Mike Jacoubowsky

It can be worse. I booked SFO-PEK-PVG-LAX-SFO, paid ticket. Same itin for my wife, but award. Have I ever not cleared LAX-SFO? Not that I recall. I knew it was going to happen ahead of time, but there's apparently no way to turn down the automatic upgrade request, and of course it comes through 5 or 6 days out, and of course by the time I log on and check seats the exit row seat where I was (next to her) is now taken by somebody else, the plane is full, etc. And of course she refused to switch seats with me. Is this drill familiar to you?

mahasamatman

I recall many posts from people who have, so it can't be that uncommon.

jhayes_1780

This is true, the handhelds for the F&B will accommodate the E+ on-board upsells.

LarkSFO

That was my trip home from SD on Sunday! We did reward on the way down, but the tickets on the way home were so cheap I did not even want to burn 10,000 miles.

I bought her ticket first. Then mine later on a seperate PNR. We had bulkhead 7 B and C.

Of course, I was upgraded and I had her in the middle seat (B)...

And, to further prove the similarity between your wife and mine: She refused to take my F seat and sat in row 7...

Yes, happy ending, we are still married one full day later!

It was a first for me...

When do they do it? Once airborne after the seatbelt sign is off?

If they do it before the plane takes off, coudn't that mess with their on time departures? Do they even have the CC machines booted up before take off? Aren't they electronic, and must be shut down like my kindle?

Mike Jacoubowsky

Same way the process BOB and drinks. Can be done anytime during the flight. Presently United is a credit-only airline; you cannot pay for anything during the flight with cash.

Superguy

Of course I would.

I'm just giving a what-if scenario.

I'll add to this. I have. I don't see it happen every time there are a fair amount of empty seats onboard, but I have seen it happen a few times.

cordelli

Congrats to the Flight Attendant.

Why on earth would somebody with status have a seat in the totally packed back of the plane while the e+ section was mostly empty?

I'm always amazed at the "what if's" people here come up with.

If the elite was too stupid to reserve an E+ seat, they deserve to sit in the seat marked on their boarding pass.

Superguy

You'll probably see this a lot more next year with Silvers not getting it until check in time. Some may space it.

How many times do we hear about the "what if" GS sitting in the back of the bus with an E- BP? Get a few misconnects, it could happen.

Antipode

I've heard the announcement several times when E+ has empty seats, and I've seen the FA process the purchase on the handheld machines a couple of times. IIRC it was near the end of boarding or right after takeoff.

Often1

1. E+ is a premium product. Freebies for elites are done, at the latest, at the gate. Once onboard, it's for sale only and can be processed by the FA's through their electronic readers. When those aren't avail., there's no E+ seating sold.

2. Non-UACO *G doesn't qualify for prefered seating on any carrier. This isn't about blame or fault, it's policy across the system. It's just that on UA where E+ really matters (to some), people get wrongfully upset.

3. Not a weight/balance issue. Mainline aircraft can acommodate. But, captain has lawful authority to seat anyone anywhere and could do if there were such an issue, including moving E- pax to F if that's what the captain wants to do.

4. Not the FA's job to look at peoples' FF cards. If there were E+ seats available and a pax who could have had an E+ seat chose not to ask at the gate (or before), he pays or he stays (in E-).

This is being strictly enforced now because under the new MP 2012 program, it's going to be a lot harder for deep discounters to get to E+ other than at the last minute. Will mean that those who fly a lot in deep discount will need to consider buying E+.

CDKing

+1 on all the comments about the FA protecting E+.

I still think you should complain about GA's not attempting to increase ancillary revenue

JeffS

You tried to play the safety card and lost.

In the statement above you imply that you didn't realize you could have paid for E+ and might have done so if only they had made an announcement.

Then we find out that not only did you know about and understand how E+ works, you had no intention of making the purchase.

mintirish

I agree with everyone else- FA should have dropped an under armor "we must protect this house" on people trying to move up without paying

epiding

as much as protecting revenue is important, the bitterness it engenders from non-elites flying UA shouldn't be discounted long-term....

For something flying in E- that day.... had they chosen to fly US Air or Delta or Southwest instead that day, and they wouldn't likely be in the cramped sardine situation in the overcrowded E- cabin (but empty E+). Again, it engenders anti-UA bitterness, and makes the non-status GM want to fly another airline where there would be lower seating density with a similar situation of 1/2 plane full (but 100% E- full).

Sitting in the exit row E+ one row ahead of E-, I'm personally heard of lot of E- seated people in this situation mumble bitterness about the above. And it is sorta true that (with all other plane capacity factors equal) they would have more spacing if they flew another airline without E+. Over time this makes an effect on non-elite fliers.

...thus the alternative in their mind is not them BUYING up to E+ next time, but simply booking another airline altogether period.

ajfitz

I'm a US Airways Chairman that gets a ton of my miles through flying United (Philly is my home). I've been given E+ when the FA has needed people to move up due to weight and balance. I've also experienced the opposite. E+ envy? You bet ;-)

I do see how seeing that part of the cabin open while others are cramped is probably more frustrating than an empty F cabin.

Overall - I retreat to this ... I paid for what I paid for. Everything else is icing.