I have a question, out of curiosity. Were you a "non-rev" passenger? When you say "positive space", that is what it implies, to me. In other words, you didn't pay for your ticket, but were being flown somewhere by American, or by another company that has an agreement with American, to send their employees on American, positive space, but as a "non-rev" - meaning, they don't have to pay. I assume you are a pilot, hence signing your complaint, "Captain", and were being positioned, possibly, by your company, or American, to some location. For example, when you go for an interview for American, or travel for business, for an Airline, they will "positive space" you, to get you there. Some corporate flight departments, charter airlines, and fractional airlines, have agreements to positive space their employees, on airlines, to position them to certain locations, when needed.
IF the above is true, than this may be why your seat was changed. The airline is going to cater toward revenue customers, before non revenue customers, whether they are positive space, or not. Positive space means that you are guaranteed space/seat on the airplane, but not a specific seat. As an airline employee, I non-rev all of the time, and that is just part of the deal. As a non-rev, you get the short end of the stick, most of the time. It may have been that someone, maybe husband and wife, as well, were trying to sit together, and they saw two positive space (non-rev) passengers on the flight, and moved one (your wife) to allow the paying customers to sit together.
As far as hiding behind a policy. People like to say that when an agent says they can, or cannot do something. The fact is, I am an employee of an airline (not American), and as an employee I have to uphold the policies that I am told. If I don't, I lose my job, like anybody, in any business. BUT, the seat change thing is really not a policy. The computer system my airline uses, will literally not allow an agent to put a passenger into a seat that is already assigned. I've worked for two airlines, and it was the same for both, and I assume for all airlines, as well. I can move people around, such as remove someone from one seat, to another, so I can put you into that seat, but that is where policy comes into play. I can't just start moving people, without cause, unless I am moving a "non-rev" passenger, to accomodate a revenue passenger.
I could be wrong about what you mean by "positive space", in your circumstance, but that is a term in the airline industry to mean that you are a non-revenue customer, who is guaranteed space on the airplane, BUT, not a specific seat. In fact, in most cases, positive space doesn't guarantee you space on a specific flight, just that you are guaranteed space on a flight, by the last flight of the day.
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