Tag: united airlines

United’s new “Elevated” Polaris business class product is snazzy

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United’s new “Elevated” Polaris business class product is snazzy

At an event at the Brooklyn Navy Yard this past Tuesday, May 13, United Airlines announced a new version of their Polaris business class cabin for their Boeing 787s that they are calling “Elevated”. The new Elevated 787-9s will feature 64 business class suites with doors, 35 premium economy seats, and 123 economy seats. The old configuration of the 787-9 is 48 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 188 economy seats. Eight of the new configuration’s business class seats, the bulkhead row in the front and rear business class cabins, will be dubbed “Polaris Studio” and feature more space, an ottoman for a guest to join you in the suite, champagne (Cuvee Rose) and a caviar service, and a special amenity kit, including a hooded sweatshirt pajama set. We don’t know what the exact upcharge will be for the Polaris Studio but in a survey that United sent out to frequent flyers in 2024 it was suggested that a surcharge of $300 to $650 on a $2500 business class ticket could be expected.

A few things stand out to me, the first being the sheer number of business class seats on these planes. 64 is a lot of premium seats and United will take possession of 100 787s with this configuration over the next few years. Sure, some of those will replace 777s and 767s but it’s still a lot of airplanes with a lot of expensive seats. The first routes announced for these planes will be San Francisco-Singapore and San Francisco-London. The Singapore route definitely has demand for business class but I am intrigued by London. I’m sure there is some demand but I am surprised there is enough premium demand to justify this new configuration on the route. I wouldn’t be surprised if, as United took delivery of more of these planes, we saw new longhaul routes open up or return, like Los Angeles-Singapore.

Another thing I noticed was that a lavatory was removed from the economy cabin and one was added to the business class cabins. I doubt premium economy customers will be allowed to use the business class lavatories so that will leave three lavatories for 158 passengers. On ultra long haul routes, like those to Singapore, that reduction in lavatories could lead to really unpleasant waits to use the restroom.

Current 787-9 Seat Map
New 787-9 High-J Configuration

One thing I didn’t mention about the Polaris Studio is that it comes with Global Services status for the day. A Polaris Studio passenger will be able to use the Global Services check-in desk, security, and pre-boarding, all nice perks when at busy airports. It’s also an area where I could see United falling short. The carrier has long struggled with soft product implementations and I don’t believe this product will be any different. Previously simple things like the sundae cart service would be completely inconsistent. The same is true for the offering of pajamas on ultra long hauls, sometimes flight attendants offer them, other times they can’t be bothered to find them when asked. The caviar service, the pajamas, etc. all take a bit more work for Polaris Studio. Done correctly, it could be a great feature. Done poorly and customers walk away disappointed or underwhelmed and unlikely to pay the premium for it again.

Champagne and caviar in Polaris Studio

Conclusion

Elevated Polaris looks like a great update to United’s business class product. The number of business class seats that they are installing on these planes is astonishing, especially when you consider they will have 100 of these planes by 2027. It’s a huge bet on the premium traffic market growing, or at least staying the same. Future markets I would expect to see these planes on: Houston-Sydney, Newark-Johannesburg, Newark-Cape Town, and Los Angeles-Sydney.

The implementation of the service for the eight Polaris Studio seats will be key in making the upsell successful. If United can’t get consistency in the service for those seats, I don’t see the concept being something that travelers will pay a premium for. United also hasn’t mentioned whether frequent flyers will be able to use PlusPoints, their currency for upgrades, for the Polaris Studio and what the premium would be. My guess is that United will debut the Polaris Studio with only a cash surcharge and see what the reception is like, then they will open it up to PlusPoints later.

Service flow and customer flow for things like lavatories are also open questions. 64 business class seats along with two extra rows of premium economy with a reduction in overall galley space means that service could be really slow. As you can see in the seatmaps above, the old configuration had two full galleys for 48 business class customers and 21 premium economy customers, the new configuration has 30 more people across both of those cabins being served by a smaller mid-cabin galley and the forward galley. The reduction in economy lavatories is also a little bit worrisome for passenger wait times.

Overall it’s neat to see United innovating and trying some new things. They are heavily invested in premium travel staying strong for at least the new few years and we’ll just have to wait and see if they made the right call.

