Cannot make a seat reservation until 23 hours before flight takes off. I spoke to someone at Lufthansa (code share with Untied) and she told me that. I asked for a reason and she couldn't give me one.

Why in the world would you not be allowed to reserve a seat?

Even on United you would not have been able to select a seat. Many airlines have the same rules.

Is your ticket a discounted economy fare? If so, then see this discussion...

http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...-departure.cfm

ms_go - Thanks for the link.

This is crazy brain spinning stuff.

The woman I called at Lufthansa, since I was given the record locator for my flight on Lufthansa by the Untied flight, never even told me I could pay for a seat reservation. Just told me I couldn't do it.

And, yes, we got a great economy fare. But I have no idea if it's a "discount fare". It's just what was offered when I looked up possible flights.

Since lots of people won't have seat assignments until check-in, as long as you do your OLCI at 24-hr before departure, you have plenty of seats to choose from. Never a problem.

You may not be able to pay for a seat reservation since you are on a codeshare and didn't book directly with Lufthansa.

But if you join the Lufthansa frequent flyer program (free), you can set up your account to automatically book your seats as soon as reservations can be made.

I think I do have a Miles and More account. I have to find it. I'm guessing that's the Lufthansa FF program?

yes, that's correct.

We fly JFK to Moscow on Austrian Airlines, and then a few days later fly Moscow to Munich on Lufthansa (both code share with UA).

So even though I booked the whole trip through United Airlines and have a UA booking code, which won't let me reserve a seat until I am at the counter(!), I can check in on-line with Lufthansa, and Austrian Airlines 23 hours before with <b>their</b> bookings codes?

Yes, I believe that's correct, but you may want to wait until someone who knows more about the technical side of this can answer. (There's another long thread on this subject, which I'll try to find.)

Be sure to add the Miles & More frequent flier number rather than the United number, or this won't work.

You can definitely check in on LH using LH's booking number even on a UA ticket.

They overbook flights and sort it out at the gate. That is what they told me anyway. They plan some passengers wont show and sell more seats. Too bad for you if everyone shows up. I got bumped with no seat available for me on a flight from Amsterdam. Another guy was waiting for a flight he was bumped off from the prior day. I bought my flight months ahead too. This is the trend with airlines, it gets tougher to travel every day that goes by.

I'm sorry for your experience, slackercruster, but that is not an accurate explanation of airline booking and seating procedures.

While it's true that most airlines overbook, if you have a ticket and check in on time for the flight, it's very rare that you'd be bumped completely. And if this happens in Europe you will be compensated.

But there is a priority list for bumps, and ticketed passengers without seat assignments are at the lowest point on this list, which is why you have to check in as soon as it's possible to do so. But involuntary bumping is still extremely rare even if it happened to you.

> And if [you're involuntarily bumped] in Europe you will be compensated.

As you will be in the U.S. (unless the airline gets you to your destination within 1 hour of your scheduled arrival time).

I have never been able to book a seat until check in opens. I have only once had a problem getting seats I am happy with, and that was sorted by the lovely lady at BA bagage drop in at SFO. We flew home economy plus, but could only choose two middle seats even checking in the moment online check in opened.
She explained that many business people now fly economy plus, and because they fly so much have a a high FF status which opens check in earlier for them.
Anyway my name was called at the gate and I was given new boarding passes, for the bulkhead row, aisle and middle. Perfect.

Go online as soon as check in opens and if you don't like the assigned seats change them.

het... You have never been able to get seats before you checked in? Yow. Where do you live?

Depends on the airline, I've flown economy with Emirates, Singapore, Virgin Australia and Qatar airlines and was able to select seats when I made the online booking.

Dianedancer: >>Where do you live?<<

Really has nothing to do w/ where one lives -- more depends on the airline, and sometimes on the type of fare purchased.

I can always get a seat reservation on AA when flying to Europe. But not on BA.

Why does being able to get a seat reservation even matter?