United - is Economy Plus worth it?

[TakeMeToKernow]

We’re due to fly United from Heathrow to America in a couple of months. I’ve been told that there may be the opportunity, on checking in, to upgrade to Economy Plus. Does anyone know, please, what this gets you? Beyond more leg room?

thank you!

It’s literally just extra legroom, it’s a lot more legroom and a much greater seat recline so it’s much better for sleeping on a night flight versus the standard economy seat. However, those with high level frequent flyer status get it for free, standard economy passengers can book it anytime as a normal albeit slightly more expensive advance seat purchase. Therefore if you’re in basic economy and having to wait for check in to be eligible then I don’t know likely it is to even be an option for you. But if it is then overnight I’d definitely go for it. A day flight, maybe only if you’re tall.

It’s just extra legroom and priority boarding, ahead of ‘normal’ economy. I flew United twice to New York just a few weeks back, and to be honest their normal economy seat wasn’t as bad as I expected. Better than the BA and AA flights I took last time I flew to the US.

Yeah, only extra legroom. And United is awful to fly with, their planes are old and look crappy, and their staff are rude.

Every time I’ve flown United recently - both long and short haul - they had a fully renovated aircraft and staff couldn’t have been nicer.

United are awful for cancellations at the moment. You don’t have to wait until check in to book economy plus if you want it. You can select and pay for a seat online.

Thanks all!

Really interesting to hear someone say that it’s been nicer than BA. I was kicking myself for not paying a bit extra to get onto a BA flight, because I’ve also heard the rumours about tired planes/rude/cancellations.

It is indeed a night flight and my OH is 6’4 so we might indeed try it.

And I’m so glad you’ve said we can do it in advance. From reading their website it was reading like I could only check in online/pick an upgrade 24 hrs before flying. We only booked the holiday two days ago, so I’ll ask the travel agents when they can give me any codes we can get online with.

We’re flying United next week to Newark in premium plus. Have flown with them before and they were great, superior to BA in my view. Polaris is better but their premium offering is sufficient for long haul comfort. Seat selection is also included in the price unlike with BA.

I fly transatlantic a lot and would choose United over BA every time. The legroom in economy plus is noticeably better than economy.

@TakeMeToKernow I've flown with United and BA a number of times and I'd choose United any day!