United Airlines will attempt to promote social distancing onboard its flights and at airports, but don’t expect the seat next to you to remain open if your flight is full.
United Airlines: Limiting Seat Selection To Promote Social Distancing
We’ll discuss confusion below, so let’s start with what United actually said. I received a press release yesterday morning announcing three new temporary policies:
- Limiting advanced seat selection for adjacent seats in all cabins, including middle seats where available and alternating window and aisle seats when seats are in pairs
- Boarding fewer customers at a time to allow for more distance during the boarding process. We will maintain existing boarding groups and priority boarding, but meter customer boarding to minimize crowding in gate area and on the jet bridge
- Processing Complimentary Premier Upgrades at the departure gate in priority order
These changes will begin later this month and last through at least May 31st.
United posted a substantially similar message online, with one key difference. Can you spot it?
Beginning late April, we are implementing additional steps to promote social distancing on all United and United Express flights by making some temporary changes to seat assignments and adjustments to our boarding process. We expect to keep these measures in place through May 31 and will continue to evaluate how best to proceed given the fluidity of the current situation. The new changes include:
- Limiting seat selections in all cabins, so customers won’t be able to select seats next to each other or middle seats where available. We’re also alternating window and aisle seats when seats are in pairs.
- Boarding fewer customers at a time to allow for more distance during the boarding process.
- We’ll continue to use our existing boarding groups and priority boarding, but will space out customers to minimize crowding in the gate area and on the jet bridge.
- Processing Complimentary Premier Upgrades in priority order at the gate before departure.
United also provided these seat maps, showing every other seat was empty:
“Advanced” Marketing From United?
My friend Ben at One Mile at a Time interpreted the announcement to mean that United would guarantee open seats onboard and limit first class upgrades to maintain social distancing onboard. I think that is a fair and reasonable reading based upon the public press release and the seat map pictures. Why? One missing word: advanced.
Note that the press released I received said “advanced seat assignments” would be limited and the public press release just said (and still says) “seat assignments” would be limited.
United later told Ben his interpretation was incorrect and that these measures would be subject to capacity constraints. In other words, if the flight is full, middle seats will be used. Upgrades will still be processed even for employee standby travel, meaning premium cabins could still be full as well.
That’s the way I interpreted the announcement from the start, but I did not see the public version until later, only the press release that included the world “advanced”.
Confusion aside, the bottom line is that an open middle seat is not guaranteed when you fly on United. Rather, middle seats will be blocked in an attempt to space people out, but subject to release at the gate.
CONCLUSION
With loads at 5-10% during this period of depressed demand, this is almost a non-issue, since most flights are going out virtually empty. It is rare that you will see a flight go out with full cabins, even on 12-seat first class cabin on the A319s and A320s. But do note, that open seat is not a guarantee.
Were you confused by the United social distancing announcement? Do you think United intended to deceive customers into thinking they were guaranteed an open seat next to them?
a day late. one mile at a time already posted about this. old news.
Try reading the article sweetheart to better understand why I wrote about it today. #dense
LOL
Ha – with rare exception, UA flight attendants have been Social Distancing from Passengers for decades. They are expert at it.
I don’t see why OMAAT was all worked up about this. 1) An extra 18″ seat between you and a neighbor doesn’t mean much and 2) if you’re really that concerned about social distancing, don’t get on a plane. I’ll be the contrarian and say that I’d feel safer on a flight that in line at the grocery store. At some point life will (or must!) get back to some degree of normalcy. I, for one, am using this as a great time to visit friends and family while working remotely. The social distancing guilt can only last so long.
Probably because UA was a straight up d!ck to him in their reply
+1!
Clown must be on Delta’s payroll. Missed the part where all the majors are being fu@$ed by a pandemic with equal opportunity mayhem. United haters’ club is old news. Broken record from the 90s. Last checked, even media darling Southwest is furloughing this fall. Tough for all parties… except the pile on pussi@s.
I wouldn’t call it (6 feet) of social distancing when one is only an arm’s length away from the next person as well as regular movement onboard (people getting up to use the restroom) or reaching for a snack or beverage handed out.
The whole concept of social distancing on an airplane, at least in economy, is a joke, seeing as standard seats are 17-18″ wide, which is also why I think air travel is going to be one of the toughest nuts to crack, even when travel starts resuming. That being said, I’d say this is all an academic exercise for now. I don’t see sub-25% load factors changing anytime soon.
my new aspirational airplane seating policy is to fly only when absolutely necessary.
Yet I have a still-outstanding TATL reservation for June with every seat in Polaris business on a 777 booked or blocked. (While PE and E are only about 15% booked. I actually think something is just janky. And the flight likely to be cancelled, since not to a *A hub.)