# Learned United changes seats on existing reservations



## Tia (Apr 7, 2013)

A month ago I booked tx on flights for August and chose seats for 3 in our family to travel  for summer vacation. Today I changed my return flight back to another city, and happened to noticed they had moved our seats on 4 segments and even splitting our seating up.  :annoyed:  I fixed it as best I could then called and of course 'seats are not guaranteed'. 

Someone booking next month would of had seats together, but not us if I had not looked. 2 of the segments they are now charging extra for premier seats I previously had confirmation in an email. United says they _might of_ changed equipment ... I think they decided to get extra $. 

We fly some but not all the time and usually our seats have always remained unchanged.... til now.


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## dougp26364 (Apr 7, 2013)

If you've never had your seats changed until now, consider yourself lucky. It happens to us all the time regardless of what airline we're flying. Sometimes it's just a change in flight # but not equipment. I suppose it could be a different tail# but the same type of aircraft. I check our reservations religously.


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## PClapham (Apr 7, 2013)

Two days before a departure for Boston I noticed that we had NO SEATS on a flight booked 4 months earlier- explanation- we often change aircraft.  And lost our seats without replacing them?  Lesson-NEVER trust United!

Anita


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## Tia (Apr 7, 2013)




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## sfwilshire (Apr 7, 2013)

I was also frustrated with them recently. They made several changes to our flight times, booked with frequent flyer points many months in advance, which already had a lengthy layover in Houston. Going from Nashville to Phoenix was initally scheduled for nearly 9 hours travel time (which was terrible) but by the time they finished the changes, it was closer to 11 hours.

I tried calling every number I could find and also emailing, but always wound up talking to the obviously Indian call center. Since the change was only 1 hour 47 minutes and not 2 hours, the only thing they would offer was to cancel the flights without penalty.

I finally, after more than a week of frustration, found a number for disabled travelers. (Our disabled son was flying with us.) I spoke to an American who rebooked us on an earlier flight, putting us back to around 9 hours travel time and also selected decent seats for us.

It shouldn't have been that hard. 

Sheila


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## DaveNV (Apr 7, 2013)

I've had seats and flights changed without warning on several airlines.  Like Doug, I checked regularly, to make sure things as confirmed are still valid, right up to departure date.

Alaska Airlines has pulled some fast ones on me. Probably the worst was rescheduling me on a Mexico trip from the very-convenient nonstop Seattle to Cancun flight to a multi-leg series of flights on another carrier, that included a 10 hour layover in Houston.  It was a serious hassle trying to get the flights straightened out.

The most egregious change I've had recently:  The late afternoon flight returning from our trip to Yellowstone this coming June was changed to a flight leaving before dawn, more than 10 hours sooner than originally booked.  Not only did they not tell me about it, but if I hadn't checked, we'd have missed our flight home, because we won't be anywhere near the airport at that time.  I was able to reschedule things, but again, it was a hassle because I had to make connecting flights.

In both these cases, I had scheduled those flights months in advance, to make sure I got what I wanted.  Not only did I lose the flights, I also lost the better seating I'd chosen.  And they wonder why passengers get testy?  

Dave


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## BevL (Apr 7, 2013)

Yep, off to check my seats, had it happen more than once.  Often you can at least get seats together if you ask and you're early.


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## Dori (Apr 7, 2013)

We had booked seats months in advance for our trip to South Korea (We are there now to bond with our brand-new granddaughter). Since we were using Air Miles, we booked through the Air Miles agency. The original flight time was 22 hours- Toronto to San Francisco to Seoul. 
 About a month before departure, United informed us that there had been a flight change. The new route was Toronto to Washington, DC to Narita, Japan then on to Seoul. Total time...28 hours! 

We called our AM agent and she was able to cancel the flight and book us on Air Canada Toronto to Vancouver to Seoul with a flight time of 21 hours. I must say, that United was quick with the refund. It appeared on the same cc statement as our new flight charges. 

Dori


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## dls0210 (Apr 8, 2013)

I now have an alarm set on my phone to alert me once a week to check all my flights on United.   United has made many changes in the last few years to flight times, flight #s, and seats, and I've never received any kind of email or text notification when they do.   Some are minor time changes, others were 8 hour time changes, and moving us out of extra leg room seats that we had already paid for.   If I had not been checking weekly, I would have had a much more difficult time getting things put back the way we had originally booked.  In almost all cases, I called United and was able to get things corrected to my satisfaction.  That probably would not have happened if I didn't notice the changes until much closer to the departure date.

