Grog

Calling will do nothing more than earn you a smirk that you won't be able to see through the phone connection. You can choose your seat for free at online check-in. If you beat the crowd, you'll usually still have good seating to choose from. In any case, you won't be boarding without a seat already assigned to you.

smanch

I prefer not to risk that kind of thing so cancelled the ticket and booked a comparably-priced ticket with UA, where seat selection is free (and where they often bump *G to Y+ free of charge on the day of departure). Strange that LH charges so much just to choose a seat ... NZ doesn't do this either.

LondonElite

Many airlines do this, in part for revenue, in part to give their own elites a better field to choose form for last minute bookings. I wouldn't count on an upgrade to Y+ on UA, and given the choice between LH and UA standard Y, would always choose the latter. At T-24 you could have checked in and chosen your seat...

emcampbe

Bringing back an old thread because I can't find a better one. Haven't flown LH in a couple of years, and believe at that time, seat selection on long-haul was free in V and up in economy. Last time, I was booked in W, so had to pay up (I lost the battle but won the war - at check in ex-USA, for my FRA-BLR flight, I was op-up'd not to PE, but to F and ended up on the upper deck of the 748 - *G at the time).

Here I am a couple of years later, and understand that no one, except for HON/SEN gets seats for free in Y - is that correct? This time, again booked on FRA-BLR, but rather than being alone, I'm traveling with the fam, so me, the wife and 2 kids (one lap infant, one toddler in their own seat). And in Q, of course. On a ticket purchased through UA, though on the LH flight number (no codeshare), if that makes a difference. I was quoted USD 35 for a seat selection for each of us through LH reservations. Given our lap infant will be 8 months when we fly, I asked about bassinet, and they told me we still had to pay for seats for each of us in the bulkhead row in order to get a bassinet (which honestly, would be ideal to have, but probably not a be all end all).

Wondering if this is really correct? I guess my questions are:

1. Even with infant and requesting bassinet, and obviously needing to be next to our 3 year old, does LH really still charge to select seats in advance?
2. If I wait until check in, what are the chances of us getting [decent] seats together - preferably on one side or the other on a 748 (i.e. window/middle/aisle), and not as important, but still ideally closer to the front of the plane - if one thinks it's relevant, this is a flight on Dec. 26, so likely to be packed in Y (no flight on Dec. 24 or 25)
3. I'll be checking in with UA, as I have a domestic US connection and then TATL to FRA with them first. Anyone know if I'll be able to select LH seats during online check in with UA at T-24 prior to my first flight (which, if I'm counting correctly, will be ~T-46 hours to the LH-operated flight).
4. If I can't choose seats while checking in on UA, is there another way to get seats on LH at some point along the way (LH app or website at T-23 to the LH flight, for example).

Appreciate any insight (and there's a tiny part of me that wants to believe, hey, this was almost the same day of the year as last time, and maybe we will be op-up'd like I was last time, but I know I'm only *S now, and that op-up's are like unicorns and happen rarely enough that one shouldn't even consider that an option).

Fabo.sk

Free seat selection is a function of fare type more than the fare letter now, for example I have free selection on Eco Classic but not Eco Light on my upcoming shorthaul.

Chances of getting seats are good if you check in as soon as checkin opens. The system does not randomly throw people all round to make them to pay for seats.
That said, I'd rather pay the $70 for bassinet seating.

flying chef

I am flying in Y on a "B" class ticket. Am I able to select a seat without a fee ?

oliver2002

Unless you are senator or HON you have to pay in every economy fare.

cesco.g

How about *Gold?

oliver2002

Only free for:
- HON/SEN and upto 3 companions in the same booking
- award tickets (booking class X)

https://www.lufthansa.com/ba/en/seat...-economy-class

tmm1012

deniah

Anytime I have trouble getting seats I contact Facebook/Twitter of operating carrier and it's always painlessly solved.

Not being able to get boarding pass means pax is required to show docs at check-in (security purposes)

tmm1012

Unfortunately, I just contacted them on Twitter, but they're claiming they can't help either and just gave me the phone number or told me to check at the airport. I understand that at a certain time period, seatmaps need to go under airport control, but for most airlines, that's no more than a couple hours before the flight. This seems insane that no one can help them get their seats changed until they actually arrive in IAD, at which point they may be completely split up with the worst seats left. With open seats still on the seatmap, I can't believe there isn't a solution...

NewbieRunner

Is it a 220 (LH) ticket on a flight with a LH flight number? In that case you should have been able to reserve seats free of charge in advance without having to wait until OLCI opened.

https://www.lufthansa.com/gb/en/seat-reservation

A busy flight can go under “airport control” 24 hours or more before departure.

P.S. it appears the flight is oversold in Economy. They must be expecting upgrades to Premium Economy and Business.

tmm1012

It was indeed a ticket on LH ticket stock (220). The thing is, the flight didn't seem to "officially" be under airport control, since I could still view the seat map on ExpertFlyer (as opposed to other times I've seen ExpertFlyer returning the error message that the flight is under airport control). When I called, the agent I spoke with said that "in her 5 years working in the Lufthansa call center, she had never been able to change/assign seats inside of 24 hours before a flight."

Their flight just left, and they were both stuck with middle seats, which is a pain, but life goes on. For the return, they're in regular economy, so I supposed they'll be forced to pay for advance seat assignments in case this same issue arrises. We had been monitoring the seatmap before this flight, and had seen plenty of decent seats at 48, 36, and 25 hours before departure, so opted not to pay for seats, since it was presumed that they could be selected at Check In (that was the message displayed on lufthansa.com)

oliver2002

And starting this month ASR for PE also requires cash to be paid. Very strange.