Flying with United...seats?

[mountainhouse]

We set up air through NCL. Going San Francisco to Honolulu. I called UAL the other day, and they said I was not able to arrange seating in advance. Is that because of the way NCL arranged these with UAL? Has someone flown UAL recently....is this standard practice for them? TIA.

[cnmiranda]

Because you have booked your seats through a third party like NCL who buys seats at a discounted price you will be low man on the totum pole for seating requests. United routinely gives customers that have booked through a third party the worst seats.

[beebes]

That may be the case, because your flight was booked through a third party or there might be two other reasons.

1) if you flight is farther than 90 days out sometimes you can't get seat assignments

2) if the first 2/3's of the plane have been assigned seats, then it is usually 36 hours prior to flight that you can go in and get seat assignment.

[dynamite5]

We booked our air through NCL, and received our travel docs 4 weeks in advance. We leave on July 19 and there are 7 of us travelling-so we call United and we are all split up (husbands, wives and kids) all of us are in the middle row/middle seat of a 767 from Chicago to Honolulu. The only thing United said to me was, call the day before to see if anything can be changed or when you get to the airport maybe they can move us around. Of course, we are disappointed since we booked this almost a year ago-I understand about how NCL gets the seats but that is a very long flight to be alone. I am hoping that there will be nice people who will be willing to move around on the flight.

[nelsjay]

We booked United for our Alaska cruise with frequent flyer miles. We were able to get seats on the outbound, but not on the return. We got to the airport early from the cruise and had no problems getting 4 in a row.

[Guest alexMD]

Your story is probably the number one reason why I do not book air through the cruiseline.

[Cruise Mama]

Okay - remember my horror story - it turned out great -

 

Originally we were going to end up on three different flights home. NCL fixed that problem. We (12 of us) were all on the same flight. We got the flight info around the 5th of June (we sailed the 20th and flight was 7/2) Our TA called as soon as she had docs and arranged seating. We were 6 in row 27 (all five across the middle and one on the left aisle) and 2 in row 26 (directly in front of the five) and then the remaining 4 were in row 35.

 

Row 27 was great it was were most of the children were sitting - and they started food service there - so no chance that the children wouldn't get choice of the two entrees (sorry food is VERY important on a 5 hour flight).

 

It was the easiest flight we've ever had with the children.

[cdkempton]

Mountainhouse....I'm curious as to what flight you'll be on going out of SFO. We're on the Wind on Oct 2,2004 and I made our own flight arrangements. I was able to get us out of Chico to SFO to HNL for about $12 more than NCL could do for us out of SFO. Had to book it myself.;) I'm interested to see what flight NCL is using. Our flight time out of SFO 9:05 am. Thanks for any info. :-) Happy Sails! Colette

[Trey]

For finding the best seats, check out seatguru.com . This little site has been a great help in avoiding some horrible seats and flights.

[mountainhouse]

Tnx for all the info. I'm inclined to agree with Alex. Fortunately, we going out of San Francisco, so it's not that long. I called my TA, and they can't help. I'll start calling UAL exactly 36 hours beforehand. Unfortunately, for UAL, this is the first time I've flown them in over 10 years. I was thinking that if they did a good job, I might use them for other travel. Well, we'll see how it goes.

[Jeconk]

Two experiences with NCL Air - one bad, one good

 

1.) Two years ago we flew to Honolulu for the Star. I live 5 minutes from Port Columbus Airport, a major airport. We got our docs about a month in advance with seat assignments. We found that we were flying out of the smaller Akron/Canton Airport, 3 hours away and not Port Columbus. When we called NCL, they said all the flights from Columbus were full. We went to the airport to talk to the United people. They said there was nothing they could do because they were "cheap bulk tickets." We even offered to pay the difference to fly from Columbus to Chicago instead of Akron to Chicago. They said we couldn't because of NCL's policies. We also then said that we would pay our own way from Columbus to Chicago. (the flight would even arrive 45 minutes before the Akron flight)....couldn't do that because if we didn't show up in Akron, it would invalidate the entire ticket all the way to Honolulu! We ten were stuck driving three hours to Akron the day before and spending the night in a hotel room and then driving 3 hours after the long trip back to Akron.

 

As far as our seats were concerned: they were horrible. We were scattered throughout the plane on all three legs to Honolulu. Our one person, who is handicapped has to have his right leg on the aisle due to a circulatory problem. He was always assigned an interior or window seat or on the wrong side. Luckily we were able to switch him on each leg of the flight. They also had my four year old daughter by herself on each leg. We were able to easily make switches on the first two legs, but on the long flight from Denver to Honolulu, the plane was full and nothing could be done ahead of time. To add insult to injury, she was assigned next to an emergency exit door which is illegal. They had my wife keep my daughter on her lap until loading was complete, then a United Rep came on board and asked the person next to my wife (who had an aisle seat in the Center section) to move since my daughter could not sit alone or on an exit door. The man refused and the situation turned ugly. Finally, a UNited Manager came on the plane and offered the man a free flight if he would move. As the United Manager left the plane, I heard him mutter "Damn NCL." (I was like five rows in front of the fiasco and so he didn't realize who I was as he left.) Coming back it was the same situation, my daughter seperated on all legs, but the airline was able to make switches to put her with one of us.

