TAP automatic seat assignment

Old Feb 26, 2019, 2:13 am
  #31  
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
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T-3h

Hi, the T-3 hours seat option still works at Tap. Had a 10h layover and it worked on both legs of the trip, each time 3h ahead of departure. I'm just boarding the flight to Rio. Don't pay a cent for the seat! Just be patient.
Maciej Mierzejek is offline  
Old Mar 30, 2019, 9:11 am
  #32  
 
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3 hours before the flight seems a high risk on an international flight that may be full. How many people do not check in until they get to the airport and less than 2 hours before the flight?
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Old Mar 30, 2019, 9:40 am
  #33  
 
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I was afraid of the same situation you described. But there was no problem with stay selection at 3h.
On the flight to Rio the plane was almost full, but at 3h before departure at least 30% of seats were still not assigned and I easily managed to get a nice window seat. Thanks to that I ended up having a free seat next to me for the whole flight. On the way back at 3h there were about 20% of seats available to choose from.
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Old Apr 1, 2019, 8:47 pm
  #34  
 
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I booked a United TATL award ticket for flights on TAP A330-900s this summer. When I pulled up the itinerary on the TAP website, I was able to select seats, but the wording is quite confusing. I have selected a seat on each flight that is labelled "Available (Chargeable)" but when the pricing total appears on the right-hand side of the page, it says that I have selected "2x Free Seats NEW: Fee May Apply." The window also says that the cost for "Your Services: $0.00." I am able to select and confirm the seats without being prompted to pay anything further.

I am very confused as to what the fee is for these seats and when I would potentially be charged for them if there were a fee associated. Any thoughts on what the fee is/when it's charged?

Last edited by sweeper25; Apr 1, 2019 at 9:02 pm
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 2:54 am
  #35  
 
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Originally Posted by sweeper25
I booked a United TATL award ticket for flights on TAP A330-900s this summer. When I pulled up the itinerary on the TAP website, I was able to select seats, but the wording is quite confusing. I have selected a seat on each flight that is labelled "Available (Chargeable)" but when the pricing total appears on the right-hand side of the page, it says that I have selected "2x Free Seats NEW: Fee May Apply." The window also says that the cost for "Your Services: $0.00." I am able to select and confirm the seats without being prompted to pay anything further.

I am very confused as to what the fee is for these seats and when I would potentially be charged for them if there were a fee associated. Any thoughts on what the fee is/when it's charged?
If TAP actually wanted you to pay, they'd show a price and ask for payment when you select the seats. Most likely, your UA award maps into a fare bucket that gives free access to those seats. Call it payback for all the paid TAP flights that earn zero PQM on UA

This seems pretty common on partner awards with UA; the last TATL award I had was UA to MAN and then SN home, and I got a 'premium' seat on SN with free food and beer despite having booked the cheapest of cheap saver awards.
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 8:48 am
  #36  
 
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The T-3 hours trick didn't work for my parents last Sunday on DUB-LIS. I selected red seats for them before T-3 hours and didn't complete the check in. At T-3 hours I tried to complete the check in but the system was still asking for €25 for each seat.
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 11:24 pm
  #37  
 
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Originally Posted by Maciej Mierzejek
Hi, the T-3 hours seat option still works at Tap. Had a 10h layover and it worked on both legs of the trip, each time 3h ahead of departure. I'm just boarding the flight to Rio. Don't pay a cent for the seat! Just be patient.
Originally Posted by TAP-A343
The T-3 hours trick didn't work for my parents last Sunday on DUB-LIS. I selected red seats for them before T-3 hours and didn't complete the check in. At T-3 hours I tried to complete the check in but the system was still asking for 25 for each seat.
Is there a difference between TATL and intraeurope?

We are a group of four flying TP213 on award tickets and hoping it isn't a real old plane (there seem to be many configs to their 332s).

At check-in, are LMU ever offered?? or any other way to get J from award tix
YVRYEGYVR is offline  
Old Apr 5, 2019, 9:40 pm
  #38  
 
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Originally Posted by sweeper25
I booked a United TATL award ticket for flights on TAP A330-900s this summer. When I pulled up the itinerary on the TAP website, I was able to select seats, but the wording is quite confusing. I have selected a seat on each flight that is labelled "Available (Chargeable)" but when the pricing total appears on the right-hand side of the page, it says that I have selected "2x Free Seats NEW: Fee May Apply." The window also says that the cost for "Your Services: $0.00." I am able to select and confirm the seats without being prompted to pay anything further.

