Originally Posted by
ThreeJulietTango
There's a difference between charging for all advance seat assignments like Frontier and Spirit and not allowing advance seat selection at all like Delta's basic economy fares. By not allowing seat selection or changes, Delta's fare is actually more restrictive than Spirit's (and usually more expensive).
I hope AA wouldn't deny themselves the revenue opportunity of monetizing all seat assignments on these fares.
Some may purchase the more expensive fare in order to get these extra benefits. If they do, then AA makes more money. For those that book the more expensive fares, they will gain due to less competition for seats
What AA will do with these new fares seems not to be officially made public yet though