Are there enough empty seats together in United’s economy to lie down on way to MXP and from FCO

I've flown United economy to Europe a number of times and have never experienced enough empty seats to be able to lie down. Those flights were all pre-Covid, though. Have you looked at the seat diagram on the United website for your preferred flights? You can access the seat diagrams, noting where available seats are located on the plane, before you have to purchase the flight. You can also change your seat assignment closer to flight time, if you see the possibility of choosing a seat with no one else nearby. I wouldn't bank on it, though. Personally, I have decided that whenever possible I at least now fly "Economy Plus" or whatever its called. At least there are 4 or 5 more inches of leg room. That's how I will be flying to Egypt in a few months.

You can see map/seating for your plane when you book the flight
Usually seats are 2-4-2
Whether any are empty in that center section is unknowable til you board and take off

IOW I wouldn’t plan on being able to lie down

I’ve flown to Europe during odd times pre Covid when there we enough empty seats to lie down across the middle 4 economy seats at least on 3 different flights. Our strategy was to book an aisle seat towards the back of the plane in the middle section. Even though I could lie down it was still a very restless time of trying to get a little sleep, the arm rests and buckles just don’t disappear enough. I’m 5’3”.

In 20 some flights overseas in Economy (most in United, some other airlines) I have never had enough empty seats to lie down. Only once I had 2 middle seats open but the other aisle seat occupant and I could not agree on who should be able to lie down so we agreed to each have two seats in order to spread out a little and make sleeping sitting up a little more comfortable. You may get lucky these days (during COVID) but I wouldn't count on it. Good luck.

We flew United EWR- MXP yesterday (Sunday) arrived this morning. Throughout the week the flight seat map indicated a full flight. Saturday evening the seat map changed to show many available seats. On the flight over, in the rear of the plane there were not many occupied seats. 3/4 of the way through the flight I walked around and most empty rows of seats had people sleeping across the 4 seats.

While I haven’t flown internationally in a couple years, all my domestic flights have only had a couple empty seats. Definitely wouldn’t count on being able to lay down.

That one particular airline and route? ?

I do know that at this time people are reporting getting full rows of seats, including three of my family members.

In my experience only once has there been enough empty seats to lie down. The red eye Delta/Air France A340 from Detroit to Paris had plenty of the middle 4 empty in the fall of 2016. Some people from the dual seats moved over to stretch out. I have seldom seen any empty seats on any other flights after that.

I took that same flight a couple of weeks ago and it was actually overbooked. The return flight only had a couple empty seats in economy at most.

Question? How do you sleep horizontally with your seatbelt on? On every flight I've taken in the past how-many years, we've been expected to stay buckled up when seated so I'm genuinely curious how that works?

But I also wouldn't expect enough empty seats to be able to be horizontal. We've only flown economy, and always had to stay vertical.

Kathy, when I try to stretch out over 4 empty seats I just loosen my seatbelt a lot and I can (uncomfortably) lie down.

We've had that happen a couple of times, and what a joy it is. Yes, if you loosen the belt enough you can make it work. But its certainly not that predictable or they'd charge more for the seat(s).

I would not plan on it.

The airlines work hard to not have 'empty' planes flying

The only flight I have taken that reliably had empty rows, was my recent MSP to AMS flight...landing the day they imposed quarantine requirements on US travelers...so a wave of cancellations. Basically everybody on the plane was able to get a row (3-3-3 on a KLM 787). Prior, it was very hit or miss, mostly miss.

Eraburn, I'm just throwing this out there. 1. Can you leave a couple days before the 2 or 3 and find affordable seats on United? 2. Can you find another airline that is apart of United's family so if your trying to use loyalty points or something you can do that? And on that same note can you fly with another airline so you can fly business or first class? British Airways had a special sale going and I'm sure their might be other airlines. Go onto Google Flights or Momondo and see. I'm sure you've looked at every possibility just throwing these out. Good luck

I have flown coast-to-coast with a 5-across middle section for lying down-- but only a few times ... like flying on a 747 or DC-10 days after the same type of plane crashed and most people changed their reservations. Usually the best one can hope for is an adjacent empty seat for a little extra space ... and if it's a middle seat of three across you still have to negotiate with the passenger on the other side.
When lucky enough to get an empty row, I connect seatbelts from two seats to go diagonally across my hip area. If you put the seat belts OVER the blanket the flight attendants don't need to wake you to make sure your seat belt is fastened.