So I strongly suggest anyone with United reservations make a point of logging into your account and checking on them regularly.  

It was particularly bad in the 6 months after the merger as they redid their routes.   I would guess that American and US Airways might have similar issues after they merge their operations.


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## deannak (Apr 8, 2013)

dls0210 said:


> It was particularly bad in the 6 months after the merger as they redid their routes.   I would guess that American and US Airways might have similar issues after they merge their operations.



I've been thinking the same thing...  Not looking forward to that!


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## WinniWoman (Apr 8, 2013)

I hate flying more and more. I don't think I will be flying anywhere for a long time. It's a shame, because there are so many places I would love to visit and can't drive to for lack of time or just plain logistics, but I always dread dealing with the flying arrangements and hassles. They should PAY US to fly instead of the other way around! Thank goodness we can at least drive to our timeshare and will be renting extra weeks when we can in a drivable location.


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## Jimster (Apr 8, 2013)

*Changes*

How do you feel about changing the cooling rods in a nuclear reactor?  If you dont know the rules and procedures, its hard to do.  The same is true about flying.  It SHOULD be easy, but it is not.  Anyone that flies alot knows more what to expect and why.  I fly about 50-125k a year so changing seat assignments is just something that happens on all airlines.  Often it is because of changes in equipment but it can be lots of other things too.  For example, if you have one ticket on an award ticket and the other on a purchased PNR and you dont link them, expect to have the seats changed.  The computer doesnt know you want to sit together and believe me the computer is the one who often ends up making such decisions on a routine run.  Yes, i know you booked your seats into an empty plane 4 months ago, but now the UCLA band wants to fly the same plane.  I hope you dont believe that they should refuse to accomodate them just because you got your seats early.  I dont necessarily agree with it but it is a business decision and is certainly understandable.  Your defense is to be a savy traveler and the truth is you probably will still have problems.  Sign up for flight notifications, check your seat assignment, and be willing to adapt and compromise.  If you have status (meaning you fly often with that airline), the airlines tend to take care of you much more than if you are a once a year flier in a cheaper fare bucket. A once a year flier has to exercise due diligence or may be sadly disappointed.  I am sorry, but that is just the procedure.

I will make one final comment to make my point.  What happens when you flight is canceled?  The FA tells you to go to customer service and get reassigned.  No frequent flyer would ever think of doing that.  The entire flight will empty out and stand in that line to get reassigned.  Four dissappointing hours later, you get a replacement flight that leaves next Tuesday.   Instead you grab your cell phone and CALL customer service and get what you want.  "Them" are the rules and procedures!  You gotts to figure em out."  I am sorry you were inconvenienced, but it happens on EVERY airline.


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## DaveNV (Apr 8, 2013)

Jimster said:


> I am sorry you were inconvenienced, but it happens on EVERY airline.



I totally understand your point. And I know things can change - so it is part of the issue.  But what smacks to me of gross inconsideration on the part of the airline is that when they DO have a cancellation, or a flight time changes, or even if they want to reassign my seats, how about having the courtesy to let me know about it?  

They have my contact information, how about sending me an email or make a robo call to say there's a problem?  Why do I have to "discover" that my plans have been turned on their heads because of something completely beyond my control?  How long would the change go unnoticed if I didn't regularly go back to the airline website to check up on whether they've screwed with my carefully-laid plans?  I'd be a lot more at ease if I felt for a second that the airline gave a smidge of a darn about me as a customer, and not just as a cash cow to be manipulated to serve their purposes.  

It smacks of usury, and I seriously dislike it.  What happened to "customer service?"

Dave


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## Tia (Apr 8, 2013)

While I did not buy the expensive tx I did pay over $700/pp/rt x3, CO to PWM, then they allowed me to pick seats together only to find by accident  we have been moved way back and split up. I was able to move our seats back to sit together, but why didn't the computer/person as we were under one reservation? 

Oh well looks like they do it all the time.


