I will never fly United again

[sz9144]

This is so ridiculous! we have two 3 yr olds and this is our first family vacation ever. we booked our vacation through disney, and at that point they were not able to assign us seats. I called united and they gave us some seats just so we would have seats, but I swear she told me 2 were together and 2 weren't. so I called today to see if anything had changed, and was told that all 4 were separate and were middle seats. the nasty woman at united said that most likely no one would switch with us since no one wants a middle, and that we could try going stand by on a later flight and hope for seats together. I am not going to have my 2 toddlers sitting alone for 3 hrs, so I just went ahead and spent more than I spent on the original tickets to buy 4 one way seats on spirit in their plus section so not only will we be together but have roomy seats. from now on I will fly spirit not united ever again!!

 

[safetymom]

If you had shown up at the airport early chances are they could have assigned you seats together. The airline holds back some seats to be assigned at the airport. That is the way that all airlines work.

 

[Tara]

If you had shown up at the airport early chances are they could have assigned you seats together. The airline holds back some seats to be assigned at the airport. That is the way that all airlines work.

Most definitely. There's nothing the people on the phone can do because they can't change other seat assignments and they can't access those seats that are held in reserve. But gate agents really do make every effort to move people around and as much as I've flown both with my child and without, I've never had a problem getting our seats reassigned together and I've never seen a family with small children split up so that the children were not with at least one parent.

 

[ducklite]

If you plan on flying Spirit on your first leg and UAL on the way home, you're in trouble with this plan.

If you do'nt show for the first leg, they automatically cancel your return flight. I'd be careful about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

As SafetyMom explained, they always hold back up to 20% of the seats on any given flight and reassign them at the gate. The emergency row seats for example will be filled by passengers in other seats at the gate, thus freeing up othe seats on the plane.

Anne

 

[Lewisc]

The GA would have done whatever was necessary so, at minimum one child would be sitting next to one adult.

You may be screwed. If you booked your Spirit flights more than 24 hours ago you probably can't be cancel it Your return United flight will be canceled if you don't take the outbound flight.

You have to either cancel your entire reservation and book your return with Spirit or change your United reservation to a one way, return reservation. Your fare will probably be much higher.

Find out what reserations you have and what can be changed. You have to act immediately.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

The following is true for any airline that preassigns seats and has a frequent flyer program:

The majority of seats on an aircraft are available for preassignment when the flight becomes available for ticketing, usually 11 months in advance.

Some seats are only preassiged to elite frequent flyer members. To everyone else, it appears that those seats are spoken for, even if they're not.

Some seats are held back for airport control.

People who book early tend to have to have their pick of seats for preassignment. Window and aisle seats go first.

At some point, even though the airline is still selling seats on a flight, there may be only middle seats -- or no seats all -- left for preassignment.

Preassignment is not a guarantee that you'll actually have particular seats. Airlines can and do reassign passengers.

On departure day, the airport can assign seats. Not only are there the seats that were always blocked for airport control, there are also likely to be unfilled elite frequent flyer seats, seats from full fare passngers who cancelled at the last minute, and seats from passengers who upgraded to first class.

Finally, passengers on the plane are likely to trade when faced with the prospect of sitting next to toddler whose family is several rows away.

The same thing that happened on United can also happen on American and Delta and US Airways and Continental and all other airlines that preassign seats -- including, yes, even Spirit.

 

[helenk]

When my children were younger we never had problems getting someone to change seats with us....Trust me a stranger is not going to want to sit with someone else's 3 year old.

 

[Ms. Belle]

I just recently flew with my son and had the same situation. I went to the gate and the rep was able to put us together. The airlines usually hold seats that only they can assign, so if you can get your original flight back, I would do so and then work it out with the rep at the gate.

 

[cigar95]

In a similar thread a few months ago, one poster mentioned a brilliant strategy - if your child is seated alone, say to the person next to them "My son tends to get sick when he's nervous. If he throws up, you can find me in seat 27F."

They can't switch fast enough when they hear that!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

If you plan on flying Spirit on your first leg and UAL on the way home, you're in trouble with this plan.

If you do'nt show for the first leg, they automatically cancel your return flight. I'd be careful about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

sz9144,

Anne is making an excellent point.

