United just randomly reassigned my seats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a website called Expertflyer that allows you to set up free seat alerts for your flights. Usually people use it to set up alerts in case better seats open up, but you can also use it to notify you if your own seats change or there's an aircraft swap. Do this and you'll be notified before 95 pct of the people on the plane realize it happened.

(You can also use the site for award availability, schedule changes, etc, but you have to pay for those)

Thanks for the tip. I just set up an alert on my seats for an upcoming flight but didn’t see an option to get an alert for an aircraft swap. Is the idea that if the aircraft changes, it will trigger an alert because all seats will look available?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should, but why didn't you check your boarding passes earlier? Also get the app.

I have the app. I didn’t check in until I was on the way to the airport. We didn’t even book these flights until two weeks ago. I don’t ever check my seats until boarding. This has never happened to us before.

These are both dumb. Not saying United is right (they're absolutely not), but you need to double check things ahead of time.

You need more than a double-check- that implies checking twice. United especially is sneaky so you really need to check more often, honestly a week leading up to the flight you should check every day. Very easy on the app.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always screenshot my seats when I select them and then reconfirm 24 hours in advance when I check in online. I’m confused how OP didn’t notice until boarding unless OP is making it up.

I had to get my kids from the pool, shower, pack, feed kids lunch, get gas, return rental car and get to our gate and then buy dinner for the flight. I was alone with my 3 kids. DH flew back early.

Always check in the day before for this reason. If they are going to screw people, they screw the people who don’t have boarding passes yet. Same with oversold flights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should, but why didn't you check your boarding passes earlier? Also get the app.

I have the app. I didn’t check in until I was on the way to the airport. We didn’t even book these flights until two weeks ago. I don’t ever check my seats until boarding. This has never happened to us before.

I would start doing this.

United moved us around 2 days before our flight last summer b/c they changed planes. We spoke to the gate agent as soon as we got there and were placed back in more leg room seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should, but why didn't you check your boarding passes earlier? Also get the app.

I have the app. I didn’t check in until I was on the way to the airport. We didn’t even book these flights until two weeks ago. I don’t ever check my seats until boarding. This has never happened to us before.

I would start doing this.

United moved us around 2 days before our flight last summer b/c they changed planes. We spoke to the gate agent as soon as we got there and were placed back in more leg room seats.

Yep. I have found that individual airline employees are happy to help in any way as long as a solution is still available. So identifying the problem early is ideal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should, but why didn't you check your boarding passes earlier? Also get the app.

I have the app. I didn’t check in until I was on the way to the airport. We didn’t even book these flights until two weeks ago. I don’t ever check my seats until boarding. This has never happened to us before.

OK well you don’t sound very smart. Or at least you’re not a very savvy traveler. You shouldn’t be checking in on your way to the airport. Did you check in about a day before. And who doesn’t look at their seat assignments until they board?? Unless you don’t care at all where you were sitting, you shouldn’t be doing that. If you care where you are sitting, you should be checking in a day before, and looking at your seats and making sure they are OK.

I mean you check in on the way to the airport and they don’t even look at your seat assignments and then complain at the gate? That’s just dumb

Wow. This is totally the fault of the airline. I would not check if I had paid for seat assignments together. Blaming the OP and calling them dumb is not OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should, but why didn't you check your boarding passes earlier? Also get the app.

I have the app. I didn’t check in until I was on the way to the airport. We didn’t even book these flights until two weeks ago. I don’t ever check my seats until boarding. This has never happened to us before.

Troll?

The first post said OP always books early, this post says op booked 2 weeks ago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should, but why didn't you check your boarding passes earlier? Also get the app.

I have the app. I didn’t check in until I was on the way to the airport. We didn’t even book these flights until two weeks ago. I don’t ever check my seats until boarding. This has never happened to us before.

OK well you don’t sound very smart. Or at least you’re not a very savvy traveler. You shouldn’t be checking in on your way to the airport. Did you check in about a day before. And who doesn’t look at their seat assignments until they board?? Unless you don’t care at all where you were sitting, you shouldn’t be doing that. If you care where you are sitting, you should be checking in a day before, and looking at your seats and making sure they are OK.

I mean you check in on the way to the airport and they don’t even look at your seat assignments and then complain at the gate? That’s just dumb

Wow. This is totally the fault of the airline. I would not check if I had paid for seat assignments together. Blaming the OP and calling them dumb is not OK.

People are being mean and rude. But that doesn’t make them wrong. OP will know for next time. Most people have to learn this the hard way. Just because it’s the airlines fault doesn’t mean the airline will care. Also, it doesn’t sound like OP paid for premium seats, just that she selected a fare that came with seat selection among other things like carry on bags. The airline is not going to refund for that the way they would if OP paid for economy plus.