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## dougp26364 (Apr 8, 2013)

BMWguynw said:


> I've had seats and flights changed without warning on several airlines.  Like Doug, I checked regularly, to make sure things as confirmed are still valid, right up to departure date.
> 
> Alaska Airlines has pulled some fast ones on me. Probably the worst was rescheduling me on a Mexico trip from the very-convenient nonstop Seattle to Cancun flight to a multi-leg series of flights on another carrier, that included a 10 hour layover in Houston.  It was a serious hassle trying to get the flights straightened out.
> 
> ...



I have found that booking far in advance only secures a flight. It does nothing to secure preferential seats or flight times. Every time I book 9 or 10 months in advance, I can guarantee something is going to change.

One thing that does seem to slow them down a little is paying for a preferential seat. It doesn't always work but it seems to cut down on the changes. I had booked and paid if in FF miles for first class seats, only to have UAL change us to a flight that had no first class seats, even though the original flight was still available and would work with the other changes they had made.

The rule with airlines for me is to watch them like a hawk.


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## Jimster (Apr 8, 2013)

*United*

In the case of United, you can get an alert that flight times etc have occurred but you have to sign up for that service in your profile.  Check your profile.  If it makes you feel any better, even the employees at United often don't know of the changes.  The computer goes through randomly and balances loads and verifies things.   For example, maybe you WERE an elite and got economy plus at time of booking.  Since then your status changed.  Maybe the computer checks this and changes your seat and maybe not.  I don't think they run computer checks on all flights.

As for seat changes specified above with the three family members, logic would say those should not be touched but it is just one of the procedures a frequent flyer faces- due diligence.  I had booked a flight to Thailand in first/business on a 747 months in advance.  I like the upper deck and I had that seat.  I literally checked every day and I was moved twice and then called and was moved back.  That is as much of the procedure as it would be to fasten your safety belts.  The fact that you don't like doing that (and I don't too), is really irrelevant.  It is what it is unfortunately.


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## falmouth3 (Apr 8, 2013)

dls0210 said:


> I would guess that American and US Airways might have similar issues after they merge their operations.



When US Airways did their last merger (America West?) it was horrible for many, many months.  I, and a bunch of other people, were booked on a US Airways flight.  It was on the monitors, but there was no crew scheduled and no gate agents showed up.  Somehow the entire flight was ignored.  I have no idea how it got that screwed up.  But you could tell that the agents at the other gates were fed up and not at all surprised.

Sue


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## Blues (Apr 9, 2013)

dls0210 said:


> It was particularly bad in the 6 months after the merger as they redid their routes.   I would guess that American and US Airways might have similar issues after they merge their operations.



Already happened.  DW & I had FF tickets on AA to take our granddaughter to Chicago, to see her great-grandmother.  Had nice non-stop tickets from Reno, very convenient flight times, good seats together.  You know the rest of the story.  Got the change email a week or two ago.  Connecting flights both ways, leaving at oh-dark-thirty (no way on God's green earth to get our granddaughter out the door at that time).  And of course non-contiguous seats.  Took an hour on the phone to get something tolerable, but nowhere near as convenient as what we booked.

And now I remember why I primarily fly on Southwest.  Yes, a lot of people hate the "pick your own seat" thing.  But that's not a big deal to me.  Flights I can depend on - THAT's a big deal to me.  Southwest is one of the few carriers where, once the schedule's out, that's it.  Never had them change a flight on me.


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## Ken555 (Apr 9, 2013)

BMWguynw said:


> But what smacks to me of gross inconsideration on the part of the airline is that when they DO have a cancellation, or a flight time changes, or even if they want to reassign my seats, how about having the courtesy to let me know about it?
> 
> They have my contact information, how about sending me an email or make a robo call to say there's a problem?



Some airlines actually try, but they still fail to provide the level of customer service we all deserve. For instance, I continually receive automated calls from US Air on almost every flight I book with them (some of which are on United equipment). The problem as I see it is not that they call but that they call with so little information it's almost useless other than to create angst. I like that they try to contact me via robocall and email, but there is no info in the email or call other than "there has been a flight change" and that I need to call them, etc. Why can't they simply include the new flight info in the message. It's not rocket science. Of course, I just log into the website and find out myself what the changes are, and not call. Usually it's not much of a change but at least twice a year, if not more, it's severe enough that I need to call to adjust my schedule as others have already laboriously explained below.


