Well I dont place all the blame to AS here. Both AS and OP are partly to blame for the situation. Are you flying with the family on that flight on the same ticket? If not then elite benefits have no bearing to them unless they are elites as well. As noted AS sent out communications quite some long time ago. And if you book flights far in advance as an elite traveler you should then know that its wise to check your reservations quite often for changes of A/C, seats, and schedules. On the flip side Im scratching my head wondering why AS split people up seated together on the same ticket but I guess the computer software or lack thereof did it. I check mine at least monthly but usually weekly. @:-)And as a final note I might add that AS made the seat numbering changes to HELP elite flyers booked in exit rows from being bumped out of them for A/C swaps^