Help--I'm in a panic!

[pamurchu]

We are booked on Carnival Glory 7/30 with the "Fly Aweigh" program which includes air arranged by Carnival. In the travel documents it states that we must call our airline to arrange seating which I did 2 weeks ago--called US Air and was given 3 seat assignments for both coming and going. When I called US Air today to reconfirm, they had no records of our seats at all.:mad: Now there are only 2 seat assignments left for departure. And no one seems to be able to do anything about it. And all it is is my word against theirs. Any suggestions about what to do??? Thanks to anyone with any advice.

[beaming90]

I have no idea how to help, but good luck! :o

[serene56]

Call your agent NOW.

[mc'smom]

Do you not have any confirmation numbers ?

 

Have you tried calling Carnival ?

 

Is there anyway your name could be misspelled ?

that being the reason they have no records for you ?

 

Get on the phone now and don't get off until you have 3 sets... Start screaming if you have to.

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

:)

[booboo4031]

If your air was arranged through the fly aweigh program, I would call either the TA or PVP you booked through or the fly aweigh dept at Carnival. The other thing is that airlines leave a certain percentage of seats that they do not assign ahead of time. You may be running into that. I would take it up with Carnival!

[shungirl]

If I understand correctly, you are still on the flight, just no seat assignments? If there was a schedule change (even as little as one minute or one number in the flight number) seats can be wiped out. They do not reassign seats. So many days before the flight, they turn it all over to airport check in only. I suggest getting there super early to get the best seats. (I am a TA)

[pamurchu]

You're correct--we are on the flight. And I do appreciate the advice of a travel agent who deals with this on a regular basis. Maybe all will be well after all. They could book seats for my son and myself, but ran out when it came to my husband. I have called my TA--she spoke with a US Air supervisor who told her nothing could be done...just come to the airport early. I now have a call into Carnival to see if someone there has some pull. I appreciate the comments--I needed someone to sympathize with my problem! Keep the advice coming!

[Chief Cruiser]

I doubt if Carnival will speak with you since you are booked through a T/A, unless it is a 3-way. I would be all over my T/A's A@% until they got me 3 seat assignments!

[HeidiHo]

A similar thing happened to us the last time we flew. It was AA and I booked on-line so picked our seats on-line. Later on, I noticed that the seat arrangements had been wiped out on one leg of our flights. I tried to pick seats again but couldn't. I knew we had tickets, just couldn't choose our seats. I later found out that it was because all that were left were seats by the emergency exits and we couldn't book our under age kids in these seats. It has to be adults in them so that in an emergency, a (hopefully) strong, responsible adult is sitting there to assist in opening the emergency exit. When we checked in at the gate, seating was arranged then.

[ken56]

if you booked the fly aweigh add on with the cruise then you should be dealing with carnivals air sea dept. if you used a local TA to book your cruise then its they who must deal with carnival.....not you. carnival will not deal with individuals who booked thru a TA so tell your TA to straighten it out.....they should have handled everything as it is. if you yourself book thru a carvinal PVP then go thru them

[pamurchu]

A similar thing happened to us the last time we flew. It was AA and I booked on-line so picked our seats on-line. Later on, I noticed that the seat arrangements had been wiped out on one leg of our flights. I tried to pick seats again but couldn't. I knew we had tickets, just couldn't choose our seats. I later found out that it was because all that were left were seats by the emergency exits and we couldn't book our under age kids in these seats. It has to be adults in them so that in an emergency, a (hopefully) strong, responsible adult is sitting there to assist in opening the emergency exit. When we checked in at the gate, seating was arranged then.

 

I think this is exactly what happened to us. Hopefully by checking in early, we will be assigned at least one seat by the emergency exit. I guess in the scheme of things, this is not one of the great problems in the world. But it would be nice to begin the cruise without stress.:) Thanks for all of the good comments and advice.

[pamurchu]

Well, final post on this topic... Called TA, US Air, Carnival, raised cain, and of course no one is responsible for anything. All I did was what I was supposed to do--get seat assignments-- and I am out of luck. Oh well, guess I have to get to the airport at 4:30 AM (when the airport opens) for an 8:30 flight! Thanks for everyone's help.

[LornaT]

Carnival will book you on your flight only. Your TA should have know that the minute he/she got your documents from Carnival that he/she (not you) is responsible for getting your seat assignment (Carnival never has and never will get seat assignments, they just get you booked on the flight) and should have done so immediately. Best bet is get to the airport early, if they say 90 minutes make it 2 hours and be perched at the gate waiting for them to open it up (no one will likley man/woman it until about 45 minutes before flight time) and be first in line.

[pamurchu]

Yes I agree that is about all we can do at this point. Not too happy with my TA right now. If I wouldn't have read all of the endless fine print on the documents myself, I wouldn't have realized that we had to secure seat assignments ourselves at all. And add that to the incompetence of the first US Air contact that made our original seat assignments,and then neglected to "put them into the system." Guess we will have a sleepless night on Friday and pray we get to the airport on time. Thanks for the advice.

