Academic

As usual, inconsistency reigns. Recently, I was booked on flex and was going for an ward ticket for my wife. I asked the CSR about preferred seats and she said that as long as the PNRs were linked she could override the charge. I booked the award ticket while we were still on the phone and she gave us both preferred seats.

margarita girl

Amazing the disdain/contempt that AC has for its customers.

By comparison, UA allows free preferred seat selection (E+ no less) for passengers travelling with a Premier member even when not on the same PNR. Now I'll have to go check Craiglist to see how many ads there are selling preferred seats.

vernonc

Did your wife's Aeroplan ticket come from your Aeroplan account? They allowed me to book my family in preferred when their AE tickets were from my account, I was on the same flight on a paid ticket.
However now they will not allow me book them in preferred as the AE tickets are from my wife's account and I am on a paid ticket on the same flights. I asked if they could link the PNRs and do it and they refused. Not sure if this is policy or if I should HUCA. Perhaps Ben can confirm.

Plumber

In this case it was the Aeroplan Agent that overrode the charge.

I want to book 3 x Tango for family and 1X flex for me....same flights... I am told by AC Res that it will be separate PNRs (one PNR for Tango and one PNR for Flex)and that my 3 family members have to pay for preferred seats...

Anyone else do this? Is there a solution or fix I can suggest to the AC Reservations Agent?

lostinthewash

Preferred seating on errorplan is a whole other story.

I booked flights for Mr. LITW on my errorplan points. I then tried to book his preferred seats on-line and the website wanted to charge me. We are both SE, and his errorplan number was on the reservation.

Called, and spent 10 minutes on hold with the agent while she tried to figure out what to do with it.

A more experienced agent can override the charges in 45 seconds and you're done.

But you have to call.

(I am travelling on the same flights, different PNR, but irrelevant because the flight was booked using SE member points (mine) for SE flyer (him).)

canadiancow

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...rredseats.html is pretty clear that you have to be on the same booking.

I understand it can be annoying, but it avoids the Craigslists posts of "$50 preferred seat (more legroom, save $200) on AC 7 on June 19".

I haven't been in a situation where I've had two different bookings and needed to put us all in preferred seats, but I have been in a situation where I book a last minute flight and all the preferred seats are gone, so I'm not sure how I feel about this anyway.

Plumber

I understand your comments...upthread someone stated that most SEs have better ways to spend their time on Craigs List, but there are some strange birds out there.

I guess my frustration is that I cannot put 3XTango and 1XFlex on one booking...same family, same flights...

The reality is that AC is forcing me to:

1) Book all Tango and forgo the revenue of the 1 Flex
2) Book all Flex- not going to happen!
3) Use AP points for all 4 tickets.

I don't complain very often, but I find it strange when I am saying 'here Air Canada--take a little more of my money for the same flights' and it cannot be accommodated.

Though it sound like some people have said the charges for Preferred Seating could be overridden by an Agent, but I am not too sure about that.