Unable to Get Seat Selection on Delta Flight to Rome using Flights by Celebrity

[pdanza22]

We booked with FBC for our upcoming Aug. 15th Reflection Med cruise.  Our outbound flight is MIA to FCO with Delta.  We tried to do our seat selection but we are being told by Delta that the seating is "under the control of the gate agent".  Has anyone ever encountered this? This is a first for us and I'm frankly a little nervous that my DH and I will be separated or worse bumped because of overbooking.  The person I spoke to at Delta actually said, "So just relax and let us do the worrying for you."  That alone made me nervous. Any advice would help.  Also, BTW we are returning home with Air Canada and we were able to download the app and do our seat selection there with no trouble.

[canderson]

Is your MIA-FCO flight an actual Delta flight or as a code-share with another airline?  (Whose aircraft is it, really?)

I have MISERABLE luck with seat selection between some code-share airlines.

 

[Jeremiah1212]

Delta doesn't fly MIA-FCO so the flight has to be on ITA which alone will add some complexity. 

 

If you look on the FBC site some of the ITA operated flights do not indicate a pre-reserved seat assignment is included. 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Jeremiah1212

[pdanza22]

11 minutes ago, canderson said:

Is your MIA-FCO flight an actual Delta flight or as a code-share with another airline?  (Whose aircraft is it, really?)

I have MISERABLE luck with seat selection between some code-share airlines.

 

No it is really ITA operated by Delta. But they should still let you select a seat.  We were able to select on the return flight which is Brussels Air operated by Air Canada.

[pdanza22]

7 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Delta doesn't fly MIA-FCO so the flight has to be on ITA which alone will add some complexity. 

 

If you look on the FBC site some of the ITA operated flights do not indicate a pre-reserved seat assignment is included. 

You are correct, it is operated by Delta but really ITA.  We did not see anything when we first booked with FBC that said seat selection not included.  Maybe we missed it. But what happens when you get to the gate?  are there seats?

 

[Beachin2]

12 minutes ago, pdanza22 said:

No it is really ITA operated by Delta. But they should still let you select a seat.  We were able to select on the return flight which is Brussels Air operated by Air Canada.

Different airline, different rules.

[rcamazed]

We recently flew Boston to FCO on ITA (operated by Delta) purchased through Flights by Celebrity.  We were not able to select seats either prior to checking in.  I was frustrated by that and tried calling Delta but no solutions.  We were seated together and actually it ended up fine, but that was mostly because our flight was only about half full.

[Deets]

We also have a flight to FCO on ITA operated by Delta purchased through Flights by Celebrity.  The flight number is AZ7615 (AZ is the airline code for ITA Airways--a new state owned carrier formerly Alitalia).  We have been able to select our seats for our flight in October.  We were unable to select the seats on Delta's website before the flight was actually paid for.

 

Have you tried to log into ITA's website to select your seats?  Maybe that would be an option to assign your seats if your flight has already been paid for through Flights by Celebrity.  https://www.ita-airways.com/en_us/

 

I understand the uncertainty of not having assigned seats!

[Arizona Wildcat]

33 minutes ago, pdanza22 said:

No it is really ITA operated by Delta. But they should still let you select a seat.  We were able to select on the return flight which is Brussels Air operated by Air Canada.

See you are an infrequent poster to CC.  Welcome. 

As discussed pretty much weekly, Celebrity Air does not always ticket until final payment.   They are a consolidator NOT a true travel agent.  You are experiencing one of those issues.

You can ask for early ticketing - which likely makes your ticket not refundable and could incur a fee - or simply wait.

Always makes sense to check prices and only go with Celebrity Air  if ticket is refundable and at a significant savings because of issues like yours that are common.

[pdanza22]

3 minutes ago, rcamazed said:

We recently flew Boston to FCO on ITA (operated by Delta) purchased through Flights by Celebrity.  We were not able to select seats either prior to checking in.  I was frustrated by that and tried calling Delta but no solutions.  We were seated together and actually it ended up fine, but that was mostly because our flight was only about half full.

