Originally Posted by
iahphx
For "unprivileged" Sapphires, does MCE now open up at 24 hours before flight? The prices I'm now seeing for MCE frankly seem insane -- like $84 for a middle seat on a not very crowded 1500 mile domestic flight segment. I know some people like to buy the perception of luxury, but would anyone pay $84 for a middle seat with a couple inches of extra legroom when they could just take an aisle seat for free? At these price points, I think the seats are basically reserved for elites and I won't be terribly unhappy taking my chances at the 24-hour mark.
It sounds like there is no free provision. OW Ruby on the privileged airlines get free access 24 hours before like AA golds.
The middle seat pricing has always been wonky. It's clearly targeted at groups traveling that want to sit next to each other and is just a few dollars less than a window/aisle. AA knows very few to no solo travelers will pay any amount for a MCE middle vs a regular aisle/window, so might as well price it for groups.
I would also keep an eye on the J buy-up offers which can run similarly priced to MCE on sub 1500mi (especially sub 1000 mi) flights, although you're not getting much more in J vs MCE.