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In a couple of days we'll be returning home via a two-leg journey with United Airlines. We wanted to upgrade to first class, but the website only let me do it for the first flight. For the second flight I see that there are first class seats available, but they are all single seats. Assuming that UAL will let me choose two of those seats (more on that below), would it be presumptuous of me to ask the person next to me to trade seats with my wife? I mention that it's first class because, unlike coach class, we can safely assume that all the seats in the cabin are good seats; it's not like I would be asking someone to move from a good seat to a particularly bad or uncomfortable seat.
I'm not sure UAL will let me do this in any case, because when I tried to choose two of the separate seats the website erred out.
United recently did a big IT 'update' with some erratic results since, with the worst problems if you use the Chrome browser. I'd try another browser and clear all cookies, etc. to see if you can get better results, and if that doesn't work and phone charges where you are are reasonable, then call customer service and ask if they can do the paid upgrade manually.
As for seat swaps, even in First there are some people with strong seating preferences who pour over the Seat Guru web site before picking seats on every flight. You can always ask politely, but may still be told 'no'
Call the reservation line. Depending on your status, not all empty seats will show up when you go to the web site. A reservation agent will have access to all empty seats. When my wife had MPV status with Alaska Airlines I was amazed at how much larger the seat selection choice was for her compared to my non-status, which showed far fewer open seats. If that doesn't work, your last resort would be for one of you to ask your seatmate about trading seats.
It worked for us. I ended up with an aisle seat but my husband was in another row in the middle seat, so I motioned for him to ask the fella in his aisle seat next to him if he was willing to trade. The guy was got up immediately to trade. However, my husband is a big guy, so I'm sure he saw the benefit.
United recently did a big IT 'update' with some erratic results since, with the worst problems if you use the Chrome browser. I'd try another browser and clear all cookies, etc. to see if you can get better results, and if that doesn't work and phone charges where you are are reasonable, then call customer service and ask if they can do the paid upgrade manually.
As for seat swaps, even in First there are some people with strong seating preferences who pour over the Seat Guru web site before picking seats on every flight. You can always ask politely, but may still be told 'no'
This would be me. I pick my seats with purpose.
OP, you can ask (nicely, without expectation), but be prepared to be rejected. I know for a fact, some UA first and business class seats are lesser than others.
I would suspect that you would have better luck if you're offering an aisle for an aisle, or a window for a window. But people who like aisles generally don't like window seats, and vice versa.
Ask them. If they accept, buy them a drink/snack when the cart passes through.
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