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seat charges on award travel - non-refundable

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seat charges on award travel - non-refundable

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Old Oct 31, 2023, 4:13 pm
  #1  
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Seattle, WA USA
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preferred seat charges non-refundable on award travel. Why?

I'm curious as to the rationale behind the 'preferred' seat charges on an award reservation being non-refundable when cancelling said award travel reservation.

I booked my family on a separate reservation from me using aeroplan points and paid for 'preferred' seats for them. But then we ended up having to cancel the trip.

All points are redeposited without any sort of fee, but the seat charges themselves are non-refundable. Those seats are now released and available for the next person to grab them / pay for them.

So in theory, AC can charge multiple times for the same seats for the same flight, no? Is this nothing more than another revenue grab?
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Last edited by ajcopley; Oct 31, 2023 at 4:20 pm
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Old Oct 31, 2023, 4:21 pm
  #2  
 
Join Date: Oct 2022
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Originally Posted by ajcopley
I'm curious as to the rationale behind the 'preferred' seat charges on an award reservation being non-refundable when cancelling said award travel reservation.

I booked my family on a separate reservation from me using aeroplan points and paid for 'preferred' seats for them. But then we ended up having to cancel the trip.

All points are redeposited without any sort of fee, but the seat charges themselves are non-refundable. Those seats are now released and available for the next person to grab them / pay for them.

So in theory, AC can charge multiple times for the same seats for the same flight, no? Is this nothing more than another revenue grab?
One rationale I can think of is to avoid people using refundable ticket to "hold on" a preferred seat and then moving someone else to it upon checkin when many preferred seats become free.
Changeup2000 is offline  
Old Oct 31, 2023, 5:24 pm
  #3  
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Originally Posted by Changeup2000
One rationale I can think of is to avoid people using refundable ticket to "hold on" a preferred seat and then moving someone else to it upon checkin when many preferred seats become free.
Most refundable fares have free preferred seats.
canadiancow is offline  
Old Nov 1, 2023, 3:36 am
  #4  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
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Originally Posted by canadiancow
Most refundable fares have free preferred seats.
As an SE I've also called in and explained that Bill Jr + I are on separate PNR's because I'm on a FP and he's on a paid/reward ticket...never been an issue to get an agent to put him in a preferred seat.
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