ffay005

I will be flying SCL-EZE on LAN in Y, booked as an award with BA Avios. I do not have status with BA, so the seatmap shows all exit seats and the first few rows blocked.

I do have OW Ruby status with AA and AY, and will have OW Sapphire with AY in September. Usually changing the FFP online helps in getting those blocked seats released. But in this case, I am not able to change the FF# online at Lan.com. I did manage to locate the resevration at AY.com and did succeed in changing the FF#, but the change did not carry over to Lan.com, which still shows the BA FF# and gives no means to change it.

I'd have two questions:

- Does changing the FFP to one where I hold status actually open those blocked seats?

- How would I be able to change the FF#? Will it require a call to LAN?

Thanks!

jlarroulet

1.- It would, under certain circumstances (not all flights and not all blocked seats on a flight are configured to be released to elite tiers before the 48 hour check-in window), but most if not all such seats are released to SAPH and EMLD passengers

2.- You need to call the airline that issued the ticket and ask them to update your FQTV (FF number) for all segments in the itinerary. If you do it on any airline's website, the airline should only update the information for the segments operated by such airline.
You could also call LAN and ask them to update the FF number for the LA segments. Shouldn't be too much trouble

ffay005

Thanks! The flight is on 01JAN and I'll make OW Sapphire in September, so I might wait until September and then give LA a call.

og

Booking domestic South American LA flights via the LA website amd inputting my QF WP (OWE) number does not cause the blocked seats to be released. In fact, only the flexible (more expensive) fares allow seat bookings at all. The cheapest ones fail to allow seat booking. Notwithstanding, I have been able to select rows 1, 2 or 3 at checkin (in person). A really big YMMV.

ffay005

Thanks Og! Sounds like OWS might not help, then. Well, I'm now in row 7 and it's only a 2-hour flight so I'll survive even if I'm stuck right there.

jlarroulet

Actually, there's 2-and-a-half different issues there regarding Advanced seat selection (before the check-in window):

1.- as you mention, not all fares will allow pre-reserved seating assignment. It's based on a origin-destination-booking_class combination

2.- even if your booking class allows PRS, the PRS seatmap doesn't have the same override rules for seats that are blocked in Sabre (if we'd like to get technical, the advanced seat selection uses "commercial" Sabre transactions, whilst Check-in uses DCS transactions that allow such overrides).

2.5.- to complicate things even further, there's two different types of blocked seats: those that are blocked to be reserved for elites, VIPs and such, and those that are blocked to accomodate operational needs (such as unaccompanied minors, special services requirements, etc)
The first group is blocked and gradually released within the operational (T-48) window. The others are only released for airport control in the final hours previous to departure

sdsearch

The second group apparently includes exit rows, since (at least on LAN Argentina domestic) those are only available at the airport once it goes to airport control (I both experienced and had verified by a check-in agent).

jlarroulet

It does. although your experience will vary depending on the route.

In Argentina, where airlines are not allowed to sell any ancillaries, you might see that all exit seats remain blocked until airport control. In other countries, some exit seats (commonly the ones on the left side of the plane) are released for ancillary (read: purchase) or to be selected for free by elites