SF1K

So with some A320s having 12 and others still having 8 FC seats, about how many days before does one know which one they will have? I know it could always change until last minute. I'm kind of hoping for a switch to 12 cause I'd have a much better chance of an upgrade clearing on SFO-BOS next Monday red-eye. Right now I'm looking and I see tonight is 12, Wednesday is 8, Thursday is 12, Friday is 12. I think they put the 8 seat as a placeholder for all Airbus flights until closer to departure date, correct?

jrl767

the wiki at the top of the Airbus Reconfiguration Thread shows which jets have the cabin mods

use FlightRadar24 (just put ASxxxx at the end of the URL in the address bar when the link brings up the FR24 page) ~40-48 hours ahead of your trip to see the assigned jet ... there's of course some chance of a tail swap, particularly if there's a SEA overnight involved before your flight

sltlyamusd

On my last A320 flight, there were two tail swaps within 36 hr of departure (149 pmVX config to 150 AS config, then finally to 146 pmVX). I noticed they had already processed premium and first class upgrades at the time of the second tail swap, although I only saw 7 seats occupied in F, which led me to wonder whether they hold back on F upgrades until they know for sure the assigned a/c will have 12 F? Not sure what they do for premium class upgrades when the plane switches back to the non-reconfigured version with fewer premium seats (probably easiest to just leave everyone in the same seats than to try to reseat everyone).

In both cases where I saw tail swaps close to departure it was on 1208/1213.

be_rettSEA

I've seen the swaps between the reconfigs and pmVX configs a few times before departure. Honestly, while what you're seeing at check-in time is generally right, there's still a chance of a swap until you're in the air. In cases where the premium seating has changed, I've heard FAs discussing "almost running out" of some of the snacks and needing to save some for the exit rows (initially was an aircraft w/ 6, 16, 17 as PC, but then changed to 6-10). So it seems while this is happening, they're giving folks PC who paid for it or had it from a comp upgrade to avoid any passenger meltdowns over drinks/snacks due the swaps (or at least that's what I've seen).

safari ari

Similar story with me set off two alerts on EF for aircraft change, F kept going from 3 rows to 2, finally settling on pmVX aircraft about 30 hours before.

dayone

Also my experience.

eddiehuang97

Around 36 hours. However, there's always the possibility of a last-minute plane swap.

metallo

I had a SAN-SFO flight change from 12F to 8F right around T-48h. I bought F about one week out and noted that the cabin was sparsely filled (maybe 6/12). I avoided row 3 and grabbed a row 1 seat... have there been involuntary downgrades due to this issue (don't really remember seeing stories here), or are they doing this on flights with predicted lighter loads only?

When we were hearing about downgrades when a lot of the 739s were being subbed for 738s, it seemed like row 4 always got the shaft... downgrades weren't done by status or paid vs upgraded tickets, but by whether you were unlucky enough to happen to have a seat in the row that was removed.

On the other hand, if they're generally waiting until T-30-36h, as others have mentioned, they probably have a pretty good idea of how many seats will be filled by then.

jiburi

Been there, with only 8 hour prior notice. 16F to 8F. I had the "short end of the stick" and lost the F upgrade, no compensation. As I didn't pay for F fare, I was denied of any compensation.

Jiburi

SF1K

Just an update so far. Flight24radar has been showing the flight as being operated by N843VA. The seat map went from 8F to 12F (sometime Friday) and then back to 8F (Sometime Saturday) and now back to 12F (sometime yesterday). Now still showing 12F upgrade cleared. Decided to pick row 1 instead of 3 (2 wasn’t available) would prefer a window for redeye but just in case thought 1 is “safer” than 3. 4 seats left on seat map - it was 5 before I picked my seat after upgrade, which cleared sometime after I checked-in at 24hoir mark and this morning (6am) AS still selling up to 3 F on the flight.

We’ll see if it ends up going back to an 8F in which case I hope my pick of row 1 will keep me safe.

2nd Update (correction). Seems I didn’t know how to read Flight24radar. I kept looking at the flight on 10/14 which shows already landed. Seems with a redeye from West Coast I need to look at 10/15 flight which is showing N627VA which is a reconfigure A320.

Tracer_SEA

What is AS doing for pax who buy PC and choose exit row seats (old config) when the flight is operated by a new config a/c...?

Do they get automatically re-seated into PC? Or do they stay in exit row and get some sort of a credit...?

be_rettSEA

Not sure if this is always the case, but have overheard FAs discussing the need to hold some snacks / do something extra for exit rows (which weren't PC on this aircraft after an equipment swap). It was a fairly last minute swap, so don't know if they're doing this on every Airbus flight, or just a one-off, but I'd imagine if you paid for PC (not comp upgrade), they'd happily refund the seating fee. You might also have luck in getting FAs to give you free drinks too, esp if you can show you were in PC before.

metallo

Had this happen again yesterday... this time from 8F to 12F. I thought I'd be enjoying seat 2A on an ex-VX plane, but the configuration switched just prior to T-24h.

On the bright side, for those trying to upgrade, the inventory stayed at F0 after the change, and it appeared the extra seats were released as upgrades fairly close to departure.

SF1K

On the same flight as I was asking about when it switched I was in exit row and received a notification that Premium Class was no longer available on my flight - it actually was and I could have chosen a Premium Class set. That email notification included a $25 cert. In the end I ended up being upgraded to First.

Tracer_SEA

Is 320 the official new equipment code for the reconfigured planes, and 32S for un-reconfigured?

Is AS trying to isolate the reconfigured planes to particular routes, or are they just going wherever?