Did you prebook AC seats?

[Canadian Girl]

We are traveling from the East Coast in November. West jet generally puts families together whether or not you pre-book. AC does not. This trip we have to fly AC and am wondering if waiting until 24 hours out will give us at least 2 and 2 together (2a2c.) or whether it is best to pay the extra hundred plus and pre-book. It seems a lot of seats are already shown as occupied.

 

[Leafsgirl36]

If you want to be 100% sure that you will all be seated together then I would pay the extra dollars, otherwise you may find that you are seated in different areas of the plane. You can ask someone to trade seats with you but if they paid to book their seat most will be unwilling to switch with you.

 

[ixmnrs]

I usually pre-select the seats just out of convenience and peace of mind and I like to sit closer to the front. If you don't mind sitting further back in the plane, there will probably be availability as those seating charts probably show all the occupied seats at the back of the plane as passegners who didn't pre-select. People who pre-select will usually select the seats closer to the front. Even on my return flight from Orlando, we are at about 75%+ capacity, but there is still a distinct separation between seats in the front part and then a gap of empty rows until the back few rows which are occupied again. If you don't end up pre-selecting, just make sure you check in at the 24hour mark to select the seats. It's kind of like making 180-day ADR's without the long distance call. Good luck; November shouldn't be that bad if coming from Canada; just have to watch out for US Thanksgiving time which may be a little busier.

 

[minnie56]

I always pre book..I want to be close to the front of the plane to get on and off easily and I like an aise as does my DH so we book across from each other. If you want to be sure...pre book them.

 

[Lizziejane]

I agree....pre-book if you want to be sure of having 2x2.

Having said that, I would wager a bet that most adults would be quite willing to switch their seat if it meant avoiding having to sit beside an unattended child. Especially if that child is 3 or 4 years old!! But ya never know, I suppose, which is why the airlines can get away with charging extra for seat selection.

 

[Leafsgirl36]

I agree....pre-book if you want to be sure of having 2x2.

Having said that, I would wager a bet that most adults would be quite willing to switch their seat if it meant avoiding having to sit beside an unattended child. Especially if that child is 3 or 4 years old!! But ya never know, I suppose, which is why the airlines can get away with charging extra for seat selection.

You would be surprised at the number of people who will not give up their seat even if it meant sitting next to an unattended child. Their thought is if they paid for the seat they are sitting it in. Not their fault if the family with the child did not pay the extra for their seats.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I usually pay the extra fee to select my seat as I like to have window seat looking over the wing. I like to watch it during takeoff and landing when they adjust the flaps and stuff to get it airborne and then to break the engines when we lan.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We're facing this for our next Sunday flights. My friend is flying from yyz to mco with two grand kids (15&q10) & 16yo nephew. Two of the 'kids' have never flown before '& the other one only once. We didn't think at the time to book seats ( I tend to fly SW so it's not on my radar) and when we thought to go in the wanted over $110 for seats 2 & 5 rows from the back of the plane! We've decided to take our chances & I'll be online 24hrs before their flight and see what I can get for them. Time will tell. I'll try to report back our findings as right now the flight is only showing 7 available seats.

 

[toesmom]

We are traveling from the East Coast in November. West jet generally puts families together whether or not you pre-book. AC does not. This trip we have to fly AC and am wondering if waiting until 24 hours out will give us at least 2 and 2 together (2a2c.) or whether it is best to pay the extra hundred plus and pre-book. It seems a lot of seats are already shown as occupied.

We are flying at march break and did not want to take the chance. We were separated one time and was not fun for the kids. People did not want to switch to accommodate us.

My fault for not knowing.

If you want to sit together for sure, then pay ahead of time.

Very easy to spend 100 on the trip, just do picnic lunch or dinner one night and you have paid the cost of the seats.

 

[CKCruising]

We rarely pre-book. When we travel with 4 we have been split 2-2, but nothing worse. When we travel with 3 most of the time, we are together, but the worse we have done is 2-1. We have probably flown YYZ to MCO at least 10 times. As well as RSW multiple times.

Note that I consider two aisle seats across from each other together.

 

[Gigi22]

I always pre-book, no matter where we fly. It's just the two of us adults, but DH is a very nervous flyer. I need to sit next to him so that I can help him keep his cool. We are among those who would not give up our seats to a child.

You have to consider that many of those flying to MCO will have children in their party, if you want to keep everyone in your family together, there may not be a lot of people who would be able/willing to give up their seats--especially if they paid to pre-book, KWIM?

 

[suziespice]

we're flying to Orlando in December and because we have a 2 year old and a 5 year old, we pre-booked our seats, I didn't want to chance the kids being by themselves!! or me being with both kids.. lol. It was $189 for 6 seats both ways.

 

[blairjen]

Spend the $ and prebook. In the event of an oversold flight they put unassigned seats at the top of the list for "involuntary denied boarding".

 

[disneymath]

Spend the $ and prebook. In the event of an oversold flight they put unassigned seats at the top of the list for "involuntary denied boarding".

I've been told this as well. We prebook our seats.

 

[sprmom]

We did prebook our seats, but now that we are delayed at the airport due to a missed connection, we have been issued Boarding Passes for the new flight that are all around the aircraft, so even prebooking is not guarantee. Its unfortunate, I would still prebook, being separated is not going go well.

 

[Babsy]

WE always pre book our seats. We do NOT want to risk being refused boarding due to over booking and would NOT want to be seated separately from the kids.

Now, if it were just 2 adults travelling together, maybe not so important to be together and save a few $$$$.

A small price to pay for peace of mind, IMO.

 

[disneymath]

We did prebook our seats, but now that we are delayed at the airport due to a missed connection, we have been issued Boarding Passes for the new flight that are all around the aircraft, so even prebooking is not guarantee. Its unfortunate, I would still prebook, being separated is not going go well.

Oh no, hope things worked out ok for you.

We had a similar issue once when when our Air Canada Jazz plane was downgraded to one with fewer seats relatively last minute. Everyone got on that smaller plane, but It seemed everyone's seat assignment was messed up. Multiple families were split up. The flight attendant was great, she basically announced that families with kids were to sit together out of the exit rows, then everyone else was to sort themselves out. Fortunately, no one had any issues doing that. This was a few years ago at a small municipal airport.

 

[sprmom]

We completed our travel on Saturday arriving 8 hours late into Atlanta. Having prebooked the seats with AC ahead did not help us on once we missed the connection. I will ask for compensation for that.

I will say the other passengers were very helpful and we managed to get our daughters together at least side by side. I don't think you can always count on everyone being willing to change seats. There was one passenger who changed seats three times just to get us all closer together, and only one passenger who wouldn't move but at least we were close by. IMO Always prebook, then prepare otherwise (its Air Canada afterall, anything can happen).

 

[Canadian Girl]

I spoke with someone at AC who told me we will most likely be assigned seats together as we booked under one reservation code. If not, they will move people around at the gate. Not sure what to believe. Right now, not all seats available are showing as available.These will get released closer to the date. I was told to check a week or so before.

 

[minnie56]

I spoke with someone at AC who told me we will most likely be assigned seats together as we booked under one reservation code. If not, they will move people around at the gate. Not sure what to believe. Right now, not all seats available are showing as available.These will get released closer to the date. I was told to check a week or so before.

Some seats are held back for airport check in,,,that said, they can ask people to move at the gate or onboard, doesn't mean they will. If you want to be sure, pre book them.