 

To show NCL's normal pack of lies: After the incident in Denver with the exit door, I struck up a conversation with the person across the aisle from me. I found that she too was part of a group going to the Star. They had 10 people also. They too were scattered throughout the plane. She pointed out her husband to me....he was sitting right next to my wife on the other side. Her son was next to my father three rows up and her daughter-in-law was seated next to my sister-in-law in the rear of the plane. Our further conversation revealed that she too was from Columbus, Ohio. I asked her when she booked: four months after us. Guess where her party flew out of: Columbus. I asked her how and she said that is where NCL assigned them, but NCL said the flights from Columbus were all booked I said. She laughed and said their flight from Columbus to Chicago was only half full!! (it was the same flight that we offered to pay to get on!!)

 

2.) This year's trip: We once again used NCL's air program because of our post cruise stay and their transportation services. This time however, we put our TA on alert about the Akron deal. She thought it was the most ludicrous thing she had ever heard of and promised it wouldn't happen this time. (different TA than the last time by the way) She called us the day NCL released our docs to her and told us that she had worked with NCL to get us flights and seat assignments. We ended up with two rows back to back of three seats on flights where possible. (there were only six of us this time) On the two longest flights, she got us three rows of two seats back to back. (a window and an aisle....none of that five seat center section!)

 

So basically, my advice is to tell your TA to get on the phone with NCL and work with them when they assign seats. If your TA will go to bat for you, you will have better seats and seats together! Finally, if that doesn't work, get to the airport early for your first flight and go to the ticket counter for check-in (not sky caps or e-tickets). Ask them if there is any way you can change your seating. Have them do it for the entire trip if possible. NCL uses three main carriers: United (majority), Northwest and Delta. Both times I went, I flew out on one carrier and back on another! BUT GET TO THE TICKET COUNTERS EARLY FOR CHECK-IN IF YOU WANT TO HAVE THE BEST SELECTION OF SEATS!

[catwoman15]

NCL DOES NOT ASSIGN SEATS, who ever told you that is wrong...

The airline assign the seats even thought you book your air thru ncl all they have is just contract rates and book space with the airline, then the airlines takes care of what seats they give you.......:D

[shoreguy]

NCL DOES NOT ASSIGN SEATS, who ever told you that is wrong...

The airline assign the seats even thought you book your air thru ncl all they have is just contract rates and book space with the airline, then the airlines takes care of what seats they give you.......:D

 

That is correct but they could do a better job working with the airlines to keep the bookings together instead of sending over a bulk list of all passengers on the flight who end up scattered around the plane.

 

Last year I had two cabins on the sun. Those in the first cabin got tickets into MIA. cabin two had a flight into FLL. For the return they were reversed and those that arriived in MIA departed from FLL.

 

How does that work?

 

BTW - we still had a great cruise ;)

[cruiseone2003]

We set up air through NCL. Going San Francisco to Honolulu. I called UAL the other day, and they said I was not able to arrange seating in advance. Is that because of the way NCL arranged these with UAL? Has someone flown UAL recently....is this standard practice for them? TIA.

 

Hello, I used to work for UAL for 18 years, very familiar with how things are done for seats when air is booked through your cruiseline. Basically, NCL starts out by making a group reservation, this is a reservation without any passenger names or seat assignments, seat assignments cannot be made until a name is added to the group reservation. About 30-40 days before sailing, NCL will call the airline involved and assign the names to the blocked seat reservations. So your family of 4 could be part of a group of 40 who are on the same cruise. The names are listed alphabetically. When Seats assignments are assigned it's done with a computer entry that assigns seats to the entire group at once from the front of the cabin to the rear, which explains why some people are not together. UAL is able to book reservations with seat assignments 11months in advance so by the time your air/Cruise seats are assigned it is slim pickings. What I used to do when I worked for the Friendly Skies is monitor the flight by checking daily for seats that opened up, most of the time I was able to get what I wanted. This is what you need to do, just call every day and keep asking. If you are a Premier member or higher with the frequent flier program, ask the UAL agent to add your number to your name because that would open up the premier section seating, even if you are not supposed to earn miles on this (some cruise air is not eligible for mileage accrual) you should still be able to get to sit in the premier section which are the first few rows in the front of economy and exit rows with extra leg room. Hope I didn't confuse you. Good luck.