Booking two seats / extra seat for person or object (EXST, XTRASEAT)
 

A friend of mine is rather larger and will have difficulty being accomodated by an economy class seat.

She is due to take a UK to USA flight, then another cross-country flight in the USA (and then the same in reverse).

She cannot afford a business seat, and there is no way she's going to be accomodated by an economy seat.

Further, anyone who is seated next to her *will* have an unpleasant flight. My friend will need to overspill the seat significantly.

What is AA's policy? Are they likely to allow either booking two seats next to each other, with assurance from AA they will be alocated adjacent or AA blocking the seat next to my friend?

By the way - I'm aware this might sound a bit "off" - but I do worry about the safety of squeezing such a large lady into such a small space. I did enequire about using my own BA miles to upgrade her on AA, but apparently this isn't possible.

Advice for the larger traveller appreciated.

She could buy two economy seats

We
 

bought two economy seats for my step-son. Checked him in with seats next to each other but had to continually show his boarding "passes" to prove both seats were his....

AA will allow you to book two seats for one passenger, you will pay the extra fare minus passenger facility charges.

They dont actually "block" the seat next to it as such, it is actually allocated and assigned so it can not be unblocked by someone else .

If your friend has enough AA miles, you can purchase one seat and use miles to get the second seat.

You will need to make the reservations over the phone as it can not be done on AA.COM.

Whne your friend checks in, she will get two boarding passes, one for each seat.

Perfect - thanks for that.

Sounds a silly question I know, but over here on BA, booking two seats does not ensure that you'll actually get two seats.

It's not a silly question. These forums (fora?) are full of reports by people who booked two seats for this reason, only to find that they were assigned seats across an aisle from each other or separated by a fixed armrest. Watch out for exit rows that way: they often have tray tables in the armrest, because the next row forward is too far away or to prevent a tray table from obstructing the exit, so their armrests don't raise out of the way. (Seatguru.com would have details for specific seats and aircraft types.)

What about WT+? You should be able to get a flight on BA in WT+ for less than 2 y seats...

WT+ seats aren't that much wider than reg. economy. I think WT are 17.25 and WT+ are 18.5.

You can book at AA.com (and avoid the pesky reservation fee) by booking the extra seat under the same last name and first name XTRA SEAT, but you need to call web services for correct pricing and correct PNR annotation.

Source: http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...eats_index.jsp

But WT+ feels like a lot more room because you have the larger armrests, wider backrests, more leg room etc... I am suprised it is only 1.25" more...

If you buy two seats, do you get EQMs for both?

Remind your friend to sign up for an AA account, register for the DEQM promo if traveling between now and Dec 15, and by the time her flights credit to her account, she will be near Gold.

ASFAIK, she won't get miles for the extra seat, but the flights to/from LHR and then around in the US may get her close to 20K with DEQM.

If you've got two people traveling together, I assume the same "XTRA SEAT" booking could be used for a (paid) blocked ticket between the two of them? This is a lot cheaper than J, and even for people who don't need the extra seat, I can see split across two tickets it being worth it for comfort.

I don't know, but it's free to call and find out before you book.

Also, sometimes fares can be surprising - if domestic, check the "instant upgrade" fares, particularly if this involves a person of size. It may be cheaper to buy the "instant upgrade" than to purchase XTRA SEAT in some instances.