LM225

If you go through the purchase process on the website (without completing the purchase, of course), when you get to "select seats", you should be able to see the prices of the various Choice Seats.

BoeingBoy

Unless someone here has purchased a Choice Seat on that route recently, I doubt that anyone can give you an accurate figure. You could try a dummy purchase, try calling res or there used to be a chat function on the web site.

Jim

dcpatti

For $215 or so, you can sign up for "trial preferred" which would let the trial member + companion(s) book into "preferred" seats plus give additional checked bags allowance. If you're each planning to check a second bag, this might be cheaper. The preferred seats are not the same as the choice seats but if you post flight date, a friendly elite would likely be willing to check to see if open preferred seats meet your needs (do let someone check before paying for the status trial) plus if you have more trips on US metal within 90 days, you may be able to keep that status for a year. Only one passenger needs to do the trial if you're all on the same pnr.

Biggie Fries

I second this ... and raise it somewhat, since a RT PHL-FCO-PHL would be >7500 miles and thus would make whoever took it a full Silver at least through 28 Feb 2014. So compare what you might pay for Choice seats (for two?) with the knowledge that you could get better seats as Preferred, plus extra baggage on this flight and whoever of the two became the Silver Preferred member, they would have better seats etc. on any other flights for a year.

LM225

That's a great point, I didn't even think about this. I just did a dummy booking in May, and it looks like Choice Seats start at $50 each way. That's $200 for two people RT. Much better off doing the Silver Trial and keeping it for year.

dcpatti

Thanks Biggie. I suck at maps and math

OP just want to reiterate, if you may be interested in doing this, do check to be sure the seats you want are indeed available before buying The trial. The trial enrollment is usually nearly instant but may take a day or so in some cases, although I imagine you could possibly buy up over the phone and change seats at the same time. But we currently have another thread where a member feels he has bought a pig in a poke because his (significantly more expensive) purchase of status did not produce the results he wanted. Make sure you don't end up on the same boat!

skitch23

Also note that the preferred trial only lasts for 90 days so you will want to make sure your flights fall within those three months otherwise you will just be wasting your money.

CDTraveler

Ah, Flyertalk...

Such wonderful, enterprising answers!

A few questions about the trial preferred option, if someone would be so kind.

How do you access it? Via the website or by invitation?

How long will it be available for purchase? This trip is April 15 to 22, but we may be attending a medical conference in June, so looking at the 90 day validity window, could I still purchase it at a late enough date to cover both trips?

Would the seat upgrade apply to mileage tickets? I'm not sure if the organization awarding the trip used cash or miles to buy them.

Does the second free bag apply ex Europe? Going over we'll only have one each, but coming back, well, there might just be a little shopping to bring home.

And back to seat question: on the "show seats" button that appears on the screen to select flights, it looks like several window-aisle pairs are available, but in trying the dummy purchase option a couple minutes later, far fewer ChoiceSeats show; is that because they're blocked or sold?

Advice much appreciated.

NovaEngr

You can buy Trial Preferred on the US website HERE.

kudzu

1. as PHLviaUS mentions, via website. Or by calling;

2. Usually best to buy it a few days before your Apr 15 trip. Status shows immediately/shortly thereafter, and you can select Preferred seats (note: Choice seats are different, in that everybody including Preferreds pay for them). The later date valid for 90 days would also extend through July and cover your second trip;

3. Seat upgrade on award ticket: If you mean upgrade to FC domestically, then No, as that's a Special Dividends perk once you've reached 85k PQMs. If it's just a better (Preferred) seat in Economy, then yes, that's a benefit at any Preferred level (including Trial Silver);

4. Baggage policy No 2nd bag free for Silver ex-Europe

5. Sorry, don't know answer to your last question.

Biggie Fries

I think a couple of things are being confused here, so let me try to sort them out. Trial Preferred is indeed available for 90 days. That means that you have 90 days to fly 7500 miles. After that, you would be Silver, not just for whatever remained of the 90 days, but until 28 February 2014. Since 22 April is less than 90 days from now, and we know that your FCO trip will bring you >7500 miles, anytime you wanted to sign up now would be fine. You would be assured of having Silver status for the June trip as well, as long as you actually do the FCO trip as planned. The advantage to doing this earlier is that you could get the seats you want now -- the goal that started all of this. It would be ironic if you were to wait until March or some such to joiin Trial Preferred, only to discover that the seats that you want are gone! This said, if the plane looks reasonably empty and you want to gamble, because the June trip is long, too, and you think that you could conceivably hit 15,000 miles within the 90 day window, then that might be grounds for waiting to enroll, since 15,000 miles within the 90-day window would grant you Gold Preferred status until 28 February 2014. I doubt that this is salient in your case, but in the interest of completeness I raise the point.

Doesn't matter. Whoever buys the ticket, however it is bought, the important thing is that your (or whoever the Trial Silver person is) Dividend Miles number becomes associated with the Confirmation Code for the reservation. Then you can enter and choose and move seats as you like, or call in and have it done for you.

Again, let's be careful here. There are Choice Seats, which everyone has to pay for, even Preferred status folks (Silver, Gold, Platinum, and even Chairman), and then there are Preferred seats, which are near the Choice seats, but are even better, and are available to all Preferred customers, regardless of level and, yes, even during a Trial. What is relevant here is that until you are Preferred, you will not be able to choose these Preferred seats. But start looking at those, not the Choice seats.

kudzu

Ah, Biggie Fries, my math is just as bad as dcpatti's . Thanks for shining the light ....

Edited to Add: OP mentions in post 9 that she's not sure whether it's a paid or award tix. If an award tix, then no PQMs earned for FCO trip, and signing up for Trial Silver later is better than sooner (possibly losing out on more seat choices, but covering her proposed June trip)

phlwookie

One thing to be aware of: the last times I've flown into FCO, we've come across central France, then over the Ligurian Sea near Marseille, over the north tip of Corsica, then along the coast to FCO, which is much closer to the coast than the city of Rome itself. My point is to not get too excited over what can be seen from the air - it's decent but not great, and little if any of the city is visible unless it's clear and you're landing to the west on the east-west runway.

scottsam66

BTW: Silver Preferred guarantees you NOTHING, as far as getting better seats. You may, or may not get them. I flew as silver for several months last year, and about half the time, seemed to get better seats, but the other half--nada. I know this has a lot to do with the route, time of day, etc. but be aware.
Call me Mr. Contrarian, but I would buy the choice seats, and guarantee yourself better seats! (especially if this is really just for one roundtrip trip.

skitch23

I can't figure out how to upload a screen shot, but to help the OP make a decision on buying the trial preferred as of right now I show on April 15 flt 718 several open preferred window (and adjacent) seats available.... 8G/8H, 9G/9H, 10A/B/G/H, 11A/B. A few of those pairs also have middle seats available so the whole fam to sit together.