I bought an AA airline ticket off of expedia for today. I went to select my seats for coach…?
And there were none available. BUT, there are several seats still available in business class. Does this mean I will automatically be upgraded to business class because that’s the only seats available on the flight?
No — passengers who don’t have seat assignments won’t automatically get a seat in a premium cabin simply because there are no longer seats in coach. If the airline needs to move up passengers from one cabin to another to accommodate persons in coach, they’ll move their elite-status frequent fliers first and then put you in one of the seats that opened up as a result. (More commonly, though, they’ll simply seek volunteers in coach to take a later flight.)
That having been said, though, you should keep checking back to see whether seats open up closer to the time of departure — other passengers may cancel their tickets or switch to a different flight, which will open up additional seats on the map. You may also see certain seats open up if passengers are upgraded from coach to business class starting a few days before the flight leaves.
If you aren’t able to get a seat before the day of the flight, you should get to the airport as early as you can on the day of your flight to check in, and inquire about seats in the bulkhead or exit row. These seats (as well as some other seats on the plane in coach) are blocked off as premium seats, meaning that not all passengers have the ability to book a seat there in advance. These seats are generally made available on the day of the flight to anyone who asks for them, though — the earlier you get there and check in, the better your chances of getting one of these seats.
nako
7 Oct 10 at 12:11 am
No. There are almost always cancellations and even if there aren’t automatic upgrades usually go to coach passengers with a lot of AA frequent flyer miles.
Howard L
7 Oct 10 at 12:11 am
You won’t get upgraded to business class. There is always an available seat. Someone on the flight will cancel, and you’ll get their seat. American depends on this so that they can oversell their flights and get all of the seats filled just in case a passenger cancels. Your seats will be assigned on the day of the flight
Have a great trip!
Keagan
7 Oct 10 at 12:11 am
No.
Just because no coach seats showed as available TO YOU does not mean that all those seats are already assigned. AA like other airlines holds certain seats (typically exit rows, bulkheads, the first few rows of coach, and any others that tend to be favored for one reason or another) for elite frequent flyers and/or people paying full (Y) fares. Also, AA like most airlines stops making advance seat assignments altogether (at least for "ordinary" passengers) once some percentage of seats are assigned.
Neil
7 Oct 10 at 12:11 am
Highly doubtful. As in a 0.00001% chance of happening. They’ll assign you a coach seat randomly before or at checkin.
Leafsfan29-Embrace the drought!
7 Oct 10 at 12:11 am
No way it won’t upgrade-ted to business class because thee is a lot of difference between economy fares and business class fares.The chances of getting seats is depend on cancellation of any passenger.
aiden from airline tickets
7 Dec 10 at 2:16 am