I just returned from Las Vegas after attending Virtuoso Travel Week. On the way there, I flew my preferred carrier, American Airlines (AA), because I have elite status with them and they offer the best value when redeeming miles. However, I knew my meetings a couple of days later would wrap up at noon and I didn’t want to stick around in 110°F Las Vegas until AA’s next flight, which was scheduled to depart at 7:52pm. Instead, I booked a one-way ticket on United Airlines. Here’s what I learned.
A decade ago, I used to fly United Airlines all the time. I was 1K, their highest published level but I switched to American when they began offering nonstop flights from LAX to the places I traveled most at the time: Miami, Toronto, New York and Honolulu.
American then lured me over with their elite status perks and rewards so I’ve stuck with them. But since I was traveling alone, not checking bags and the flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles is just 45 minutes, I wanted an airline that could get me home the quickest.
I purchased my ticket three days before departure so I paid top dollar, which hurts. $181 was the cheapest non–Basic Economy ticket. I almost booked Southwest Airlines but their flight was leaving a little later and I didn’t want to deal with open seating (it’s ending soon).
I’ve flown over 900,000 miles on United Airlines so I’m just 100,000 miles short of becoming a Million Miler with them, which would give me Lifetime Premier Gold status. That comes with priority check-in, security and boarding among other perks. However, I haven’t flown United in a couple of years and have no current status, even though I’ve given them a lot of business over the years … unfortunately, that means nothing to them. I think they should offer some kind of recognition for travelers who have flown 500,000 miles or more. Even something simple like complimentary Economy Plus (EP) upgrades at the gate would be a nice gesture.
When I booked the ticket, United offered all kinds of upsells including EP, which provides extra legroom toward the front of the plane. I wasn’t going to pay $35 for a 45-minute flight so I grabbed a free aisle seat in the back.
United also sells “Preferred Seats”, which are located behind Economy Plus but don’t offer extra legroom. They’re simply closer to the front for $14.99. That’s a joke. When I checked again 24 hours before departure, the prices had dropped.
Economy Plus was now $21.49 and Preferred Seating was free. So I moved up a few rows. At the gate, I asked the agent how much they were selling Economy Plus seats for (thinking they might be cheaper than at check-in). They weren’t. He said they started at $25.
I told him I’d keep my seat, which I had just changed a minute earlier after checking the seat map on the app. I noticed my original seat now had someone in the middle but the row in front had only a passenger in the window seat. I switched to the aisle in that row knowing my chances of an empty middle seat would be much better. The agent confirmed it.
I ended up flying to LA on a United Airlines 737 MAX with an empty seat next to me, which I was thankful for because the plane was hot while sitting on the tarmac and having someone beside me would have made it feel even warmer.
So the next time you fly United or any airline, check the seat map just before boarding to see if you can move to a row with an empty middle seat. Now that kids are back in school and tourism is slowing, your odds of scoring one are much better.
Want more travel news, tips and deals? Sign up to Johnny Jet’s free newsletter and check out these popular posts: The Travel Gadget Flight Attendants Never Leave Home Without and 12 Ways to Save Money on Baggage Fees. Follow Johnny Jet on MSN, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube for all of my travel posts.
Pretty lame to state the 110 temp in Vegas as the reason you did not want to “stick around” – when you actually wanted to get home quickly. Unless you were standing outside for a lengthy period of time, every building in Vegas maintains a 70-72 degree temp inside. You state that you hadn’t flown United for years – and have no current status – but expect some kind of “recognition” for past flight miles flown. And Southwest’s “soon to be ending” open seating policy was apparently to much to have to deal with – even though the cost of the ticket may have been the cheapest. All of this rhetoric was unnecessary. How you were able to fly without having another person sitting next to you – the actual topic of your post – was informative and possibly useful.
You didn’t read the last couple of lines.