Back in 2016, United Airlines introduced basic economy. In this post, I’d like to go over the details of that — what restrictions are there when booking basic economy fares, and are these tickets worth it? In many ways, United has among the most punitive basic economy fares, though not all customers will be impacted…
Continue reading: United Airlines Basic Economy: What Are The Restrictions, And Is It Worth It?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I regularly fly basic economy on United. They generally do not enforce the carry-on size restriction unless you show up with an absolutely massive bag. More often than not you hear “this flight is completely full. We are offering to check bags for free.”
Gate agents are usually kind enough to reassign seats if one is available.
After check in, assigned seats on basic economy are changeable for free on United.
Unless the free seats are all full.
Considering how many preferred seats they classify, it happens quite often.
For international flights you get a carry on and checked bag and you can also select and move seats (within 24hrs) but the seats are limited to the last ten rows or so. Flew on a basic economy fare from HCMC to hk on the 24th December.
Do *G members get lounge access and checked in bags on those fares? I doubt I'll ever forget my confusion when I realised that my flexible (decidedly non-basic) economy domestic UA ticket didn't include any luggage - ended up stuffing my main suitcase full and carrying on a rollaboard weighing a good 20kg.
This is not correct. You cannot change your seats yourself without a fee on a BE ticket, even among similarly situated/priced seats. You can pay to do so if you wish to do it yourself. Or you have to go ask an airport agent to do it for you, if they feel like/allow it.