NoLaGent

I find it quite ironic that I'm explaining a game of chance to someone with your name, but I'm not conflating anything. This whole discussion that began earlier was in regards to the odds of being stuck in a middle seat if you were not able to select one at purchase. If you choose to buy that flight, you're taking a chance (however remote, that's irrelevant) of getting stuck in a middle.

Is that clearer now?

And to your point that this applies to all tickets, you're mistaken as according to AS' website, seats will be assigned at the gate for those pax on Saver tickets that don't have a pre-assigned seat. All other tickets are at T-24, which is a very big difference.

And for clarification, because it seems like you'll need it, I'm referring to elite seats that become available to all (except Saver tickets) at T-24 and you can then move into.

Flying for Fun

It has always been perfectly clear that there is a chance you will get a middle seat when purchasing a Saver Fare. But let's not forget that Seat Assignments are not guaranteed. Anyone who purchased a Main Fare and selected 6C whether or not they paid the premium fee could just as easily be seated in 22B if the accessible seat is required. Unaccompanied minors & lap infants can also require reassignments.

So, sure, put down your $30 insurance payment but don't kid yourself into thinking you aren't gaming too. Perhaps your odds are better but certainly not guaranteed.

James

NoLaGent

I agree with you, but I usually buy P fares, so the insurance payment is even higher. And while the odds are better up there, the same rule applies. It's happened to me before for a FAM.

pickles1107

So my family of 5 (2 adults, 5 year old, 3 year old, lap infant) all bought $99 each way saver fares for 3rd week of January. On this particular flight, the saver rows in the back were partially booked so we couldn't select seats together at booking. Should be interesting to see how they handle the seat assignments! This is a route we fly several times per year and the $99 saver fare is equivalent to what we have usually paid on this flight prior to the Saver rollout. And no, I refuse to pay the $240 price hike for the privilege of selecting seats when the saver fare is no less than the historical price for this flight.

notquiteaff

tatterdema

That will be quite interesting Pickles. Lol, Alaska might be in....a Pickle, lol.

VegasGambler

Not really. There are always few rows in the "saver section" blocked.

VegasGambler

It continues to be clear that you are conflating two things (the chance that your flight will have no save seats available to select when you buy, and the chance that you will end up in a middle seat if you end up in such a situation)

There is no difference at all when all those elite-only seats are spoken for at T-24. As I said, the easiest way to get into this situation is to buy into a very full flight on an elite heavy route.

lalala

I flew a paltry 20 RTs this year - 80% were transcons and all are non-stops, I believe (short of an extended federal shutdown), my travel will be the same - 1200 extra a year to book a main cabin seat, another 1000 if I want to guarantee 10 GGU on the returns from the east coast. That is is a lot of extra money that I'm giving AS, but in return, I can move my flights when I need to and that is worth about 1000 of those extra dollars. I feel for you all who have to connect and wish to buy main cabin fares, each of these segments are additive, non?

JeffBo

Looking at the new Alaska Saver fares and the upgrade cost to Main fares.
I see $49 and $69 fares in Saver. Same flight, Main are an additional $30.
I can see the $30 in a $200+ fare, but pretty steep to charge additional 45%-60% for the Main fare.

Alaska is really alienating their best customers with this pricing scheme on these low fare routes.

osubeavers01

fly18725

I think you misunderstand who the “best” customers are.

ctporter

I was booking a trip to TPA in February through my corporate TA (GBT). The outbound flight evidently was a saver fare because when I went to select (pin) my seat an alert popped up saying seats are not available for selection on this flight. The return was not a saver fare flight and did allow me to select a seat. So, I did not complete the booking, instead I went to the AS site and booked a OW to TPA using main fare and was able to select a premium seat for free. I went back to the corporate TA site and booked a OW return and selected a premium seat for that flight too. A SEA to TPA flight is too long to risk getting stuck in the back in a random seat for me.

From the FAQs: If seat selection isn’t available during purchase, or if you purchased your Saver fare ticket through a travel agency, you will be assigned a seat when you check in.

FlyingBear

So I can see both sides. As a parent, I understand that it's pretty unreasonable to have kids that small (the 3 year old) to sit alone. I have given up my aisle seat to let BE families sit together on Delta. I also get on Delta that it warns you only that "Seats will be assigned at check-in" and does not necessarily make it patently obvious that you may be separated.

But on the other side, I'd argue that you need to know what you are getting into when you buy these fares. It does put me as a disadvantage because I elect to empathize (granted it is my choice and I didn't complain to Delta about it).

At least Alaska puts (though only as a footnote) "Seats unavailable during purchase will be assigned at the gate. This option is not recommended for parties of two or more." Stil, that's probably not obvious enough. However, if there are any kids indicated in the booking, I really they'd (well any airline with BE setup with this random seating method) put a special pop up that says, you have kids in your booking. You may not sit with your kids in the booking, if you understand this hit "I understand I may be separated from my kids and they are ok sitting by themselves" otherwise, go back. That's one thing Spirit does right. It is very explicit with these warnings.

notquiteaff