Joshua

It's difficult to hold on to a seat assignment on SkyWest operated EMB-120s.

The flight will, apparently at random, show either an aft lav or a front lav EMB-120. Shortly before departure, if the actual aircraft is different, the seat assignments will change because some seats don't exist (1B/C or 11D) on the specific version. Often the equipment type will change twice, causing everyone to get dumped out of their seats.

But this doesn't resolve why I can never hang on to 11B. 11B exists on both aircraft types, and is an "economy plus" seat on the front lav version. Unfortunately, this means you get reassigned to a seat like 6B or 2A on the aft lav, which is most emphatically NOT an extra legroom seat.

Why can't United align the seat assignments? Or just block off seat assignments that cannot be preserved?

Case in point, yesterday:
- Assigned 11B. Watched seat map judiciously (plane filled up a long time ago).
- Did OLCI, got boarding pass for 11B.
- Observed about 2 hours prior a stand-by had cleared into 11B.
- Checked reservation and have been relocated to 6B.
- SkyWest ground crew seem to be expecting this - they often have everyone's boarding passes printed up at the gate in a nice stack ready to hand out to anyone who's BP makes the scanner beep loudly.

aisleorwindow

Yeah, I've had this problem as well. Last time I got on an EMB-120 I had a seat assignment that didn't exist. As did several other people. FAs advice was "just take another seat."

Ended up having to move 3 times because every time I moved somebody boarded with that seat assignment. Ultimately ended up in 9C which is one of the best seats on the plane.

It was kind of comical, but there's gotta be a better way!

abmj-jr

I fly the EMB a LOT. My recommendation is try for 9B or 9C, which are the "infinite legroom" seats. If you don't have status and can't book those seats ahead, try at check-in or at the gate counter. Otherwise, go for an "A" seat near the front to be first off. If you are tall, try a "B" seat near the front and unlatch the aisle-side armrest. Rotating it up and out of the way allows you to more easily extend at least one leg along the aisle. "A" seats do not unlatch.

There are NO "economy plus seats" on the EMB and any seat in row 11 will seriously suck - regardless of which version of the aircraft you are on. Also, despite the designation as an exit row, row 6 does not offer any extra leg room.

N1120A

Well, the only Row 11 seat that some might like is the one that has an unfettered access to the aisle - which is only on front galley aircraft.

That said, 9B/C are the only way to go.

cblaisd

I always choose 9A and have never had a seat-switch happen.

Baze

Shhhh, don't let the secret out

Kurt

I understand that there are other seats besides 9 B/C on the EMB-120. But having never sat anywhere else I could not verify that fact

TWA Guy

9C is one of my absolute favorite seats on any UA plane!

UAX@SFO

Unfortunately, 11B exists only on the forward galley version of the EMB-120. The only seat that stays static during a forward -> aft or aft -> forward aircraft seat mask change is 11A. On an aft galley aircraft, 11A is nearly in line with 10B/C.

When a seat mask change is completed in Apollo, it will reseat only passengers whose seats no longer exist on the aircraft (or if exit rows change, etc.). On a forward -> aft galley change, pax in seats 11B/C/D will be booted onto the seat reassignment list (so-called BP0), while seats 2A and 1B/C come into existence. The process naturally works in reverse in a aft -> forward galley change.

Sometimes these aircraft changes are done during a last minute aircraft swap - so the seat change isn't foreseeable in all circumstances. There were times when I would look out at the registration of the aircraft I was working, realize it needed a seat map change and do so - usually with less than a couple minutes before boarding.

The reason the forward galley configuration is always seen in advance seat maps is that there are more EMB-120s with forward galleys than aft galleys, so theoretically it means less of these situations.