United seat assignment - Economy

[Anonymous]

OP, here is your situation which I don't think you are portraying correctly - no fault of your own because it seems like you do not take many flights.

You paid for a United economy ticket. You did NOT pay for economy plus (more money at the time of purchase and more legroom). Posters here think that you've paid for an economy plus ticket, which you did not.

You think because you did not buy a basic economy ticket that you are entitled to pick your seat. In many cases, that is true. But, when a flight gets booked to a certain point, they stop letting you pick seats because there may not be enough seats for all the passengers. It is a common practice to over sell tickets on a plane because not everyone shows up. That practice can be dissected on a different thread all together. Just accept it as fact and that it is happening on your flight.

So until the day of travel, sometimes at the gate before you board, you will be assigned a seat. In some instances, you may be separated from your party. There is no way of knowing how that will turn out. There are just too many variables in play.

Long story short, if you want to guarantee that you and your family sit together, opt to pay for the economy plus tickets. If you want to take your chances, as some other posters have mentioned, you can, and hopefully you will be able to sit all together. But I can almost guarantee you that your family will NOT get economy plus seating. This almost never happens on a full flight that is an oversold capacity. The reason why I don't think *your* family will get upgraded to economy plus is that there are likely to be other people who bought economy tix (not basic economy) that will have some sort of status that will be upgraded before you (I'm assuming you have no status on united).

In the worst case scenario, if you have kids and you all have different seats, you can ask people to switch seats to sit next to your kids. Most people will accommodate a family. But since this is a longer trip, I can see some people saying no if all of your family has middle seats and you are asking for a window or aisle seat to trade.

Hope that explanation helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to see the "I'm not paying extra in advance for seats" crowd here, which heavily overlaps (I assume) with the "I showed up to this flight and demand to sit next to my 4 companions and everyone must move to accommodate me" crowd.

No. One of the differences between “basic economy” and “economy” now is that you are supposed to be able to select a seat. I’m in the same boat as OP for an upcoming United flight. There are probably 25 seats available right now in economy, but they’re all paid seats and I get a message saying there are no complimentary economy seats remaining. I will get an assignment at check in or at the airport.

Even if I were to have booked with 4 companions, it’s a bait and switch. They literally advertise this as a perk and you get to the seat map and too bad, so sad.

No, there are now three types of tickets: Basic (we assign you the terrible seats at the end), Reg. Economy (you can pick it near the flight, with the crap that's left), or pay for the seat economy (like getting the preferred extra legroom or exit row seats). It isn't bait and switch. You know this going into it.

[Anonymous]

I am beginning to hate airlines. This is awful and just not accepted in any other industry. we need regulatory reform.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You may have to choose a seat that has a premium charge assigned to it - anywhere from $25-$100 more. There is a color key when picking seats that tells you if there is a charge for the available seats. It may be that all of the “free” economy seats are taken (or are all in the middle row between other seats so not together).

No. They will give OP those seats for free the day of the flight. OP, don't be fooled into paying even more for them.

Our recent flights were fully booked (or oversold). I would not count in sitting anywhere desirable if you wait.

This right here. They oversold my last work flight. They needed 7 people to deplane and only got 4 in the end (enough for 1 family to board but not sit together).

Flying right now is basically just absolute BS and lawlessness.

I saw an IG story from a young woman on a flight from London. They boarded at like 2 pm and sat on the tarmac for over 5 hours. Some of the flight crew timed out but agreed to continue through (pilots were still good to go). The flight was supposed to go to Seattle but ended up with an alternate destination of JFK. Luckily, everyone was given hotel rooms and food voucher. They they took a flight the next day from JFK to SEA.

I had a United flight from Heathrow several weeks ago sit on the tarmac for close to 4 hours because of some mechanical issue. No one could get off. It was insane. Flying is an absolute crapshoot these days.

What is going on with their maintenance??? I was taking United from Dulles TO Paris a few weeks ago, and the same thing happened (we sat on the tarmac in the US, for 4 hours, with multiple mechanical issues). Hope an accident is not in the offing....

Understaffed, I guess, like everything else right now. I also sat for over an hour on the way to London, but they were able to fix that issue and make the scheduled arrival. It’s terrifying to have maintenance issue after maintenance issue on these flights.