If you simply don't show up for the first segment of a nonrefundable roundtrip on United (and other airlines):

• The airline cancels your entire itinerary.
• The airline keeps your money.
• If you show up for a subsequent flight on your itinerary (such as your flight back home), the airline will tell you that your itinerary has been cancelled, and they'll point to the documented fare rules.
• If you have not made other arrangements to fly home, you may be stranded somewhere.

If you can cancel Spirit and get your money back from Spirit, you won't face the scenario above. If Spirit and United are both nonrefundable, but you cancel one of them, you may end up with a credit that you can use for up to 12 months in the future (typically with a $100 change fee per ticket).

I hope you are able to work this out. Please let use know what you end up doing. And I hope you have a great vacation.

 

[Disney Ella]

When the plane if full, you are out of luck if you try to get seats together at the gate. After US Air changed our seats last year, we too were told that seats were held back and we could get seats together at the gate. However, when we got to the gate, the gate agent pretty much laughed at us and told us that the plane was oversold and that it was just too bad that my kids were going to have to sit by themselves.

 

[snoopy5386]

FAA regulations state that children under 5 must be sitting with a parent, so they would have had to give you seats together

 

[safetymom]

Usually when you can't get a seat assignment it is because all the seats that can be assigned ahead of time have been sold.

If you get to the airport early there may be seats still available to be assigned. If you show up half an hour before flight time you would be out of luck. The key is to get there early.

 

[CarolA]

I think you have really screwed up here. It sounds to me like you are planning to fly on your one way tickets to DIsney and on United home. As other's have pointed out, you are going to get to the airport and have no seats on the way home... I would cancel the SPrint and go to the airport early. They will work with you. Gate agents are normally much nicer then phone agents... they have to be, you are there in person.. LOL!

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

OMG, everything that people have said here is true and no doubt the situation would have been resolved at the airport. If you can get your money back on the second set of flights you should do that pronto:

A certain amount of seats are held until check in. There wasn't anything the agent over the phone can do about that.

No one else is going to want to care for your 3 year olds and I've seen flight attendants ask people to switch in order to keep families together. You really should be able to get at least 2 sets of 2 seats together. Personally I'd rather have a middle seat than care for someone else's 3 year old. I've had 3 yr olds, they don't sit there quietly and mind their own business!

If you don't take the outbound flight, the return will be cancelled.

And pretty much what everyone said . . .

Lots of stuff isn't "guaranteed" but that doesn't mean it's impossible and a company won't do it's best to resolve.

Good luck,

 

[hightown]

I do hope the OP posts the outcome or that she was able to cancel the spirit flight. I've traveled a lot but I know it can be frustrating to someone that doesn't travel much. All the airlines do the same thing so might as well not cross united off the list.

I had a business trip where I had a middle seat and changed to aisle at check in. Board the flight and sitting in the middle seat is a 3.5-4 year old. In the window is a woman of another nationality and I figured a nanny or caretaker. Before take off the kid starts crying a little. I hear this voice two rows back saying "it's ok sweetie, auntie is right here" So the aunt is two rows back in middle seats between two 'gentlemen' who would rather die than give up the aisle and middle. The foriegn lady in my row window doesn't or pretends not to know english. So of course the flight attendants come to me to switch with auntie. Of course I do! They should have put the kid between the two jerks that I had to sit next to. Then what was a 4 hour flight turned to 9 hours on that friggin plane. Anyway, ya fly enough and you go through it all. Turned out the auntie was a flight attendant and got my name and address to 'thank me'. she never did but wouldn't have mattered.

Certainly they can get their seats assigned at airport or find someone to switch.

 

[paulmc80]

I'd probably have done the same thing if in your shoes.

We had some awesome flight attendants and pilots on United in the past, but our last flight was gosh awful. My mother was on kidney dialysis, couldn't walk for any lengthy distance and used a wheel chair. At LAX we checked in early got assistance to the gate, checked in with the gate person to make sure they knew my mother needed assistance in boarding. They started general boarding of folks all of a sudden. We were right there in front of them with my mom in a wheel chair. I approached the person doing the boarding and was told to wait. needless to say it was very difficult boarding her, bumping folks and all that fun stuff.