JetBlue-United Partnership Rumors

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From Reuters —

JetBlue Airways (JBLU.O), opens new tab and United Airlines (UAL.O), opens new tab have been negotiating a partnership, three industry sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The partnership with United is envisioned as quite different from the NEA, the sources said. While the alliance is expected to focus on providing greater connectivity to customers and allowing them to earn and burn frequent-flier miles, the two carriers will not coordinate on schedules and pricing, they added.

 

Another rumor, from Corriere, an Italian news outlet, is that United would receive 20 slots at JFK in the partnership.

United Airlines, one of the largest carriers in the world and a longtime ally of Lufthansa (soon also of ITA Airways), is turning its attention to low-cost carrier JetBlue in an attempt to challenge Delta Air Lines at one of its key hubs: New York’s JFK Airport. The Chicago-based airline — which currently operates from Newark, across the Hudson River in New Jersey — is exploring various options ranging from a commercial alliance to a full acquisition. United wants to return to JFK operations as soon as possible by taking over 20 slot pairs (allowing for 40 daily flights, between arrivals and departures) and access to 2 boarding gates from JetBlue. This is according to four U.S. sources familiar with the internal talks, speaking to Corriere.

 

With 20 slots at JFK, United would certainly look to bring back service to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Back in 2022, United CEO Scott Kirby told Bloomberg as much.

“Well certainly the place that we, whether it’s through JetBlue or somewhere else, we would like to get back into JFK in a big way, particularly in the transcon market. So getting enough slots at JFK that we can get back to serving San Francisco and Los Angeles, particularly for business customers, and having another real option for business customers in those markets that would be our number one priority.”

 

If these rumors are true and a partnership between JetBlue and United is really coming, it will definitely shake things up at JFK and could present some interesting frequent flyer opportunities. Since none of the rumors state a timeline for the partnership, we will have to wait and see for this to all fall into place.

United increases 2025-2026 elite status requirements

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United increases 2025-2026 elite status requirements

United released their 2025 requirements for 2026 MileagePlus elite status and it’s not great news. I’ve put two tables with the 2024 requirements and the new 2025 requirements below. For reference, PQF is Premier Qualifying Flights and PQP is Premier Qualifying Points or dollars spent. For every dollar spent on airfare with United you earn 1 PQP.

Year Premier Silver Premier Gold Premier Platinum Premier 1K
2024 12 PQF and 4,000 PQP or 5,000 PQP 24 PQF and 8,000 PQP or 10,000 PQP 36 PQF and 12,000 PQP or 15,000 PQP 54 PQF and 18,000 PQP or 24,000 PQP
2025 15 PQF and 5,000 PQP or 6,000 PQP 30 PQF and 10,000 PQP or 12,000 PQP 45 PQF and 15,000 PQP or 18,000 PQP 60 PQF and 22,000 PQP or 28,000 PQP

As you can see, this comes out to 25% increase in PQF and PQP needed to qualify for each status, with some minor differences for specific ones (1K only needs 11% more PQFs with 22% more PQPs).

In an email sent to MileagePlus members, there are the following perks coming for PlusPoints, a currency that once earned, allows flyers to upgrade flights from economy to Premium Economy and Polaris (Business class).

Starting in mid-2025, PlusPoints earned upon achieving the highest tiers of
Premier status will become even more versatile. In addition to using
PlusPoints to request premium seat and cabin upgrades, you’ll soon be able
to redeem PlusPoints for new perks, including:

  • Premier qualifying points (PQP) or Premier qualifying flights (PQF)
  • TravelBank cash
  • Bonus miles
  • Gifting Premier status to other MileagePlus members

So as PlusPoints are earned next year, you’ll be able to use them in 2026 for these new “perks”. These new options seem to be in response to the general complaint I hear which is that PlusPoint upgrades rarely clear. So elite flyers are earning these points and are then unable to use them which is frustrating and deflates the value. And United would much rather having pay business class passengers in those seats rather than upgrading someone using PlusPoints so they needed a way to give the points value and these perks are what they came up with. The PlusPoints now feel like a second currency, in addition to the existing miles you earn from flying and credit card spend.

Keeping it classy in United Polaris business class.

I have mixed feelings about the increase in qualifying points and flights for their respective statuses. One one hand it feels like United is trying to thin the herd of elites in their ranks. By making it harder to earn each level of status, theoretically there will be fewer elites at each of those levels. But that theory doesn’t match what United has said about the market in general, which is that business travel is way down. So with these changes are they insinuating that leisure travelers are spending so much more that they have to thin that out? If so, that’s insane because it doesn’t match the broader economic picture that everyone is painting; That we’re in an economic slump and people are saving not spending.

