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I have not seen this covered elsewhere and found it an interesting beta test. United Airlines is allowing Premier® members on paid tickets to extend their seating benefits so that companions on separate award reservations may select preferred or Economy Plus seating. The reservations can be linked through the United app with benefits extended based upon Premier® status.
I was checking an upcoming reservation in the United app when I noticed this box on screen. I clicked the box above to see how this worked.
The next screen explained that one reservation must be a paid reservation and the other an award booking. You also have to certify that you know the person you’re extending benefits to and that the benefits will be lost if you cancel.
The terms and conditions state the following:
- The linked itinerary must match the Premier® member’s itinerary. All flights must be the same.
- Money + Miles tickets are considered money bookings.
- Miles pooling tickets are considered miles bookings.
- The seat benefit can only be used by other MileagePlus members.
- The number of free seats available to your party depends on the status of the Premier® member. The first people to select upgraded seats will get the benefit.
- If the Premier® member cancels their reservation, their companions may lose their seat benefits.
United has allowed Premier® members to extend complimentary seat assignments to travel companions on the same reservation for years. Silver and Gold members can add one companion while Platinum and Premier 1K® can add up to eight. This is the first I’ve seen that United has proactively offered this on separate reservations.
Anthony’s Take: If you’re traveling with a companion on an award reservation this can save some cash when selecting seats. I’m not sure how many folks are able to take part in this beta test, but it’s worth checking your reservations on the United app if it’s of use to you.
(Image Credits: United Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
1 comment
United’s technology has been better than competitors for close to a decade and this is most welcome. Hopefully other airlines will emulate this.