Originally Posted by
MarkOK
AA's policy is that young children traveling with their parents must sit with one of the adults no matter the ticket purchased. If you buy BE for yourself and a child on the same PNR, AA seems to assign seats at ticketing near the back of the plane (which you can change only by paying a seat fee). My wife and I and 7 year old had a few basic economy itineraries together over the last year and in every case AA assigned us seats together in one of the last rows when we bought the tickets. For last minute purchases, AA usually has a couple of blocked rows that aren't assigned until gate control so that GAs can more easily accommodate mis-connected parents/children and last minute tickets. Unlike some airlines, AA sees sitting a kid with a parent as common sense, even with BE tickets.
That's good to know. It makes a ton of common sense, which is why it is surprising that AA does it. I know that is not the case for every airline, as there was a rather long and heated thread in the UA forum about this a couple of months ago. Do you know if this policy is in writing anywhere? I believe G4 has the same policy, and has stated so in interviews, but I can't find it written down anywhere.