United clearly has overcrowding issues at their hubs, especially at Newark and San Francisco. Just go browse Threads or Twitter and you will see people complaining that their San Francisco-Newark pre-boarding call for 1Ks, who get early boarding before Group 1, was half of the plane. These are fortress hubs for United with limited competition so lots of elites are expected but with these latest requirement changes, they make it just a little harder for those flyers to earn status. Maybe it knocks that early boarding number down by 5 people per flight. United must have some data to back up their decisions, or they are simply getting very greedy.

What are my plans?

I have my doubts that these increases impact the number of elites at each level but I would love to be proven wrong. I think the spend requirements for 1K, where you get lots of PlusPoints for upgrades and generally more perks, is outrageous and don’t see my travel patterns ever meeting the $22k and 60 flight requirement to qualify. What I struggle with is where to go instead. United’s schedules out of Portland are actually quite good and my cursory searches of other carriers aren’t promising. Delta has similar schedules but they also have similar spend requirements for elite status. Alaska does not have all of the spend requirements but their schedules out of Portland are not great, especially if they don’t fly somewhere non-stop out of here. Because they lack a middle of the country or east coast hub, the connection options are limited to one of their other west coast hubs or via American Airlines and one of their hubs; American’s schedules aren’t much better.

All of this to say, I feel quite stuck. What makes this even more difficult is that I am at 1.5 million lifetime miles on United, guaranteeing lifetime Gold status. If I fly another 1.5 million miles I am guaranteed lifetime 1K. I would love to reach that milestone but just don’t know that I can do that quickly (or cheaply). So, for longhaul work flights, I think I am going to fly the better carriers when I can and credit to Alaska. For domestic travel I am thinking I’ll give preference to United but if they are outrageously priced I’ll consider other carriers. We will see how this plays out in the next few months, I have a few international work trips in the planning stages and I’ll need to make a decision.

Summary

United has raised the qualification requirements for elite status and announced some new things that elites can redeem their PlusPoints for, making up for the fact it is so hard to redeem the PlusPoints for upgrades. The qualification requirements have gone up around 25% for most status levels. If United sees a shift in the economy they can change these requirements or give bonuses and adjust next year.

United’s 2025 route announcement

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United’s 2025 route announcement

The Announcement

On October 10, United Airlines announced eight new destinations and a few other new routes. I had predicted, because of my own selfish desire that United fly the routes, San Francisco-Hanoi and San Francisco-Bangkok as well as Newark-Palermo. The only one I predicted accurately was Newark-Palermo. The full list of new destinations are:

  • Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – United will serve Ulaanbaatar from Tokyo-Narita on a 737 starting May 1, 2025.
  • Kaohsiung, Taiwan – United will serve this southern Taiwan destination from Tokyo-Narita on a 737 starting July 11, 2025.
  • Dakar, Senegal – This will be flown from Washington-Dulles starting May 23, 2025. I’m guessing this will be flown on a 787-8 but that info is not confirmed yet.
  • Nuuk, Greenland – From Newark, this route will start on June 14, 2025. The speculation is that this will be flown on a 737 MAX 8, but no confirmation from United yet.
  • Palermo, Italy – United will fly to this destination from Newark and the route will start on May 21, 2025. This route was originally planned for summer of 2020 but the Covid lockdowns prevented it from happening. The route will be operated by a 767-400ER.
  • Bilbao, Spain – Starting May 31, 2025, United will fly to Bilbao out of Newark. United didn’t state what plane they will be flying on the route but my guess would be a 767-300ER or a 757-200.
  • Madeira Island, Portugal – United will operate a 3-times weekly flight to the Portuguese island out of Newark. This is another route that might be operated by a 737 MAX 8, but we don’t yet know for sure.
  • Faro, Portugal – This Portuguese beach destination will start out of Newark four times a week on May 16. This is another flight I think could be a 757-200.

A few other items were announced as well, including year-round service from Tokyo-Narita to Palau. This service is in addition to the flights on United between Palau and Manila and Palau and Guam. There will also be a new daily flight between Houston and Puerto Escondido, Mexico on an Embraer E-175. San Francisco will see a new service to San Jose, Costa Rica once daily. And lastly, United will fly Washington-Dulles to Venice, Italy and Nice, France in summer of 2025 in addition to the Newark flights to those destinations.

