The Exit Row
 

I know there've been lots of posts about snagging exit rows and how only Plats can reserve them online, blah blah blah. I noticed some people saying that you could also snag them before the 24-hour period if you call up CO. My question is can you just call up a BA and ask for the exit row after having booked online or do you have to do the booking over the phone to get the exit row?

I'm about to do a pretty hardcore transcon MR (@<5CPM, which is the only reason I'm even considering it other than it takes me home) that involves almost 10 hours of flight time and really, really want as many exit rows as possible.

Also, this might be the wrong board, but the first leg of my flight is on NW metal. Does anyone know NWs policy in regards to exit rows, or would I even have a chance at getting an EAU as a OP Silver on a SEA-MSP red-eye mid-week?

When I read your thread title, I thought what a great name for an airport bar! ^

NW used to have a glitch where you could select restricted seats using the online seat selector. But, i'm not sure if the new $15/non-squished coach seat program messed it up.

NW Elites at any level can reserve exit row seats.

Not sure if sweet-talking non-Elites can call an RA and have them assign an exit row seat for them.

Steve B.

I think you guys/gals may have misinterpreted my post. I was asking more about the CO exit row policy than the NW one. As in, can I prebook an exit row without being Plat and without paying phone res. fee. My plan was to book online, then call up CO to try to get exit row seats. Will this work w/o me having to pay extra? I am very soon to be a CO Silver.

(edited for continuity)

They do not charge extra. That said, they may be tightening up on the rules - the person in the PC Wed told me that they're no longer allowed to put people into exit rows who aren't platinum. This was for a my return flight (was < 24 hours, but OLCI wouldn't work b4 the outbound segment left). However, I was able to call the elite desk, and after explaining that OLCI wasn't working, they gave me the exit row.

That is not true. My partner and I are both Silvers and for the third time in three months, we're calling regarding our flights (January, March and now June) and always got exit rows. When we weren't Silvers (January) - we got the exit rows less than a month before the flight, and for March we got the exit rows three weeks before the flight. Two days ago, we got the exit rows for a flight in June (more than two months ahead).

It's only taken half of them away (normally the ones in the DC9's which have better recline). In the SF3's they block 1CD but leave 1A (ugh), 6ACD open for elites. I haven't booked much NW metal lately so don't have a ton of experience with the $15 seats yet. The good news is that on the few flights I've taken, everyone else was as cheap as I am and refused to cough up the 15 bucks.... so if you just ask the GA they'll stuff you in one of the "premium" seats for free! :D :D :D

I think you're out of luck -- I had problems with that mechanism even as a Platinum... though if you hang up and keep calling back, you might eventually get an agent that will do it. I always book my exit rows online (NW Plat). The only decent seat on an ERJ is 12A, IMO.

Sorry to disagree with you, But the Only decent seat on the ERJ-145s is 12B the skin of the plane makes 12A & C too uncomfortable for ones legs. On the ERJ-135 9B

I somewhat agree, 12B is nice if you have 12C empty - maybe its just me but I like the aloneness of 12A unless I'm traveling with someone.

-Vincent

I'll go for 1A or 12A. I personally prefer 12A because of easy access to the overhead bins, but 1A will work fine for the extra legroom when 12A is booked. Even though the aisle armrest in 1A is fixed, the window one still goes up so you can still get some extra seat width. Despite being very tall, the curvature of the plane on the aisle seats really doesn't bother me all that much.

But on an ERJ flight that isn't extremely full, getting both 12B and 12C to yourself is heaven!

12B is only decent if you have an empty 12C to go with it, can lift the armrest and spread out. 12A is fine if you stuff a couple pillows between your left leg and the skin to stave off the cold. In my book:

12A >> 1A >> 12B >> 12C >> 3B >> 3C >> all others

because I like to work on the flight. Those are the seats that allow me to open up my laptop and work, in the order of "most to least" comfortable, IMO. :)

I got em
 

Well all you nay sayers out there, I, a non-elite, got exit rows the ENTIRE way through on an 8 leg MR. It did wind up being about 100 dollars more than I was quoted on CO.com online, but that's more than worth it for a MR that involves 34 hours of flight within a timespan of 48 hours, 8 hours on ERJs, all with 12 B, although one of the legs is a 15K mile upgd to a BF cabin. on a 9 hour flight :
Now all I have to do is fly home to EWR via TPA and I'm silver baby!!! My CPEQM on this one is ~3.5 cents.

The 'official' policy as stated to non-Plats is that one can only request exit row seating in person at a ticket office. The catch-22 is that no such animal exists; they can reissue tickets at baggage check-in areas, but are generally snowed trying to get people on planes.

I made a spreadsheet showing 25 future flight legs, 15 of which I wanted reclining exit aisle seating. It made an awesome prop, and eased the whole process. At check-in for my first flight after making this spreadsheet, I got one harried supervisor to assign me exit row on one upcoming flight. At the gate I volunteered for a later flight but they didn't need me. I then requested a couple more future exit-row assignments.

On arrival late at EWR, I prowled for the least busy, fanciest check-in area for which my Gold Elite card provided access. (One can guess...) I asked if this was a 'ticket office'. "No, but they're closed now. What can I do for you?" I explained how various people had taken mercy on me and assigned exit rows for a few of my flights. Grin. "Give that to me..." He finished my list. No more need for the spreadsheet prop.

Your first flight will be delayed; you'll miss that connection, and every other one. Then you'll get assigned to alternate flights (all on a middle-seat in the back row), have to sleep at two rundown airport motels, eat expensive, bad food and lose your job when you finally show up at work three days late. Your CPEQM goes up to 19.6 cents. Oh, yeah, your car won’t start at the $20/day airport parking lot and when you get a lift home by a sympathetic limburger cheese salesman who bores you with a lurid tale of a torrid affair with a lonely housewife, you figure out she’s your wife! Bon voyage!

Jeez. Aren't we personable.

So much for the Platinum advantage. If CO wishes to have a program based on rules, (even if they are at times silly rules) they need to play by them with consistancy.

They will... ;)

At least we're not boring. :)

You can call 30 hours in advance to get moved to an exit row, which is when CO's res system moves formally into "check-in mode" (even if you can't check in online for your flight until 24 hours before). And while I don't condone lying, have you considered calling and telling the agent something like you need extra leg space because your knee is injured and you can't comfortably bend it, as would be necessary for a standard Y seat?

I think a stated injury may disqualify you.... in the end it's up to the FA's, but if you state you have a knee injury, I don't see the phone agent assigning you the seat, FWIW. Stick with the "I'm 7 feet tall" routine instead... :)

Why not? I don't think CO has any way of noting in their reservation system that a pax told an agent that he has an injury. How would the GA or FA know what the phone rep was told?

They can put a note on any itinerary. I don't know how many times I've called and they'll say, "Ahh, I see a note here..." about who knows what.

That is wrong, as a silver and now a gold, I have never, ever had problems snagging an exit row on any flight. Just completed a ONSC-assisted exit grab a few minutes ago. Same for international flights...seems that any elite can call and they're eNhAnCeD. :D

Well - FWIW, I was told no in EWR (Terminal A).