Originally Posted by
Spruiellio
I am 6'9", traveling alone, and made the mistake of purchasing my ticket through a 3rd party company. During the purchase, I chose aisle seat only. I went to view/change reservation on the AlaskaAir website today and noticed that they put me in 25B for my flight, a middle seat. Only other middle seats are available for me to choose at this time. Obviously I cannot fit in a middle seat and I am considering the upgrade to 1st class option at check-in for $100.
There are currently 12 of the 16 seats in first class available at the moment and the flight is on August 6, so in a little less than a week. Since you fellow members seem to be more experienced with the routine, do you think that I will be able to get one of these seats?
If not, what are my options? I notice that there is still most of the exit row/first row bulkhead aisle seats available, but I cannot choose them when I go to change seat and they are listed as "Mileage Elite Status & Full Flex Ticket". What would I have to do to be able to get one of those? Or is that another wait until check-in thing?
I greatly appreciate any help anyone can give me. I am a nervous flyer as it is and being a very tall man doesn't help things at all.
Welcome to Flyertalk and the Alaska Airlines forum,
Spruiellio!
A lot of better seating opportunities can present themselves in the 24 hours before departure, when the online check-in window opens up. So make sure to "check early and check often" at that time. That said, a lot depends on what the route is. What is your itinerary? Hopefully, F will not have sold out and you might be able to purchase the cash upgrade.
You can initiate the OLCI process as many times as you like, just don't complete it if the seat you'd like to have hasn't materialized or purchaseable F hasn't appeared. You can redo it up to, I think, six times after completing the process.
Also, if that doesn't bear fruit then many good things can happen at the airport if you try checking in at a kiosk. Asking nicely at the check-in counter or at the gate has also worked well for some.
Good luck, have a safe trip and, again, welcome to FT!