AA nickel and dime

Agent99 · Post by **Agent99** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 10:38 am

It is so annoying. We have had our flights since February and after I purchased I clicked the icon to select seats. The only seats it allowed to be selected were upgrades for an additional charge. I called and the operator said there were pleby of seats available but that's just the way it is. If you want to select your seat from now on you have to pay an up charge. Otherwise you won't be given a seat selection until you check in at the airport. I hate that because I always feel that if they over book the first people to be bumped are those without assigned seats.

iheartsj · Post by **iheartsj** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 10:49 am

We often don't select seats when only the premium ones are available. We have ended up assigned to premium seats at no extra charge. We print our boarding pass at home as soon as possible. Perhaps if you wait to get your boarding pass at the airport you might get bumped.

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 11:09 am

I agree. Yes they are nickel and diming us. I also agree that you must check in ASAP which is normally 24 hours prior to the departure of the first segment. Check-in time may be a tie breaker on some airlines. At that time you may see the charge for those seats has disappeared. In any case, check in.

Check on line from time to time to see if seats become available. Also, be a member of their frequent flier program and be sure it is in the record. One of the tie breakers for who goes and who stays is membership. Given that there are two seats left and a couple who is a member and a couple who is not, the choice will be made right there. The couple who is will go and the couple who is not will stay.

Good luck

JIM

Exit Zero · Post by **Exit Zero** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 12:17 pm

I often fly SouthWest - there are no assigned seats available pre boarding, you can pay an upcharge to get closer to the front of the line. It seems quite orderly overall and since they do not charge for the 1st checked bag there is almost always room in the overhead racks. It also appears to be a much quicker boarding with less jostling in the aisles.

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:58 pm

We've booked on AA many times and gotten bad seats or could not get seats together. Its never failed that a lot of seats become available EXACTLY 24 hours before the scheduled flight. I made seat changes for our early Sunday flights the day before. But, no seats, at all, ever? I'm looking at our future reservations on AA flights and see open seats on them.

So, what's happening? It seems that AA routinely holds back a lot of seats. More so than other airlines, I plan on cherry picking seats 24 hours before our flight.

Cheers, RickG

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 3:50 pm

Exit Zero, we are all looking forward to SW serving STT. However, I don't look for that to happen any time soon.

JIM

snorkeler525 · Post by **snorkeler525** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 4:46 pm

RickG wrote:We've booked on AA many times and gotten bad seats or could not get seats together. Its never failed that a lot of seats become available EXACTLY 24 hours before the scheduled flight. I made seat changes for our early Sunday flights the day before. But, no seats, at all, ever? I'm looking at our future reservations on AA flights and see open seats on them.

So, what's happening? It seems that AA routinely holds back a lot of seats. More so than other airlines, I plan on cherry picking seats 24 hours before our flight.

Cheers, RickG

The most likely reason for at least some of those seats is people getting upgrades based on their status. They get the good coach seats for free but then get upgraded to business or first class if seats are available 24 hours in advance. Always pays to keep checking your seats - airlines change equipment all the time and tend to screw your seat selections up.

Sharon

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 10:59 pm

The seat selection thing seems like it has to be a headache for airlines. We have two small children who obviously need to be in seats adjacent to parents. What a pain it would be to have to play musical chairs to make sure that all children are seated next to their parents.

DonnaM · Post by **DonnaM** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 6:32 am

I just booked our AA flights on Tuesday and Priority seats were the only seats available except for 2 single seats on the flight down. I did pay the extra to select because there are 4 of us ( and we are very tall so the extra legroom is nice ) and my husband would have a fit if we weren't together and if he didn't get a window seat. If there are only 2 ( and your spouse isn't a big baby ), I would do as the others suggested and check in 24 hrs in advance.

awardb · Post by **awardb** » Wed Apr 15, 2015 10:39 pm

I read an article just a month or two ago that talks about this. Now that the public has swallowed all of the additional charges for bags, WiFi, overhead bins (some airlines) and more, the airlines are going to start milking the last frontier: your seat selection.

The article, which I believe was in the Wall Street Journal, clearly indicated that within maybe a year at most, ALL of the airlines (except maybe SouthWest) will start charging more money than the published fare for ALL selected-in-advance seats, with several price levels available. Those who decline to pay the additional, over-and-above the published fare prices, do NOT get assigned seats, and they will be give seat assignments at the airport prior to boarding.

So it's not just AA, they might just be the first to do this on their STT flights. But it's coming, very soon, to all airlines. So all those prices you see when you go to choose your flight mean nothing. If you want an even halfway decent seat, and you want to choose which seat(s) you want, be prepared to pay some hefty additional charges.

I, for one, think this is just highway robbery. I fly SW everywhere I can, precisely because of the "bags free" policy. It's not like the airlines are not making money - far from it. They've stuffed all these additional charges down the public's throat, and so far, we're swallowing it, so hey! - Let's pile on some more charges! What will be the point of publishing a fare when, (to a savvy traveler) there's no way you're going to put up with the guessing game of "where am I sitting" on a long flight. Even Southwest's "Early Bird" fee, which is sucking up more and more of the decent seats, is a form of this same thing.

Greedy, greedy, greedy.

<End of rant>

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