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## Free2Roam (Apr 9, 2013)

Blues said:


> And now I remember why I primarily fly on Southwest.  Yes, a lot of people hate the "pick your own seat" thing.  But that's not a big deal to me.  Flights I can depend on - THAT's a big deal to me.  Southwest is one of the few carriers where, once the schedule's out, that's it.  Never had them change a flight on me.



Agreed. I'm nowhere near a frequent flyer... I only fly a few times a year. But planning is a lot easier when my destination is on a Southwest route.


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## dls0210 (Apr 9, 2013)

Jimster said:


> In the case of United, you can get an alert that flight times etc have occurred but you have to sign up for that service in your profile.  Check your profile.
> 
> 
> I actually am set up for alerts from United, but I don't ever get them until a couple days before the flight.  I've argued with several United reps about this and one of them actually submitted a report that I was not getting emails about schedule changes.  That was in August and I still don't get them.  Actually I think I got one notification out of the 15+ changes I've had on various flights the last two years.
> ...


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## Jimster (Apr 9, 2013)

*alerts*

Maybe it is because i am an elite with UA but I seem to get too many alerts. LOL  Sometimes a plane is delayed 2 or 3 times-when that happens I generally get 2 or 3 alerts.  Likewise, when the flight changes only 2 minutes in the schedule, I get an alert.  Alternatively, maybe UA is just inconsistent.


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## MuranoJo (Apr 9, 2013)

I used to be elite with UA, but no longer.  Still, I get frequent alerts to schedule changes.  In fact, many of these are minor time changes and even hard to notice.


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## Sandy VDH (Apr 10, 2013)

Maybe because I am 1K on United they are more willing to work with me, but I have used rescheduling as an excuse to move flights around at NO Cost. 

I have even changed days because of a flight schedule, with no penalty. 

Call reservations and ask them to look into your booking. Ask for a change because the schedule does not work for you now.


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## AnnaS (Apr 15, 2013)

We are definitely not frequent flyers - this has never happened to us.  I guess we have been lucky and if it ever happens, I won't be surprised now


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## bogey21 (Apr 15, 2013)

Back when I was flying a lot and making reservations far in advance I would make sure to log in and check on my reservations (including my seat assignments) weekly.  As it got closer to the scheduled flight I would log in and check daily.  This paid off for me many, many times.  Why depend on notifications from the airlines when you know how unreliable they are?

George


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## radmoo (Apr 15, 2013)

Happened to us two weeks ago.  We flew Bos/SFO/Bo's
Seatsoutbound as assigned but changed upon return.

Bad news, hubby and I were separated.
Good news, I was upgraded to Economy Plus ( my United Explore Cred Card?)
So I swapped seats with 6'2" hubby and everyone was happy.


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## Tia (Apr 22, 2013)

United raised it's change fees now to $200 from $150...


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## deannak (Apr 23, 2013)

Tia said:


> United raised it's change fees now to $200 from $150...



Yikes!


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## artringwald (Apr 23, 2013)

My son booked the same flights as his wife and kids, but booked them at a different time. Delta changed the flight numbers on the return flights, which had a connection in Atlanta. As they were boarding the plane in Atlanta, they wouldn't let him on because when they changed the flight numbers, they put him on a different flight from Atlanta than the rest of the family. The flights were full, so to be able to travel together they had to take a later flight. 

Lesson: If your flights get changed, double check all the segments.


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## Tia (May 7, 2013)

Just got an email about  August flight changes on UA delaying our arrival by 1.5 hr going and returning leaving 3 hours earlier. Plus they took our seats together away . 
Add that I changed my return trip stopping off in MSP rather then going home  with other 2 in family so have a different reservation # and I didn't get the same notice so will have to go see what they did with me going! 

Wonder if they will give me a refund for their changes? As those flights we now have can be had for  ~$150 less/pp .


