What makes these seats special?
 

I just noticed that AA has new graphics in their seat selection pages, with new colors like pinks, purples, etc.

As a Gold, I was able to get the Exit row (fingers crossed that the upgrade to Biz comes through!).

The AA chart shows seats in rows 23 - 27 highlighted in purple, with the notation that these are "Preferred Seats". (however, row 26 is excluded) In checking Seat Guru, there's no indication that there's anything special about them. In fact, in a few of them, seatguru thinks they're worse because of the difficulty in seeing the movie screen from some of them, while in others, they're less desirable because of the close proximity to the lavatory's (noise, more people around you, etc). While all of these seats offer power ports, so do others scattered around the plane, which are not keyed as "preferred".

So, why are these seats "Preferred" according to AA? And, because they're noted at Preferred, is there an additional charge to sit in them? If so, is that charge for Gold, Plat and EXP's?
Seems odd that AA views a Preferred Seat where SeatGuru see's one that's less desirable.

Because they are nearer to the front, so you can smell the aroma of freshly baked cookies and free booze being handed out.

BM

Wishing you were a few seats ahead to make into the J/F cabin.:cool: Seriously, other than Y seats under airport control, I did not think that the forward Y seats were offlimits to non elites.

Historically, no.

No extra charge to sit in them. Many people prefer to sit near the front, esp. if they are making connections so AA holds these seats aside for elites.

Right! And according to Seatguru, you can't see the movie screen as easily, and you'll be disturbed by people going in/out of the lavs.

Obviously, if a pax has a connecting flight, they want to be as close as possible to the front, but other than that, I still don't see why these seats are "preferred", even when I clicked on the link that passinginterest gave. People in that thread are thrilled about it but I still don't see why.

Interesting.... a full fledged AA board type discussion without one mention of the possible type aircraft involved.:)

mike

Well, the OP is from NYC and has mentioned there is a Biz class. Unless they are flying Int'l I'd guess it's a 3-class 762...

And I thought I was the only one who noticed that. :)

ignore the AA markings and go by seatguru. there is no fee - it's just that non-elite status passengers can't select those seats.

good luck with the upgrades - but don't get your hopes up too high. that still leaves all the exec plats and plats ahead of you on the upgrade list.

I have an upcoming MD80 flight: rows 7 & 8 are airport control, as usual. 9ABD 10ABD are reserved as premium coach seats.

I do have the exit row and I'm staying, especially since the seat next to me is still vacant. The flight is very open, and there are plenty of rows 3 across which are still totally open.

I'm just still searching for the answer as to why AA thinks that these are better seats. So far, no one has come up with a reason. Gee, I thought you all knew everything! :)
One person suggested it was because they're closer to the front. That doesn't fit because on my outbound AA shows rows 20, 23, 24, and 25 as Preferred, while row 22 is not Preferred. And on my inbound flight, the Preferred rows are: 20, 23, 24, 25, and 27, with 26 not preferred. So the closer to the front theory doesn't fly.

At first, I thought it might have to do with an extra inch or two of legroom, however, it's the same aircraft outbound and inbound, so why would row 27 be preferred in one direction and not the other?


Thanks. I've got my fingers crossed. So far Biz Class, and Coach sections are half empty.

MikeSilv - The aircraft is a 767-200. I didn't mention it because I didn't think it was relevant.

Does it really matter why? Generally they are closer to the front. But the real point is that there is a subset of seats reserved for elites only, which, if executed properly, provides a late-booking, high-fare elite passenger with a better chance at not getting stuck in a middle seat in the back of the plane. It's about time AA did this.

Of course they are special. They made you post to FT, didn't they?

I didn't get in in time to get an exit row on LHR-LAX at Xmas, but I got these strange preferred seats. They just seem to be each aisle seat going upto row 34. :confused: Oh well, picked some others and hope exit row becomes available on both legs