Aa made most aisle seats premium - finding a pair together (when traveling with a child for example) is near impossible for someone without status.
Op raises a very valid issue (and i ve seen it mentione before) - it is indeed a rather ridiculous policy to prevent checkin especially for those who have precheck.
Issuing bp with seat assigned at the gate would make much more sense.
Originally Posted by
Col Ronson
Yes, the airline is awful because you didn't pick a seat far ahead of time when booking and waited until the last minute and now there are nothing left but premium seats.
Here's a hint, if you don't want to pay the fee, then check in at the airport. Real Mature. AA hasn't programmed their website one way or another, the website is a SHARES overlay and that's how the reservation system works. You literally can't check in for a flight and not have a seat assignment.