Not looking forward to E- (just a rant!)
 

I am currently a 1P but I only flew 15k miles last year. I've got a business trip a week from today - I have a feeling the automatic sweeps are going to take away my exit seat and put me in the back of the bus this weekend :(.

I've got nothing to trade in CC for 3P and I don't have any other trips booked at this time for a challenge. This will be the first time I've had E- in many years :).

You might be right, but I think you stand a reasonable shot of being able to keep your seat... if not, you can always pay the relatively cheap buy-up fee for E+ on this flight. Are you going to be flying about the same miles on UA again this year? If I were going to have 15k in flown miles I would certainly consider buying E+ access for the year...

There's always the buy-up...

d'oh, I forgot about that... Yeah, might bite the bullet. It's always unknown how much I'll end up flying... sometimes 15k miles, sometimes 80k.

My wife and I do have an award ticket for Thailand in September... Might buy myself up to E+ then buy her up before the flight if I don't hit 2P by then.

I thought that if you bought the annual E+ access that you could bring one passenger with you in E+ so there's be no reason to buy her up before the flight. If that's the case (and I'm sure others can confirm), you might want to go ahead and buy E+ access now to ensure you won't be in E- for your upcoming flights.

ok.. I thought I had heard that buying in was for you only, unlike premier access prior.

Funny, it won't let me buy up now since I'm still a 1P... I'll have to buy it Saturday.

There is also Economy Plus Access Premier® Fast Track which lets you be a 2P at just 15K miles. OP said he flew 15K miles last year, so he could have done that. Perhaps United will let him he a 2P this year in exchange for a retroactive "Fast Track" payment.

Another option, interesting. Thank you.

For $799 ?? :eek:

Not worth it, IMHO, when E+ access can be had for $299. Is that 25% bonus (and the e500s) really worth the difference? I guess if the OP plans to fly a ton.

LAX

E+ access is $349 now

Thanks for the correction! I guess UA is really trying to milk the E+ cow.

LAX

I can confirm E+ access works just like elite status for seating. Bought it for Mrs. PVDProf, and I can see E+ seats and position GM Master PVDProf next to her in E+ in her account, or in my account with her M+ number in the PNR.

It takes a couple days after purchasing E+ Access for it to show up on the site, or you can call right away for seats (or, at least the 1P line helped me get them into E+ seats using the Mrs.' access).

I'm curious to hear whether or not it sweeps, so please let us know. Good luck!:)

"Rant" is probably not quite accurrate here as UA has not actually screwed you yet. And you do have the options set forth above.

Depending on how much you will fly this year on UA, E+ access may too expensive of an option. I'll say that E- isn't so bad, as long as the seat next to you is empty. You also may get to interact with non frequent fliers and hear their interesting stories. While waiting at the gate, it's more fun to chat with non frequent fliers flying for family or vacation reasons. "Oh we're flying to Roanoke to see our daughter's new baby". Airports are great places to interact with strangers. Most of them are truly friendly and reflect the faces of America, and it beats flipping open my laptop to do things that I could do at home.

When my back hurts, yeah, it's worth it. I'm in F for the next 10 days (flying
5 of those ten days), and I'd pay cash for discounted e500s if I had too.