Exit row and bulkheads are not part of this program - those are still only for elites.
Exit rows are excluded, bulkheads most assuredly not.
Although it looks like the 777 sold as 2 class domestically , the biz seats in row 9 and 10 are going to be used as express seats. Which does kinda suck for elites, as now those are Airport blocked.
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I see two revenue recognition benefits for American. Reduced bucket class availability ... (12 seats probably in the Y category), and the ability to upsell E- seats like they are E+ seats ... similar to what CO does for ELR and front of the bus ...
Now the main advantage I can see is the ability for non-elite members for a charge the ability to not "lose" the ability to have carry-on. E.g. take a person with one bag and one personal bag ... do you spend $35 to check the luggage, or on a long transcon flight pay $39 to have no problem doing so? If memory serves me correct .... folks that are in the front of the bus without elite status basically have a very high chance of not having a place to put their luggage ....
When I was earning my "chops" on AA ... I remember forcefully booking the back of the bus so as to make sure I could place my carry-on "up" ....
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tegelad
Now the main advantage I can see is the ability for non-elite members for a charge the ability to not "lose" the ability to have carry-on. E.g. take a person with one bag and one personal bag ... do you spend $35 to check the luggage, or on a long transcon flight pay $39 to have no problem doing so? If memory serves me correct .... folks that are in the front of the bus without elite status basically have a very high chance of not having a place to put their luggage
They've had a separate way to pay for Group 1 boarding for a while now.
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Are these seats going to be changed to have greater pitch or remain as they are now in terms of space? I thought in the beginning they were adding legroom. Sounds now like they're just adding hype and an extra fee, though.
1. Will AA send these two rows out empty before allocating them to elite pax for free if AA has no takers?
2. So families who book late no longer can anticipate a chance at the airport held/controlled seats/row anymore unless they get forked for another fee?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Microwave
I think you'll find a lot of empathy here for that, but to understand why this is happening one must realize that many added fees are being introduced in place of higher fares. It's the Orbitz/Travelocity/online-fare-search effect: an average leisure customer goes to look for flights on Orbitz, hunting for the one with the lowest fare that meets her time and date needs. She doesn't see the baggage fees or BOB costs or express/E+ seating fees or change/cancel fees, she just sees the lowest fare and picks it. So when the industry needs to increase revenue, they have to find ways to do it without increasing base fares (thus pricing themselves out of our hypothetical leisure traveler's market, since all she shops on is the fare she sees on Orbitz). All of the airlines have to play this game, which is why non-fare-related fees have been popping up and increasing across the board (when taken on average) for the last few years.
I disagree on fares would be higher. The airlines will charge as much as possible right now and that is mutually exclusive from what they can gather from fees. The highest possible coach fare I believe is what they can squeeze from the customer. If they didn't have any fees, I think fares would be the same. Don't let anyone fool you that these fees are keeping prices down. they (fees) are frosting on the cake for the airline and thats it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdog02
Agents have been instructed to refrain from releasing these seats until the 50 min cutoff time, unless needed by a pax with a disability.
what qualifies as a disability according to AA? I presume if you have said disability (do you have to prove it?) it is free?
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I just checked in at a kiosk for a morning flight tomorrow. All seats in rows 7 and 8 on the MD-80 had a green "$19" label. This was for a short AUS-DFW flight, and is pretty outrageous IMO.
Normally one can't select row 7 seats that far in advance of the flight. Tomorrow morning I'm going to do my usual request for a bulkhead seat at the gate and will report what I'm told. I assume they'll still be empty given that price.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dia1
Are these seats going to be changed to have greater pitch or remain as they are now in terms of space? I thought in the beginning they were adding legroom. Sounds now like they're just adding hype and an extra fee, though.
As far as I can tell, this includes some bulkhead seats (with extra room, although how much depends on the plane) and some which are just at the front end of the cabin.
Going by the plane types, with the list pdog02 posted:
MD80s - first two rows in Y (one bulkhead, one not)
737 - first two rows in Y (one bulkhead, one not)
757 - first two non-exit rows in Y (first two rows of Y are exits; 9 is BC/DE only - no bulkheads)
767-200 - first two rows in Y (side seats only, one bulkhead, one not, and no recline in the 2nd if Seatguru is correct) and bulkhead at front of center section several rows back)
767-300 - first two rows in Y (one bulkhead, one not)
777 - J seats in 3-classes-sold-as-2 configuration.
So, it all depends. The 757s are the worst deal (no bulkheads) and the 777s the best (J seats) with the others depending on what seat you get (50/50 except for the 767-200s.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrojanHorse
1. Will AA send these two rows out empty before allocating them to elite pax for free if AA has no takers?
These appear to go to gate control at 50 min before departure.
Quote:
2. So families who book late no longer can anticipate a chance at the airport held/controlled seats/row anymore unless they get forked for another fee?
It looks like they'd have to wait for the 50 minute mark if they want to avoid the fee; the odds are significantly reduced if people start buying these, and not much changed (albeit much less convenient, given the close-in time) if they don't.
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Are these seats going to be changed to have greater pitch or remain as they are now in terms of space? I thought in the beginning they were adding legroom. Sounds now like they're just adding hype and an extra fee, though.
No xtra space like UA and B6 and VX.
Just hyping the first few rows are better.
Getting on before the last few groups does get you over head space.
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I'm disappoined that elites will lose two rows and then some of J seating on domestic operated 777s. Those seats fill up super-fast as is, and upgrades to F are hard enough to get on those routes.