Hopefully we will have the same outcome as you did.  Thanks for sharing.  I like to have all my travel plans set, not comfortable with the unkowns.

[pdanza22]

5 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

See you are an infrequent poster to CC.  Welcome. 

As discussed pretty much weekly, Celebrity Air does not always ticket until final payment.   They are a consolidator NOT a true travel agent.  You are experiencing one of those issues.

You can ask for early ticketing - which likely makes your ticket not refundable and could incur a fee - or simply wait.

Always makes sense to check prices and only go with Celebrity Air  if ticket is refundable and at a significant savings because of issues like yours that are common.

We were told that we had to be ticketed to select seats, so we did pay for our tickets.  Even though we knew they would be non-refundable it made us feel better to be able to select our seats. And yes, a significant savings by using FBC.

 

[Mr. Click]

Code share flights can be tricky.   It sounds like ITA (formerly Alitalia) is the operating carrier, not Delta the booking carrier.  That means ITA's seating, baggage, etc rules apply, not Delta's rules.  FBC should have provided you with record locators for both Delta, where you can find your reservation and ITA where you can actually work on your reservation.   We have had these issues with Air Canada/United bookings and AA/BA bookings.  Yes, it can be a pain but follow up with FBC and make sure you have the record locator for ITA as well. They are the ones who can tell you more about seating. It is beyond Delta's control.

[Fly and Sail]

Check here:

 

https://www.ita-airways.com/en_en/manage-my-booking.html

 

Make sure you have the correct booking code for ITA, it's not necessarily the same.

[12cruise2]

Get the six-digit record locater/confirmation number for the actual flight--ITA should give it to you for the Delta reservation, or Delta should give it to you for ITA--whichever airline the ticket is booked with should give it to you for the other airline--that's the key, then you go to the actual airline web site of the airline actually flying the flight armed with its own record locater, select manage your reservation, put in its own record locater, and if it can be done, that's how to do it.  I've never heard of ITA (and my son is a commercial airline pilot, so I'm familiar with a lot of this airline stuff); maybe they are a non-traditional airline that doesn't assign seats in the traditional airline way that  we are all thinking, but try this as suggested above.

[Arizona Wildcat]

11 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

Check here:

 

https://www.ita-airways.com/en_en/manage-my-booking.html

 

Make sure you have the correct booking code for ITA, it's not necessarily the same.

True.  We booked flights with Alaska Airlines from Tucson to Reykjavik.   Codeshare Seattle to Reykjavik.   Needed to call Alaska to get the booking code for Icelandic.   It was indeed different.   Took a couple days to obtain the Icelandic code so we could book seats.

ITA is based out of Italy.  Mostly codeshare operated by other airlines on international flights 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Arizona Wildcat

[12cruise2]

Here is what ITA's web site says about seat selection:

 

https://www.ita-airways.com/en_us/fly-ita/additional-services/seats-assignment/terms-and-conditions.html

[pdanza22]

Wow, so I have the Delta booking code and , of course it is not the ITA code.  Found the ITA code and I am online now trying to get the seat selection. Worse case, I'll call direct.  Thanks to all for the help.

[moneeman]

38 minutes ago, pdanza22 said:

Hopefully we will have the same outcome as you did.  Thanks for sharing.  I like to have all my travel plans set, not comfortable with the unkowns.

I had this same issue.  When I purchased the tickets, the Flights by Celebrity agent said he was unable to select seats (though he could see what was available), and that I had to do that through the carrier's website.  I was able to see my reservation on the Delta website, but seat selection was not available.  I kept waiting, but it did not change, so after a couple of weeks I called Flights by Celebrity and after an hour hold I got a representative that was very willing to select my seats.  However, he found the return (Delta) flight had not been ticketed.  It should have been as I was 45 days out at that point, but he referenced some kind of quirk in the system.  He put the request for ticketing in right there, but I had to wait 24 hours for processing.  I called back the next day (shorter wait time), and they were able to finalize everything and select our seats.