[pamurchu]

:( It is Wednesday and DH still does not have a seat. We have booked the night before at the airport Hyatt (at an additional 134 dollars) in hopes of getting there just as the US Air desks open; perhaps we can secure him a seat in one of the emergency exit rows. Sure don't like starting a vacation with so much stress. Please wish us luck!

[salty dingo]

I believe the exit row seats cannot be assigned until check-in. I think other premium seats are usually reserved for gate assignment as perks to frequent flyers. As long as you have a confirmed reservation and get there early, you should have no problem getting a seat. It is a pain not knowing where the seat is, but know that as soon as you see the ship, your airline experience will be a distant memory :D

[pamurchu]

Thanks for the optimistic advice. These are exactly the kinds of things I need to hear! We don't care where the seats are. Just get us to the Glory on time!

[hlsess]

That is exactly what happened to us 3 years ago spring break going skiing- we made reservation 6 months before and show up at airport and he says there are no seats available- tell me I was freaking out!!!! Eventually the rude airline jerk came up to me after everone started boarding to tell me we had the last 3 seats on the back of the plane!! i was already trying to figure out what to do and all the money I was going to lose b/c there were no more flights into the little city we were flying into- it was spring break !!! Good luck- I AM sure you have seats though!!!

[L2J]

For the OP - Are you flying the day before or day of the cruise?

[palmtre2]

USAIR also has an online check in - 24 hrs. before your flight go onto USAIR's website, along the right side in yellow is a space for check in. Put in the name of one of your party (all booked at the same time will show up) and the flight number or the confirmation number and you will see exactly what seats are available - you can pick seat assignments here and print an online boarding pass. Hopefully, there will be something left to choose from. The last flight I did this on showed an almost full flight and when we boarded the plane was nearly empty (?). Any cancellations should show up in the last 24 hrs and maybe seats have opened up.

[Zeke3]

USAIR also has an online check in - 24 hrs. before your flight go onto USAIR's website, along the right side in yellow is a space for check in. Put in the name of one of your party (all booked at the same time will show up) and the flight number or the confirmation number and you will see exactly what seats are available - you can pick seat assignments here and print an online boarding pass. Hopefully, there will be something left to choose from. The last flight I did this on showed an almost full flight and when we boarded the plane was nearly empty (?). Any cancellations should show up in the last 24 hrs and maybe seats have opened up.

 

Defintiely try this. Just yesterday I went on-line with US Air to print my nephews boarding pass to return home to Tampa. When we originally booked the flight, there were no window seats available and that is what he wanted. We chose another seat at time of booking. When I went on-line yesterday to print the boarding pass, there was an option to choose a seat assignment. I clicked on it and was able to get him a window seat in row 10! It allowed me to change seat assignments. There were several seats open that were not available before. The airlines may hold seats that they make available later. Lesson learned for us is to keep checking!

[gtalum]

Relax.

 

Airlines keep approximately 10% of seat assignments for assignment at the airport, to help accomodate handicapped people, families with small children, and large parties. That means there are anywhere from 5 (on a regional jet) to 20+ seats left for assignment that just don't show up as available on the online seat maps.

 

Do as has been suggested here and get to the gate ~90 more minutes prior to departure. Go stand at the desk, even though no one is there yet. It feels silly, but it's effective. I use the same technique to secure voluntary "bumps" if I know the flight is full. They usually man the desks starting at ~60 minutes prior. Try to check in 2 hours or more prior to departure. Involuntary denied boarding occurs purely in check-in order. If you check in 2 hours early, you will definitely be some of the first to check in.

[Boston6]

Your flight is oversold. They're probably holding some seats for assignment at the airport. It's really important when you check in that you tell USAir staff that you're going to connect to a cruise ship and that you have to be on that flight. What they'll end up doing is bumping some folks up to first class, asking if anyone would liked to be bumped from the flight completely (for compensation), and filling the seats as best they can. Some folks will probably be involuntarily left on the ground that day.

 

Same thing happened to me. On-line check-in was useless as it's not allowed if there isn't a seat available. I eventually did get on the flight, we got the last 4 seats, but I had to make a real nuisance of myself and basically refused to sit down/leave the line until they gave me my seats.

 

Be careful though, there's a fine line between being a nuisance and being obnoxious. If you go overboard and start ranting and raving they may refuse you passage because of your behavior or worse, call security.

 

Good luck and get to the airport early

[gtalum]

Your flight is oversold.

 

Just to clarify, this is not necessarily true.

 

The rest of your post is excellent advice.

[hill6]

One time I booked a ticket for my teenage daughter to travel by herself to Florida. The only seats that were left were "premium" seats for the frequent flyers. I was able to get her a seat no problem at the airport. It may just be that there are no seats left but those.

 

Go to the airlines website and see if there there are any seats available on the flights. I know Continental if you put in the flight info as if you are bookign a flight you can look at seat availability.