My Thoughts

It is nice that United is adding some new routes and I think a few of them really stand out. Their announcement in summary was, “people are bored going to Rome” and that sentiment doesn’t necessarily sit well with me. Yes, people want new destinations and there are travelers who want to go to these new destinations but I wouldn’t define most of what they announced as popular tourist destination.

The exciting routes to me are Nuuk, Ulaanbaatar, and Palermo, with Palermo being interesting because it is in Sicily and directly competes with Delta’s newly announced route to Catania. The most exciting to me is Ulaanbaatar; I would love to visit Mongolia and spend some time on steppe exploring. It is not an easy place to reach on Star Alliance with transit of China, South Korea, or Turkey being the only way to get there until this United flight starts.

Seth recently visited Greenland on the new Air Greenland service to Canada and I think he raises some very practical questions on the ability of Greenland to handle a large influx of tourists. The route is super cool though and I do hope to experience it and explore Greenland.

I am sure Bilbao, Spain will perform well for United but I do wonder what United will run the route on. The runway at Bilbao is 8,500 feet and surrounded by hills and mountains so it will need to be a performant aircraft, making me lean toward a 757-200.

Faro, Portugal makes some sense because of the large Portuguese population in New Jersey and Faro being a well regarded beach/coastal locale.

The Kaohsiung route is an interesting addition out of Tokyo. My understanding is that there is a ton of demand to Taiwan and this is another option where United can route traffic to the country on their metal with a single stop in Japan. With slots at Narita fairly easy to come by I could see United continuing to explore options out of the airport to tertiary cities in Asia.

Overall I was relatively unimpressed by the announcement. It almost feels like United hired a British stag/hen party planner and just went with whatever destinations they recommended. Maybe folks really want to go to places on the Mediterranean for the Instagram novelty but that doesn’t excite me very much. We’ll have to see how the routes perform, especially as year-over-year travel numbers start to decline.

United’s Latest App Update is a Visual Flop

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The United iPhone (and Android) app, in my opinion, has been one of the better airline apps on the market. For one, it historically has been a native application, not a web view like Delta or Alaska’s apps, making it faster to respond and return information. The United app has also been a really good case study in information design and presentation; It is extremely easy to find what you’re looking for, from flight status information to searching for new flights to looking for your account details.

Over the last few years United has started straying from the design philosophies that really set their app apart. They have started using web views in certain areas of the application and have complicated what were once simple views. However, all of those were changes that didn’t reduce a user’s ability to use the app.

But today they released a new version and it is a bit of a mess. Most of the changes are cosmetic but the impact really hits some of what made the application usable.

Take for example these two screenshots:

The first screenshot is the new version of the app while the second screenshot is the previous version. They both show the same screen, the flight status information (granted, for different days for the same flight number). The amount of wasted space in the screenshot on the left is really frustrating. The user is forced to scroll the page to see further details, when that information could be displayed in the available space.

They have also made some font and color choices that I find questionable. The overall font on the app has changed and has become smaller and harder to read.

 

This is the flight status search results screen. Again, the new app is on the left, the old one on the right. I can see that they were trying to establish some form of application flow by moving the arrow to select the flight to the right but they have again used this new font at a smaller size and it is extremely hard to read. It almost feels like the kerning is off on the text.

 

Lastly is their choice of this blue. I know it’s part of their new branding but it is really, really hard on the eyes and it is everywhere. Mixed with the new font there are some places in the app where I have to look away to let my eyes focus. And can we talk about the pointless whitespace? Even in the old app there was too much, but they added more.

Part of me wonders if this is some new template with a new font family that someone in the United design department liked and just ran with it or if they actually did any user testing of the new user interface at all.

These flight results have the new bright blue everywhere. Paired with the new font, it just isn’t great to look at. When looking at a phone screen you have to strain your eyes because of the way the font is smaller and the bright blue clashes with the white background.

I really hope United reconsiders these changes. The font could probably stay if the kerning is adjusted and the overall size is increased. I think that’s actually my biggest complaint is that it was a larger font that has seen a size decrease with the new font. The native app font size should be adequate for most users to read easily without having to zoom in via the iPhone’s accessibility features.

United has long touted their app as the industry leader for helping travelers navigate their trip and book new trips but this latest update really hinders usability and ease of use.

United Airlines to suspend service to JFK

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David Shepardson reporting for Reuters:

United Airlines said on Friday it will suspend service in late October to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK).

Earlier this month, United had threatened to take the action if the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not grant the air carrier additional flights.

