Nik's Mom said:
I have a nice chunk of frequent flyer miles racked up on United Airlines. I'd like to try to use them for our August 06 trip. My question is, since I'm the only one who has the miles, will I be allowed to sit with my family, or are there certain areas where frequent flyers get placed? We'll be traveling with my toddler, my autistic ds and my disabled Mom, so I don't want dh to be left alone with them. That's a lot to handle.
Thanks!
Frequent flyer program members -- whether flying with paid tickets or with award tickets -- have access to the same seats (within the class of service in which they are booked) as any other passenger. So you'll have no problem sitting with your family, as long as there are such seats available for pre-assignment.
If you've seen reference to "seats held for elite frequent flyer members," that refers to seats that show as unavailable to passengers without elite status.
On United, part of economy has extra leg room and is designated as Economy Plus. Unless someone has at least Mileage Plus Premier status (or flying on a full unrestricted coach fare), those seats show as unavailable.
On Delta, the front of economy requires at least Medallion status (even though there's nothing special about the front of economy). On American, row 9 on MD80 aircraft requires at least AAdvantage Gold status (even though there's nothing special about row 9).
But all this just means that elite frequent flyer members have more choices, not that frequent flyer members using award tickets are limited or isolated.
By the way, when I fly with my family, they also have access to the elite frequent flyer seats, as long as they're on the same PNR as I am. Say hi to us in row 9 on American!
