shenry

Honestly, I’m only posting this because I submitted a complaint with American Airlines, and I feel it’s not going to get me anywhere, so I need to vent, and at least make other consumers aware of what you could potentially face when trying to redeem reward points.
I booked these approximately 4 months in advance, and still had to pay 50,000 miles per ticket for a domestic flight from Wyoming to Michigan. However, that’s not my issue…
I would rather be upset by the truth (blocked for additional revenue opportunities) than lied to! I originally had a record on hold waiting for points to post to my account (they did so a day late and that reservation cancelled). A day later, I tried to book again, and all of a sudden, theses seats were unavailable (for a flight 4 months from now to a tiny airport). These seats happened to be the only premium seats (Rows 1-3 A, B, C, D). That’s 12 seats, the plane holds 52. Anyways, I called American Airlines Reservation Dept, explained the situation that on my original reservation I was able to book these seats, now I can't. I was told that "other passengers have already booked them." No, they haven't. You see, there is this website you can pay for access to, Expertflyer.com, which tells you if the seats are actually booked, or if they are held. In this case, only 5 other passengers have booked a seat (the ones I now have booked are 4A-D). I was told there is nothing she can do, so I asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor, Becky (RRU), called the "seats" dept, and spoke to Ramone, who told her that these seats have been allocated to the airport to be able to potentially accommodate individuals with disabilities. 12 out of 52 seats?! This made no sense, so I asked her to confirm that. She then spoke with Lisa <last name removed by moderator> in the seats dept who said the same thing. Honestly, is it American Airlines policy to reserve 25% of its seats, which all happen to be "premium economy" seats, and the only ones, at that? Or are they withholding the availability from those that will book early with their miles, and allow them to charge cash paying flyers more for the "premium" seats? I am so glad I chose to use my Citi Card to earn and buy American Airline points (sarcasm). It cost me 200,000 points for 4 people to travel within the US, and not be able to pick “premium economy” seats, because all 12 of them (25% of the plane’s capacity) are blocked to potentially be able to accommodate those with disabilities. Right now, I am very disappointed I chose the AA miles over Southwest's program.

OskiBear

AA monetizes these seats and also holds them back for elites in their program. It sounds like your miles were earned via credit card spending versus flying? Right or wrong, I believe this is similar to the other major airlines (UA/DL).

That said, with Southwest, you wouldn't have any opportunity to select a seat until you boarded. Or, alternatively, paid extra to board early to grab a better seat.

I get to select the premium seats based on my status with AA - but I suffer the same consequences on other airlines when I have no status. SOmetimes, it's long-haul international trips that make me uneasy wondering where I'll end up on the plane.

adambrock

Something isn't right because your itin shows 1F but this plane has seats A,B,C,D. Any chance there was a eq swap between your first reservation and second?

The smallest state

Shenry - I feel your frustration. The sales job all airlines put out to attract frequent flyers is impressive. Try booking two seats in business to Europe or Asia. They monetize these seats and are hoping to sell them. Your best bet is to keep looking every day at this flight.

Great tip about expertflyer.com too, I didn't know that.

controller1

OP, are you confusing Premium Economy with Preferred Seating in the coach area?

Does ORD-TVC offer Premium Economy?

The first five rows of AA 3048 on 08/12/2017 are marked "Preferred" on the AA.com seat map. Row 5 is empty.

Also, as pointed out, your seat map does not agree with your seat assignments which indicate an equipment swap. Seat map shows seats as A/B/C/D. Your seat assignment indicates equipment with seats as A/C/D/F.

ryan182

I can't get over blowing 200K miles on short haul economy tickets 4 months out...

AANYC1981

right?!

mvoight

Are you sure the AA seat map shows that?
Seatguru shows AC DF

That is how the seats are labeled for this Skywest flight on CRJ 200
https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Am...tno=3048&date=

bchandler02

Yes. Many here would consider this a horrible use of miles and would choose to pay for this and use the miles somewhere else. However, everyone has a different view on what miles are worth to them, and to the OP, this may be worth it.

I'm not surprised on this though. I can't find any J seats to London in October for less than 135k at this point.

platbrownguy

= a roundtrip in JL first class JFK-NRT with 40k to spare!

or two roundtrips in QR first class DOH-BKK!

... for four $400 Y tickets. wow.

ijgordon

Too many blocked seats??? That's nothing. When the mainline jets (3-3 seating) are only offering middle seats in the last five rows because everything else is marked Premium, *then* you can come back and complain.

That said, on an AAnytime award, you generally can pre-assign main cabin extra and paid seats (not sure about elite-only premium seats) for no fee. But this is showing rows 1-3 as "blocked" which is usually different. No passenger is likely able to assign those seats. It definitely seems unusual, maybe there is something to that (pending?) equipment swap others have mentioned.

Centurion

AA is extracting money from you. They use all methods including seat assignments. Unfortunately all of this extraction leads to very frustrated passengers. Oh I forgot to mention that these fees they get are without certain fare taxes so they flow to the bottom line. I have a feeling this is going to lead to more ugly inflight incidents

Wingtipflyer1

Looking to book some flights this summer on an award. NOTHING available in F Saver to LAX from MKE, ORD. AA's F rev prices are way more than UA & DL. Used to be a loyalist but may just buy a ticket on another carrier.. I'm not spending 110k miles (RT) for a 4 hour flight.

dgparent

Me too, it is a 5 hour drive so about $60 in gas, that would be my method of getting there.

EDIT never mind I see she is coming from Denver

rjw242

Several people here seem to be missing the fact that the seats aren't for sale -- they're apparently blocked for everyone. AA can't "extract money" from anyone if nobody's able to pay for those seats. Furthermore, traveling on an AAnytime award, the OP will have access to any available economy seat on the plane at no extra cost.

OP - I'd suggest checking in at the 24-hour mark and seeing if some of those seats have been freed up, or asking at the airport. As you note, it's a large fraction of seats on that plane, so there's a pretty good chance you'll able to get four of them.