Background info for this post: I am 1k and my wife is Premier Exec. We were travelling in paid for biz seats (D-class).
Yesterday my wife and I were checking in for a international UA flight at Dulles (IAD-BRU) only to be told that our pre-reserved seat assignments had been reallocated for "operational reasons"
Ok, I know these things happen, but nonetheless it is frustrating when you have made effort of ensuring you and your wife are sitting side-by-side for flight home.
I learned later from the person in the seat which I had reserved for months, that he also had reserved the seat months ago...
Is that possible? Do airlines/United allow two biz class passengers to reserve the same seat? And if so how do they decide who ultimately gets the seat. Status?
To add insult to injury, when I politely inquired at check-in (with no expectations or feelings of entitlement) whether it might be possible to find two seats side-by-side in 1st the lady looked at me like a pariah and said "1st is completely off limits. That would be out of the questions" !?!
Leaving aside her rude attitude, I would like to know if that is true? Should I as a 1k pax, travelling biz, not have any expectation at all of an upgrade? If so then what is the point of staying loyal to UA?