I am very confused as to what the fee is for these seats and when I would potentially be charged for them if there were a fee associated. Any thoughts on what the fee is/when it's charged?
I had the exact same situation the last week for a flight this week. My guess is that it is a bug: they always want to charge for the seat, but since your fare has seat assignment included, the price is 0. Then you just end the process without adding any payment method and voil. I don't think you'll be charged for anything.
nutsbr is offline  
Old Apr 6, 2019, 4:50 pm
  #39  
 
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Originally Posted by TAP-A343
The T-3 hours trick didn't work for my parents last Sunday on DUB-LIS. I selected red seats for them before T-3 hours and didn't complete the check in. At T-3 hours I tried to complete the check in but the system was still asking for 25 for each seat.
I had the same experience last week, could not finish check in and get my boarding passes without paying, even at T-3. At the airport, it took quite a while for the agent to get my boarding passes printed as she mentioned that the system was giving her trouble accessing the seats but in the end I still got the seats I initially selected for free.
KL714 is offline  
Old Apr 9, 2019, 2:16 am
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by sweeper25
I booked a United TATL award ticket for flights on TAP A330-900s this summer. When I pulled up the itinerary on the TAP website, I was able to select seats, but the wording is quite confusing. I have selected a seat on each flight that is labelled "Available (Chargeable)" but when the pricing total appears on the right-hand side of the page, it says that I have selected "2x Free Seats NEW: Fee May Apply." The window also says that the cost for "Your Services: $0.00." I am able to select and confirm the seats without being prompted to pay anything further.

I am very confused as to what the fee is for these seats and when I would potentially be charged for them if there were a fee associated. Any thoughts on what the fee is/when it's charged?
Award tickets come with free seat assignments.
Palal is offline  
Old Apr 17, 2019, 10:22 am
  #41  
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T-3h did not work today for a intra-EU flight ex LIS. One pax had made seat selection in order for all to sit together. Check-in machine wouldn't print BP as there were still "fees to be paid".
The Gold desk happily collected the whopping 28€.
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Old Apr 19, 2019, 2:22 am
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by intuition
T-3h did not work today for a intra-EU flight ex LIS. One pax had made seat selection in order for all to sit together. Check-in machine wouldn't print BP as there were still "fees to be paid".
The Gold desk happily collected the whopping 28.
Use web check-in after T-3:00 to offload the whole party and then check in again selecting seats for free. It worked yesterday.
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Old Apr 19, 2019, 8:42 am
  #43  
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OK!
That method differs from what is posted in the beginning of the thread (where one could select seat early and back out before paying). Flight was 100% full and check-in staff told us "reserving seat was the right thing to do, as I wouldn't have been able to seat you together at this point". Now, that may be true or false but we were on separate reservations and this was a flight were we really needed to sit together so we had little choice.
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Old Apr 25, 2019, 8:18 am
  #44  
 
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After reading through the whole thread I'm not completely sure how to proceed.
We're a group of 8 people but on two separate bookings (6 + 2) and we would like to sit together (no one has status and discount ticket albeit it was pricy). Is the best method to start check at T-36h and then cancel the process during payment and come back at T-3 or something different.
Thx for the advice.
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Old Apr 30, 2019, 12:43 am
  #45  
 
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First time poster here (UA Gold/*A Gold):

I'm looking to book one way FNC-SFO and trying to determine whether to use miles (30k + $110 and free seat assignment) or pay for a ticket ($566) and risk the whole process that everyone is going through with some success at T-3h.

A couple questions:
1) If I book direct on TAP's website, how do I see actual fare class? From searching on Orbitz, it looks like discount is currently mapping to Economy (U) but doesn't show what Basic, Classic, Plus, etc would be. Worth noting because getting M class would trigger 100% of miles, which is 6,387 so worth looking at/making sure I get at least 50% if booking on TAP. TAP website is $6 cheaper than Orbitz, etc.

2) If I us, I'm assuming T-3 is from first leg (ie my 06:00 flight from FNC-LIS) and would allow me to select seats on my second leg (ie my 10:00 LIS-SFO). Is this correct?

3) Award availability on UA is only showing FNC-LIS-EWR-SFO rather than FNC-LIS-SFO. Any idea why? (Yes, the LIS-SFO flight is offered on the day I'm flying) I'll try calling UA but curious to see if anyone knows or if this will be fixed.

Thanks all!
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