TL/DR: American's website/app wanted me to pay $63 for a seat labeled as MCE that had no extra legroom or width, was not an exit row, and was not very close to the front of the plane. The gate agent even said those seats are not MCE and he appears to be correct. How/why?

Full:

Earlier this week, I asked if I should keep my randomly, freely assigned MCE seat on my 777.200 (version 2 I believe) flight from Miami to LAX, as it was a "middle" and whether the legroom and free drinks is worth being stuck in the middle versus moving to a non-MCE aisle seat. To be clear, before the day of check in, the seat I was assigned, in row 29 (seat E I think), costs $63 if I wanted to pick it, and was in orange. As were the seats around it. There were also some $30 something green seats, as well as the few free blue seats.

In Jacksonville, the lady at the desk at my gate said she cannot move me to an aisle MCE until 30 minutes before the flight, or it will charge her also. No problem.

At Miami, I ask if they can move me to the aisle seat exactly next to my seat, as it was listed as both MCE AND an aisle. The guy said oh no, that's not MCE. Neither is the seat you're in now. But I can find an aisle for you. And he did, in row 22. It was ok, super narrow, but luckily the girl's seat next to me had a broken tv and eventually she moved to another row. (Side story, she was visiting from Ecuador, when she came to get in her seat rather than wait for me to get up she squished over my lap and basically gave me a lap dance/rub. she was hot, too bad I am gay. but ...?! Girl.....)

During the flight, I went to go examine row 29, to see if it was indeed any better than row 22. NO! It was identical. Same narrow seats, same leg room, no special markings... and I doubt they got free drinks either. So... my question is... how can the airline claim it is MCE and ask for an extra $63?? Does the flight attendant know you're special and bring you the free cocktails? You certainly don't get the "up to 6 inches of additional leg room" - unless thats the caveat, UP TO, but could be ZERO.

What am I missing here? Why would it be labeled as such? And how did the gate agent know but the app "did not?" I am 99.9 percent certain there was not an equipment change.

AA's seat preview and Seatguru both show Row 29 as MCE on 772_v2 and not on 772_v1. Why are you certain there wasn't an equipment change from what was originally loaded in the reservation system?

What day did you fly? (assuming it was AA314, 6pm, the only MIA-LAX on a 777). Was your Row 22 seat right in front of the lav, with only 22A and B, no seats C through L in row 22?

From the flightradar24 tail numbers and this 772 upgrade status, the last 4 days had configurations with Premium Economy, meaning 29 is an MCE seat. (4 have BEA seats, 2 have Zodiac seats, but all are PE upgraded)

(Updated - read the table incorrectly)

Tuesday, the 4th, yes, flight 314. I assumed there was no equipment change because the incoming flight was basically on time, from Madrid Spain, and the seat map on the day of the flight was kept the same. If I had paid the $63 and there was an equipment change, would I be refunded? I didn't pay it but none the less, now generically curious.

I am confident now I was on version 2, because version 1 does not have a row 22 in the middle portion of the plane and I was 100 percent in seat 22D.

So it was aircraft N770AN - a v2 with PE that shows 29 as MCE. Seatguru reports it as having extra legroom.

It looks like a similar question was asked, but there was no reply. It does seem hard to understand how middle seats in a row would have extra legroom when the seats on the sides do not. Without a tape measure or other means to verify, I guess there's no way to know.

(AA shows the split in rows 20 and 29, seatguru does not, so there's not even consistent data.)

Weird. I would have been PISSED if I paid the money. And they certainly weren't offering us any free wine, but then again, I had indeed been moved to 22.

"Same narrow seats, "

MCE doesn't mean you get a wider seat, although on some planes you might. I have a MIA-DFW flight in November that has premium economy available as MCE