UAL Economy Plus Questions
 

I’m thinking about buying an Economy Plus Access from United (don’t fly enough to get EP due to miles). Before I do, I have some questions:

1. Are all EP seats available to EPA holders, or are some held back?
2. How far ahead do you typically have to book a flight to get EP seats?
3. If your flight is changed to another type of plane, can you be bumped from EP?
4. How hard is it to get EP seats on international flights, especially to Europe?
5. Overall, is it worth it to purchase this service?

If anyone has any experience with EPA, I’d appreciate hearing of your experience.

Thanks.

Like you I generally never seem to make it to Premier. In the past I used to occassionally pay to upgrade to EP. In Novemeber I decided to buy it. I think Economy Plus is worth it if you fly UA a couple times a year on longer flights. It allows u and 1 other to be in Econommy Plus. Since I joined in Nov I used it 3 times -- to Europe, Ca and Las Vegas. I think I more than got my money for the $299. All flights were for me and another so the 2 of us got the advantage. I figured I paid about $50 per person per flight to get in EP seats and to hae the extra leg room was wonderful. I recently re-upped since the price is going up Sept 4 to $349 (I believe). The membership will begin again in December when my current one expires.
1 - As far as I know they show you all the EP seats when you look at the seating to pick a seat.
2 - I typically book anywhere from 4 months to 1 month in advance and always got EP seats without any problem.

3 - Yes, this just happened on a flight to PDX and I'm still in EP. (This will be my 4th flight this year)

4 - Only did it one time and had no trouble. It was a flight IAD to AMS and CDG to IAD, booked about 3 months in advance. There were plenty of seats available. This was in the winter though.

The only E+ seats that would not be available to you (besides those already taken) are E+ exit row seats. To reserve exit row seats in E+, you have to have Premier Executive status or higher.

Perhaps it's been a fluke or I was just lucky, but I did get exit row on one of the flights. Recently when I was checking my upcoming flight to PDX, the exit row had opened up and was available to me if I had wanted it.

Exit rows might normally be made availale on the day of the flight to non-Premier Execs, often because the exit row seatholder was able to upgrade to first class, thus freeing up the seat.

John H.

Thanks to you all. Guess I'll go ahead and do it before the price goes up.

I booked our mid April flight the end of July and had first choice of EP seats. Checked the seating at seatguru.com and decided on the two behind the bulkhead.
Once you are an EP member, you can check EP seat availability any time.

I have some questions about this too.

I already have tickets in Economy on United for LAX-IAD-FCO. The return is on Lufthansa.
If I buy the EPA now, will I be able to upgrade both legs of the flight, assuming seats EP are available even though I already have a ticket?

Because there are 2 of us flying, it would effectively cost $150 each to upgrade, one way, right?
I don't know if this is worth it, because I don't anticipate flying UA otherwise in the next year.

I know that sometimes they offer upgrades at check-in.
Anyone know what these might cost the day of travel? They would be charged by flight segment, right?

Thanks!

Kristina,

I bought EPA on 9/2. Previously, I already had bought an economy ticket on an United domestic flight. Tonight, I went back into that flight and was able to upgrade to EP. Of course, this was a domestic flight, and things might be different for an international flight, but at least that was my experience.

Good luck!

Kristina writes: "If I buy the EPA now, will I be able to upgrade both legs of the flight, assuming seats EP are available even though I already have a ticket?"
Yes, presuming that there is sufficient time between now and flight date for the computer to recognize your EPA.


"Anyone know what these might cost the day of travel? "
Others have reported that the cost of upgrade to EP varies between $25-$150 depending upon flight length. I am not familiar with Int'l costs.
IMO, you are better off having purchased the EPA before the outbound, but YMMV.

Best, Dave