Crazy Preferred Seating Rule
 

So, I'm trying to book a trip for the fam to MCO. I book wife and son on reward ticket and myself on a revenue ticket.

Since I'm SE, preferred seating is supposed to be free. I call after everything is booked to link the PNRs and change assigned seating. AE can't access the preferred seats and directs me to an AC agent. AC agent says they won't change my wife and son's seats to preferred seating (next to me) because "we're not on the same PNR". I'm a bit surprised, as this doesn't make sense to me at all, so I look it up on the AC website. Indeed this is the policy.:mad:

I just don't get it. Does this make any sense at all? I decide to spend $800+ for a ticket for myself instead of using my miles (yes, I need more legs for status this year), but in exchange for giving AC revenue for this trip, I'm asked to fork over more $ for seats which otherwise would have been free.:rolleyes:

What's the deal with this?

I'm sure I've been able to do this before. I regularly book a reward ticket for MB and a revenue ticket for me, and I always ask for seats together. I would hang up and call again until you find a more customer friendly agent.

This has never been an issue for me. I have done it three - four times per year for the last few years - wife and son on points while I am paid. Never an issue with assigned seating.

I did this exact thing just recently. My wife and I were on different PNR's and different seats. I called to link the PNR's and get us seats together and they initially refused, then said, oh you're an elite member, no problem, we can do that for you. I must have checked the AC website a hundred times to ensure that our seats were together.

Of course, when I got to the airport they told me that not only were our PNR's not linked, but that my wife had no reservation at all. After much angst and conferring with supervisors they found my wife's reservation, but claimed the PNR's were not linked and that we did not have seats together, and no, they could not put us together.

just did this for a last minute award to ORD out sat back yesterday. Called AC concierge and they did switch seats for me. Asked why all ac people wont do this and was told it was time of day and their hours into shifts cause some grouchiness. So i was told to keep calling until i could have it switched if this happens in future.

Try another agent?

I think the OP is talking about the Preferred seats, which cost money except to SEs. All of these responses are from Es. You might mean the Priority Seats which are usually at the front portion of the cabin.

Is it possible that for Priority seats (Es and SEs can get them for free), different PNR would suffice. But for Preferred seats (Only SEs get them for free), you'd need to be on the same PNR?

I don't know the answer. Maybe as other posters said, hang up and call again.

YQMer, can you contact me via PM or e-mail? (I lost your e-mail address when I changed computers.)

Tried to send you a PM, but it says you are not accepting messages. Maybe send me a PM with your e-mail address. I wanted to offer you something in exchange for your generosity last year.

Thx
MG

Update
 

MG, I've sent you a PM.

Thanks very much to everone for your input.

I was, in fact, referring to the "Preferred" seating on AC which is free to SEs and would also be free to any travelling companion of an SE so long as they're on the same PNR.

My problem, I was told, that was since I had one PNR for a revenue ticket and another for reward tickets, I had to pay for the "Preferred" seats for my companions. They couldn't be merged into one PNR. Seems wrong to me to have to fork over another $15-35/seat/flight for several legs when it would have all been free if I had used reward miles for everyone and not paid $800+ for the revenue ticket.

I followed your collective advice and called back. Everything was resolved very quickly and professionally without so much as a mention of any additional fee--for which I am very pleased.

Mark another win for the "hang up and call back" approach.

Cheers all,

YQMer

This should be at the top of every FT page in big bold letters. :D

Glad it worked out for you.

What's interesting is that it even works at all.

Bumping an old thread

Has anyone done this recently?

I am an E75 member eligible for a seat near the front with extra leg room (not talking bulkhead or emergency exit, just the front seating) on a Tango Plus ticket. I booked my son and wife on Aeroplan, but of course they can't access those seats. Called and asked and was refused. Is it worth pursuing?

Two reasons why you can't:

- You must be on the same PNR. This frustrates me as well, but I'm not sure how AC can get exceptions for this without people abusing it.
- Even if you were all on the same (reward) booking, an E75K doesn't get preferred seats on AE. Must be Flex or Latitude.

This is huge - I do similar bookings quite often and it drives me a little nuts that my family companion can't sit beside me without paying the $ when they could have if I'd just used points for my own ticket.

Bens, can we get preferred seating nominees? haha

For SEs, a solution would be that you could let your 2 e-upgrade nominees access preferred seating if on a different PNR as long as you're on the same flight. But this doesn't help out E75K or E50K.