KLouis

What would a proper business class be according to you? At any rate, Mbcan's question referred to the fact that the new system was not "valid" on his/her booking, as (s)he was allowed to choose a seat in row 1.

DELLAS

Well it is the Business Class product that A3 offer similar to most European airlines. Sadly the days of 2-2 dedicated seats similar to the US F Class are long gone as we have discussed before. Personally having flown both I prefer the Q400 for the short hop to IST. Less people and quicker on and off.

LTN Phobia

I'm all for doing things out of principle but it's a pity you chose to delay other passengers and crew members to make your point rather than take it up later.

Did they not offer an aisle or window seat for no fee?

nieszprot

I'm not 100 percent sure, but looks something has changed. I checked all my bookings and I am unable to select any other seat than standard (front and emergency exit are described as Available upon check-in) plus today I was able to select emergency exit free of charge 50 minutes before boarding (there were free front seats too, all standard were taken) on flight from ATH to GVA. On previous sector, from SOF to ATH cabin crew asked passengers from front seats to reseat to emergency exit as only one out of four seats were taken.

jerry_greece

This happens to all my bookings, after I select a standard seat. Somehow all other seats are blocked (says: "seats available during check-in"). Another weird thing happening, is that when my flight is waitlisted for I class (upgrade in Business), apparently I can select any seat in economy for free (upfront, exit-row).

I would consider these IT inconsistencies.

GBobon

I had a chance to fly again with A3, my first flight after they start charging for seat reservations... and I can tell you that the system can be easily tricked. I wont post here the way because probably they will see it and change the system later... if someone knows how to trick the TAP's seat reservation system, then it applies the same way for A3
are you paying for a front seat or exit row seat?

blackball

Same experience with the blocked seats after completing the booking...

However, I also have a waitlisted flight, but when I tried selecting a premium seat and follow through with the change (payment was 0 euros), I got some error that it couldn't be completed.

nldogbert

Hi,

Over last weekend, flew for the first time 2 flights with Aegean since they implemented this paying seat option. As I had expected, A3 is really screwing their Elite members with this, as for both flights, (am not profiling), it was clear that these payable seats were open to codeshare passengers for free and also at check-in they seem to give these seats up if passengers are separated (I did casually ask a couple about their seats and they told me that they got it at check-in because there were no other seats together). Most obvious was the ATH-CAI flight, the whole front section was clearly filled up with I am sure none of them paid for those seats.

I really cannot understand why Aegean is squeezing or testing their Gold members on this aspect, just to gain that few thousand Euro's? Is anyone complaining to Customer Service on this?

Cheers!

blackball

It's infuriating. Why the heck do they not open ALL seats for free at OLCI, like LH does? Or, at the very least, open them up for *A status holders?

ung1

Just arrived in ATH and tried to get a better seat both at check in and at the lounge, for the short hop to Santorini. I find it extremely annoying that they refuse to do so for free, when other airlines will go the extra mile of blocking adjacent seats for their top customers. The reply I get is that everyone pays, and you get other benefits as being a gold.

So who will sit in the entire front section of the aircraft? It’s a couple hours before departure.

Im wondering if others have had different experiences? I don’t care about the €2, takes about 10 seconds to eat/drink that in the lounge (much nicer than the previous version), and the flight is just 30 min.

nldogbert

Most probably they would have filled it up with those passenger checking later than you as the flight fills up. I would advise when you board just see who are those sitting in those seats. I am sure that you'll notice that they are non-frequent flyer (and I guess they would have not paid for it).
I would suggest that you drop a note to customer service on this matter. I too felt rather unappreciated when they threw that "You get other Gold benefit" back at my face...have no idea why they are so PITA about this...maybe they are getting more arrogant due to their own success.

Cheers!

ung1

Yes, this is clearly what happened. A bunch of backpackers in the exit row with middle seats free, and some families who probably didn't bother with seat selection, up front. Makes it even more annoying.

What I figured out, though, is that about an hour before departure everything becomes free, so I just changed seats on the app and moved to the exit row. This is obviously some kind of policy that staff are helpless to do anything about, but very poorly executed!

Xandrios

Is that consistently one hour exactly? Or is it the check-in staff removing the restrictions when they realize that they won't have seats for everyone otherwise?

ung1

Hmm, I don't know. It wasn't exactly one hour, though. I will try again today.

ung1

Apparently not, today it was paid seating till check in was closed. But people seem to actually pay for row 1 (8€) on a 20 min flight, as I saw on the manifest.