Gefore our flight landed here the flight attendant came up to me and told me to wait for everyone to get off first before taking my mom off. As if I was going to do anything else! I was couterous and polite to them the entire flight. At the end, I'm taking my mom off and this male flight attendant is in the jetway with his baggage - starts going "WOOHOO! WOOHOO!" as I wheel my Mom by him. If not intended for our benefit, that was in the least extremely unprofessional. I would assume he was behaving that way as he must just have been terminated from employment. Very puzzling behavior.

Have never flown United since. Just a bad taste for us.

 

[SB in KY]

I am the one who always makes the point when parents freak about not having seats together....do you really think ANYONE wants to sit next to your 3 y/o without a parent present??? ...years ago when DD #1 was barely 2 and I was flying alone with her we were put in that position....I just plopped her in the middle seat, reaching my hugely pregnant belly over some guy in an Armani suit working on his lap top...I dig out the markers and paper and pull the caps off of all the markers hand them over to her and tell her to have fun. Then I open up the airsick bag and hand it to Mr Businessman that had refused to trade seats with me and told him to keep it handy, because she always throws up in planes and we just had a big lunch....you have never seen anyone move seats so fast...even the flight attendant was chuckling. If there had not been a seat in another row I thik the guy would have thrown himself out the emergency exit onto the tarmac!! (and I still had a sippy cup full of grape juice and some gummy bears I could have pulled out for her to "share" with the nice man she was sitting beside!!)

I really love kids...have worked with them for almost 30 years...but I would rather have a root canal than spend 3 hours on an airplane beside an unattended toddler (no offense to the OP...I am sure your kids are delightful...but they need a parent nextdoor at that age) and I think most others would share my opinion on that one!!

Just keep smiling...if the airline won't help you then do it yourself!!

 

[CarolA]

I do hope the OP posts the outcome or that she was able to cancel the spirit flight. I've traveled a lot but I know it can be frustrating to someone that doesn't travel much. All the airlines do the same thing so might as well not cross united off the list.

I had a business trip where I had a middle seat and changed to aisle at check in. Board the flight and sitting in the middle seat is a 3.5-4 year old. In the window is a woman of another nationality and I figured a nanny or caretaker. Before take off the kid starts crying a little. I hear this voice two rows back saying "it's ok sweetie, auntie is right here" So the aunt is two rows back in middle seats between two 'gentlemen' who would rather die than give up the aisle and middle. The foriegn lady in my row window doesn't or pretends not to know english. So of course the flight attendants come to me to switch with auntie. Of course I do! They should have put the kid between the two jerks that I had to sit next to. Then what was a 4 hour flight turned to 9 hours on that friggin plane. Anyway, ya fly enough and you go through it all. Turned out the auntie was a flight attendant and got my name and address to 'thank me'. she never did but wouldn't have mattered.

Certainly they can get their seats assigned at airport or find someone to switch.

You know why the probably got stuck like that.. They "auntie" was a non-rev (FREE or dirt cheap)... basically it's against the rules for people on those tickets to ask anyone to move even for their kids.... The same rules don't apply to paying passengers.

 

[NotUrsula]

That business about warning people that your kid is prone to airsickness does NOT always work, especially with dedicated aisle-seat people. DS had severe reflux until he was 4, and was GUARANTEED to be sick on himself at least once on every flight, and sometimes several times. Airsickness bags were insufficient; we had to carry a large sand pail wherever we went. He gave absolutely no warning, though, and the bucket was useless half the time. I always sat down and spread a towel over myself and another over his carseat when flying with him when he was little.

On both of the only two occasions that we flew with DS as a lap-child (family emergency, only two seats left on the only avail. flights), he threw up all over the passengers in our row who refused to trade with DH. I told them that I did not at all mind sitting in the middle, but that there was no way I'd be able to redirect his aim from both sides; one or the other of them was going to get hit. Those folks ended up being very upset with me, especially on the very turbulent flight where the FA would not let either of us out of our seats to clean up afterward. (DH had window seats on both occasions, but toward the rear of the plane. I tried to avoid the window in those days, b/c of having to step over people en route to the head to clean up. I tended to drip on them no matter how hard I tried not to.)

BTW, someone earlier posted that there is an FAA rule that says kids under 5 must be seated next to a parent. Not true, I'm afraid. That rule only applies to children who are strapped into carseats. Some airlines have their own rules re: kids under 5, but the rule usually is that they must be seated in the same cabin as the accompanying adult. FA's will usually try to bribe people to get one parent next to a child that age, but they can't force it unless a carseat is involved.