JC5280

Hi all, just wanted to clarify...for a United Star Alliance Gold Member (1k) is a preferred seat available at check in for the same cost as prior to 24hrs? I have an upcoming LAX-YYC on a A320 and it appears I can buy the exit row seats for $40, but was curious if I would be able to select them at check in for a cost or complimentary. Thank you!

emcampbe

Interesting what just happened on a flight I booked on UA.com for an AC flight.

Instead of connecting on UA metal, which is what I usually do, I booked a K fare on an AC non-stop - times were better, and pricing was way higher on the UA flights that were the right times. Booked on the UA website, as a UA codeshare - I've done this before, and know it should book into K/Tango on AC.

Interestingly enough, I went to ACs site to see how the reservation looked, and when looking at it, noticed I had seats assigned for all 3 pax. Not great seats, but they are together, and on a CRJ, there really aren't better or worse seats. I was expecting, of course, to have to pay, and was going to try to get UA to change the flights within 24 hours to the real AC numbers to make this easier. Especially since we are traveling with our 3 year old, definitely want to be together.

Anyone been assigned seats for free on AC on a Tango fare? Any chance I could lose them? Interestingly enough, the AC seat selection tool, which has never worked for me, did. When trying to use it, it does indicate a charge if I want to change seats, but indicated the seats I have like any other assigned seats, and not different because they were for us. On the other hand, on the AC app, the fare details page there says my fare includes complimentary advance seat selection (and other things Tango shouln't - like lounge access for a fee, and 100% Aeroplan mileage accumilation).

seanp7

Yes, this has happened to me several times on "Tango-priced" fares booked through UA. Seats assigned, a cost to change them via AC, but if you just keep them, it's $0. I haven't lost my seat assignment with this approach.

I'm *G too - not sure if that has anything to do with it. Note, if checking a bag, the kiosk wants to charge (based on the fare) but if I go to the *G counter at YYZ, I've never been charged. YMMV.

wcj1

I have gotten preassigned seats on AC metal/UA codeshare at least twice this year, both as United Silver and United Gold. The last time I had a non-status companion and they preassigned both of us.

B747SP

I also got seats automatically assigned on AC metal with UA codeshare flights. It appears that the algorithm assigns available seats from the back of the airplane. I was able to use Twitter DM to reach out to AC and have them move me to the front free of charge, with the same non-preferred seat type.

tmiw

I waited less than a minute on hold today after the IVR told me that there's a "less than five minute" average wait time. The CS person I talked to also had no problems assigning me seats for the Air Canada flights in my United award booking. I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting 30+ minute wait times based on previous posts on FT. ^

1P

I just flew an AC business class flight booked on a UA multi-segment ticket. The UA reservation will give you the AC booking reference, and you can select your seat (cost = $0) online at the AC website as far in advance as you want — in my case over a month out.

flyer_south

Same experience: UA auto assigned seats on AC but I could not make any changes online at AC. Since original assignments were OK, I did not try to call to change.

PlatAAagain

Trying this now (10PM PST) for our award booking on AC flights DTW-YYZ-AUA using UA miles (wife is Silver).
Tried the online tool first but could not change seats but could see which ones we had.
The auto-assigned seats were in the last row (or 2nd to last row) of 2 wide open planes (as far as seat assignments are concerned, anyway).
They replied pretty quickly (7 mins), but unfortunately the first reply was to confirm that our seats are the ones I already had...
However, second reply (after I asked again about better seats) was to put us in some good regular seats (just behind the preferred seats).

Thanks for the tip!

-Plat (well, Gold these days but I'm not changing my handle!)

ZonaFlyer

I have an award reservation next month on AC booked with UA miles and can report it is still true that you cannot select seats online with your AC booking reference. I called and waited less than 20 minutes on hold and was able to select the standard seats I wanted (no current UA status). The agent was friendly and helpful and he offered seats as close to the front as possible in the standard category.

rankourabu

For future reference, this is the backdoor AC site that allows seat selection on tickets booked elsewhere:
https://services.aircanada.com/Servi...method=english

KKILR3

I can also confirm that with a standard United.com booking, you no longer need to call Air Canada to select seats. Or at least that was the case earlier this month before AC rolled out Basic Economy. (My fare class was Tango, so I had to pay a fee to choose seats but was still able to do so well in advance of the flight and got the windows I wanted.)

Now it isn't the same site as you would use to select seats if you booked on aircanada.com directly. But if you obtain the AC identifier from United.com, then pull up your reservation using that code on aircanada.com, up at the top there will be a link for seat selection that says This booking appears to have been completed elsewhere than on aircanada.com (with either a travel agent or on another website)" followed immediately by the correct link. The normal "change seats" link below that is grayed out because that's for tickets booked directly with AC.

Either way, this is apparently much faster and easier than calling them on the phone with their notorious wait-times.

Toronto1970

Doesn't always work. I have an current UA award ticket on AC metal YYZ-YVR and the website does not allow me to select the seat (neither the main AC site nor the secondary site that rankourabu noted above). I'm not sure if it's because it was an award and not a revenue ticket. (But a quick private tweet to @aircanada got me the seat I wanted - definitely easier than calling!)

mpiotrow

I have an upcoming flight on AC, booked through the UA website. I do not have seat assignments, and am not able to select them for free on the AC website. I'm unsure of the recent posts above whether people are saying they are able to select seats (I'd like to get a Preferred Seat if possible) on AC with *G status, or if they are just describing ways to find the website that allows them to pay for their seat selection in advance. I assumed the former, but it does not seem to be working for me. I tried tweeting them, and they responded back with "Thank you. Star Alliance Gold members are subject to applicable seat fees in this case it would be 40$ per seat. You do have other benefits such as priority boarding but not preferred seating."

Does that sound correct, or should I call in to AC and see if I can get a phone agent who might be able to accommodate me?

laxmillenial

Why are you not able to select them on the AC website? If you put in your PNR you should pull up your reservation. The seat icon will most likely be greyed out; however, above that there should be text stating something around the following: "This reservation was booked by a third party or outside of Air Canada's website. Please click here for seat assignments".

This will take you to another Air Canada website (looks a bit older / maybe directly talking to the system) and you should be able to select seats. If you booked a tango fare, any seat assignment before T-24 will cost $20. For preferred seats, I believe it is $50. *G gets you nothing on AC except boarding group 2. They could honestly care less that you're *G.

I went through this process a few days ago; feel free to private message me and I'll help walk you through it.