mrwunrfl posts: "I assumed it was 1K, but if you say it is Premier Exec".
Fair enough - I see your point, and I agree that you were primarily right. Mea culpa.

>"The notion that a person could be bumped from row 15 by a high status/$$ passenger comes from seatguru"
I appreciate what you're saying here, since it is one of my all-time most annoying urban myths.

I really don't know how or why or when SeatGuru got that piece of info, but it's nonsense - and I wish they'd take it off their site.

Nonetheless, the OP was MOST likely the victim of an itin switch which has happened to many UA flyers. I hope that "itin checking" is their remedy in the future, since I can appreciate how remaining on the UD of a UA 744 is a good thing.

Best, Dave

What I don't understand is why, after the OP checked in and received boarding passes for the lower deck, she checked My Itineraries online at the RCC and it still showed her original upper deck seat assignments. That's why I thought this was something switched at the airport. I've been the victim of the itinerary change/seat change before, but those always shows up in My Itineraries at the time.

Anyway, I've learned to keep a close eye on my United seats. As a traveling party of three with two elites, we have the added problem of being kicked out of E+ on occasion, even though we're eligible to be there. I know--I could use two PNRs and do sometimes, but I shouldn't really have to.

ms_go writes: "What I don't understand is why, after the OP checked in and received boarding passes for the lower deck, she checked My Itineraries online at the RCC and it still showed her original upper deck seat assignments"

You make a good point. I don't know how this would happen, especially considering that the flight at that time was under airport control.
Frankly, I've never checked my itins AFTER getting a BP.
This is weirder than I thought.
Best, Dave

The reason I checked after we checked in was because I had six hours to kill and access to a terminal. I had been checking my itinerary regularly before we left the states, because United has cancelled/changed flights on me before and I was paranoid. I had also checked one last time two days before returning home. I primary checked at the airport to try to figure out what happened. It was frustrating to see that my itinerary still showed 13A/B, but my boarding pass was 23 A/B.

OP posts: "It was frustrating to see that my itinerary still showed 13A/B, but my boarding pass was 23 A/B."

You have my sympathy. I prefer the UD by a wide margin and I'd have been frustrated if this had happened to me as well.
OTOH: The only thing that comes to mind is that there may have been a mechanical problem with one (or both) of the Row 13 seats.

I've had that issue with 15A upstairs and if it's not fixable - it's taken out of service for safety reasons.
One thing I KNOW FOR CERTAIN is that you were NOT bumped out for VIPs in row 13. That's way too close to the lavs, has no better pitch than any other portion of UA biz, and gets served near the end of the line.

Best, Dave