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## Jimster (May 7, 2013)

*trip*

I will let others respond to the rest of your post but let me address your change in seats.  The computer balances and assigns seats.  If you have 2 different PNR
then it doesnt recognize you as flying together.  This is true on every airline.  When you have 2 different reservations, you should never expect to be seated together.  This happens all the time when you have one person with an award ticket and another with a paid ticket.  i understand your frustration, but your frustration comes from not understanding how things work.  Clearly, you and many others dont want it to work this way, but this is it.  This is how they keep track of a group-by the single reservation number.  If you want to sit together, make it under one reservation.  I have not used an award ticket in the past simply because I knew it would generate two PNR and cause me not to sit with my wife.   It would be as if you went to the store to buy paint and you expected it to look like the last time you bought it.  Unless you are careful to code it just right, it is not going to look the same.  Maybe the clerk should have known thats the kind you wanted but dont blame him if it is different.  I dont want to carry this analogy too far but my point is that if you are on two different PNR then there is a high expectancy of this happening.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (May 7, 2013)

Jimster said:


> I will let others respond to the rest of your post but let me address your change in seats.  The computer balances and assigns seats.  If you have 2 different PNR
> then it doesnt recognize you as flying together.  This is true on every airline.  When you have 2 different reservations, you should never expect to be seated together.  This happens all the time when you have one person with an award ticket and another with a paid ticket.  i understand your frustration, but your frustration comes from not understanding how things work.  Clearly, you and many others dont want it to work this way, but this is it.  This is how they keep track of a group-by the single reservation number.  If you want to sit together, make it under one reservation.  I have not used an award ticket in the past simply because I knew it would generate two PNR and cause me not to sit with my wife.   It would be as if you went to the store to buy paint and you expected it to look like the last time you bought it.  Unless you are careful to code it just right, it is not going to look the same.  Maybe the clerk should have known thats the kind you wanted but dont blame him if it is different.  I dont want to carry this analogy too far but my point is that if you are on two different PNR then there is a high expectancy of this happening.


Traveling on Alaska I am able to call the reservations center and link the two separate reservations so they know we are traveling together and will keep the seats together if there is change in equipment.  I don't know if other airlines will do this as well.


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## Jimster (May 7, 2013)

*link*

Yes, the other airlines will allow you to link the PNRs but having said that as i understand it, it only works if it is a human balancing the flight.  The computer MAY not accept this on all airlines.  To link the PNRs is the best option to keep a party of passengers together and I have been successful more times than not doing this.


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## Tia (May 8, 2013)

Will have to call see if they can link them,  originally we had one confirmation for 3 and I had actual seats picked together that they changed a month ago to less desirable. Now there are no seats assigned on more flight changes that are less desirable.


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## SMHarman (May 8, 2013)

Tia said:


> Will have to call see if they can link them,  originally we had one confirmation for 3 and I had actual seats picked together that they changed a month ago to less desirable. Now there are no seats assigned on more flight changes that are less desirable.


This is where the BA approach of pay to make a seat reservation (unless you have status) but tell us your preference is good.
I have booked on JetBlue and not been able to get a family of 3 together because everyone has booked the window and isle leaving three in a row going backwards only.  Works for some but not when you are travelling with a toddler.
The BA approach of we will sort this all out actually works and I have been happy with their seat allocations and the family group has always been seated together.


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## dougp26364 (May 8, 2013)

SMHarman said:


> This is where the BA approach of pay to make a seat reservation (unless you have status) but tell us your preference is good.
> I have booked on JetBlue and not been able to get a family of 3 together because everyone has booked the window and isle leaving three in a row going backwards only.  Works for some but not when you are travelling with a toddler.
> The BA approach of we will sort this all out actually works and I have been happy with their seat allocations and the family group has always been seated together.



I suspect there's a lot of couples booking window/aisle seats in hopes that no one will want to take that middle seat. I've at least heard that strategy discussed. I've been watching on the flights we've been on and seen this quite a bit. If that's the case it's backfired on most flights I've been on as they've only had one or two empty seats by the day of depature. Personally I hadn't been brave enough to book seats that way and, having observed so many full or nearly full flights, don't think I'd want to try it anyway. Of course most people who book a middle seat wouldn't argue if you wanted to trade them a window or isle seat for their middle seat.


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## Elli (May 8, 2013)

Years ago we used to do this, and very often the middle seat stayed empty.  Now with so many full flights it doesn't work anymore, we book 2 aisle seats instead.


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## JustKeepBreathing (May 9, 2013)

I've had a problem with seat changes (or lack of a reserved seat) in particular if I book through a consolidator like Orbitz or Travelocity, but never when booked directly with the airline.


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## Tia (May 9, 2013)

The tickets were directly from UA. I called yest and lady repaired the flights/seats for me, until the computer does it again I suppose.


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## bogey21 (May 9, 2013)

Just keep checking.

George


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