telescopic

Hello,

I booked several flights on US First class with P fare. I know these are discounted First, are they downgraded to Economy if the cabin is oversold?

For one of my flights (it was either PHX-BOS or PHX-PHL), none of the seats are available for me to choose and I have not been assigned a seat. Is this a bad sign?

AlphaTango

If everything goes as it does 99% of the time, you'll get your seat assignment at checkin - and it will be seat 1A.

telescopic

Is 1A a backup seat? Why am I not allowed to choose now?
And the 1%? Fly Eco or wait for next? Compensation?

kudzu

Welcome to FlyerTalk, telescopic ^

Seat 1A is usually reserved for handicapped passenger until check-in. When I am upgraded to First and cannot choose seats, I invariably end up with 1A.

"P" restricted FC fare is relatively new to US (fare classes were recently changed to align with AA), and few US flyers are familiar with it. In the past, P was the instant upgrade fare from a Y/B fare purchase - you knew upfront it was an upgrade and adjusted your expectations accordingly during irregular operations.

Since we're becoming more like AA every day, it may be helpful to look for guidance from our AA brethren, and there's a long thread over there.

fordan

The first row in F is as others have said is held back for assignment to handicapped flyers in F. US as a fairly strong general rule doesn’t oversell F; most of the time when we see people post about being downgraded it’s because of a Federal Air Marshal needing the seat (though US can’t actually say that is the reason legally) or an equipment change to an aircraft with fewer F seats. As a purchased F you should come ahead of people in the F cabin there on complimentary upgrades if there’s time to reallocate seats, but if it’s a last minute change they’ll probably just downgrade whoever’s in the aisle seat the FAM wants (or for a last-minute equipment change row 4 may not be such a great place to be)

Compensation in the past has been the cash difference between the fare paid and Y fare for that segment, not the discounted fare that most people would probably have booked.

telescopic

Thanks, this eases some of my concerns. I have changed my row 4 seats to row 3. Will check closer to travel date if any seat is available on the one flight that shows nothing available.

milesandmoremiles

You can also call reservations and they'll assign you one of the seats in Row 1 since no other seats are available for assignment.

apodo77

Used miles to fly my wife PBI-PDX on May 7th in F and no seats available for selection on either leg.

I will call in but this will most likely result in row 1 right?

McSam18

Yes, absolutely.

apodo77

It did. Thanks