Maintenance issues could be things like there are not enough ground crews to do pre-flight checks in time. Or certain components may need to be inspected after X trips and again due to staffing there’s a delay, or the crapper hasn’t been unloaded, etc. It’s not like every “maintenance” issue is the nose fell off the plane and it takes 4 hours to screw it back on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to see the "I'm not paying extra in advance for seats" crowd here, which heavily overlaps (I assume) with the "I showed up to this flight and demand to sit next to my 4 companions and everyone must move to accommodate me" crowd.

No. One of the differences between “basic economy” and “economy” now is that you are supposed to be able to select a seat. I’m in the same boat as OP for an upcoming United flight. There are probably 25 seats available right now in economy, but they’re all paid seats and I get a message saying there are no complimentary economy seats remaining. I will get an assignment at check in or at the airport.

Even if I were to have booked with 4 companions, it’s a bait and switch. They literally advertise this as a perk and you get to the seat map and too bad, so sad.

No, there are now three types of tickets: Basic (we assign you the terrible seats at the end), Reg. Economy (you can pick it near the flight, with the crap that's left), or pay for the seat economy (like getting the preferred extra legroom or exit row seats). It isn't bait and switch. You know this going into it.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/help/faq/aircraft-seating.html

Economy is supposed to include a seat selection. Economy plus or a “preferred” economy seat is a paid selection. There’s some bs here about how they may hold seats for “operational reasons” but it’s clear as day that tickets other than basic economy are supposed to include the ability to pick a complimentary seat when you book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, here is your situation which I don't think you are portraying correctly - no fault of your own because it seems like you do not take many flights.

You paid for a United economy ticket. You did NOT pay for economy plus (more money at the time of purchase and more legroom). Posters here think that you've paid for an economy plus ticket, which you did not.

You think because you did not buy a basic economy ticket that you are entitled to pick your seat. In many cases, that is true. But, when a flight gets booked to a certain point, they stop letting you pick seats because there may not be enough seats for all the passengers. It is a common practice to over sell tickets on a plane because not everyone shows up. That practice can be dissected on a different thread all together. Just accept it as fact and that it is happening on your flight.

So until the day of travel, sometimes at the gate before you board, you will be assigned a seat. In some instances, you may be separated from your party. There is no way of knowing how that will turn out. There are just too many variables in play.

Long story short, if you want to guarantee that you and your family sit together, opt to pay for the economy plus tickets. If you want to take your chances, as some other posters have mentioned, you can, and hopefully you will be able to sit all together. But I can almost guarantee you that your family will NOT get economy plus seating. This almost never happens on a full flight that is an oversold capacity. The reason why I don't think *your* family will get upgraded to economy plus is that there are likely to be other people who bought economy tix (not basic economy) that will have some sort of status that will be upgraded before you (I'm assuming you have no status on united).

In the worst case scenario, if you have kids and you all have different seats, you can ask people to switch seats to sit next to your kids. Most people will accommodate a family. But since this is a longer trip, I can see some people saying no if all of your family has middle seats and you are asking for a window or aisle seat to trade.

Hope that explanation helps.

This. We, 2 adults and 2 10 year olds, are flying to the Caribbean in 2 weeks on United and we sucked it up and paid for our seat assignments so that we wouldn’t be that family trying to get people to swap so we could be near each other. It sucks but at this point when you are traveling as a family you have to build these fees into the trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to see the "I'm not paying extra in advance for seats" crowd here, which heavily overlaps (I assume) with the "I showed up to this flight and demand to sit next to my 4 companions and everyone must move to accommodate me" crowd.

No. One of the differences between “basic economy” and “economy” now is that you are supposed to be able to select a seat. I’m in the same boat as OP for an upcoming United flight. There are probably 25 seats available right now in economy, but they’re all paid seats and I get a message saying there are no complimentary economy seats remaining. I will get an assignment at check in or at the airport.

Even if I were to have booked with 4 companions, it’s a bait and switch. They literally advertise this as a perk and you get to the seat map and too bad, so sad.

