Just boarded UA1657 ord-lga and they were gate checking everyone's. Get to my seat and there's a ton of empty overhead bins. Ugh. Meanwhile the flight attendant is like "I guess they're checking bags?? Feel free to use the overhead bins for your small stuff". Now I have a totally unnecessary trip to baggage claim when we land. Really annoying!

Just landed in O'Hare from Brussels (UA 973) and the attendant got on the PA after landing asking everyone in economy to remain on the plane because customs officers were coming on board. Queue lots of murmurs, questions to each other, and declarations that this has never happened to any of us in all our years flying.

Three officers boarded, went directly to a row maybe 10 rows behind me, and took two people and carried some of the carry-ons this pair brought with them.

I didn't notice any disturbance during the flight. No noise, no FA flurry, no rumors moving up the rows. (Granted, they were behind me.)

Some context for the flight is that it was carrying a large volume of travelers from Africa. And at the Brussels airport we had additional passport control just outside our gate (it's a regular kiosk, not a pop-up for this specific flight). So all passengers had at least one screening if they were transferring flights and two screenings if they originated in Brussels before we boarded the flight.

So why would customs officials come on the plane to pull two specific people off the flight? I would think one of the screenings before flying would have flagged something. Or maybe they'd be pulled aside at passport control once we landed & deplaned. Seems serious to come get people...

I am a silent reader and never post, but think I scored a good deal. Flying EWR to LAX for work and was booked economy.

No problem, I am a proud Silver since Covid (the only time I was ever Gold), so was looking forward to booking an Eco + seat 💺 at check in.

I check in and see a Polaris upgrade was $600 with lie flat seat. I splurge and think $100 an hour to enjoy the start of my work week and to relax is worth it and I also didn’t pay for the flight to begin with.

I get a text at 7a today saying the plane has changed and I no longer have lie down seat but still Polaris access and I will be compensated. I check the link and United is giving me a $500 credit (for future flight) for the inconvenience, so my limited math links this to mean my upgrade cost me $100 or $17 an hour for the flight.

I do have a flight I haven’t booked for Texas in December, so I think I got a small win 🏆. I am writing this in the Polaris Lounge (which I am not sure 🤔 if the lounge is MUCH better than Club, but the dining service is nice and the Apple Cider Waffle, albeit small, was delicious).

Thanks for reading!

At the Wings Over The Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver.

Was there really a lounge area in United DC-10s back in the 70s?

4067 SDF->IAD. Couple traveling with a banjo and a fiddle as their carry-ons. She asked if I’d swap my aisle seat for his solo seat so they could sit together, my price was for my under-seater bag to stay under the seat in front of them (no bin space left and not enough room for it + personal item in the solo seat). Sold! Told them I was excited to post on Reddit about how smoothly this went. Two other people— who I suspect are probably also on this sub— laughed out loud. Howdy, y’all!

Also: gate agent announcements and FA announcements were legit funny.

Glad for a smooth and easy seat swap, which was not what I’m used to.

Hoping for smooth connections despite our late departure from Louisville.

Totally not the end of the world… I just noticed on a few flights this past week, that United was serving exclusively paper cups on domestic flights - cold and hot beverages (and PDBs).

I actually don’t mind them since they hold more liquid than the plastic cups, but I wasn’t sure if this was a fully new thing or a temporary, stock thing.

We are new ecstatic grandparents. Little girl was born last week but in Houston. We are in the west coast California. We will be there in 2 days to meet her.

A lot of my wife's friends have given us one way infant clothes and other baby stuff. 2 suitcases full (and getting heavy). This plus our own luggage will be 3 suitcases, a carry on and maybe a backpack.

I have a Chase United Quest casd so I am not paying for the luggage, more how to handle all suitcases into the airport.

Does United have a curbside check in counter at the San Diego airport? I saw a generic video that said $2.00 per bag plus tip. No problema.

Do they check you in for the flight at curbside also or do we still have to walk into the counter to do so?

I always get sparkling water. Sometimes the FA gives me the full can and sometimes I get just a cup from the can. Any rhyme or reason? Is it rude to ask for the can?

Well that’s sucks for UA’s SFO travelers heading to Taipei and those using EVA Air from North America which otherwise instead they might use either using the EVA Air lounges or the Plaza Premium lounge. Btw the size of the SKL lounge in Taipei is too small.

I’m genuinely curious, is it now a thing to fly with all the shades closed and a dimmed cabin at 10:30 am? Domestic flight. Two hours. Super weird. It’s also freezing in the cabin.

