Details on ancillaries and paid seats that can be purchased through AmTrav, including how they work
AmTrav saves you time by letting you book and pay for all the options you need in one place. One stop to book flights with ancillaries and seats, not a booking in AmTrav then a trip to the airline site. Plus your organization gets the ancillary charge on a common card with clear expense reporting in your AmTrav reports.
Note that ancillaries and paid seats are technically nonrefundable, but the airline may automatically transfer or refund ancillaries and seats as a matter of practice; AmTrav may also be able to request a refund.
Today AmTrav's ancillary and seat options include:
Southwest Airlines EarlyBird Check-In: Offered when you select a Basic Economy, Wanna Get Away Plus or Anytime fare on Southwest, Southwest EarlyBird Check-In automatically lists the traveler for boarding priority 36 hours prior to departure, giving them an earlier boarding position and better seat selection than they'd otherwise get. Payment for EarlyBird Check-In is taken at booking on the same card as the ticket purchase, EarlyBird cannot be added to a booking post-booking on AmTrav. While the traveler still needs to check in, the EarlyBird is automatically applied with no additional action needed from the traveler. More detail on EarlyBird Check-In from Southwest.
(Note: EarlyBird Check-In will no longer be offered once Southwest switches from open seating to assigned seats in late 2025 and early 2026).
United Airlines ancillaries: Offered when you select most United fares, you can select a Prepaid Checked Bag, Wi-Fi Day Pass, Priority Boarding and/or United Club Pass (in addition to paid seats, discussed below). AmTrav will not offer ancillaries that travelers are not eligible for because their fare doesn't allow them, and AmTrav will not offer ancillaries that travelers are already entitled to (because their fare, loyalty or credit card status already includes that ancillary). Ancillaries can be booked separately for each leg on roundtrip and multi-city bookings. All ancillaries are paid at time of booking on the same card as the ticket purchase, unfortunately ancillaries cannot yet be added post-booking. More about United Airlines ancillaries.
- Prepaid Checked Bags are noted on the traveler's United reservation, the traveler will not be charged when they check in their bag and print their bag tag at the airport. Prepaid Checked Bags are also discounted by $5 compared to checked bags at the airport. Currently only one prepaid checked bag per traveler is offered.
- Wi-Fi Day Passes are also noted on the traveler's United reservation and associated with their MileagePlus number, the traveler will not be charged when they log into wifi on their flights for that day (including redeye/multi-day flights).
- Priority Boarding is noted on the traveler's United reservation and boarding pass, entitles the traveler to earlier boarding in Group 2 (as of July 2025) for each of their flights on that leg.
- United Club Passes are noted on the traveler's United reservation, entitles the traveler to United Club entry (note: not Polaris Lounge or partner lounges) at each origin, connecting and destination airport (as available).
Frontier Airlines Prepaid Bags: Available when you select Frontier Airlines Economy or Premium Bundle, you can prepay for a first checked bag with Frontier. Prepaid bags are noted on the traveler's Frontier reservation, the traveler will not be charged when they check in their prepaid checked bag and print their bag tag at the airport. Prepaid bags payment is taken at booking on the same card as the ticket purchase, unfortunately cannot be added on post-booking with AmTrav.
Spirit Airlines Prepaid Bags: Available when you select Spirit Airlines Value fare, you can prepay for a carry on and first checked bag with Spirit. Prepaid bags are noted on the traveler's Spirit reservation, the traveler will not be charged when they check in their prepaid checked bag and print their bag tag at the airport, or when they board with their prepaid carry on bag. Prepaid bags payment is taken at booking on the same card as the ticket purchase, prepaid bags unfortunately cannot be added on post-booking with AmTrav.
Paid seats: AmTrav offers the ability to select and pay for paid preferred and extra-legroom seats on many airlines including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, plus other domestic and certain international carriers (Southwest Airlines coming soon as they introduce assigned and paid seating). Seats can be selected or changed when booking or between booking and departure, bookers may be able to specify a different card from the one used for the ticket purchase. Paid seats may only be offered when a fare is eligible for those seats, airlines may return paid seats as free when a traveler is entitled to those seats (for example United Airlines MileagePlus Gold members getting Economy Plus and Preferred seat selection for free).
Paid seat selection is subject to your company's travel policy, may be out of policy.
As mentioned above, paid seats are technically nonrefundable, but the airline may automatically transfer or refund paid seats as a matter of practice; AmTrav may also be able to request a refund.
