP IN MY HANDS before making any additional requests.

The connection is on an EMB 120, no E+, but exit row 9 would be nice. The return is a CRJ connecting to a 757, too bad the GA wont have access to the 757 on the return. I can try when I get to the next gate though

Thanks for the replies everyone

Just make sure they actually give you E+. For the second time, we were lied to by the check in desk. Mrs. Fly2Kayak was checking in for her Premier-qualifying flight and they told her - hey presto - an E+ seat has just opened up. She was happy until she boarded the plane and found that it was a plain old E- seat.

I guess we don't have any right to complain about the seat, but why did the check in agent have to lie?

Some of them are just horribly confused. In those cases, ask for a seat as far forward as possible.

A few months ago, I went standby on an earlier-than-scheduled LAX-ORD 2-class 777. I arrived at the gate as boarding was finishing, and asked for an E+ seat. The GA (politely) informed me that "2-class 777s don't have E+" (They all do). I tried to correct her once, but she didn't budge even as her coworker at the next station proceeded to hand out E+ seats! But by asking for the most-forward aisle seat she had, I got an E+ seat. Funny thing is, she somehow managed to print me a gold BP for that seat which did NOT say E+. The whole thing was rather weird.

I don't think he/she intentionally lied. Are you new to UA? If so, perhaps as you fly more and more you'll learn that not all agents are created equal.

Don't get me wrong, most of them are great people and customer-service oriented, but when it comes to knowing the rules, there's a severe lack of understanding or training--I think it's the latter.

Like you Jasons2e, I don't have status, but from my experience the CSA not GA has given me E+ seating for my last few trips to HI. But it may be that because I travel to HI and most people flying use award travel leaving the E+ seats empty. Just ask nicely.

I might accept the "all agents are not created equal" thing if it hadn't happened earlier this year at the same airport. That time, not only did the check-in agent fib, but when I double checked at the gate, that agent also fed me the same story when I was skeptical because my E+ seat was further back than I'd expect.

In both cases I was pretty darn clear about what I wanted. I find it very hard to believe that any gate agent wouldn't know what Economy + is at this point, and if not they should be fired.

These were both long-haul international flights, and E+ seating is one of the main benefits that UA has for me - and the #1 reason I bought slightly more expensive UA tickets for my wife so she could make Premier. You can bet your behind I was VERY disappointed as I walked past the E+ seats to find my E- middle seats on my way to NRT earlier this year, and I'm pretty irritated that it happened again.

Don't get me wrong - overall I'm fairly satisfied with UA and especially with their confirmations about how they'll run their program next year I'm staying put for now - but I fly UA for the benefits I get vs. just flying the cheapest airline, and if this happens too often I will switch to an airline with employees that don't play this sort of game.

I've never been able to secure an E+ seat w/o status in the years past. The GA usually tells me that those seats can not even be pulled up in the computer without status. Are they lying? According to the previous posts, I guess there is a way, hmmph! It's ok, I usually secured exit rows in the past on departure day.