Check-in time and tips to get best seats if ticketed in Basic Economy?
 

Hello,

Tried to search for this but couldn't find much. When is the best time to check in for a Basic Economy fare to try to score the best seats? I know with Frontier I always check in as late as possible (like an hour before takeoff) and it usually works pretty well. Is AA Basic Economy set up the same way? Or should I try to check in as early as possible?

Thanks!

The best time is when there are good/better seats open and no bad ones. That is sometime between T-24 hours and T-90 minutes.

If there is an aisle MCE and a middle near the lav, you are going into the latter. If there is only the aisle MCE, that is where you are going.

No way to predict this in advance.

Ditto. Likely you won't end up any worse off had you checked in at T-24.

For me it's "buy a seat at T-48." We will be traveling with a lap child for the next 18 months or so, and you don't want Little Meathead and me (or Little Meathead and Mrs. Meathead) in the middle next to you, trust me.

Another question BE-Trying to get a decent seat
 

Sorry if this has been asked before. I have looked everywhere.

Booked BE seat (it's now 26 hours before flight) and I am looking at Expert Flyer. There are 2 seats in row 18 (not MCE)
and four blocked off in the last row.

If I check in now, will I be offered seat 18? Don't want the last row and would be willing to wait until 2 hours before the
flight to get MCE. However, this is flying into MSP-with the blizzard going on.

you should generally expect the system to give you the worst unoccupied seat whenever you ultimately check in

Yea, here's a similar question from not too long ago:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...est-seats.html

There are showing blocked off seats in the last row and 2 free seats in Row 18. If I check in now as BE, which do you think I will get?

Thank you for finding that. Understood BE is awful. But is a blocked off seat gonna show for me or is that something else?

I don't think they will try and seat you in a blocked seat, and the later you check in the better the chance you get a MCE seat for free if the map is fairly full..

They also assign middle seats first so if there's a middle seat open its likely yours.

Best rule of thumb would be wait until around T-1 to T-2 to check in. At worst you end up with a bad seat, which is what you paid for. At best, you end up with a MCE seat although likely a middle seat.

So somebody on a cheapo BE fair can potentially get an MCE seat if they play the game (and worst case, they get a rear middle seat - what they paid for) - all while those on normal fare tickets are stuck in their selected seats that aren't MCE, and could not select MCE even within 24 hours of booking?

Way to go, AA.

Just a data point - I have seen people checking in on BE tickets get assigned to a seat that was blocked. To be cautious, I'd consider those to be potentially assignable seats that the system might drop you in.

Thank you! I will do that-but if the flight is oversold (and I think it will be given weather cancellations the day before) is there any
danger I could be IDB?

Marlin, I see you participated in the last thread, which was already referenced earlier. The answer has not changed since then. You will get the worst seat still available, commensurate with the fare you purchased.

Of course the best option is to just buy the MCE seat.

Thank you. I'll report back.

To me the only way this works properly is if AA takes the last few rows of Y, takes the rows down to 28 inch pitch and offer those seats for BE. Once they sell out of those seats the buyer would only have the option of Main Cabin. That way the buyer gets what they paid for. AA could even require $$ for soft drinks for that section.

I think BE is headed this way (courtesy of MadTV)

The biggest problem for this is when people miss a connection and get re-booked on the next available flight and all that is left are these seats. Yes, you would probably be able to wait until the next available flight with regular main cabin seats, but it is a big negative repercussion that could help push some people away from the airline.

I did find it surprising that BE regularly get MCE middle seats still especially after they added free drinks.

I would imagine they would have only offered it to paid or status MCE by using the tablets. Although, it's possible the IT system is unable to handle this.

Well I assume it would be the same for flyers that have a J seat. They miss the connection to Europe or SA and what's left is coach, or they wait. In general it shouldn't have a huge effect. Load factors wouldn't change that much. I would think AA could easily sell off the last few rows of Y on BE fares and I wouldn't see many of them going out empty.

Just wanted to report that I had good luck with checking in at T-1.5 hours
All seats were taken on ExpertFlyer and 4 seats in the back were marked with an X. Somehow, I got row 13 aisle.

I find it annoying that any non-elite passengers ever get MCE seats they didn't pay for. First, as mentioned earlier in the thread, in an IRROPS situation, it would be nice if the MCE seats were available. Second, having an empty middle seat should also be something that occurs from time to time.

Would be nice! Those purchasing BE have to sit somewhere though, and AA should be assigning them to MCE only if there aren't any other seats available at the time. Not sure what else they could do short of waiting to assign BE seats until right at boarding to ensure MCE seats are filled only as a last resort. They aren't going to let those seats fly empty and bump a BE passenger with an unassigned seat to protect the prestige, hah.

I wonder if BE flyers that end up in MCE are even aware of the free alcohol benefit? I would expect most are not, even if it's mentioned in passing over the PA.

So you can buy BE, wait for last minute to get an assigned seat, actually get assigned a MCE seat, and get a free drink. Excellent motivator for the Kettles.

Rarely will FAs ever announce the MCE benefit. It only happened once that I know of. I was sitting alone in row 10 on a LUS321 on a half full flight so obviously I wasn't a BE refugee. (At 10AM the FA kept asking me if I wanted a free drink). I would agree those that end up in MCE because of no other seats are clueless to the free alcoholic drink benefit. However, providing someone the possibility that they might get more legroom as a "punishment" for buying the cheapest fare seems nonsensical.

Rather than assign the BE seats at check-in, what about assigning seats as they are purchased, starting with last row middle, next to last row middle, etc. Or do they want to leave some middles open for people traveling together? Surely that could be accommodated by just leaving some of the middles open toward the middle of the plane.

I don't think I've ever said middle so many times in one paragraph.

I'm assuming the inability to secure a seat assignment at booking is mean't to "scare people into buying into Main Cabin." AA does make sure that a child is always seated next to at least one parent/guardian so yes they do need to keep some middle seats open.

If at 24 hours out the seat map shows only MCE seats, does it make sense to check in at that time to secure one of those seats? If that's the scenario, why wait until T-2hrs?

Well ... as a sapphire was given a seat in PE (unsold cabin) despite flying basic fare.

Wasn't expecting it, but was a good flight managed to snooze off too.

Yes if the app gives you a MCE seat for no charge by all means grab it immediately. I'm assuming that if only MCE is left at T-24 that's what you're given. However, I think that probably the exception.

So if
Row 20 : window available
Row 19 : window, aisle available
Row 18 middle available

and I check in will I get 20 window or 18 middle ?

Update: I did not check in yet. But in the past hour since I first created this post the 18 middle went. So I think the way it will work is that the $19 middles in rows 12-14 will be assigned to BE prior to a $27 seat like 20a or 19c. So I am sticking with T-1/T-2

flight leaving in 10 hours so I doubt I will get a response before then


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ab4a6fef0a.jpg

Checked in about T-1.5. Got 14E. Not MCE.

Kind of annoyed, have to do this route often but AA is o nly nonstop Fll CLT and rt difference between main and BE is over $250

There were also empty seats on flight.

Will gate agents give exit rows to Be passengers

That has been my experience. With an incredibly small sample size (4 flights in BE), I'm at 100% this year for free MCE. If you're traveling with another person, the algorithm will try to seat you together. Not bad, all things considered.

How does expert flyer work? Only see paid alerts,?