How to get seated in PP section after dom aircraft swap
 

Traveling on domestic midcon flight on a 788 that’s being sold as F and Y. Seat map showing as usual 2-class aircraft without PP. anticipate this flight will actually be flown using a reconfigured 3-class aircraft, but still sold as 2-class. What’s the best strategy for assigning an E+ seat now that gets me into a PP seat? Assign a row 20-22 seat that automatically retains when the aircraft swap happens?

Best strategy to to select the seat after the aircraft has been assigned -- typically overnight (Chicago time) 2 full days in advance

Seat re-assign can be totally random, does not hurt to try but don't count on it.

So if I book, say 20A now, I might get bumped from this? What pax would be bumping me from that seat?

Seat re-assignment after an aircraft swap can be anything including semi-logical to completely random.

Sometimes unknowing, yes. Anyone with direct experience on this?

yes. Seat assignments seem random.

I was booked on a non-PP 777 during transition from ORD-FRA on the way to BLR. I think we were in the middle section bulkhead. Swapped to a PP aircraft two days out, and was able to select PP seats. A day later, got swapped back to non-PP, and I think we somehow got swapped out of E+ completely. I mean, we were able to get back. E+.

also seen weird swaps on other configs. I think we swapped from a 3-3-3 777 on a domestic route to SFO to a 3-4-3, and even in a side section, my wife’s went from a window to an aisle or middle, and I went from aisle to window in a row or 2 ahead. I don’t think there’s anyway to predict what a aircraft swap will do to seating.

In 2019, about 1/3-1/2 flights TPAC/TATL would get swapped to PP with AC swap. Always tried to get the first 3 rows behind J just in case

For whatever it's worth, the couple of times I've had a PP aircraft assigned at the 3 day mark, I wound up reassigned to a PP seat despite having chosen the more rearward E+ rows. I think they may do some kind of status prioritisation, maybe for GS & 1K?, with these seats when swapping aircraft.

I was seated in 16J on the non-Polaris 788 and got moved to 30J when the config changed :rolleyes:. PP was completely full so I assume those previously seated in rows 20-22 got seated there. Not sure where rows 23-30 went.

If there is, it's slapshot. I was #~9 on the upgrade list (so you can assume 1-8 were GS and other 1Ks with higher fares or waitlisted with points), and I wasn't re-seated in PP.

I guess I should clarify that I was referring to the reassignments when it goes from generic map to getting the tail assigned for the first time (which happens 3 days out from the flight). After a tail is assigned, if there is another swap, that always seems rather random to me, although I have gotten lucky there too.