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.

I was recently at United’s Red Carpet Club in Chicago O’Hare (ORD) Terminal C, which brought back fond (and some not so fond) memories from my past. I’ve spent many hours at this Red Carpet Club during the late 1990s and early 2000s; I’ve even watched a Super Bowl here.

During my recent visit, I went to the bar to order a beer because I had a few extra Red Carpet coupons left. I was very shocked when the bartender told me alcoholic beverages (bottom shelf only) was complementary. Top shelf alcohol still requires a coupon or cash! I am not sure if this was a holiday season thing or if it’s a change in policy. I was quite impressed.

I then started my laptop and try to get on WiFi. There were two WiFi providers at ORD — T-Mobile and Boingo. Both required me to login or sign up for a day pass for US$7.

How can the Red Carpet Club offer free alcohol and not WiFi?

If you have not merged your United MileagePlus account with your Continental OnePass account, you should do it soon. It’s important that the first and last name and your addresses on your of your MilagePlus and OnePass accounts are identical – mine weren’t, so I called Continental OnePass to change my name to match my United Mileage Plus account.

The Continental OnePass agent suggested I should change my United information instead. Her rationale is that the combined airline will be using Continental’s OnePass system after the two frequent flyer programs have merged. The OnePass agent also told me our United number will be going away as the new system will be using the Continental OnePass number.

I also asked how lifetime miles will work in the new program – the agent didn’t have an answer for me because of how United and Continental currently counts lifetime miles. United only gives its members credit for lifetime Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) when it is a United coshare, while Continental counts all partner miles toward your lifetime miles.

In hindsight, I should have banked all my Star Alliance miles with Continental instead of United.If you’ve not merged your accounts, I suggest you do it now (here’s the link)!