Originally Posted by
jarusoba
Those nice seats are indeed preferred seats. Only free for SEs. They used to be free for Es too. But since AC implemented the charge for preferred seats, they only allowed SEs to pick these for free. It was considered an improvement of benefits by SEs as there will be less competition from the Es to pick these seats.
AC tried to pull this off last year in the middle of the qualification year and caused a riot on FT. They immediately backed down. But in the next qualification year, they implemented it.^
Well, I'm an E and I can still select Bulkhead preferred seats for free on T+ fares. During the booking process they show as yellow with a star, but after booking, when you do seat selection they show as blue with a star and say 'Preferred Seat: Complimentary'. The exit rows still show yellow with a star and there is a charge for those on a T+ fare (complimentary on Latitude though)