I hope this is an innocent question from an infrequent UA flier (3 economy segments this past year, 2 First segments and a couple of economy the previous year...)

I am about to book a UA flight (DEN-HDN on a 737) for this coming January. Looking at the seating plans, about 1/2 the economy cabin is E+. As I am not a UA Elite (have non-Elite status on BMI, but nothing "useful") and not intending to buy a full fare economy ticket, I realise that I cannot get these seats assigned to me.

However, I am also thinking that this flight is normally pretty full (when I have done it in the past), but I doubt that many of these passengers are "elite" or full fare either. So if the flight is pretty heaving, AND they need to fill those E+ seats with someone, how can you maximise your chances of getting allocated into an E+ seat? Or am I being overly optimistic here...

Any constructive advice much appreciated

Thanks,
Boo

You could not get any seat assignments until the day of departure. By that time, if all of E- is full, they will allocate you an E+ seat, but you are taking a risk that all of e- will not be full. If there is one seat in E- when you check in, you'll probably get that. If you want to secure E+, but a YBMHEU fare, or buy an EPA pass.

DEN-HDN is only 141 miles as the crow flies... does E+ really matter on such a short hop?

Probably nothing you can do ahead of time unless you get the upgrade offer upon purchasing your ticket online. With EPA, they usually won't give away the seat for free. Maybe an upsell when you check in on the day of flight?

If there are a significant number of E+ seats open on the day of the flight UA will offer to sell them at check in, either on line or at the airport. Best bet is to reserve a good E- seat that you can be happy in for the 51 minute flight and hope for the buy up opportunity.

Thanks for your suggestions

Pretty much as I expected, but worth a try.

You are all very correct - it is only a very short flight, no matter what happends. Unfortunately it follows a much longer flight (in Business Class - which is nice, but I get spoilt... ) from the UK and a four hour layover at Denver. So by the time the flight takes off (8.15pm - 3am UK time!), I am getting tired and fed-up. It's not too bad if the plane isn't packed, but last year it was. We will see

I am currently trying to get hold of (i.e. bid on ebay) for a couple of RCC passes for Denver - that should make the layover more comfortable. Denver is a really nice airport (as they go), but lacks somewhere comfortable to sit...

dchang1 - is that your initial and surname by any chance? Had to double take since that is my husband's initial and surname! He wouldn't post here though, but it is quite an uncommon name in my area...

Boo

If you've come from the UK that day in business, you will have access at the DEN RCC - no passes needed, just your international BP stub.

Last week I flew HNL-SNA on a mileage award. After offering to be placed on the bump list and discussing a wrong seat assignment on the LAX-SNA leg of my trip I asked about upgrades. I was told no operational upgrades were being given and then the wonderful agent told me to wait just a second. She then handed me a new boarding pass with an E+ seat in an exit row! ^ What a great employee, I was flying alone and this really made the red-eye comfortable for me. Just goes to show that upgrades are possible for infrequent flyers like myself. Good luck.

An update to the last post: On the SFO-HNL leg of the trip they were offering upgrades to First Class for 15,000 miles. This applied to any paid ticket not Mileage Award flights, so I didn't qualify.

Unfortunately (?) I am arriving with BA and not UA... not sure UA will let me in with a BA ticket stub

Thanks for the suggestionj, though - just a shame that there isn't lounge access at the arriving airport with BA...

I may ask, at the UA counter/lounge, if any exit row seats are available on our flight - you never know... . In the mean time, I will just reserve a couple of ok E- seats and count my blessing that I will have such a good international sector

Boo

I have no status with UA---actually, I don't even have any miles (I get US miles for UA flights). I was flying a redeye from SAN-IAD with my wife recently, which was completely full in economy and mostly full in E+. When I checked it, the kiosk offered me an upgrade to E+ for $44 a person. Only middle seats were available, but the CSA quickly assigned me 8D-E (757), which are the 2 seats in the exit row in the front of the cabin. There is no window here, but since it was a redeye it really didn't matter. I gladly paid the upgrade free and had a much, much more pleasant flight than I would have stuffed in the back.

UA got an extra $88 and you got a better rest. ^