WARNING: Seat Assignments Seem to be Suggestions Only

[DandyDon]

I was pretty hot about this and have talked with Continental several times, and I am pretty sure I got the jest of their vague statements on the subject....

What happened: I bought a ticket from Lubbock to Exuma Island Bahamas in June for December-January travel and selected my seats. The FLL-IAH flight had a schedule change of less than 30 minutes in September, no equipment changes, and my seat for changed from row 6 to the very back - row 34, with no notification to me, so I got shoulder bumped by every passenger who went to the lavatory, most FA trips, etc.

Continental tells me than notifications of seat changes are never emailed but changes in schedule are to the booking agency, and in this case I did not book thru Continental.com and my agency did not inform me. My Delta FF# and my email were on the reservation, but nothing was sent to me.

I still cannot get a clear answer on why I didn't get the same seat since the equipment was not changed. All the airline will say is that the assignments are courtesies than are not guaranteed.

I suppose if I want to retain the preferred seat I need to check my record much more often...?

 

[Ann Marie]

Hate that!!

Coming home from Bonaire in October, American decided to get a larger plane and split my buddy and I from seats we had booked long before! We asked nicely and they wouldn't change our seats. He got out his paperwork from the date of booking and raised a stink and they put us back together. Why couldn't they have done that in the first place? They knew we were traveling together, why penalize us because they brought in a bigger plane??? You'd think that they'd just keep everyone in the same seats and sell the remaining seats.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Don't feel bad. We were flying American from Dayton to Chicago to Orange County for the Wrinkles dive at Catalina. We had a long layover in Chicago (3 hours I believe) and were sitting at our gate waiting. My BOSS calls me from Dayton and says, "You have a problem, your flight has been cancelled" He just happened to be in his office and heard my phone ring and just happened to pick it up. The call was an automated message from American with the new flight information. They had my cell phone number listed as the primary contact number why the heck would they call my work number hours after my original flight had left Dayton? He told me the flight had been cancelled and we had been rescheduled on another flight with a 2 hour layover in Dallas. It was going to take us almost 24 hours to fly across the country. Even the boards in the airport didn't list the flight as cancelled yet.

I contacted American and they booked us on a United flight since we had a ferry to catch and the flight American put us on wouldn't get us there in time. Our luggage stayed on American but was able to get on a people full/cargo area available flight that left shortly after the United flight did. Luckily the luggage arrived in California in a timely manner.

BTW, Ann Marie saved our butts on that trip!

Be happy you were on the plane
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Ann Marie]

Ber, that still makes me shake my head and wonder!!

 

[ReefHound]

Don, I feel for ya and would hope that this is a rarity but suspect it is not. But I doubt it's any better on any other airline - they all crap on their customers. Did the flight number change? Their computer system probably dumped all the seat assignments and then people were re-assigned as they checked in or printed boarding passes.

I hate that shoulder bumping as well but it seems like it's either that or risk being trapped in a window seat by a sumo wrestler.

Why not just book directly on the airline website? They seem to offer the lowest price available and it removes one more failure point from the loop.

 

[shurite7]

I can't fully explain your situation, but here is some insider info; I use to work for the airlines and was in the tour industry for many years.

If you book a flight through a travel agency or an online source the airline will not contact the passenger (pax). However, the airline does send a message through the system and it is the responsibility of the agency to periodically check their 'que' and notify their clients. When I worked for the airlines I never called the pax unless immediate attention was needed and the agency was closed.

Seating; you have purchased a seat, but you have not purchased a specified seat. A seat assignment is simply a courtesy and in most cases it helps expedite boarding. However, if there is a change then things can become muddled and mixed up. For instance not all aircraft have the same seat configuration even if it is the same type equipment. I remember working with our 727's which all had 173 seats, however, some didn't have a specific row number while others did. If we changed tail numbers then the seat map changed. For the most part all but 6 pax maintained their seat number, but the 6 received another seat with a different row number.

There is another issue which is quite complex so I'll try my best to explain. When I worked at AA I could pull up the seat map to any of AA's aircraft. I also had access, through the computer system, to every other airlines seat maps (many people do not realize the airlines can book you on any airline when needed), not only does an airline have access to other airlines seat maps but they can pull up skeds, fares, regulations, etc but travel agencies and online do it yourself websites have similar access. The later having less access. This in itself can create headaches for gate agents. I really don't know how to explain in detail how the problem occurs, but it sometimes does.

The only way around the problem is to do what Southwest (WN) does, seat assignments at the gate, first come first choice.

So, keep in mind you have only purchased a seat, not a specified seat.

Although your FF# is in the system, the airline will not contact you directly if you have purchased your tkt through an agency. That is one thing I did not have access too, other airlines FF system, only AA's.

cheers

Chris

 

[fdog]

<sigh> Yes it is true, seat assignments are not permanent until you have a printed boarding pass.

Equipment changes, change in flight numbers, delays...it all results in changed assignments. Just check every couple days, occasionally you can spot a change that opens up seats you wanted and couldn't get.

We fly almost always in F, and guess what? Those seats are just as vulnerable. It's just part of the game. S' too bad they don't let infrequent flyers know the rules, though...


