Originally Posted by
rjque
Yes, but a middle E+ seat beats a middle E- seat by a mile. There is no comparison for me. If the choice for me were between a middle E+ seat on UA and a middle regular seat on AS (for a transcon), I'd take UA in a heartbeat, even though it means much worse service and even perhaps paying much more for the flight. Of course, if I were the OP, I would not be booking AS middle seats at all and instead book another airline even if it meant a convoluted routing. I just don't fit in standard Y and throwing a middle (or even a window) seat into the mix means I won't be flying.
I just really didn't think it would come to that. I figured something (F, exit row) would work out. Silly me!
In the end, I decided to pay out of pocket for F fares, which were being offered though upgrades weren't. $250 round-trip. Not something I'll do very often, but I was in a bind in this case: reservations set and potentially stuck in middles. I just won't put myself in that position again. Of course, that means less business for AS, more for UA.