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I booked a flight through United Airlines which is operated by Lufthansa. Is it possible to select a seat in advance?

When I view my reservation on United.com and click "View / Change Seats", I get the message "Come back within 23 hours of departure to Check in and select a seat through Lufthansa".

I was also able to find the Lufthansa confirmation number, and can view the reservation on lufthansa.com, but the "Seat Reservations" tab doesn't show any seats, and doesn't appear to offer anything to click on.

I would much prefer not to wait until check-in time, since it's pretty important to me to get the kind of seat I want. I would be willing to pay a fee if necessary.

(Before you ask, no, I couldn't have booked directly with Lufthansa, due to the Fly America Act.)

The cabin is economy, the routes are SFO-FRA and FRA-DEN, and the booking class is L.

Nate Eldredge
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For those coming across this thread in 2023 and beyond, you can select a seat with Lufthansa after booking with United. Simply go to seat selection from the purchase confirmation page. Once there, there will be a link to go and purchase a seat selection from Lufthansa. I know this because I am a United Premier Gold member.

mlc
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Matthew
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Lufthansa is much more restrictive than United is when it comes to seat reservations in the economy cabin. According to the Seat reservations for Economy Class passengers page on its website, it may not be possible at all for you to request a seat more than 23 hours in advance of your flight because it does not have a Lufthansa flight number.

Economy Class passengers can reserve seats in advance on all flights operated by Lufthansa, Lufthansa Regional and Austrian Airlines, dependent on the chosen fare/the chosen booking class, under the following conditions:

  • Only for flights and Lufthansa Express Rail connections under LH flight numbers
  • Only for flights which are operated by Lufthansa, Lufthansa Regional (Lufthansa Cityline, Eurowings, Air Dolomiti) or Austrian Airlines
  • Only for confirmed bookings (no waiting list bookings)
  • The planned departure time of the flight in question is more than 52 hours in the future

Had you booked with an LH flight number, you would be allowed to request a seat, but would have been required to pay a fee for the privilege. According to the same page, passengers on W/S/T/L/K fares must pay an additional 25 EUR/35 USD for a standard seat on a long-haul flight— even more for a "seat with more legroom."

choster
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When booking a Lufthansa flight through United you can not pre select seats. The way around this is to call the Lufthansa number listed on United's booking site. It will cost you $200 more per ticket but you can select your seats at the time of booking.

S Joseph Spell
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