BTW, it could have been worse, here's a case where a First Class passenger (paid F no less!) had their assigned seats taken by an off-duty Flight Attendant and friend:

(Original thread on FT)

Sordid story, not something I would expect from DL:

Going with my disabled son (needs to have me or my wife sitting besides him) SLC-ATL-CPH 8/4/07 in BE, same record, reserved months out with seats selected and protected as schedules changed. We were given our BC's to the TA segment in SLC: 3 F & G. This particular day, the 10:15 AM SLC-ATL segment for some reason left at 11:00 am making for a fairly tight, but doable connex of 50 mins in ATL. Got to ATL in time and to E12 40 minutes prior to departure, zones 1-4 boarding. Got in the back of the heap. When putting my son's BC through, it lit red buzzed and a TSA agent dressed in a DL uniform barked: "You can't board, see the agent" and pointed to a long line at the counter. As my son and I headed for the line in front of the single agent working the counter, DL nazi yelled to me: "I didn't say you, I said him" pointing to my son, "get back here" which I softly ignored.

After more wait, the counter agent ran our BC's and told us "you are already listed as having boarded" which our shear presence obviously voided. Bottom line: Someone else sat in our seats. She pushed buttons and out came 2 boarding cards: 37 G&F which she put aside without saying anything to us but to which I whispered to my son: "those are some scary numbers!" She then said: "I can give you 3C and 4E" to which I said: "I made these seat reservations months out specifically to assure we could sit together - and we HAVE to sit together" "That is the best I can do Sir, you ARE sitting in BE" she said. To which I replied: "I hope so as that is what we booked and paid for, but we HAVE to sit together, if our seats have not been taken by FAM's, I need to talk to your supervisor as to how it came about that our seats were stolen from us". Without any further words she said: "come with me", let us down the jetway and told us the first 2 seats together (4C and E) "are yours". She then mumbled a "sorry for the mistake" and left.

Predictably, a gentleman with a BC for 4C and a puzzled look showed up shortly after, but fortunately he accepted 3C without a problem.

So who actually sat in OUR seats we had reserved months out? a VERY young couple (early twenties) in VERY casual clothing, just not fitting the FAM profile. To add insult to injury: the FA in our "sector" obviously knew them and dedicated so much time to them that a FA on the other isle's sector ended up serving us - and many others!!

Now mind you, this is a BE cabin that was 1/3 full on the seat map 3 days prior to departure, and then mysteriously fills up to the rim with a 2/3 full coach. Obviously body-passes are abound (because there was no award seat for this flight 331 days out or later - we looked) and DL staff are getting their reward for lean times - I get all that - but not if meaning stealing my seats to do so!!

I understand that what may have happened is that this young couple who may have been on a body pass and knowing some one at the gate and/or flight, for all I know through these connections asks for, and got seats together, and that the agent doing this took a calculated risk by stealing our seats to do so. But it does not sit well me that some one can just do that, especially to a year long MM/PM, as if the focus for DL is on spoiling their staff and families is at the expense of their customers, they may find themselves right back where they were.

This, for some reason, just didn't sit well with me.

<remove many posts>

Interesting assortment of comments - Thank you!!

My son does not have a visible disability (he has schizophrenia) and as long as he is with me or my wife he is fine, however on his own he could react to "miscues" and end up on the increasing death-toll of mentally ill persons in the hands of FAM's or paxes. I don't perticulalrly want to play the disability card when traveling with him on DL in BE, as we never have had problems keeping our seats together before (but I certainly do play the card up-front when traveling on other airlines where I have no status).

The point og my mail really was about the problem of a gate agent taking away my seats to indulge a friend/family without a second thought to the px who had reserved that same seat (And a PM confirmed that the couple in our seats indeed were on buddy passes) and then initially being blown off when protesting despite having paid for our tickets - That is what I was upset abouy. Of course I havle lost seats in the past from equipment/weather.schedule changes and know this comes with the territory and lived with it without sayin a peep - but I do believe this was different.

And yes, I certainly know that the word "DL Nazi" is over the top, but this person (different from the one who apparently took our seats) yelled commands about having passports ready and was as unfriendly as they come - so yes I yook some literary freedom to make the post a little entertaining - obviously offending some - sorry for that.

I am surprised ThaT a few believe it was OK to take our seats under these circumstances reminding me and others that we have no rights to our sets. Well, if tht is correct, why bother with seat reservations in the first place, why not just call them "seat requests we may meet after we have seated our large families and friends on buddy passes because our gate agents if they feel like it can do so"!!

All the best, James

 

[sarita75]

OHHHH this burns me. This happened to my husband and I one a recent trip to Europe. I noticed the change before we flew out (about 2 weeks before) and called United. Our seats were switched from window-aisle to the middle of a bank of 5 seats. I was not about to endure a 10+ hour flight in those seats. I raised holy hell on the telephone and told them that I was clausterphobic, etc. and that I would not sit in those seats. They eventually transferred us to a less full flight and got us better seats since they supposedly couldn't do anything about the seating on the original flights.

My lesson learned is that I always check my important, long-haul flights ever week to ensure that there are no changes. At any hint of a change, I call. I would rather have my profile marked as being "difficult" than to endure crappy seats. That's just me though.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks Chris. I suppose the equipment may have changed somewhat, even tho it was the same aircraft make & model and just perhaps #6D was not available on the new plane, but bumping an elite member to last row really sucks. Maybe the agency I used selected that seat but failed to notify me...?

Although your FF# is in the system, the airline will not contact you directly if you have purchased your tkt through an agency. That is one thing I did not have access too, other airlines FF system, only AA's.

cheers

Chris

I still question why I did not receive an email since I had added it to the record? I don't guest that's going to change, tho - so if I ever use an agency or anything other than Continental.com, I'll have to watch it much more closely.

 

[tridacna]

...but bumping an elite member to last row really sucks.

1. Having the bathroom "en suite" aint so bad.

2. After 20+ years of flying 100,000 miles/yr - yes, I'm Lifetime Continental Elite, being bumped from my originally promised seat is probably the best "bummer" on any flight.

3. How was the diving?