Channel 9

E+ “Upgrade” Strategy

October 26, 2008 – 9:53 am

Not everyone out there is a preferred member of Star Alliance and thus when you are flying with United you are stuck in the regular economy product.  Luckily, United’s decision to charge for Economy Plus and strictly enforce no complimentary upgrades translates to greater availability in Economy Plus.  

In other words, if the plane has open seats, then they tend to be in Economy Plus.  So, how do you grab a seat in Economy Plus?  Two strategies below:

1. Just sit in one.  The best thing to do is check the seat map before you get on the plane.  This works best if you are at an airport where Check-In Kiosks are available past security.  At 35 minutes (right before check-in gets closed off) go the computer, pull up your itinerary and check out what E+ seats are available.  If they’ve already cleared people into Business/First class then there should be more seats.  If the plane is not full (and the United flat screens tell you the number of open seats), then just get on the plane towards the end of boarding and grab one of the open E+ seats.
2. If there are no seats available in Economy when you purchase your ticket, but there are plenty of E+ seats, then just wait it out.  Even if when you check-in there are one or two economy middle seats, just let those go.  Let it ride to a gate assignment.  If there are only E+ seats left, then the gate will assign you one of them.  (Overbooking caveat:  If it is a peak travel day/time, then just take a seat.  Denied boarding is not as simple as kicking off those without seat assignments, but it always helps if you have a seat assignment.  So, if it is the Wednesday of Thanksgiving, just take your middle seat and get on the plane.)