Dec 10, 2015, 9:45 am
Last edit by: Prospero
Booking an extra seat on for POS (Persons Of Size) or other reasons
American Airlines sells adjacent seats for various reasons; the most common one is for persons of size who can't comfortably occupy a single "Main Cabin" (Economy) seat, though others might consider purchasing an extra seat for comfort or to protect items of exceptionally high value. This seat was referred to by AA as "XTRASEAT" or “EXST”, and this JOHN BROWN
EXST BROWN
is how it will reflect in some documentation. There is no discount for the second seat, which must be purchased in advance; walk up purchases of extra seats will incur full "walk up" fares, if available.
As these can not be booked online, calling will work best; no telephone service charge will be made.
The extra seat does not earn Elite Qualifying or Redeemable miles or earn extra baggage allowances, etc. EQ instruments can only be earned by the individual person occupying a seat on AA (not an empty seat, a "proxy passenger" or animal or inanimate object). In the example above, EXST BROWN will have no AAdvantage earnings.
Other reasons for purchasing extra seats would be for allowed musical instruments, objects of high value such as art works, or materials for human transplantation.
American Airlines sells adjacent seats for various reasons; the most common one is for persons of size who can't comfortably occupy a single "Main Cabin" (Economy) seat, though others might consider purchasing an extra seat for comfort or to protect items of exceptionally high value. This seat was referred to by AA as "XTRASEAT" or “EXST”, and this JOHN BROWN
EXST BROWN
is how it will reflect in some documentation. There is no discount for the second seat, which must be purchased in advance; walk up purchases of extra seats will incur full "walk up" fares, if available.
As these can not be booked online, calling will work best; no telephone service charge will be made.
The extra seat does not earn Elite Qualifying or Redeemable miles or earn extra baggage allowances, etc. EQ instruments can only be earned by the individual person occupying a seat on AA (not an empty seat, a "proxy passenger" or animal or inanimate object). In the example above, EXST BROWN will have no AAdvantage earnings.
Extra space during travel Link
For the safety and comfort of all customers, if a customer’s body extends more than 1 inch beyond the outermost edge of the armrest and a seat belt extension is needed, another seat is required. We encourage customers to address all seating needs when booking.
For the safety and comfort of all customers, if a customer’s body extends more than 1 inch beyond the outermost edge of the armrest and a seat belt extension is needed, another seat is required. We encourage customers to address all seating needs when booking.
- When you call to book, Reservations will make sure you get 2 adjacent seats at the same rate.
- If you didn’t book an extra seat in advance, ask an airport agent to find out if 2 adjacent seats are available.
- You may be offered a seat in a higher class of service that may provide more space; in this case, you’ll be responsible for the fare difference.
- If accommodations can’t be made on your original flight, you can buy seats on a different flight at the same price as your original seats.
Booking two seats / extra seat for person or object (EXST, XTRASEAT)
Nov 8, 2015, 11:55 am
#78
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: JFK > LGA >> EWR
Programs: AA EXP 1.2mm, Kimpton IC, Starwood Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,180
Any recent experience with this? I'm a big but not enormous guy; I fit into one seat, but not super-comfortably, especially for redeyes. Pondering buying an extra seat for certain long flights when an upgrade seems unlikely. But, questions:
- If I'm entitled to free MCE, can I assume that the extra seat also gets free MCE?
- Can I be placed on the upgrade list, and upgraded? (Happy to be upgraded to only one seat, and for the extra seat to disappear if I get the upgrade.)
Nov 8, 2015, 6:56 pm
#79
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,239
Booking two seats / extra seat for one person (XTRA SEAT)
Nothing has changed. The extra seat can be treated just like any other extra seat with a passenger in it. If you do get yourself upgraded and want to "discard" the extra seat, just make sure that if this is an outbound segment, they still scan the BP so the return doesn't get cancelled.
One question we had was - 2 coach award seats booked, one is XTRA, was hoping to upgrade to a biz award if it became available. If so, we know AA won't charge a fee for up-faring the award, but would they charge a redeposit fee for the extra seat? Would seem to be punitive for POS's, which the govt might not like...
(The J seats never materialized so we didn't find out).
One question we had was - 2 coach award seats booked, one is XTRA, was hoping to upgrade to a biz award if it became available. If so, we know AA won't charge a fee for up-faring the award, but would they charge a redeposit fee for the extra seat? Would seem to be punitive for POS's, which the govt might not like...
(The J seats never materialized so we didn't find out).
Nov 9, 2015, 1:30 am
#81
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: in the vicinity of SFO
Programs: AA 2MM (LT-PLT, PPro for this year)
Posts: 19,781
Just spotted this exchange, but I think the issue in her case is that she'd already booked the tickets, and it would be adding an additional "person" to an existing/ticketed PNR.
Nov 9, 2015, 10:04 pm
#83
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: California
Programs: AA Advantage Gold, Rapid Rewards A list, Sky Miles Gold Medallion, Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 403
The website says you have to book through AA. Can you put XTRA as the middle name and then call after booking to have them fix (or place on hold), or is it better to book through the res center?