[Anonymous]

Years ago, United moved up our departure time by 3 hours without notifying us. Or at least, they claimed there was an email but neither DH nor I received one. We would’ve missed the flight if we hadn’t checked in the night before. So now I always check in prior. It’s so easy with the app.

[Anonymous]

Do not even get me started. United has done this to us THREE times within the past year. The latest was on a long haul flight to England with a 6 and 9 year old. We booked over 6 months in advance and paid for the extra legroom seats up at the very front. And then they swapped the aircraft a few days before and those seats became non existent. So they split us all up into various middle row seats throughout the plane. And no, we did not get an email or (lol) a refund. They didn’t even apologize for the inconvenience when we called! They just said there was nothing they could do so we ended up having to rebook our entire flight. We were still split up but at least we had a two and two together so I could sit with one kid and DH could sit with the other. So yeah. Not thrilled with United at the moment. It puts parents in a really crappy situation, and makes us look like the bad guys when, in reality, it’s 100% the airline’s fault. Honestly, I don’t know how they get away with it.

[Anonymous]

Our worst was once when we were boarding. We had boarding passes with seats together. We missed preboarding due to a diaper blowout. We stood in line and I got on with the fussy baby. My husband had all the stuff and ended up a couple of people back at check in as some people pushed in front of him. When he gave them his boarding pass, he was told they had changed planes and there wasn't a seat for him on the flight---even though they had never paged him and he had a valid boarding pass. My phone was in the diaper bag he was carrying. I had no idea why he wasn't boarding. He couldn't contact me. They wouldn't give me a message. It wasn't pretty. I refused to sit down so they could shut the door. They threatened to call security. I didn't know where he was. I did eventually get off--they still hadn't told me where he was and why he hadn't boarded and someone else was in his seat.

United told me that I voluntarily de-boarded and made me buy a new plane ticket. He got zero compensation for having his boarding pass revoked because the plane change was due to a "mechanical issue.". It was all handled in literally the worst possible manner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do not even get me started. United has done this to us THREE times within the past year. The latest was on a long haul flight to England with a 6 and 9 year old. We booked over 6 months in advance and paid for the extra legroom seats up at the very front. And then they swapped the aircraft a few days before and those seats became non existent. So they split us all up into various middle row seats throughout the plane. And no, we did not get an email or (lol) a refund. They didn’t even apologize for the inconvenience when we called! They just said there was nothing they could do so we ended up having to rebook our entire flight. We were still split up but at least we had a two and two together so I could sit with one kid and DH could sit with the other. So yeah. Not thrilled with United at the moment. It puts parents in a really crappy situation, and makes us look like the bad guys when, in reality, it’s 100% the airline’s fault. Honestly, I don’t know how they get away with it.

Because people keep flying them. They decide by price and route and not by customer service. Unless people vote with their feet, it will keep happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do not even get me started. United has done this to us THREE times within the past year. The latest was on a long haul flight to England with a 6 and 9 year old. We booked over 6 months in advance and paid for the extra legroom seats up at the very front. And then they swapped the aircraft a few days before and those seats became non existent. So they split us all up into various middle row seats throughout the plane. And no, we did not get an email or (lol) a refund. They didn’t even apologize for the inconvenience when we called! They just said there was nothing they could do so we ended up having to rebook our entire flight. We were still split up but at least we had a two and two together so I could sit with one kid and DH could sit with the other. So yeah. Not thrilled with United at the moment. It puts parents in a really crappy situation, and makes us look like the bad guys when, in reality, it’s 100% the airline’s fault. Honestly, I don’t know how they get away with it.

This has also happened to us numerous times. I have started avoiding United specifically, but the last time it happened it to us, it happened on Delta. There was a thread a couple months back about this and there was a lot of posters blaming parents for not springing for seats with their kids. I don’t think people understand…WE DO PAY FOR SEATS WITH OUR KIDS and then the airline shuffles things around at the last minute. It is maddening. And don’t tell me the airline doesn’t know that we are a family or how old my kid is….all that info has to be put in during the purchasing of tickets. They could definitely create a program that automatically keeps families together when a plane is switched out.

But what I think is actually happening is that they are trying to sell more seats in some way or another by putting everyone who has purchased a ticket in the middle seats and trying to sell the aisle and window seats for an extra $30 or whatever. They have given up basic human decency to sell an extra few hundred $ in seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should, but why didn't you check your boarding passes earlier? Also get the app.

I have the app. I didn’t check in until I was on the way to the airport. We didn’t even book these flights until two weeks ago. I don’t ever check my seats until boarding. This has never happened to us before.

Troll?

The first post said OP always books early, this post says op booked 2 weeks ago

Not OP or PP but 2 weeks would be booking early for us.

[Anonymous]

I would complain OP and ask for a refund. Tell them you book early to get the seats you want and pay more. Then never fly united again unless they are the only option.