United Economy seats "hostage" fees (really long, sorry!)
 

If there is something that I am not understanding here, PLEASE enlighten me.

We just flew to LA on United for the first time in many years. We usually fly AA so as to accumulate miles all on the same airline, but this time the price on AA was 50% higher when we booked the tkts.

We received the email offering us more leg room for $69. We declined. We asked the FA on the plane what the extra leg room was and she told us that it is all the seats ahead of the emergency exit rows,

Now, it is hard for me to imagine that all those passengers paid the "ransom". The flight was completely sold out. So my logic tells me that some got those seats w/o paying the "bribe".

Sure enough, on our way back, we were again offered to pay the "protection" money in the on-site check in kiosks at the airport. (We did not have access to a printer where we were staying in LA.) So that also tells me that even 2 hours before take-off, all those seats had not been sold. Again it was a sold-out flight so *someone* was sitting in those seats, and again my logic tells me that if they were not all sold 2 hours before take off, some of the people who sat in them did NOT pay the "ransom" money.

The line of people at the departure gate was unreal and I now think that they must have been all the "cognoscenti" who had not paid the bribe but who knew enough to now ask for the unassigned seats. The poor UA staff woman, who I might add was working the whole desk alone while trying to change seat assignments for a *huge* line of people, was woefully overworked. This seems like a really stupid way of doing business. The ground crews who have to handle the fall-out of this policy must be beside themselves!

My question/comment is, If my assumptions are correct--and they may not be--how is this fair or even logical?

Wasn't the extra $$ for Economy Plus?

If so they weren't bribes or extortion or ransom. And it is not some secret.

This link gives you some info about those seats - and yes, lots of people pay for those seats, or are upgraded w/ miles etc.

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1314,00.html

It's a lost case to attempt to work out or correct the logic/assumptions of someone who thinks paying for an emergency exit seat or PE is called a bribe/ransom.

Yes, some people who don't pay extra do end up in those seats, but they have to wait until boarding begins to get their seat assignments. They could just as easily end up in some middle seat in the back of the plane.

While the paying extra at purchase or check-in is newer, Economy Plus has been around for a number of years--so the gate agents should be used to it. Also, some of those in E+ are United's elite FF members, who have access without paying extra.

ms_go's last sentence tells you the whole story. They hold out those seats for elite-class travelers plus those who pay for EPlus.

Last couple of times I investigated buying E-plus seats on an array of several flights on the several future days, they had been closed out to those booking on line who aren't elite-status. You simply couldn't access them -- the seating chart showed NO pale-blue seats (for E+), just the entire section locked up.

Here's something weird that happened just a couple of weeks ago on my flight.

I had purchased my economy ticket online and had the option of choosing my seat at the time of purchase. I do not have any sort of elite status in their FF program.

On my flight home, at the checkin kiosk I was offered an economy plus seat for a fee. I declined and my boarding passes were issued with the seats I had chosen back when I booked my ticket.

When I boarded the plane, I was very surprised to see that I was seated in the economy plus section. I had a couple of minutes where I panicked, thinking I had accidentally agreed to pay the extra fee - but no, those were the seats I had chosen when I initially purchased my ticket.

There was no change in aircraft from when I purchased my ticket, so I'm not sure what happened that I got an economy plus seat.

Thanks for all the responses.

Odin, we fly ~6 times/year and have never come across this situation of an airline requesting extra money for seats that are in the same cabin. As I stated, we have not flown UA in many years. My use of language was to show some (ironic) humor. Sorry, if it did not appeal to you.

It was a nightmare for the agent at the gate and I felt very sorry for her.

Having spent much of the last couple years almost exclusively in United's E+ seats, I can't imagine sitting in a regular economy seat. For me, the difference is very significant. I also have elite status so I can reserve E+ for no extra charge.
If you want to take a chance you can wait to see if you get assigned an economy plus seat but in general these are the last seats to be assigned and only when all of the regular economy seats are assigned. Since United charges extra for the E+ seats they usually won't give them away unless the regular seats are filled. Yes, these seats are better and United does charge extra for them. That four or five inches of extra leg room are really much more comfortable.

<i>we fly ~6 times/year and have never come across this situation of an airline requesting extra money for seats that are in the same cabin</i>

Northwest also has a surcharge for certain seat assignments in the economy cabin.
http://www.nwa.com/features/coachchoice/

<i>That four or five inches of extra leg room are really much more comfortable.</i>

I hear you! I just spent 10 hours in a Swiss International economy seat yesterday (with the seat in front of me reclined from before takeoff until five minutes prior to landing) and realized how spoiled I've become.

On a recent Northwest flight, I didn't like my seat assignment ( made at the airport with E Ticket) and checked the computer for alternatives. There were several other possibilities, but they required a 'fee' of $20 - $25, so I declined. When I got to the boarding area, I asked the check-in agent if those seats had been sold. She smiled and told me they hadn't and would I like to change my seat assignment. I did.

It's apparent that airlines try to sell these seats ( mostly Exit Rows) and when they can't, it's left to the discretion of the agent to allocate them. I was curious if anyone had actually paid for the seat.

JetBlue also charges for more legroom seats http://www.jetblue.com/about/ourcompany/150seats/

Other carriers charge for exit row.

If you have elite status on UA, you can select an E+ seat at the time of booking. Otherwise, they do not become available until checkin. At that point, UA will attempt to sell them to non-elite passengers if there are still E+ seats available. They would not normally give away E+ seats to anyone not elite unless regular economy was already full.

Thanks, Jack. That *was* the case on our flt. Every seat was full and yet they were still trying to sell us the upgrade 2 hours before the flt, indicating that the &quot;premium&quot; seats had not all been sold or otherwise allocated to their premium FFs.

My point is they did give away these seats to some of the people who knew enough to &quot;storm&quot; the gate agent. It is unfair that some people are paying for them and some are getting them for free.

I am not referring to the UA FF elite people but to those who are only occasional UA passengers. I understand their wanting to give perks to people who are their repeat customers. The bottom line for me is that some people got a better seat w/o paying for it or qualifying for it thru any FF status.

It may be a poor analogy, but if a restaurant has a steak dinner scheduled for 150 people and had 50 filet mignons and 100 chuck steaks and then tried to get people to pony up extra money for the filets and only 20 agreed, some of those 150 are going to eat filet at the chuck price.

<i>The bottom line for me is that some people got a better seat w/o paying for it or qualifying for it thru any FF status.</i>

I just don't see why this is at all an issue. Don't think about it as paying for the seat, think about it as paying for the <b>certainty</b> of having the seat, because that is really what you are doing.

Another airline that charges for certain seat assignments: US Airways.

I just bought a ticket on US and saw that about 30 seats on the seat map were blocked as &quot;choice seats,&quot; which will be available for an extra fee at check-in. The website says those are &quot;select aisle and window seats,&quot; but on the seat map for my flight (757), many were windows and middles and I was able to pick an aisle seat next to one of the &quot;choice&quot; middles. Go figure!

Apparently, this is new as of May:
http://www.usairways.com/awa/content...oiceseats.aspx

<i>-- the seating chart showed NO pale-blue seats (for E+), just the entire section locked up.</i>
You understand that if you had elite MP status that you would have seen lots of open E+ seats.

<i>It is unfair that some people are paying for them and some are getting them for free.</i>

Some people are willing to pay for a guarantee in advance of an E+ seat without any bother. Even if it is only an hour in advance. Other people are not willing to pay and they may end up in E-

It is not a matter of being fair or unfair. It is just an economic decision. If you pay then you will get the E+ seat. If you don't pay then you might get the E+ seat.