United has been flying just twice daily to San Francisco and Los Angeles from JFK, the busiest New York-area airport, after resuming service in 2021.

United has not been running a large operation at JFK. In fact, they downsized the aircraft flying the route originally, a heavy business class 767-300ER to a 757-200 with just 16 business class seats. This strikes me as a ploy to try and get the FAA to the negotiating table to expand the number of slots at JFK, something I doubt the agency has any desire to do.

United may need a dictionary

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You may remember that I posted about United’s refusal to refund tickets for cancelled flights, instead offering passengers ETCs (electronic travel certificates) for future bookings. During the crazy times we are living, United is trying to preserve as much cash as possible. Their recent earnings call statedearnings call stated a first quarter net loss of $639 million or $7.1 million/day. But, United is still partaking in rather peculiar and misleading behavior. Recently, the airline has skirted Department of Transportation rules for refunds by claiming only cancellations where the customer could not be re-accommodated on another flight within 6 hours of the original were due a refund. The DOT website states the following:

In the following situations, passengers are entitled to a refund of the ticket price and/or associated fees.

Cancelled Flight – A passenger is entitled to a refund if the airline cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the passenger chooses not to travel.

Schedule Change/Significant Delay – A passenger is entitled to a refund if the airline made a significant schedule change and/or significantly delays a flight and the passenger chooses not to travel.

That seems pretty straightforward. If your flight gets cancelled, you get a refund. Full stop. Back to my recent experience, United refused to give a refund for multiple flight cancellations on the same itinerary and the only alternative was to spend the night at O’Hare on my way to Montreal. As a result, I filed a DOT complaint, explaining the situation and giving screenshots of the flight cancellations. A few days later I received a reply from a United representative that my complaint was received and that a refund was being processed. Fast forward 17 business days which is the average refund time with United lately and I received the following in my inbox:

Did you catch that? Here it is as plain text (emphasis mine)

Sometimes forces beyond our control make it hard for us to give you the best experience, and your travel doesn’t go to plan. To thank you for your patience, we’ve gone ahead and refunded your ticket.

The Electronic Travel Certificate may be used for future travel on United – and United Express®-operated flights, and it must be redeemed by the expiration date using the PIN number provided.

I’ve always thought of a refund as a return of my payment back to me. If I pay with cash, the vendor gives me cash back (or a debit card that I can use anywhere). If I pay with a credit card the vendor returns the payment back to the credit card. Apparently, United thinks “refund” means “Electronic Travel Certificate”. Again, they are likely trying to preserve cash but this is not just disingenuous, it’s lying. This is not a refund, it is a credit that you have to use with United. You can’t use that money for something else, like food. All I can think of is a family planning on a taking a vacation when all of the Covid-19 shutdowns begin. Their flights cancel and they call United and are told that they’ll get a refund, then they receive an e-mail like what I got and now they believe they’re out that cash. It is not right that United is playing with words to try and keep as much cash as they can as the airline industry suffers.

All I can think of is Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride. United keeps using “refund” in their language but I do not think it means what they think it means.

My advice to you, the traveler, is to be persistent. I followed up with United after receiving this email and after a lengthy back and forth, I clearly explained that I did not cancel the flights voluntarily and that the offered alternative flights were not acceptable. I have since been told that I will receive a refund to my original form of payment in 21 business days… It seems United has a single intern processing all refunds.

United’s new elite program

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United started 2020 by implementing a “new” measure for elite qualification. They call them “Premier Qualifying Points” (PQPs) and “Premier Qualifying Flights” (PQFs). United’s claim is that this new system will make determining your qualification numbers easier to track.

We also wanted to get rid of factors like fare class multipliers, which made it harder to track your qualifying activity.

After about a month of flying with this new system implemented, I wanted to share my thoughts, likes, and dislikes of the new program.

Snowy morning at Newark.
I’ll be fairly blunt in my feelings, I think the move to PQPs by United has little to do with how hard it is to track your elite progress and more to do with how much money you spend on them. The old method was not difficult to track, in fact, it was quite simple. There were tables with how much you would earn and United would even show you how much a set of flights would earn during the booking process (they do this for PQPs as well). No, United is looking to thin the ranks of their 1K flyers and the easiest way to do that is to up the amount required to qualify. Distance flown during the year no longer matters, simply the dollars you spend on the airline.

