jhpark

I just called and got an agent who *seemed* to know what he was talking about, so I wanted to get some corroboration or contradiction here.

Apparently there was a recent change, where United is pre-assigning seats for only half the available seats, and the rest are only available on day of checkin. As a US2 I used to be able to get them to release a seat for me, but now they saying that because of United preferreds who complained about the lack of seats, they're not allowing US elite to do that anymore until day of checkin.... ?????

Is this a new policy or is this just an agent who doesn't have a clue? I had two different agents tell me essentially the same thing, though one went into more detail than the other.

This is UA ticket, UA metal, but with my US FF number

?????

planeluvr

Call UA and see if they can get you a seat.

goldstj2

when you talk to UA, you might have to ask the agent to seek a supervisor's help in getting you an E+ seat. Apparently, there's a code they need to enter to display E+ for people with US status, and many agents have never come across this.

LPCJr

I ran into the same thing. A supervisor gave in after it became clear I wasn't going to relent. If you go to the Economy Plus section of united.com, they list the requirements to the a seat there. One of the choices is *A Gold or Silver. It states that E+ is available first-come, first-served. Nothing is mentioned about anyone having to wait until check-in.

CPRich

But if you read the fine, fine print (I don't remember where it was, but it was only after searching for a while), you'll find that E+ is available for elites on "most" UA flights. I found this when flying DEN-HNL, a very high demand route. If I booked full-fare on-line, it showed me dozens of seats to choose from. When I called and tried to get a seat, or tried to book cheaper tickets on-line, E+ was magically full. Someone else recently posted the same situation going to NRT, another very high demand flight. I don't think it's *A specific - a 1K friend saw the same thing.

sts603

That could be because it didn't recognize your CP # (though that doesn't explain your 1K friend's experience). However, I believe that the "most" comment on the UA website originiated from when the 762's that were flying transcons did not have E+. They have been eliminated from the fleet. Also, if you go way back, some of the int'l 777's didnt have it either.

GWU ESIA STUDENT

Stupid Stupid, a *A elite is a *A elite whether they earned status on JK or UA or NH no matter which airline they are flying on; all elites should be treated equally if they want the alliance to truely appeal to passengers.