Great first post, Mr.Nuke! Welcome to FlyerTalk. As you can see, there is a ton of information burried throughout the website.

Thank you. I've been a longtime "lurker" here and love the site and all of the information it provides.

You can now. You couldn't for awhile... at least not exits. I used the same method to snag exits on COOL as an NWA plat for nearly a year before they fixed things....

Sorry to dig this thread up but I wanted to say that this still has not been fixed and at the same time pose the question, has anyone actually gone through and tricked the tool and flown in the seat?

I am interested to know what the experience was (if anyone said something, such as "you aren't technically supposed to sit there", etc.).

P.S. - I am asking out of curiosity, not because I want to do this. I will be elite after a few more flights so it doesn't really concern me.

Yes. It works.

No one is going to say anything to you at flight time since if an elite hasn't already chosen that seat then you can choose it yourself at the 24 hour mark during OLCI. The CO rep at the airport doesn't know if you cheated and chose it a month ago or if you did it last night "legally"

I'm KE ST Elite, but the CO.com wouldn't allow selecting elite seating.
I used this "fix" and they stuck. I don't feel "bad" as I'm entitled to these seats.
However, my boarding passes don't say Elite so I show my KE card when boarding.

Question, in the Elite service line I did not show my KE card but didn't get questioned like when boarding. Does this mean that CO agents can see my KE Elite even though it doesn't print?

No. It just means that the gate agent didn't care if non-elites boarded during the elite time. Some care and some don't. No real rhyme or reason to it. If it is just one or two people it'd actually be slower to stop them all than to just let it happen, so I'm sure that plays in to it.

I am a bit surprised that the BP didn't have Elite Access on it in that I thought CO had the integration working with all the partners for recognizing status.

S.

It can be made to work for exits as well. This should really be fixed.

What about vice versa? I currently have a NW reservation viewable on my co.com Manage Reservations, but I cannot select NW seats...Not only elite seats but ANY seats.

For NWA flights, you have to change your seats at NWA.com. You'll need your NW confirmation # to do it, not the CO one. To get it, call CO and tell them you need your NW record locator/confirmation # and they'll readily give it to you.

I see this as a non-issue.

If we don't keep advertising it by bringing this tread up over and over again, I doubt anyone but a few FF nerds like us would ever know about it or even bother trying.

Seriously, what percentage of people do you see taking advantage of this?

Dk... for "premium" seating, not enough to matter. For 14A/F on a 735, were I platinum I'd think enough to matter. As a silver, I'd be concerned enough that a non-elite would take those seats before the 24 hour mark that I'd consider taking one myself using the cheat.

Then there's the more general concern regarding the overall integrity of co.com. Clearly, they're relying on user-modifiable data to validate data. This is bad for so many reasons. I wonder what else one could change with a bit of javascript saavy?

You can enter in your CO confirmation # on nwa.com and it should pull the reservation up (the systems are linked together). At the top, should be the NWA confirmation #. This eliminates the need to call CO.

If there's somebody that puts that much effort into getting a front-row seat.. well just let them have it if they really really need it that badly.

If you whine enough on the phone line they'll do it for you anyway. "I get nauseous", "I can't walk well have to sit up front as possible", "I have a bladder problem have to go to the bathroom a lot", whatever.