Buying the Middle Seat on the Short Leg of a Reward Flight

[vjmatty]

Can it be done?

 

I am looking to make the following booking listed below through United for two people.  The first flight is an Airbus A320 with 3-3 seating.  The second is Airbus A340-300 with 2-4-2 seating.  If I want to put hubby at the window and me in the aisle, I would only need to buy the middle seat on the first flight, but I don't want to waste the miles on a third award seat for the entire 2-leg flight by pretending I'm exceedingly fat or otherwise requesting a third seat for the whole flight.

 

My question is, can I just buy a solo ticket for the first leg of this flight to fill the middle seat using my own name, or will that send up a red flag bringing HLS pounding on my door?

 

Of course if there are other solutions I am happy to know.

Flight 1 of 2 LH1279   Class: Economy (X) Mon, Mar 04, 2024   Mon, Mar 04, 2024 02:15 PM   04:25 PM Athens, GR (ATH)   Frankfurt, DE (FRA) Flight Operated by Lufthansa.

Flight 2 of 2 LH404   Class: Economy (X) Mon, Mar 04, 2024   Mon, Mar 04, 2024 05:15 PM   08:25 PM Frankfurt, DE (FRA)   New York, NY, US (JFK)

Edited June 23, 2023 by vjmatty
Wrong configuration

[the mice]

When there is 3-3 seating single aisle ( or 3-4-3 double aisle ) flights, I book aisle seats across from each other for the two of us.  We just did that on a Lufthansa flight from Hamburg to Munich last week. Then 2 seats together on the 2-4-2 flight onward. This was an award ticket using UA miles.

[vjmatty]

4 minutes ago, the mice said:

When there is 3-3 seating single aisle ( or 3-4-3 double aisle ) flights, I book aisle seats across from each other for the two of us.  We just did that on a Lufthansa flight from Hamburg to Munich last week. Then 2 seats together on the 2-4-2 flight onward. This was an award ticket using UA miles.

 

I would be happy to do that but hubby likes the window so he can lean against the wall and sleep..... and yes I know it is only a 3 hour flight so maybe he can just suck it up lol

[the mice]

My DH has preferences, too, like being spoiled by award flights in business.  But for daytime flights home from Europe,  sorry hubby, but we are only using miles for economy 🤣.   He survived just fine with a few whimpers just for effect ( but not on me 😉 ).

 

Anyway, there will be service on this short flight so it won't be quiet like a long flight.  Seatbacks up for takeoff and descent, not a lot of pitch, so how much sleep will he really get on such a short flight?  You have a long TA flight ( probably 8-9 hours as our flight from Munich ) so plenty of time to sleep.  

 

Save your miles (especially since UA has devalued again) .  i am sure you will both manage with this compromise.  Enjoy your trip.

[vjmatty]

1 hour ago, the mice said:

My DH has preferences, too, like being spoiled by award flights in business.  But for daytime flights home from Europe,  sorry hubby, but we are only using miles for economy 🤣.   He survived just fine with a few whimpers just for effect ( but not on me 😉 ).

 

Anyway, there will be service on this short flight so it won't be quiet like a long flight.  Seatbacks up for takeoff and descent, not a lot of pitch, so how much sleep will he really get on such a short flight?  You have a long TA flight ( probably 8-9 hours as our flight from Munich ) so plenty of time to sleep.  

 

Save your miles (especially since UA has devalued again) .  i am sure you will both manage with this compromise.  Enjoy your trip.

That is exactly what I do, save the business class rewards for the outbound overnight flights and suffer with economy rewards coming back since it’s all daytime. I mean yes the flight staff pretends it’s night, turning down the lights and shades but I’m happy to watch movies.

 

There is another award available on Turkish Airlines with only a one-hour short flight, but the overseas leg is a 777 with 3-4-3 setup. And gets in 3 hours later.  *sigh* I miss the days when we could do two business round trips to Europe on miles.

 

I’m liking the aisle seats idea more and more.