Anubis13

You are completely right. There are exits at the back which the seatmap does not show and the front rows are marked as extra legroom but they are free to choose

SK

Since there was no reply here, I am quoting a reply I got elsewhere, in case it is helpful to others here too:

It is not possible to preselect/buy a seat for Q400 flights. For Miles&Bonus Gold Members though, it might be possible to preselect a seat by calling.

Knobbgb

For Gold members, a seat on the Q400 can be selected online, at the time of booking or anytime later, the same as on any other flight. I did it just a few days ago.

kchanbeki

I can confirm that the all seats become available to choose for free at T-45 minutes. So technically you can choose a free seat when you check in and get the boarding pass. Then go back to the app and modify check in and choose any up front or extra legroom seat you like, but leave it unpaid. Doing so you will hold the unpaid seat until T-45, and by then the app will allow you to choose the seat for free and generate a new boarding pass on the phone.

East_and_West

This is true for certain airports (e.g. ATH) but not for all of them. In ARN and CPH for example seats are not released before check-in. More precisely, they are released only once all pax have checked in, but then the list passes (almost) immediately under airport handlers control.

nieszprot

It doesn't always work. Tried twice in ATH and was asked for payment at the gate, so had to pretend I don't know what happened and my seat was changed back to original one.

East_and_West

Interesting. I have never encountered this issue in ATH. Something similar though happened to me in ARN, although I thought I had even paid for my seat (see my earlier post in this thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30427662-post372.html).

jerry_greece

It works only if you re-select the seat. That means that you change to a different standard one (if available) and then get back your desired one.

GBobon

the same trick works with TP as well, but they release all seats T-3, so you have to pickup a free seat, save it and then go back to change the seat and pick the one you kept it reserved but unpaid

nikolask

Does anybody know if the policy has changed with regards to seat reservations for A3*G members? For my upcoming international flights in the next months I can now reserve any seat for free (Standard, Up Front & Emergency Exit seats).

The T&Cs on the A3 haven’t changed but if this is indeed a policy change for gold members and not a temporary bug in the system, that would be great news.

Xandrios

Doesn't seem to be a new rule. When going through the booking process while logged in, it still adds a seat selection fee. Unfortunately I don't have any existing economy bookings to test this with.

Knobbgb

Finally! It looks like they've seen sense and will allow the paid seats to be taken at OLCI. I've checked all my existing bookings and it's now an option on all of them (A3 International and OA operated by A3 domestic).



This must have happened in the last few days. I made a booking earlier in the week and it wasn't an option then. With all the previous complaints and requests they must have received, you'd think they'd make a little more publicityof this, if it really is going to be a lasting policy.

One thing to note - you now can't pay for one of those seats even if you want to! I'm guessing the "best" ones might already be taken at OLCI so that seems like a lost opportunity for A3, for the few who would have paid anyway, just to be sure what they'll get.

East_and_West

I checked a couple of my upcoming flights (eg ARN-ATH next week) and seat payment still stands, as usual. Strange...

jerry_greece

This "available upon checkin" has appeared to me once or twice but i don't remember the conditions under which it happened... I think I have selected a seat already? I am not 100% sure.

So i think it's a bug and not the standard. I think they are making lots of money by these charges and they won't scale them back. Instead their recent blatant move to increase the charges in the summer period and even have increased charges in high profile routes like JMK and JTR show their intentions...

W126Pilot

When does the release happen at A3? Is it the same as TP, T-3h, or later? I see T-45min mentioned in this thread, but that seems very close to the seats going to gate control and locking you out of OLCI. I don't want to try it only to end up in a middle ;-)