Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I just experienced something I've never encountered before. I was trying to make a seat selection for an international flight in two weeks on United. The website let me select the outbound seat but it showed no seats available for the inbound flight, unless you wanted to pay for an upgraded economy or business class seat, which I do not.
I called United and was told just to wait until I got to the airport and they would assign me a seat, which would probably be one of the upgraded ones that is showing available now. I selected a seat closer to the time we made the reservation, but apparently it didn't "stick" on the website.
I also could not enter passport information and was told just to wait until I check in.
I've never had either of these happen before on any flight with any airline...I like to have all that stuff taken care of well beforehand, so it's just one less thing to worry with last minute.
More common than I realize, or just weird to United?
I've come close to that with Delta- only remaining seat without an extra charge was a middle back seat, but plenty of seats in Comfort+ or premium blocked seats for which my non-status self would have had to pay an extra $40 to get. Decided that worst case I'd get put in the middle back seat anyways, so waited for their computer system to play a bit of seat roulette and I ended up in a 'premium' window seat near the front of the plane without having to pay the extra for that.
If you're a party of 4-6, it's a bit more of a gamble, but for 1-2 people, no big deal ,and enjoy your likely upgraded economy seat. Just in case, brush up on rules in both the USA and your destination in terms of involuntary denied boarding. If it's EU area (which I think also applies to a few non-EU countries like Norway and Switzerland) the IDB compensation is quite good, and you might want to remind United how much they'll owe you in hard cash if you aren't put on the flight:
The rules do not apply to charter flights, or to scheduled flights operated with planes that hold fewer than 30 passengers. They don't apply to international flights inbound to the United States, although some airlines on these routes may follow them voluntarily.
Resist the urge to select a seat. Worst case, you'll end up in whatever undesirable seat you would have wound up in anyway. Best case, you get assigned one of the upgraded seats they couldn't sell, at no cost to you.
Resist the urge to select a seat. Worst case, you'll end up in whatever undesirable seat you would have wound up in anyway. Best case, you get assigned one of the upgraded seats they couldn't sell, at no cost to you.
Oh I WON'T select a seat because I refuse to pay or use points for an upgraded seat, and that's all that's available to choose from. I'll just not mess with it until I get to the airport, and then maybe all that's available is a business class.
Oh I WON'T select a seat because I refuse to pay or use points for an upgraded seat, and that's all that's available to choose from. I'll just not mess with it until I get to the airport, and then maybe all that's available is a business class.
2) I bought a ticket on that plane so unless they somehow find some empty economy seat when I get to the airport, they'll be putting me in one of the economy plus or the business class seats for free, since they're the only ones showing as still empty. I tried to select a seat but it would not let me without paying extra money, which I'm not going to do.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
