American Airlines App Will Now Move You to a Better Seat Automatically

American Airlines just added a feature to its mobile app that watches the seat map so you don't have to. Now, AAdvantage members can set their seat preferences for a window, aisle, or middle seat after booking. If a matching seat opens up, the app moves them and sends a notification.

It's limited to members on single-passenger reservations who already have an assigned seat, and it searches for seats up to 24 hours before departure.

Seat changes stay within your existing cabin and don't cost anything extra. American also says it won't move you to a higher-priced paid seat, even if one that fits your criteria becomes available.

Andrew's Take

I like this new feature. Gone are the days of endlessly searching for my desired aisle seat after booking a last-minute ticket — which is something I've done countless times. What I still want to know is how often the app checks and who gets the seat when several people are waiting on the same assignment.