Today we checked into a United flight to Hawaii we booked in November only to find that our upgraded seats in row 22 were moved to regular seats in row 45 for both the flight to Hawaii and the return to Houston. Naturally the flights are now full. There was no notice of change nor reimbursement sent for the $500 upgrade we lost. After over an hour on hold and another hour and a half with an agent, we got reimbursement but no explanation for bumping us or not sending a refund. This happened once before covid so from now on, as we have several trips to and from Europe with United, we will check our seats weekly, if not daily! Sad, but United ain’t the good old Continental that served Houston before the merger and all the Continental good practices were abandoned by United.
Posted by
New York, NY
4071 posts
Continental was the best (hence my nickname)! When United bought them, I jumped to Delta. You probably lost your upgrade because United had customers willing to buy those upgraded seats at full price or high fare class.
Posted by
Phoenix🌵
3097 posts
Jim, sorry to hear about your problems with United. What a hassle to get reimbursed for your upgrade.
United changed my 8/31 PHX to LHR flight twice so far. Seating has not changed—yet. And times/connections have been doable. I’m expecting a couple more changes both directions before the planes leave the ground. I was checking my flights weekly but now checking daily. I just hope they don’t change my VCE to PHX flight since I want to fly out at 11am not 6.
Posted by
USA
52 posts
Jim, sorry to hear about the hassle you endured. Did you buy your tickets directly from United, or from a third-party seller such as Expedia or Booking.com?
Posted by
Philly
247 posts
Sorry to hear that. I have no problem with their flights but they cut corners elsewhere. I was on phone with United for 1.5 hours (hold) to talk to a rep for 2 min who told me to fill a random “feedback” form with screenshots - to get a refund I should have got w/o all this.
Lufthansa (flight booked on and thru United) changed my business class seat three times in the 24 hours before the flight! Would not allow checkin until airport. Fortunately they did not bump me down like you, but I progressively went from a good to ok seat (but met good company!) wish you have a comfortable flight.
Continental was good,
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7207 posts
Your post made me check my United reservation. The plane type changed for both outgoing and incoming flights, so my seats did too. Same premium economy cabin so I don’t have to worry about getting any money back, but I did change our seats to ones we wanted rather than what United’s computer selected for us.
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
20474 posts
My flight on American last week, my assigned seats were canceled and I had to get new seats at the gate. I was not a happy camper.
Posted by
OP
Houston, TX, USA
153 posts
We booked our tickets on United, and they took it on themselves to change our seats from the upgrade we paid for to seats in the back of the plane and it it strange they did that with all the trouble they go to to try to get you to pay them money to upgrade. I have also learned that it is better to book directly through the airline in case of problems and at least you don’t have another layer between you and the airline or someone else they can blame.