Thanks for the replies. I'm still fighting, but it's been almost a week since my last contact.

Often1 - I'm not asking for a refund because I didn't like my original seat, I'm asking for a refund because I paid full price for a second seat. I honestly never thought it would be such an issue - when we were discussing it, I got the impression her concern was that they're on-board system wouldn't allow a partial payment for the seat, not that my proposal was inherently flawed. By that logic, if I pre-booked an XL seat, and switched to a different XL seat, I would have to by double?

Also, it wasn't like there was a benefit for purchasing prior to departure, the price was 85EUR in both cases. Honestly, since 36A was so terrible its almost deceitful to call it a "Preferred Seat", since its not like a chair that you can slide your feet under.

Regarding the luggage, I called AB support while in Germany, before purchasing any clothing and I was not given a dollar limit; I even specifically asked.

Tropikey - Good luck. It seems like AB is doing everything they can to not make reasonable accommodations. I understand why airlines have penalties and fees for certain things - yes changing at the last minute results in a loss of revenue for the airline. But an arbitrary cutoff of only allowing same-day cancellations is ridiculous, notwithstanding the fact that the agent told you otherwise.