No, there are now three types of tickets: Basic (we assign you the terrible seats at the end), Reg. Economy (you can pick it near the flight, with the crap that's left), or pay for the seat economy (like getting the preferred extra legroom or exit row seats). It isn't bait and switch. You know this going into it.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/help/faq/aircraft-seating.html

Economy is supposed to include a seat selection. Economy plus or a “preferred” economy seat is a paid selection. There’s some bs here about how they may hold seats for “operational reasons” but it’s clear as day that tickets other than basic economy are supposed to include the ability to pick a complimentary seat when you book.

Correct. Here is the full text of the first question and answer:

Can I pick my seat or change my seat assignment for all fare classes?
For all fare classes, except Basic Economy, you will be able to pick your seat or change your seat assignment. If you have a Basic Economy ticket, you’re able to purchase a seat assignment during booking and up until check-in opens. Learn more about Basic Economy restrictions.

Nothing in this question even hints that if you purchase something other than Basic Economy you might not actually be able to pick your seat. Further down, they have this question and answer:

Why can't I pick or change a seat?
We may briefly hold some seats for operational reasons, and don’t allow seat selection or changes for Basic Economy tickets. If you’re unable to choose a seat, we will assign you one at check-in or at the departure gate.

In this case, they make it seem as though the inability to choose a seat if you’ve purchased a fare other than Basic Economy is temporary—“briefly.” If I read this, I would assume that if I came back later, seats would be available for me to select.

I can’t fathom what those of you playing the role of hardened, cynical travelers explaining to the rest of us that we should know that purchasing Economy doesn’t necessarily mean you actually get to choose your seats, even though United clearly says that anything other than Basic Economy entitles you to choose your seat, get out of making excuses for shitty airlines behaving dishonestly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to see the "I'm not paying extra in advance for seats" crowd here, which heavily overlaps (I assume) with the "I showed up to this flight and demand to sit next to my 4 companions and everyone must move to accommodate me" crowd.

No. One of the differences between “basic economy” and “economy” now is that you are supposed to be able to select a seat. I’m in the same boat as OP for an upcoming United flight. There are probably 25 seats available right now in economy, but they’re all paid seats and I get a message saying there are no complimentary economy seats remaining. I will get an assignment at check in or at the airport.

Even if I were to have booked with 4 companions, it’s a bait and switch. They literally advertise this as a perk and you get to the seat map and too bad, so sad.

No, there are now three types of tickets: Basic (we assign you the terrible seats at the end), Reg. Economy (you can pick it near the flight, with the crap that's left), or pay for the seat economy (like getting the preferred extra legroom or exit row seats). It isn't bait and switch. You know this going into it.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/help/faq/aircraft-seating.html

Economy is supposed to include a seat selection. Economy plus or a “preferred” economy seat is a paid selection. There’s some bs here about how they may hold seats for “operational reasons” but it’s clear as day that tickets other than basic economy are supposed to include the ability to pick a complimentary seat when you book.

Correct. Here is the full text of the first question and answer:

Can I pick my seat or change my seat assignment for all fare classes?
For all fare classes, except Basic Economy, you will be able to pick your seat or change your seat assignment. If you have a Basic Economy ticket, you’re able to purchase a seat assignment during booking and up until check-in opens. Learn more about Basic Economy restrictions.

Nothing in this question even hints that if you purchase something other than Basic Economy you might not actually be able to pick your seat. Further down, they have this question and answer:

Why can't I pick or change a seat?
We may briefly hold some seats for operational reasons, and don’t allow seat selection or changes for Basic Economy tickets. If you’re unable to choose a seat, we will assign you one at check-in or at the departure gate.

In this case, they make it seem as though the inability to choose a seat if you’ve purchased a fare other than Basic Economy is temporary—“briefly.” If I read this, I would assume that if I came back later, seats would be available for me to select.

I can’t fathom what those of you playing the role of hardened, cynical travelers explaining to the rest of us that we should know that purchasing Economy doesn’t necessarily mean you actually get to choose your seats, even though United clearly says that anything other than Basic Economy entitles you to choose your seat, get out of making excuses for shitty airlines behaving dishonestly.

Didn’t you look at the seat map during booking? If you don’t like what’s available, choose a different flight - or keep checking constantly after booking as seats open up. People change flights, get upgraded, etc, so seats will open. You’ll be fine.