Economy Plus Upgrade SYD-LAX?

[wendlle]

Can anyone tell me if UA Gold gets the complimentary Economy Plus upgrade on flights to USA from Australia?

I'm hoping what I have seen on the United website isn't correct where it says Australia isn't included.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Yes you do get complimentary Economy Plus seating at time of booking anywhere United flies for yourself as a Premier Gold. It's not really an upgrade per-se in the sense that you get better service or anything. It's just a seat with better leg room. If you are travelling on United your best bet would be to get an over-the-wing exit seat as you can easily get 50 inches of pitch there:


-RooFlyer88

 

[wendlle]

Yes you do get complimentary Economy Plus seating at time of booking anywhere United flies for yourself as a Premier Gold. It's not really an upgrade per-se in the sense that you get better service or anything. It's just a seat with better leg room. If you are travelling on United your best bet would be to get an over-the-wing exit seat as you can easily get 50 inches of pitch there:
View attachment 292962

-RooFlyer88

Thanks
I’ll have two kids with me so they don’t usually let us get an exit row

Is it only at booking?
I’ve already got tickets but just got gold with the status challenge

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Thanks
I’ll have two kids with me so they don’t usually let us get an exit row

Is it only at booking?
I’ve already got tickets but just got gold with the status challenge

At booking or anytime thereafter. If memory serves me correct you get an Economy+ seat plus one guest. However, since you are travelling with Children, US DOT seating laws apply (i.e. your children must be seated beside you free of charge).

-RooFlyer88

 

[wendlle]

At booking or anytime thereafter. If memory serves me correct you get an Economy+ seat plus one guest. However, since you are travelling with Children, US DOT seating laws apply (i.e. your children must be seated beside you free of charge).

-RooFlyer88

Thankyou
I’ll give them a call

 

[wendlle]

ok, sorry for the double post.
I called, and was flat out told that there is no way to move all 4 of us to economy plus.
They will ONLY move two people - we only get myself and one passenger for the complimentary upgrade and they don't care that the law says children must be seated with an adult.
they said they will move one adult and one child up and the others have to stay where they are.

So I guess that is done, unless anyone has a suggestion??

Post automatically merged: Sep 13, 2022

At booking or anytime thereafter. If memory serves me correct you get an Economy+ seat plus one guest. However, since you are travelling with Children, US DOT seating laws apply (i.e. your children must be seated beside you free of charge).

-RooFlyer88

ok, sorry for the double post.
I called, and was flat out told that there is no way to move all 4 of us to economy plus.
They will ONLY move two people - we only get myself and one passenger for the complimentary upgrade and they don't care that the law says children must be seated with an adult.
they said they will move one adult and one child up and the others have to stay where they are.
So I guess that is done, unless anyone has a suggestion??

 

[kangarooflyer88]

ok, sorry for the double post.
I called, and was flat out told that there is no way to move all 4 of us to economy plus.
They will ONLY move two people - we only get myself and one passenger for the complimentary upgrade and they don't care that the law says children must be seated with an adult.
they said they will move one adult and one child up and the others have to stay where they are.

So I guess that is done, unless anyone has a suggestion??

Post automatically merged: Sep 13, 2022

ok, sorry for the double post.
I called, and was flat out told that there is no way to move all 4 of us to economy plus.
They will ONLY move two people - we only get myself and one passenger for the complimentary upgrade and they don't care that the law says children must be seated with an adult.
they said they will move one adult and one child up and the others have to stay where they are.
So I guess that is done, unless anyone has a suggestion??

I have a suggestion: Move yourself and one of the kiddos to the prime Economy+ seats 27ABC or 27JKL, then move the other kiddo to the row right behind you (28ABC, 28JKL) which is a preferred seat which is better than the non economy+ seats but not as much legroom as those economy plus seats. As a Premier Gold member you have access to 8 preferred seats for your guests.

As an aside, and something to consider if you are serious about getting United status is to consider getting Platinum status. This allows you to put yourself and up to 8 guests into economy+ seats. You also earn 40 plus points which is enough to upgrade you once from United Economy to Polaris on a long-haul flight with United, ANA or Lufthansa or twice from Economy to Premium Plus (their Premium Economy product). One thing I am obligated to remind you about is the Marriott RewardsPlus benefit which automatically upgrades your Marriott status to Gold.

Hope that helps!

-RooFlyer88

 

[wendlle]

I have a suggestion: Move yourself and one of the kiddos to the prime Economy+ seats 27ABC or 27JKL, then move the other kiddo to the row right behind you (28ABC, 28JKL) which is a preferred seat which is better than the non economy+ seats but not as much legroom as those economy plus seats. As a Premier Gold member you have access to 8 preferred seats for your guests.

As an aside, and something to consider if you are serious about getting United status is to consider getting Platinum status. This allows you to put yourself and up to 8 guests into economy+ seats. You also earn 40 plus points which is enough to upgrade you once from United Economy to Polaris on a long-haul flight with United, ANA or Lufthansa or twice from Economy to Premium Plus (their Premium Economy product). One thing I am obligated to remind you about is the Marriott RewardsPlus benefit which automatically upgrades your Marriott status to Gold.

Hope that helps!

-RooFlyer88

Thankyou
This is what I’m thinking also
But I can only do it on the return floght
The first flight has people in those seats already

My next question is this

I’m not interested in keeping the UA status
I was doing it for the perks of this flight alone really, I’m not flying again until September 2023 so won’t be able to keep it anyway.

So they said in order to do any of this I have to have my UA number on the booking instead of my VA one
This means I won’t get my points and status with VA which I do want to get

Anyway around this?
I asked if they could do it and then if I’m able to
Change it back to VA after and she said “youll
Get into trouble for that”
So I don’t want to do anything that could see me blacklisted or something

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Let me give you a counter argument for why you would want to keep crediting those United flights with United instead of Virgin Australia. United has a million miler program that counts the number of miles you have flown on United revenue flights. When you reach one million miles flown you will get United Premier Gold for life (equivalent to QF Gold). I know that seems like it's a far way out, but depending on how regularly you travel and how many miles you've flown with United it might make sense. In my case I've got about 120,000 lifetime miles flown with United. So certainly a ways off from reaching million miler status but I'm also relatively young too!

-RooFlyer88