cova

If you don't select a seat - you will need get one at the gate. You can't board without a specific seat assignment on the boarding pass.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

As I understand it for BE you will be offered a seat by aa.com, which could be MCE or preferred if nothing else is available. For non elite Main Cabin you can pay for a preferred seat or a MCE seat or choose from one of the non preferred seats available. Otherwise, you can wait to check in at the airport by kiosk or agent, or possibly be given a pass to get through Security in which you will get your seat from the GA.

GetSetJetSet

They're welcome to do whatever they want, but if SWU becomes Y-->PE, the SWU loses all utility and I will not bother requalifying EXP. I simply will not fly long haul in PE. Why would I want to buy PE then hope a SWU clears when I can probably just outright buy J on another carrier for a similar price. If AA ruins the final remaining benefits of status, i'll probably switch back to UA, since the *A partner network is better and most of the time I find cheaper J itineraries with *A parters than OW anyway.

nk15

I think a lot of people still fly AA out of habit from when they still had the better FFP program...their ffp is now becoming clearly the worst of the three legacies and these final straws should convince people to switch elsewhere or just become free agents...

Cledaybuck

lowfareair

The big thing I see is Gold get free MCE at T-24. If a BE fare on a connection like SYR-PHL-MIA checks in at T-24 and the PHL-MIA sector only has MCE available, they will get it, bypassing a Gold flying nonstop PHL-MIA who only gets access to free MCE 24 hours before that departure. They may not get MCE now, or get a middle when the BE fare got the last aisle, etc.

Cledaybuck

golfingboy

IMHO Basic Economy customers should not get any seat assignment until T-1 hour.

This ensures customers who SDFC or purchases last minute ticket has a higher chance of securing a confirmed seat.

rowingman

How is it that AA has the "worst" ffp of the legacy 3? SWUs still operate on any fare basis. UAL still completely sucks (plastic plates in First, hit or miss wifi, a general hatred directed toward their paying customers etc). DL "sky pesos" are, well, sky pesos. I will take the 321T, the 789, the 773 and do what I can. Devaluation, yes. Sad, but nothing lasts. They are responding to the market and the vast majority who just don't care.

IADCAflyer

Are you saying that you believe that AA is going to yank this as a benefit in its upcoming revisions or that its a current charge for certain customers?

Dave Noble

I don't understand the question - a regular passenger can get a 'better' seat at the airport for no charge ; the check in desk at, say LHR, will not charge a normal economy ticket holder a fee for a different seat

The charge made by AA online is for advance seat selection - similar to how other airlines operate in charging for seat selection

rumboj

brooklynite

Hi everyone. Long time reader, first time poster. Please be gentle as I dont know the posting rules here very well!

So my wife and I have over 140K miles each for about 1p years and I keep refreshing them in hopes that one day I can use them but it is getting harder and harder.

Originally we got the miles hoping we ca use40K miles to Europe. Well most of those are now 60K. Ok fine.

Then there are layovers. Its getting al.ost impossible to get ticket with aa miles without a layover or massive UK airport taxes. The layovers to Madrid are 12 hours in Dallas mostly overnight and in a way that is impossible with a family. Arrive at 11pm fly out at 10am?? So sleep in the airport? Or flights with layover in London that have $180+ taxes. Heck I can buy a flight to London for less than $400 these days.

So my question is, can someone please show me a single Europe direct flight from LAX that I can take with 60K miles and small taxes or $60ish pp? At this point I just want to identify miles and dont even cade which City in Europe.

Thanks a lot!

nachosdelux

The lack of saver availability, with decent flights/connections if frustrating.

You could call AA and have an agent search for saver availability on the dates you require, and see what comes up - tell them you don't care what cities in Europe (or have a list)

you could just keep checking yourself, or you could hire an award search service that will do this for a fee.

With a long airport (overnight) layover I would get a hotel room at the airport. Cost of doing business, unfortunately.

Perhaps someone on Flyertalk with more time than me can give you some specific help.

good luck!

cmtlatitudes

There are award search services that do this for a fee? Wow. I have been away from the Award game for a long time.

Are there any decent ones folks here would recommend? LoL. The amount of time I have spent in the past two weeks trying to a) come up to speed on AA's program, partners, and nuances specific to possible destinations I'd consider, and b) actually trying to look for awards, is actually becoming nonsensical. An absurd amount of time, even to me who loves travel and plan travel and learn about travel.

Along with this general topic, how much easier would my life be in looking for awards, if I subscribed to EF? Is it user friendly? / How big is the learning curve to use?