Originally Posted by
Microwave
I spoke with a friend of mine who has done a lot of flying with the "new" seat map, and he told me that most of the flights actually did not have MCE equipped; it would seem they are changing the maps to the one most generous to avoid having to bump people out of seats or rows that don't exist, but not marketing the seats as MCE yet since many 738s don't yet have it fitted. My suggestion to everyone at this point is that the seat map is not a good indicator of whether you'll have MCE for the moment, which will of course change when more MCE-fitted 738s see service.
That wouldn't surprise me, probably the best course of action to take. Before MCE, I recall once last year having a BOS-LAX 160-seater subbed out for the 148-seater sometime within 12 hours of the flight, as the original plane wasn't going to make it, so AA took a plane that had arrived from ORD and subbed it in for our scheduled plane. Your friend's observations do back up my approach of staying in the exit row until within airport control, as AA is unlikely to change the plane once it is parked at the gate, and if they have to, there will be a bigger mess than simply a reworked seat chart. I have an MCE flight this upcoming Saturday, but F is completely full already (F0 on EF, and all seats assigned) so my upgrade chance doesn't look good.