mrwangkai

Morning! I'm booked on a multi-segments AA Y itinerary. And as a Plat, I was currently able to select Main Cabin Extra seats for free.

After consulting with WhereToCredit, it makes more sense to switch my earning to Etihad. However, switching that FF# now will mean losing the ability to select Main Cabin Extra seats.

And so my question is, if I were to switch the FF# at the airport counter, would I lose my Main Cabin Extra seat selections (either for that segment or the entire itinerary)?

Thanks!

DeltaFlyingProf

AA specifically specifies you cannot use benefits you get from having status and then credit to another airline.
It may be unlikely they will act on it if you do it once, but I wouldn't risk it too many time.

ajeleonard

Technically yes, but if you did it after check in it seems unlikely they would actually re-seat you

ThreeJulietTango

As others have mentioned, you are technically not eligible to use your AAdvantage benefits when crediting to another frequent flier program, but the odds are infinitesimally small that you would lose your MCE seat assignments. There is certainly no automation in place to drop or change the seats if the frequent flier number is changed, and even the most hardline agents I've seen have bigger things to worry about, especially considering that MCE seats are frequently automatically assigned to non-status passengers.

The only possible drawback I can foresee happening is that a more desirable MCE seat opens up, at which point you would be unable to change your seat assignment without incurring the charge (or putting your AAdvantage number back on the reservation).

mrwangkai

Thanks guys, this is helpful. Fingers crossed, and will report back!

tkelvin69

Why not change your number now and pay for the seats if that is the best option? Really shouldn't exploit benefits you aren't entitled to.

JonNYC

I agree.

flyerguy1975

Exploiting your benefits IS the reason why there are program changes. Continue to try and cheat the airline and eventually that seat benefit will go away.

JonNYC

Only a tiny % of "[AAdv] program changes" are driven by that.

jagoffee

It Is very unlikely to ever happen, but...
AA could say that you can change you FF status/earning to another airline only if you pay for seat upgrade we gave. Or we can move you.

I wonder if anyone has ever tried this after being upgraded to First Class?

iadisgreat

Hopefully it does.

ThreeJulietTango

I personally don't think switching frequent flier numbers results in sufficient loss of revenue to AA to justify them cracking down on it.

I think system limitations would prevent the frequent flier number from being changed after using stickers to upgrade since the stickers have to be pulled from an AAdvantage account. Changing the number to a non-AA one would make the passenger ineligible for the upgrade and the system wouldn't even allow them to be put on the list, much less clear.

jay_dubya

I think the question is about changing after the upgrade clears.

mvoight

I think doing it at the gate would make you more likely to lose the seats, than doing it elsewhere.
That said, you would be violating the rules.

formeraa

Right, but those pesky auditing programs have been put into effect...