HomerJay

Folks, to make it clear, this is NOT about the extra room premium coach seats in the first rows of Coach class - or even those seats close to the front that allow you to exit the plane earlier.

This is about how AA blocks off all (or nearly all) the window and aisle seats in the back portion of the coach section on some flights so that families cannot select seats together anywhere on the plane in advance without paying extra.

And this certainly DOES affect other customers. I surely don't want an unaccompanied five year old sitting next to me.

rjw242

Then I suppose the next question is: given how adamant you are about how this DOES affect other customers, what data to you have to back this up? People on travel boards love to wring their hands over the poor hypothetical children hypothetically sitting all by their hypothetical selves. Does this ever happen to children that are too young to hack it on their own? In my experience, airlines have always managed to either find volunteers or move other passengers by fiat in order to accommodate families, so this argument always seems to peter out into nonsense hypotheticals.

RogerD408

Yes, the airline will do what it can at the gate or onboard the plane. However, if it was me, I would not wait that long. If AA does not want to accommodate my family without imposing extra fees, I will find an airline that will. The lost opportunity costs can be substantial here. Not to mention the overhead of having the GA/FA trying to work this out (heaven forbid PDBs get delayed or skipped, oh wait...). The fee for that seat is gone in no time.

Sant

Who wants to be responsible for a minor sitting next to them if the aircraft needs to be evacuated? Would passengers assist the child as if the kid is their relative? If the parent is sitting a few rows ahead, what is the likelihood that the parent will be heading in the opposite direction to get to the child?

s0ssos

Has anyone actually tried calling AA to say they are a family and if they can get seats together? I think it is likely an agent would let you do it. There is too much liability with minors nowadays.

Amex For Children Of Africa

I don't get why they wouldn't even allow you to purchase these "premium" seats(I think we can all agree their is nothing "premium" about them). Instead of the $60 to go MCE they should allow you to at least purchase the "premium" seats for $20-30. Not even having that option makes group bookings with AA way more expensive then the other carriers.

jaimelannister

And yet, there are many in this thread clamoring for access to them! I think it's fair to say that aisle and windows, regardless how far back, are most certainly "premium" compared to the middle seats.

rjw242

Particularly on this elite-heavy route with few economy seats, and if they're trying to ensure every elite is at least able to have their choice of aisle or window.

dmsdfw

Like it or not, the bulk of AA's revenue comes from frequent flyers and these are the people that often book late and who expect a decent seat. If only middle seats are left a day or two before the flight because all the good ones have been sold off then AA risks alienating their bread and butter.

Incidentally, to put it into perspective, BA doesn't allow non elites to select any seat until 24 hours before departure - even, in some cases, people who have paid for business class.

RogerD408

Allowing children to book a "premium seat" for free to prevent the mad scramble at boarding would not have a major impact on availability and save a lot of time and frustration for the parent, AA, and other flyers. Accommodating travelling families has a lot of upside and little downside. Now that dynamic may change for heavy vacation routes like to MCO, but still a positive in the end.

Maybe it's just the way I was raised, but I still insist upon holding the door for ladies and I am not in such a hurry that I have to be in front of everyone else.

aamilesslave

Says who? Just saying this to try to justify your point doesn't make it true.

RogerD408

Taking it out of context does not make it false either.

Not allowing this to happen adds a burden upon the families, who happen to be paying a good amount of money to travel as it is. Forcing them to either pay more or wait until day of travel and then enlist the assistance of the GAs and FAs to shuffle around passengers that have settled into having the preassigned seats takes them away from other duties.

Are these not issues with the boarding process today for people flying with children? Would they not be mitigated by allowing children to book into "premium" seats at time of booking? Would you leave your child next to strangers? Would you like to be sitting next to an unattended child? If as a family travel planner, would you not choose an airline that was child friendly for travel? If you flew a particular airline (and maybe obtained status) in your younger years, wouldn't you consider continuing flying them as an adult (provided they still existed)?

I'm just trying to look at this objectively without total focus on how I benefit. I don't have kids (that I know of at least). I do see how it could cause the boarding process to go smoother. I do believe that it will eliminate some of the delays or at least distractions during the boarding process.

Microwave

For what it's worth, BA do allow advance seat selection to non-elites... for a fee. The situation is much the same: if you want to be sure you'll have adjacent seats, best to pay for the privilege. Because so many people choose seats at check-in, it's likely that a family could choose adjacent seats if they check in right at 24 hours, however I've seen some short-haul flights (especially LCY flights with small planes) where check-in opens 24 hours early and all seats have an adjacent seat taken. It's even more common that there are no empty rows of 3 at check-in for short haul flights.

At the end of the day, airlines balance the allocation of product: do they save that more valuable seat for their more valuable customers, or do they give that more valuable seat to a less valuable customer in exchange for goodwill and possible future business?

I believe that recent moves in the industry are underscoring the desire of US-based legacies to carve their product into two categories: cost-driven leisure customers, and higher value business customers. This is being done through minimum spend requirements (DL, UA), so-called "basic" tickets which include very few 'frills' (DL), limited ability to pre-select seats (all), lower mileage earning rates on cheaper flights (all), and so on. With the entire market slowly shifting toward providing fewer "traditional" benefits to cost-driven leisure customers, your hypothetical travel planner is left right back where he/she started: buying the cheapest ticket, then forking out for bags, seats and food. I genuinely don't think airlines see much value in the goodwill generated through giving away unbundled products to cost-driven flyers in exchange for potential future revenue. Whether this is correct or not, who knows.

Sant

When one sums the base fare, seat assignment, bags, etc., the airline with the cheapest base fare may end up being the costliest to fly.

ijgordon

What does that mean exactly? And frankly, I'd dispute that statement, relative to many business travelers who purchase close-in, often refundable fares on nearly-full flights.