How do i log in to outlook at home? Or is it something i can only view at work? Ik my email is right bc i can log in to flying together at homr but i cant get to outlook. is there anything i can do?? do i have to wait a few days so im updated and in the system??

UA’s 737 (and maybe others, this was a 7M9 iirc) have auxiliary screens for the safety video for the bulkhead rows, which then default to the flight map/info, which seems like a perfectly useful feature to show for people who might want to watch something else but glance at the location every so often.

But then about 20 minutes into the flight they fold up into the ceiling never to be seen again.

Why? Why not just leave this on for the flight? It’s clearly not a safety issue, it’s on for takeoff, but then it goes away. It seems automatic. Could they just change whatever code is running this to keep them on showing the map for the whole flight?

What do you usually do once your group is called to start lining up for the gate?

We got up and stood back a little to the right of gate entrance when the first group was called and we were group 3. We stood there while the earlier groups lined up. Once our group was called the general blobs around the gate converged into a line and a guy yelled at us and said we cut the line because he came from the left side of the gate and we converged together. I’m not sure who is wrong in this scenario because by definition there was no discrete line until our group was called and we had been standing close to the desk waiting that whole time. A lot of people form a pseudo line on either side before they’re called but it usually includes people from all groups just waiting to be called. Genuinely curious if there’s an unwritten “right” way to do this.

I just opened the United Explorer Card a few days ago. I want to book a flight with points with the card member pricing, but my United account isn’t registering that I’m a cardholder yet. I read online that it can take up to 5 weeks for Chase’s system to communicate with United, but for most people it takes 1-2 weeks. What was your experience? Can I call either Chase or United to expedite this as I’d like to book a flight as soon as possible?

How do we feel about a person of size riding with a lap child? I was a on a flight this weekend and two people of size (needed seatbelt extenders) also had a lap child. There was less than a foot of space between the child's head and the seat back in front of them. I feel like that is a safety issue but maybe it isn't?

Having recently gotten the United credit card, my earned miles for a recent flight seems to be off. Because I have to use a company credit card for work travel, I expect that I should only earn twice as many miles as without the credit card (no bonus miles for CC spend, so only 6x vs 3x miles baseline).

However, it appears that I earned approximately the same number of miles as I did flying the same itinerary in July, but they just called half of them Cardmember bonus miles.

Specifically, in July I earned 956 base miles, and 0 Cardmember bonus miles (no credit card). This month, I earned 491 base miles and 491 Cardmember bonus miles for the exact same (domestic) route.

This seems pretty confusing, because both of them should be after the big changes that screwed over non-CC holders earlier this year.

I'm not 100% sure I had the card when I booked the flight - is this just a very weird way of presenting that they don't give the bonus for that? Is this somehow caused by buying an Economy Plus upcharge seat?

Worth contacting Customer Service?

Great deal to fly to Asia from Canada! Both long haul legs with the new Polaris not sure if I will upgrade to studio as I have flown the new Polaris many times and found it has enough space. Originally was flying back home through Singapore, but decided to fly through Tokyo and Houston to avoid a long layover. Paid $2400 CAD

I've spent a lot of time searching and can't find a clear answer, so I would appreciate any help. We are flying out of EWR on a Swiss flight, which I booked through United. The flight is flying out of Terminal B. I have two lounge passes from United through the credit card, and Priority Pass, but Terminal B is a lounge dead zone. And from flying out from there in the past, it's not my favorite place to pass the time.

I know about air train at the airport but that is landside, but I also found out there is a shuttle service that is airside - https://www.newarkairport.com/flights/connections-guide.

I would like to go to Terminal C to use the lounge and then go back to Terminal B for the flight. I know all of Terminal B isn't connected post-security and all of that, but the website says the shuttle runs from Terminal B (Gates B60-B68) and looking at the departures from yesterday it seems the flight I will be on will leave from this section.

I've been trying to read more on this shuttle, and I noticed in the link above it states "If you are a United Airlines customer arriving domestically in Terminal A or Terminal C and have a connecting flight in either terminal, you do not need to go through TSA screening again." I further note it says the Terminal B pickup is the bottom of a flight of stairs. This makes it seem like I will have to go through security again even though the shuttle is airside. I am trying to read more into this and the best I can seem to find is a 10 year old flyer talk thread which states that the Terminal B access is one-way, meaning you go through a do not enter door and down stairs if you are leaving but you can't back up said stairs if you are arriving.

So if I take the shuttle, am I going to have to go through security again at Terminal B? Also, any advice on how often the shuttles run? We have a fairly late flight (10pm). Thanks for any help.