Originally Posted by
Jclass
I realize that even though you pay to pick your seats that they are not guaranteed. I also realize that I was on the cheapest fare (if a $335 one way tango is considered cheap), and that the booking engine allowed me to pick seats for the whole family in the forward part of the steerage cabin. However, is it AC's policy to split up families and only allow E and SE to sit in the first few rows? Also, when did the OLCI change take place that only allows 4 or less parties to change their seats on checkin. I have done this in the past for the five of us,in fact just last August. You can change the seats in the booking engine, but not in OLCI.
The seats got switched because row 14 is for SE, E and Latitude guests for prebooking only, therefore the computer punted the non elites to the back. A status pax can bring one or possibly two non status fliers into the elite section, but not 4.
Also, consider that most of the cabin had done some form of seat prebook by the time you checked in. More than 1/2 of all AC guests continue to prebook seats, the numbers of "seat me anywhere pax" have dropped considerably in the past 18 months.
Next time prebook seats in a non elite prebook row. Alternately and considering your families ages, maybe getting everyone a window or aisle is in order. Afterall friends don't let friends sit in the middle, same should go for family. Book the family into a 20A and 20C combination and let some other poor sod get 20B. You will still be on the same plane and the family might like a little alone time.