I just called Icelandair (after going onto their website) and they tell me they cannot assign seats because I booked a flight as a codeshare. This is pretty annoying as my wife is disabled and we don't want to end up somewhere in the middle of the plane far away from the restrooms.

Is this really their policy? Strongly considering cancelling and rebooking in a different way. I would have paid for their 'business' class if it wasn't way more than double the Y price.

Just found a thread on this Icelandair seat map not available

 

Perhaps you can get help from Icelandair via their mobility assistance team?

https://www.icelandair.com/support/s...ty-assistance/

 

This is a long standing gripe and pain point unfortunately. I take icelandair often and if booked via Alaska's website as an AS codeshare neither AS or FI will allow you to choose your seat until 24 hours prior to dept. I've corresponded with some people high up at Alaska and they know about it and are apparently working on a solution but I'm not holding my breath on that happening any time soon. If you book directly with icelandair you get less miles but you can choose your seat and change it until your heart is content.

 

Thanks, that's definitely an option, though I mentioned this issue when talking to the agent and he didn't take any action based on that. Let me fill out the form and see if that does anything, I wasn't too impressed with the agent.

 

On the up side, no matter how bad the booking process is, Icelandair handles wheelchair assistance very well at KEF. They are efficient and friendly, yet don't assume you are mentally deficient just because you need help getting around. (In my personal experience.)

KEF was also an airport where they were happy to let my spouse push me in the airport wheelchair if we wished, which we do like because we can stay flexible about lounge vs. gate and move on our own timeline.

 

The one time I flew Icelandair I booked on the FI website and paid for selecting seats that weren’t completely terrible. Wasn’t cheap and makes me wonder why FI isn’t interested in that revenue for AS bookings.

As it stands, flights from the west coast are long enough that I am not interested in playing the seating lottery.

 

I'm wondering if that is the problem - they haven't properly implemented the paid seating logic for codeshare flights, so they just block all seat assignments for those. As far as I can tell I'm in a booking class that should get free seating, but it could definitely be that my understanding is wrong and it isn't the booking class, but the fare that determines that (i.e. their fare that gets you free seats might book into any of the booking classes, while the lowest fare can do that as well, so it isn't based on booking class but on the underlying fare, which they cannot see for codeshares).

BTW: I'm not really happy to book the non-codeshare as the FI fares are way higher than the AS fares for the same flights, and also earn only a fraction of the AS miles.

 

Yeah, it's a dilemma do you book via AS website and get 100% of the miles but risk winding up in a MIDDLE seat or book via FI website, get a franction of miles and potentially pay more but have peace of mind about your seat. I myself, I'm a gambling type of fella so I book via AS lol

 

I did not realize this as I am looking at some good leisure trips when I retire...so shoot, no seating then not for me. Not risking booking into a middle on this kind of flight

Where are you going? What partners are there on your same route? That;s where I'll book.

 

One thing to remember is that if this is a paid FI or AS miles booking, it will book on FI prime, so hopefully it's not a problem there (though I can't say I am certain about AS awards, anyone have experience with those?). Redemption rates are not great but I would consider that.

Flying from SoCal to Iceland so not much choice in partners, in particular as any alternative will connect you somewhere in Europe which is quite a bit out of the way. If we weren't going to visit Iceland it would have been an easy decision of course.

 

Thanks again to notquiteaff, the mobility assistance team did assign us seats after all.

 

It seems they have done something to partially fix it now, though you still cannot pay for extra legroom seats etc. - https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/how-to-earn-miles/airline-partners/icelandair

"To select seats for Economy class tickets booked through Alaska Airlines and operated by Icelandair, please call Icelandair's US service center at 1-800-223-5500. An agent can assist in selecting seats free of charge in the central and rear section of the Economy cabin. The service center is open Monday–Sunday from 3:00 am–9:00 pm ET."

BTW: apparently a ticket re-issue (which I'm not even sure why it was needed as the connecting AS flight had a 5-minute shift, and kept the same flight number) will erase your seat assignment on the FI operated flight.

 

Good. You found the AS award travel page for FI.