United’s Expanded Beta Test Lets Elite Members Share Perks With Travel Companions on Separate Award Tickets

by Anthony Losanno
United 787

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Back in December, I wrote about United allowing select 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. This has now been expanded to all Premier® members.

United Beta Test 1

If eligible, you’ll see this box on screen. When clicked, it takes you through the few steps to extend seating benefits.

United Beta Test 2

The next screen explains 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.

United Beta Test 3

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 Premier 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. Now that all Premier® members can use this feature, 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

Nanajee Travels March 30, 2025 - 12:35 am

That’s a nice surprise from United! ✈️👏 Extending complimentary seat assignments across separate reservations is a great perk—hopefully, it becomes a standard practice rather than just a one-off. Have you seen this happen often? 🤔🎟️

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