I had a rather strange/frustrating experience while flying on America West/US Air the other day when returning from Puerto Vallarta. Our e-tickets stated seats would be assigned at check-in. Nothing unusual with that, this seems pretty standard with the airlines I fly. We got to the PV airport about 3.5 hours before the flight, mainly because I'm anal, but also because I like to get the best shot at good seats. My wife and I were surprised that almost all the seats were already taken and that we were seated at opposite ends of the airplane for the whole trip back. We talked with a ton of other passengers at the gate who were also frustrated they were sitting apart from spouses, kids, etc. While on the plane, I noticed that US Air was advertising "Check in online up to 24 hours before your flight!" in their in-flight magazine. I'm wondering if this is why the seats were so scrambled for most of us, many of the passengers probably checked in long before we got to the airport.

I'm wondering if this is something other airlines are doing and if it's something that other people have experienced? I guess I should be happy we still got home on the same plane. The only problem I see with this is that someday I'm probably going to arrive at an airport 3 hours before my flight to check in and I'm going to find all the seats are already taken due to that lovely overbooking policy. I often travel to areas that don't have readily available Internet connections so I'll miss out on those early online check-in programs.

Many airlines do this, if not all.

I myself pay extra to make sure I've got good seats when I book the flight, which is usually 5 months in advanced, so I see no problem with this.

Im also puzzled by US/AW seating arrangements. Flying on both in November i was able to get seats allocated on the 2 US flights but not on the AW flight. Even the girls at the US desk at LGW couldnt get me seats allocated on AW (but did me a fine job on the US flights!)

moving this thread to the appropriate airline-specific forum.

Dom_1, welcome to FlyerTalk!

--richard, moderator

Im also puzzled by US/AW seating arrangements. Flying on both in November i was able to get seats allocated on the 2 US flights but not on the AW flight. Even the girls at the US desk at LGW couldnt get me seats allocated on AW (but did me a fine job on the US flights!)
Exactly, similar to what happened to me on the US legs on the way down. I realize we're in a whole new era of travel created by the Internet, but I'm just wondering where we draw the line. I'd certainly take advantage of the check-in online feature if I have a chance to get to the Internet before departing. The problem I have is that, as this type of service becomes more popular, I can see airlines changing it to "check-in online up to 72 hours before your flight!" I'm going to get out of the boondocks some day and go to a computer and find that all the seats were already taken 2 days prior the flight. Not exactly fair to people that don't have access to a computer. I guess I'll have to start looking for airlines that allow picking seats when you buy your tickets. In all my years of flying, however, I've only come across this option maybe a half dozen times or so.

moving this thread to the appropriate airline-specific forum.

Dom_1, welcome to FlyerTalk!

--richard, moderator

I figured you probably would. This doesn't have to do with just one airline, however, it is something most airlines are apparently doing so it affects everyone.

Online checkin shouldn't affect seating. Although you can only checkin online 24 hours or less before travelling, seats can be pre-assigned the same day the booking is made.. Dom_1.. US allows this so I don't see why you need to look for another airline...

I booked my IPT-SAN trip on the US Airways web site. On the USAir website the outbound PHL-PHX-SAN legs on HP come up saying I need to checkin for seat assignment. However, when I logged onto the America West site my reservation came up indicating I had assigned seats. I'm looking forward to the day when everything is merged!

Online checkin shouldn't affect seating. Although you can only checkin online 24 hours or less before travelling, seats can be pre-assigned the same day the booking is made.. Dom_1.. US allows this so I don't see why you need to look for another airline...

I usually buy airline tickets through Expedia or Obitz because, and I do shop around the airline's websites as well, that's where I almost always find the best deals. I bought these tickets through Expedia and I was not given the option to choose seats. My E-ticket simply said seats would be provided at check-in. If USAir/AW usually give you this option to choose seats at the time of purchase, perhaps I didn't get that option because I bought through Expedia.

I booked my IPT-SAN trip on the US Airways web site. On the USAir website the outbound PHL-PHX-SAN legs on HP come up saying I need to checkin for seat assignment. However, when I logged onto the America West site my reservation came up indicating I had assigned seats. I'm looking forward to the day when everything is merged!

When I book through my companies website (run by American Express), if I book an America West flight as USAir, it does not give me the option to select seats, but the computer selects them behind the scenes and they come out when I get my e-mailed itinerary later in the day. I run into this when I book PIT-PHX. The flight out is America West but the flight back is USAir. I usually book the USAir flight #'s. Last month I thought I would outsmart it and book the flight out as America West and the flight back as USAir so that I could select seats both ways but it ended up issuing separate tickets and I got charged their service fee twice, plus somehow their computer dropped my outbound flight.

I'm very anal about my seats. I have to know in advance where I'm gonna be sitting. I've never used any of the sites such as expedia, orbitz, hotwire, for just that reason. I dont want my seats assigned at check in, I want to pick them myself when I do my tix online. I've never found a cheaper ticket at any of the tix sites online and its a good thing, cause I have to be able to pick my seat...LOL