United Economy Plus vs Economy

That's it. You get a few inches of leg room. Nothing more. Same extra narrow seats, same lack of food and drinks, no extra luggage allowance.

I would rather pay the cost of business class if I can afford it on the trip.

Many other airlines offer similar economy options with most European airlines seeming to offer more. Like wider seats, better food, free alcohol. It just depends on the airline.

It’s all about the room. We find it well worth it on any flight over a few hours. For 8 hours we’d pay the extra money for sure. Business class is great but a lot more money.

It is only leg room and you notice the difference

We always choose United Economy Plus and attempt to get two seats on either side of the plane when there is 2-4-2 seating. That way we have a little more legroom and no seat companions.

Another advantage is that you get to board earlier making it easier to stow your gear. With the extra legroom, having your day bag under the seat in front of you is not so annoying.

This year we purchased a subscription for $1099 that allows up to 8 people on a single ticket to have E+. $ of us are going to Italy in May and this is cheaper then actually paying for E+ on the ticket. If you have the United credit card, that allows you to board earlier too/baggage extras, so that is an option too if you fly United often.

The extra legroom is worth it for me at the given price.

If you are 4-8" you will not notice the difference.

You also get to board earlier than economy. And you are closer to seeing how people should be treated up in Business class.

Another benefit is you deboard sooner than those in Economy.

Two years ago, there were 6 of us who flew United Economy plus to Paris. Every seat was filled in the Economy section, whereas the Economy Plus was less than half full. Therefore some in our party had an extra seat or two.

The extra space really makes a difference.

We fly United a lot as we are near Chicago. (or Star Alliance partners) .. We have not gone for the Economy plus, because we book aisle seats in Economy and just don't see the benefit of 4 inches. The seats do not lean back much more than in Economy IMOP.

I will say, that I have seen many flights with the Economy plus less than full. So that could be a plus, but you just will not know until you are all boarded.
So after many flights in Economy, we are splurging this year with Business ... It is a lay flat configuration. In early days, Business was just huge lazy boys and the lay down was in First. I don't know why the airlines are making such a distinction between flight classes. Sometimes I can understand why flight rage happens.

Well, you are getting a lot of permutations of responses, so here’s one more. We usually fly on United and pop for E+ on the way to Europe, but not back. Our reasons are first, the cost. E+ has gotten more and more expensive.
Second, the outbound flight goes through the night. The extra room makes it a little easier to sleep. It often never gets dark on the return flight, so sleep is less likely. Also, it doesn’t matter how wasted we are when we get home.
I don’t know about other people, but at even at just 5’1” the extra inches make a difference to my comfort.
Maybe, if I thought I was on my last trip to Europe, I’d pay the thousands extra for Business; but we’re not there yet.

Since the economy plus tickets dont always sell out, maybe I will opt for them and pick the isle and windos seat. Leaving the center seat as an undesirable option that someone hopefully will not pick. If they do, they most likely would swap for either the window or aisle seat.

Thoughts?

well,
That is a good plan OP. But don't change seats unless you really want to.
And to the person who thinks Business is "thousands" .... no it is not, if you book early and during a sale. I was quite amazed at just how much littlr we had to pay over earlier economy flights... And remember, we get to hang out in the lounge ahead of the flight and not pay for drinks or meal before the flight (in Chicago this can run easily to $100) We get lounge courtesy in all connecting countries, too. But yes, it is a splurge. I do agree that the evening flight is much better to have upgraded, but the return to the USA to us never seemed to be an issue.

I always purchase extra leg room on my international (over the pond) flights. Domestic regular seats. DH and I are both tall and need the extra room.

We are out of Tulsa, Ok and only have three major airlines (United, AA, or Delta). So I just decided to go with United most of the time for points, united club, etc.

I think you are rolling the dice. Most of our economy plus experiences to Europe have, in fact, been sold out. Fortunately, there were 2-4-2 configurations or the like, so we had the two, and if our daughter was with us, the aisle seat across from us. If there were 3 I would never gamble on that middle seat as, with my luck, that would be the sumo wrestler. I’d opt for aisle seats across from each other.