So on Sunday, I was flying from RDU to IAD and then IAD to MHT. I accessed my itinerary a couple times before this week to select seats and while I was able to do so on the IAD to MHT leg, I was not on the RDU to IAD leg and was told that I'd get seats when I checked in. So on Saturday I check in online and am told that for $40 or so I could upgrade to E+ for the first leg of my trip from RDU to IAD. I decide that since it's only a 35 minute flight that I can deal with E- and keep my $40. I proceed to check in and get to the part where I can select seats and I go onto the diagram and every seat in economy is either taken or has an X through it--when I click on the X it says I'm not allowed to use those seats--clearly they are the E+. Literally 85% of the E+ seats are open, but I cannot select them. So I just procede and get my boarding pass and it says that my seat will be given 30 minutes before departure. My wife and I were a bit concerned with it being a Thanksgiving weekend flight that the flight might be oversold and that not having seat assignments might mean that we'd get bumped if nobody volunteered. But 30 minutes before the flight, myself and about 10 other people are called up and we are all given boarding passes for E+ seats. So clearly, the flight wasn't oversold and they just hoped people would pay extra. I find this to be kind of slimy. I can understand if a flight isn't completely booked and they want to offer the people in E- a seat in E+ for an extra fee, but clearly in this case, there were going to be a lot of people that don't normally have E+ access that would have to sit there. In my opinion when you check in, you should be given a seat if they are available, not told that you could get an E+ seat for $40 when they are going to have to put you in one anyway.

It is common, in fact. Some people may be willing to pay. You wouldn't have been seated in E+ had ten people paid for E+, which is possible.

Why slimy? Obviously, E+ is a higher class of service. Why shouldn't the airline try to get more revenue from these seats before giving them to passengers with deep discount fares? Consider yourself lucky to receive this upgrade at the airport.

Hi Bigrob.

This has started happening a lot more lately.

If you didn't pay the $40 and just waited at the gate, you'd have been assigned any available seat either in E- or E+.

So, your $40 would have gone to pay for:
1) More legroom in E+
2) Being able to choose your own seat rather than being randomly assigned a seat somewhere.

This is what UA's new strategy is now... let's say you have a flight with a total 120 seats. 70 seats are E- and 50 are E+. UA will sell 120 seats. However, if you don't have elite status and the 70 E- seats are all been selected, you get placed in a "seat assignment at the gate/checkin bucket."

The idea is to try to do an upsell to the people already seated in E- and to those without a seat assignment. Some agents at checkin have been a bit slimy and tried to convey the idea that if you don't pay the extra $, you won't get on the flight.

However, you do have a seat on the flight. If some people in E- take the upsell, and get E+ seats, the gate agent will assign you those people's former seats in E-.

If nobody in E- buys the E+ "upgrade" then the gate agent will seat you somewhere in E+.

Any particular reason you didn't get a seat assignment when your ticket was purchased?

Think about it... T-day weekend, probably all the nonstatus travelers booked early and there were no E- seats available when the OP booked. Thus no seat assignment until gate/checkin.

Ehh, I dunno. At first glance it may seem slimy, but really, you're paying for the right to choose your seat in a premium seating area, versus allowing United to seat you where they have room. You could easily have ended up in middle seats in the back, which was the chance you took when you decided to keep your $40. Paying more gives you more control.

It's similar to the way upgrades work: You can take a chance that your upgrade will clear at the 24/48/100-hour mark, or you can buy a First Class seat and guarantee that you'll ride up front. Some people find that certainty worth paying for; some don't.

Very common. Especially on CR7s now, which are roughly 50% E+ and usually somewhat light on elites.

It isn't slimy, people either pay money for E+ or are loyal to UA to get it. You shouldn't be entitled to just have it if there are people willing to pay for the 4-5 inches.

The computer showing the X's was only doing its job: no E+ for non-elites (regardless of how many empty seats there)

Hotels do this all the time. At check in, the agent will say, "We can upgrade your room for only $50...." I never take it, and usually get the upgrade anyway.

E+ is NOT a higher class of service as it is not linked to the fare or booking code!!! There is no upgradde involved.

That's why they HAVE to seat you if there are seats in E+ while E- is full.

If it was fare based Y and B would qualify but they don't.

I think this is rude behaviour.

The slime IMHO is that UA makes up to 50% of the plane wait to get a seat assignment until the gate. I think it is a perfectly reasonable expectation for a passenger on a commercial flight (elite or not) to get a seat assignment at checkin. In extenuating circumstances, (oversold flight, flight with only a few seats remaining for assignment) I can understand making a passenger wait until the gate to get a seat assignment. However, in the situation of a flight with few elites, it is not right to make a large number of pax wait until the gate. Slimier still is that these pax are sometimes misled to believe that they must pay up for E+ in order to get on the flight.

That is the real slime - UA pushes easychicken on you whether you want it or not, and then the chicken scares you that you won't get a seat if you don't cough up more cash. And even if you're not scared about not getting a seat, something you took for granted before - getting a seat assignment at check-in or before - is denied unless you pay up. Whether or not you find these offensive (I do), they are great ways to tick off paying customers.

Let's suppose I took a year off from flying, and fell all the way to GM status. Which airline would I choose when I needed to start traveling again - the one that forces me to put up with these kinds of shenanigans (no seat assignments until the gate, the dreaded and useless ICC, the terrible customer service during irrops) until I've flown thousands of miles with them, or the one that provides a decent level of basic service to everyone?

My bet is that you would be smart enough to fly the airline that allows you to pay a paltry $40 to get much more comfortable seating before you earned your elite status back.

I don't think anyone is "scared" into buying anything! The other day on a 777, 8+ hr. flight there were about 30 people in E+ and the rest in E-. Then I had to endure the "can I move up" questions. No, you can't. (Exception made for the guy with broken audio jack and pregnant woman who was in the middle and constantly going to the lav, because there were NO other seats available to move into.)

The fee for the u/g was about 100USD. No one bought, so they sat in E-. The others bought it, or were elites. Most had an entire row.

What level of MP status are you?