Nov 10, 2015, 2:51 am
#84
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: in the vicinity of SFO
Programs: AA 2MM (LT-PLT, PPro for this year)
Posts: 19,781
OTOH, you can hold the ticket, and then call the res center to add the third "person" (or perhaps better still, hold it for three, and have them fix the name.)
In some cases they can make those changes and then have you go back to the web site to pay, avoiding the phone ticketing fee.
Nov 10, 2015, 11:24 am
#85
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,239
Not sure where you see that (and I'm using the context of the post to assume by "book through AA" you mean "call AA").
I see this: https://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInform...Nav#extraspace
Which seems to imply that if, for example, there is only one seat in "N" booking class available, they should be able to get you the second seat at the same price. I certainly don't read anything suggesting you must call AA.
I've certainly done this online without any intervention by a phone agent. And this includes an international coach award seat on AA, and another one on a partner (AB) in the very recent past.
I suspect that if you call, it's possible some of the taxes may be waived, but probably not worth my time waiting on hold and/or an agent to figure out how to do it.
I see this: https://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInform...Nav#extraspace
Which seems to imply that if, for example, there is only one seat in "N" booking class available, they should be able to get you the second seat at the same price. I certainly don't read anything suggesting you must call AA.
I've certainly done this online without any intervention by a phone agent. And this includes an international coach award seat on AA, and another one on a partner (AB) in the very recent past.
I suspect that if you call, it's possible some of the taxes may be waived, but probably not worth my time waiting on hold and/or an agent to figure out how to do it.
Nov 10, 2015, 9:50 pm
#86
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: California
Programs: AA Advantage Gold, Rapid Rewards A list, Sky Miles Gold Medallion, Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 403
Not sure where you see that (and I'm using the context of the post to assume by "book through AA" you mean "call AA").
I see this: https://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInform...Nav#extraspace
Which seems to imply that if, for example, there is only one seat in "N" booking class available, they should be able to get you the second seat at the same price. I certainly don't read anything suggesting you must call AA.
I've certainly done this online without any intervention by a phone agent. And this includes an international coach award seat on AA, and another one on a partner (AB) in the very recent past.
I suspect that if you call, it's possible some of the taxes may be waived, but probably not worth my time waiting on hold and/or an agent to figure out how to do it.
I see this: https://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInform...Nav#extraspace
Which seems to imply that if, for example, there is only one seat in "N" booking class available, they should be able to get you the second seat at the same price. I certainly don't read anything suggesting you must call AA.
I've certainly done this online without any intervention by a phone agent. And this includes an international coach award seat on AA, and another one on a partner (AB) in the very recent past.
I suspect that if you call, it's possible some of the taxes may be waived, but probably not worth my time waiting on hold and/or an agent to figure out how to do it.
Nov 10, 2015, 11:42 pm
#87
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: in the vicinity of SFO
Programs: AA 2MM (LT-PLT, PPro for this year)
Posts: 19,781
Thanks, that was my question, can you avoid the wait times and what not. I would think in many cases a few dollars extra in taxes could be worth the time spent calling, holding, explaining to someone who may or may not know how to do what you want, hold for them to do it correctly or possibly not and then have to wait more while they try to fix it.
Nov 11, 2015, 11:40 am
#88
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,239
Thanks, that was my question, can you avoid the wait times and what not. I would think in many cases a few dollars extra in taxes could be worth the time spent calling, holding, explaining to someone who may or may not know how to do what you want, hold for them to do it correctly or possibly not and then have to wait more while they try to fix it.
Nov 11, 2015, 6:51 pm
#89
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: US
Programs: AAdvantage
Posts: 1,753
That being said, it's "officially" not possible to purchase extra seats on AA.com and you need to call.
I doubt they would charge the phone fee since there's no official way to make these bookings online.
Last edited by ThreeJulietTango; Nov 11, 2015 at 6:59 pm
Dec 8, 2015, 8:59 am
#90
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 370
can a violin with a paid extra seat earn miles on AA?
my niece has just become a professional violinist and will need to travel by herself quite frequently on AA. in the last couple of years, she has always purchased a 2nd ticket(at same cost as her own ticket) whenever she flew AA or UA. She didn't even sign up for a frequent flyer account on AA or UA and I estimate that she lost out on over 67,000 miles. 
Her current instrument is on loan and has an insurance policy with a replacement value of a little over $280,000, which is why she always buys a seat. No point in taking chances of having to put it in the overhead or worse. She just keeps the violin securely strapped to the seat.
I sat her down and explained to her the importance of miles.
However, I have absolutely no idea how airlines award or not award miles for musical instruments occupying a paid seat. Does she have to give her violin a name and sign up for a separate account? Or can she get the miles credited to her own account?
Thanks in advance for any info.
Her current instrument is on loan and has an insurance policy with a replacement value of a little over $280,000, which is why she always buys a seat. No point in taking chances of having to put it in the overhead or worse. She just keeps the violin securely strapped to the seat.
I sat her down and explained to her the importance of miles.
However, I have absolutely no idea how airlines award or not award miles for musical instruments occupying a paid seat. Does she have to give her violin a name and sign up for a separate account? Or can she get the miles credited to her own account?Thanks in advance for any info.