Triangle Trip

As you all know, United has been charging non-Premier customers to sit in Economy Plus seats with extra legroom. United has now considered exit row seats as a part of Economy Plus even thought larger planes’ exit rows are not in the Economy Plus seating area. I was recently on a United flight from Newark to San Francisco and was seated in the exit row aisle seat after Economy Plus. The entire exit row was empty by the time the plane cabin doors were closed. Soon after take off, two passengers moved to the exit row aisle and middle seats adjacent to my seat. The flight attendant went to the couple told the couple to return to their seats as the exit row seats require additional payment.

Caveat Emptor!  If you are planning to pay for an exit row seat, you should be aware that some of the exit row window seats on larger planes has a limited legroom because the emergency exit slide protrudes into the leg space. An example is United’s Boeing 747-400 planes’ seat numbers 33A and 33K. Everyone should check with Seat Guru before purchasing an exit row seat or you’ll end up paying extra for a seat like the picture below.

Having Preferred status on US Airways does not yield any real benefits. If you’re a USAir Silver or Gold Preferred customer, you’ll still get charged for picking an aisle or a window seat located in front of the plane – which USAir calls the “Choice Seats.” Not sure if Platinum or Chairman members have to deal with this issue as they are generally upgraded on every flight.

Unlike United’s Economy Plus seats, USAir’s Choice Seats do not have extra leg room. Furthermore, you cannot purchase an exit row seat as a Choice Seat. Depending on when you purchase your ticket with USAir, you may be assigned to a middle seat. To get out of the middle seat, USAir will want to charge you US$20 to $40 extra for a Choice Seat depending on availability.

Star Alliance Gold members also face the same problem (see my previous post), as status does not give preferential seating on US Airways. However, you may want to call USAir’s reservations line to request an exit row seat – it has worked for me in the past.