kksBismark

I had long-standing reservations on AA for FCO-ORD in September with PE 6A & 6C reserved on 787-8. AA had a schedule change (not a change of gauge, flight number, routing, etc) and arbitrarily moved my spouse in 6A to 6H, separating us and providing an aisle vs reserved window. Before I caught it, someone booked 6A. Contacted Reservations and asked that whoever they stuck in 6A be moved to 6H, with an explanation that AA made a mistake. Was told "nothing can be done--system did it--we have no control or ability to change--check at the airport on day of flight" etc. Contacted Customer Relations. After a week, was told "we can't change--polices and procedures prohibit," "keep checking online to see if 6A opens up" and "check at airport." E-mailed Julie Rath, VP in charge of CR--nothing.

There is an easy fix to an obvious screw up, but all I get is "can't be done" when in reality AA is saying they won't do it--without having the courtesy of telling why they won't. Been Advantage member since 1986 and have never had this happen. Any suggestions would be welcome.

dkc192

Think about it from the perspective of the passenger who is now occupying 6A. When they booked and chose the then-vacant 6A, they certainly didn't know that you formerly occupied that seat but were mistakenly booted. Why should AA boot them and cause a potential similar situation with them demanding to be moved back to 6A? You'd just end up with a never-ending back-and-forth over who's getting booted from which seats.

Not trying to defend AA booting you from 6A--that is clearly a screwup on their part. IMO you are entitled to some goodwill gesture as a "sorry" for their screwup (good luck getting this from them though--they'll just tell you that seat assignments aren't guaranteed), but screwing over a third, innocent party is inappropriate.

As for an alternative solution: are 6JL available?

redtop43

I'm not immediately familiar with the seat layout, but perhaps you could just ask someone to trade.

I was recently in 2L on a 787 and the pax in 3L asked to trade with me because his SO was in 1L. (Not sure offhand why they didn't try for the two interior seats on a 1-2-1 config.) I said sure. Admittedly some people are passionate about aisle vs. window. But in a premium cabin it might not be too hard.

JMN57

It's been like this forever and is certainly frustrating. If you have ExpertFlyer, put an alert on seats in the cabin that you might want (next to you, next to SO) and if one frees up, make the change. Otherwise, best bet (as someone else pointed out) is to see if someone will swap. Unfortunately, 6H is an aisle in the middle three so someone with a window might not want it. If there is any window open in PE, you should switch SO to that seat. At least then you have two people (an aisle and a window) where you could do an equivalent swap.

arollins

Unfortunately, seats are not guaranteed. Sucks because you book, and try to get the best seat available at the time. As others mentioned, an Expert Flyer subscription with seat alerts comes in handy for this. Best to try an prepare for an even seat change to have a better chance for someone accepting.

I noticed you posted a thread on the UA forum about a GA bumping you from your seat to accommodate a couple that wanted to travel together. Goes to show you how "reserved" seats goes. Good luck.

JMN57

Absolutely agree. People want to help but, particularly on a long flight, nobody is going to want to swap a "good" seat for an inferior one. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone try to swap a middle for an aisle or a window. Doesn't go well and it is amazing how many people get indignant about it (as if they would agree if the shoe was on the other foot). You probably stand a good chance of swapping 6c for 6e worst case but that means being in a middle.

Carolina2Cali

I forget what airline it was but there was a thread like two days ago where an agent just changed around seat assignments because someone nicely asked (and screwed over the original pax). But when there’s a legit screwup… nope! lol. Now I don’t think it would be fair EITHER to the new person… but if they are solo perhaps another row would be all the same.

Antarius

Exactly. The passenger in 6A is in the same boat as the OP, they'd be equally pissed if they got kicked out for no good reason (from their perspective).

GrayAnderson

I mean, I think quite a few folks in the "6A position" would, in the event of being moved, be mollified with an email saying "Look, we screwed up and we've moved you to accommodate a married couple who were inadvertently separated due to a computer cock-up on our end. Here's a batch of miles or a lounge pass for either end of the reip, and if you want to change seats, or flights, as a result of this we'll waive the fees associated with doing so." I know some folks wouldn't, but if there was a "bull by the horns" explanation along with a proactive goodwill gesture...

...all of which, I know, is a bit much to expect from AA.

writerguyfl

It was United:
Infuriating poaching on UA w/ gate agent’s help

TPJ

If I am a 6A passenger, I would expect AA to contact me to check, if I am OK with this change, right? But what if AA does not have my contact info: passenger is a non-AAdvantage member (so AA cannot access passenger profile), reservation was made in non-SABRE GDS etc. So then what? AA moves me arbitrarily to another seat? Rather not... This is probably why they have this blanket 'we cannot facilitate seat swaps' policy.

PS. Even if Travel Agent or OTA added contact info in CTCE/CTCM SSR format (https://saleslink.aa.com/en-US/docum...er_Contact.pdf) these can be used strictly or IROPS purposes. Seat swap is not an IROP

fotographer

I have always wondered... if you book seats, and their is no equipment change.. how is it that AA and other airlines
too, can change your seats?
It has happened to me when I travel with my wife... fortunately we were able to change them back....

cmd320

Given there was a schedule change you can always just cancel the ticket and rebook on another flight/airline.

MarkOK

Maybe I am in the minority opinion, but I think AA SHOULD by all means kick out the new 6A passenger and reassign a seat. The OP already picked that seat, well beforehand, and it makes no sense to me to protect the new 6A passenger at the expense of the one that has already picked it (presumably months?) ago. AA should throw points and an apology at the OP for the hassle of them having to call to get this corrected.

"it hAApens" and "the new person shouldn't deal with a seat change" aren't reasonable excuses IMO for the OP's position.

kksBismark

"The passenger in 6A is in the same boat as the OP, they'd be equally pissed if they got kicked out for no good reason"

Maybe. However, at present AA has: 1) two long-time AAdvantage PO'ed pax, or 2) one pax who might be PO'ed if reassigned. A dilemma to be sure, but from a CR perspective the former would seem to me to be more problematic. In 40+ transatlantic roundtrips over the years--most of which were probably on AA--I've not had this occur before. With comparable PE products, I'm far more likely to book Delta or UA next time. While I might experience similar treatment from them, I haven't to date.