 

Best of luck!

[pdanza22]

1 minute ago, moneeman said:

I had this same issue.  When I purchased the tickets, the Flights by Celebrity agent said he was unable to select seats (though he could see what was available), and that I had to do that through the carrier's website.  I was able to see my reservation on the Delta website, but seat selection was not available.  I kept waiting, but it did not change, so after a couple of weeks I called Flights by Celebrity and after an hour hold I got a representative that was very willing to select my seats.  However, he found the return (Delta) flight had not been ticketed.  It should have been as I was 45 days out at that point, but he referenced some kind of quirk in the system.  He put the request for ticketing in right there, but I had to wait 24 hours for processing.  I called back the next day (shorter wait time), and they were able to finalize everything and select our seats.

 

Best of luck!

Thanks for the good wishes, online with ITA now trying to get the seats done. Glad to have everyone chime in and share these tips.

[moneeman]

I meant to also state that the customer paying for the ticket is not the same thing as the airline ticket actually being purchased.  Flights by Celebrity holds off, at least on some flights, and does not actually purchase the ticket from the carrier until later.  Some airlines will show the reservation as normal in their system, but will not allow a seat assignment until actually paid for.  Unfortunately, their website does not provide enough information to understand what is happening.

[Fly and Sail]

Yep, hopefully they have ticketed your reservation yet. Also, booking this as a codeshare is considerably more difficult to handle and sometimes you can't reserve anything at all. Pair that with the absolute disgrace of a TA that is Flights by Celebrity (Disaster).

[Virginia100]

2 hours ago, rcamazed said:

We recently flew Boston to FCO on ITA (operated by Delta) purchased through Flights by Celebrity.  We were not able to select seats either prior to checking in.  I was frustrated by that and tried calling Delta but no solutions.  We were seated together and actually it ended up fine, but that was mostly because our flight was only about half full.

Yes , ITA seating charts are not available to Fights by Celebrity, must go thru the airline direct when ticketed.  I cancelled my ITA Boston to FCO flight this August for this reason, I had Celebrity book flights that only had a DL flight number attached even if operated by ITA. Then you get your seats right away. Just learned this 4 days ago!

[12cruise2]

I found also that on some airlines, if you didn't pay a bit to upgrade your seat, then you couldn't reserve anything in advance.  We always go with economy, then get the "economy plus" type seats for maybe $100 more and can then book seats.  Of course, if Celebrity changes things with the flights, you could be out the money spent, but we prefer having an economy seat with more leg room, otherwise econ. seats are fine for us.

[Virginia100]

2 hours ago, 12cruise2 said:

Get the six-digit record locater/confirmation number for the actual flight--ITA should give it to you for the Delta reservation, or Delta should give it to you for ITA--whichever airline the ticket is booked with should give it to you for the other airline--that's the key, then you go to the actual airline web site of the airline actually flying the flight armed with its own record locater, select manage your reservation, put in its own record locater, and if it can be done, that's how to do it.  I've never heard of ITA (and my son is a commercial airline pilot, so I'm familiar with a lot of this airline stuff); maybe they are a non-traditional airline that doesn't assign seats in the traditional airline way that  we are all thinking, but try this as suggested above.

No, they are the new Italian government owned airline taking over from Bankrupt Alitalia. You get their locator vide but you have to wait weeks before you can go online to choose seats. Not good now that planes are full.

[12cruise2]

Yes, I just looked up where ITA came from.  As Virginia100 states, they took over from bankrupt Alitalia.

Nov 16, 2021 — ITA Airways — the new Italian flag carrier — took over from the bankrupt Alitalia on Oct. 15, 2021, with 52 planes and 2,800 staff members, ...

Another news blip said they plan to reintroduce the Alitalia name at some point.