Originally Posted by
Shygirl
Hi I just upgraded my travelers from basic economy to economy. In doing so we’re supposed to have the ability to pick our own seats, right? When I go to seat selections it’s asking us to purchase seats with a message that pops up that says
“There are no complimentary seat assignments available at this time. You'll be assigned a seat at no charge prior to boarding, or you can purchase an available seat on the seat map.”
Which it wouldn’t be complimentary seating since we already paid for it when we upgraded from basic economy to economy. Is this right and even though I upgraded to economy I still have to purchase a seat?
Even for regular economy, for non-elites, there are free seats (those in white), and paid seats (Economy+, those in blue with extra legroom, and I think you can also buy preferred now, which are the same as the regular white seats, but they are closer to the front - they are half white half dark blue (IIRC), and used to be only available for certain pax - elites, corporates, etc.). When all the free seats are already selected, the message you are getting pops up, because, there are no free seats left to select.
You can keep checking - things do change - people might cancel, buy up, change flights, etc, so free seats could become available again. Failing that, you could elect to pay for one of the paid seats (IIRC, the option to buy to E+, though not sure about preferred, isn't available on a basic ticket). As you get closer to departure, and especially at check in, things can get better. You have elites (silvers) who are eligible to move into E+, others who might buy up, etc. In the absolute worst case, you;'ll be assigned a seat automatically at check in or at the gate, for free, even if the seat was one of the paid options from earlier.