Originally Posted by
unclemasa
We were on HNL-DFW AA8 yesterday. (7.5 Gate to Gate time)
The AAngels at HNL informed us that policy has recently changed (union was brought up) and they are no longer able to assign Row 17 from the club. It has to be assigned by the GA. In the past they were able to do T-24hours.
I was also clued in that the seats won't be given to PAX unless the flight is completely full (as ours was).
This is the official policy, but it all depends on which agent you get. I'll happily open row 17 for a friendly passenger on a lightly loaded flight, generally trying to keep half the seats blocked as a courtesy to the FAs.
The way the 763 seat map is loaded, the seat is Z-blocked and can be opened by any airport agent as T-24 hours, but many gate agents take all of the Z-blocked seats under their control (appearing as T on the seat map) so they can have greater flexibility with reseating. I would probably do the same if I was a gate agent.
I had an equipment sub from a 757 to a 763 on my DFW-MIA flight last week, and the ticket agent at PHX was able to assign me 17J.
I don't know why a union would be brought up since AA's reservations and airport agents are non-unionized and voted the CWA down in December 2012.