Originally Posted by
dave1013
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!
Thank you for the welcome!
I am on the SEA to IAH route 730. I leave Seattle at 10:20am and arrive in Houston at 4:25pm. My flight back to Seattle is 10 days later on flight 731, but I was fortunate to be assigned an aisle seat and won't need to change that. I've flown Alaska once before in a normal non-exit row aisle seat and was quite comfortable (as much as I could be) and was hoping to get something similar to that experience only to be assigned a dreadful middle seat on my first flight.