azepine00

Aside from looking up configuration in the manual it's gonna be hard to convince a FA who believes it is one extra mask per block of seats which of course is the case in coach.

That issue aside after having flown with twins quit a bit IMHO buying a row of 3 in Y is far more comfortable than two seats in domestic F with two lap infants.
International lie flat is a different story...

dmp614

Thanks, @azepine00. I am sure you're right that 3 Y seats is better than 2 F seats at a point. But our girls are small/young enough that they stay strapped into their chest carriers the whole flight. They're not yet mature enough for us to plop one into the 3rd seat and expect her to do anything other than immediately dive for the floor!


Had an amazing flight attendant yesterday who gave me the location of the facts in the FA manual. Posting in hopes it helps someone else in the future:

Flight Attendant Electronic Reference: Aircraft General: Oxygen / O2 Quantities - pages 11-8-6 & 11-8-7

There's a table showing all the aircraft in AA's fleet and the number of masks per row or seat group in each cabin. It clearly shows that there are 4 masks on each side of the aisle the full length of an AA 737.

(And leaving ORD yesterday we had the TA, GA, a former 737 pilot, and the #1 FA all tell us that there were only 3 masks in F on an AA 737. When pressed, the #1 FA said she'd find the facts in her manual (I wasn't hopeful since other FA's said they couldn't find anything conclusive) and check with the pilot. She quickly and effortlessly found the table above showing quite positively that there are 4 O2 masks in F on a 737 and the Pilot immediately agreed with the book. Hilariously about 30 minutes from landing another FA happened to walk by us and did a double take at 2 adults and 2 infants together. She turned on her heel and marched up to the #1 FA and got into a heated exchange about how we were breaking the rules. She practically got into a fist-fight over it. The #1 pulled up the table and showed it to her, and she was still unhappy. She stalked back to coach and refused to look at us. Ah the joys of flying AA.)

aisleorwindow

Slightly OT, but will be flying with our new baby for the first time in a few months (hopefully in F) and curious if parents here would suggest bulkhead row 3 vs. one of the other rows.

In general, I don't care for bulkheads, because I like to have my carryon handy under my seat, but it's not about me anymore

dmp614

Hi @aisleorwindow

For us, non-bulkhead is definitely better. We actually prefer row 6 (last row) as I feel like we're bothering the fewest number of folks and we can spread out a bit more without being a spectacle. We've got a load of stuff we like to have at our feet - diaper bag, toy bag, food bag, etc. I can't imagine having to put everything up in the bin when travelling with infants.

As always YMMV.

3Cforme

I don't know if AA uses these - Alaska does - but if the bulkhead seatbelts contain airbags, bulkhead seats won't be an option for you.

https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2014/0...ircraft-seats/

coolcoil

When traveling alone, I avoid the bulkhead for the same reason. However, I prefer it when traveling with kids. When they are babies, it's not so important where you sit, though I still prefer the bulkhead because you can move around without having to worry about hitting the seat in front of you.

When they are old enough to move around, it's essential. I spent too many flights policing the kids' feet to make sure they were not "kicking" the seat in front of them. When you're a little kid and buckled in, your legs stick straight out and any squirming is going to lead to contact between your feet and the seat back. Plus, in a bulkhead the kids can get down on the floor to play without having to worry about bothering the people in front. For me, the bulkhead seats really reduced the stress of flying with little ones.

econometrics

We also avoid the bulkhead when traveling with our kids. You always have a lot of odds and ends with children, and it's inconvenient having to get everything out of the overhead bin during TT/L.

ThreeJulietTango

Independent of the actual number of masks, I don't believe AA's system lets agents assign two travelers with lap infants to the same block of seats.

cestmoi123

So, just booked AA seats using BA Avios, and discovered something very odd. Or, maybe not odd, maybe it's just me. Apparently, AA is fine with a child carseat being in a middle seat. They assigned us DE on a 737. I called in to move to EF, but they said they can't make that seat change (although F is definitely free). When I've flown with the carseat on other carriers in the past, the requirement has always been that it be in a window, so as not to block egress. I guess that's not AA's policy. Pretty bizarre, IMHO, since, in the event of an evacuation, there's no way the person in F will be able to get out without clambering over the carseat, and I'm certainly not going to stop to unbuckle the carseat from the seat to move it out of the way.

I suppose I can ask the gate to page the person in F, and ask if they'll move to D. I don't like seat poaching, otherwise, I'd just take EF when I board.

3Cforme

I would interpret this as a likely failure of the seat reservation system. Car seat at the window seems to have been a universal rule.

cestmoi123

Looking at the AA website, it doesn't seem to be, and, when I called, the rep put me on hold to check, and came back saying that it wasn't a rule for AA, so she couldn't change the seats.

mvoight

I am a bit confused about why they won't give you F if the seat is available, as normally D and F in the same row have similar restrictions (MCE, preferred, etc). Is this a standard seat or is there no seat in front of it, making it an MCE seat, for example

cestmoi123

Standard seat. When I look at the website, every seat is greyed out, and the rep said they can't change my seats at all. Was booked with BA Avios, and there's some commentary I've seen (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...-ba-avios.html) that there's some sort of website glitch going on making seat assignment difficult/impossible. Tweeted at them, we'll see if that helps.

suec1

My daughter used a travel agent to book flights for her BKK to ATL - this was about a month ago. She flies out Monday - ATL/LAX/NRT/BKK. Today she looks at the itinerary and notices on the LAX NRT flight her children, ages 8 and 3! are not next to her. One is in an aisle seat (L)- four seats away from her,(D) the other is two rows behind her but same seat (D). So she called and was on hold for quite awhile, then told to call back 24 hours out. I can see a seat map - of course seats that are open, together, are "preferred" with an empty middle. Any thoughts on what to expect - surely NO ONE (except MAYBE my daughter) wants to be seated next to these children with their mother several seats away!

GNRMatt

Few items:
1) If you use a travel agent, you should work with them to resolve issues. That's what you're paying them for. If they don't help you, why even use them?
2) What kind of tickets did they buy? First? Business? Premium Economy? Economy? Basic Economy? Depending on the type of purchase, you can't pre-select seats. If they bought basic economy, seat selection is not part of that purchase.
3) Seats do fluctuate and the airlines do try to sit little kids with at least one adult on their reservation. These things do tend to work themselves out, but if you want guaranteed seats together, you may need to pay for them. Again though, you're paying a travel agent to handle this for you. What have they said about this?