The new way of tracking your progress is not easier, especially if you fly on United’s partners like Lufthansa or Air Canada. You have to figure out how many award miles those partner flights would earn, which is a task in and of itself, see this table a kind FlyerTalk member put together. It is slightly deceptive for United to tout the simplicity of the new program when it really isn’t all that simple.

The other part of United’s new system that I find disingenuous is the fact that for 1K status they require 54 flights or 6,000 more PQPs than the base requirement. 54 flights is a lot of flights and flyers get no bonus or multiplier for flights in a premium cabin. Meaning you could get 18,000 PQPs flying first class across the country every few weeks but not hit 54 flights. My guess is that this is intentional to force those types of flyers to spend more time flying United and their partners.

The good news is that just about every dollar (excluding taxes) spent on United and partners is eligible to earn PQPs. This includes award co-pays, paid upgrades, preferred seat purchases, and economy plus seating subscriptions. So at least you as a customer are being rewarded for the extra cash you spend on United. I don’t know that I would go out of my way to give United that extra cash, but if you are already flying Star Alliance and United then it is a small perk.

Overall, it’s easy to tell how I feel about United’s 2020 changes. I think the airline is focused solely on how much their customers spend and I question how sustainable that is if and when the economy takes a hit. How quickly can the airline turn around and revise the frequent flyer program to accommodate a fluctuating economy? United has had issues rolling out some of the perks of the program, namely the ability to use an increased number of PlusPoints to immediately upgrade an itinerary. It’s a feature that allows you, the traveler, to bypass others on the upgrade list by using more PlusPoints. United is waiting until February to roll this feature out and it’s unclear why. The airline could be having technical issues or, they could be trying to avoid having a rush of PlusPoints used as their validity of January 31, 2020 comes up. My gut says it’s the latter.

I am interested to see how United tweaks the program, if at all. Airlines seem to be chasing the bottom line and with their latest program changes, United seems to be at the front of the chase. People will continue to fly United because they need to get from point A to point B but I don’t know that loyalty beyond that will exist, especially as people realize they won’t requalify. I’d love to hear what you think about United’s program changes, feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.

Paint Me Unimpressed

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Images of United’s new livery hit the internet last night before the official “reveal” today in Chicago. The new paint scheme drops the gold elements from the look and replaces them with different blues.


For all the hype that United was trying to generate around the new livery, overall it appears like a very minor change done poorly. Here are some quick thoughts:

  1. The “logo” is still the globe, just simplified. United and their partners in this branding had a chance to re-imagine the globe and give us something new, but for whatever reason, they doubled down on it.
  2. The blue looks “cheap”. The particular blue that United chose for their name and around the engines has a tone to it that looks odd. Maybe it is the light in the hanger, but the color seems like something I’d see on a bad ad for hair care products.
  3. There is a ton of white. The look is minimalist but it seems overly so.
  4. There is nothing that stands out. I think this is the thing that bothers me the most. There was a real opportunity to do something interesting and new but United went the opposite direction, playing it as safe as they could while getting a “new” look.

There was a large release by United a while back on new uniforms, onboard amenities, etc. that incorporated plum and other hues of purple and it is disappointing that with the new livery they steered clear of including those colors. At the end of the day though, it is just paint. I fly inside of the plane. What I would really like to see is United focus on their soft product and customer service. Start delivering on those things and I think people will forget what colors are painted on the plane and just remember it by the name and the service they receive.

What do you think?

Couple Removed from United Flight (or a non-story)

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From KHOU (autoplaying video):

Michael Hohl, the groom, said he and his fiancé, Amber Maxwell, were the last to board the plane.

According to Hohl, they noticed a man was spread across their row napping when they approached their seats, 24 B and C.

Not wanting to wake the man, Hohl said they decided to sit a three rows up in seats 21 B and C. He said they didn’t think it would matter because the flight was half full with multiple empty rows.

21 B and C are exit row seats on United planes and considered Economy Plus because of the extra legroom.

After sitting, Hohl said a flight attendant approached and asked if they were in their ticketed seats. The couple explained they weren’t and asked if they could get an upgrade, but instead they were told they needed to return to their assigned seats.

So then they tried to finagle their way into the seats by asking for the upgrade.

“I think customer service and the airlines has gone real downhill,” said Hohl. “The way United Airlines handled this was really absurd.”

So the couple could have simply asked the flight attendants to ask the man in their row to sit up (which he would have been required to do for takeoff anyway), but they opted to seat themselves in a better seat.

To sum it all up, this is a non-story.