Watch Out!!!

[mdeane]

Watch out if you have purchased airline tickets far in advance.....I bought and carefully selected my seats for the flights to Alaska and back in January.

 

Today I get an email saying they have changed my seats. I HAD good seats and now they are the pits. How does Delta explain???? The plane is different. lol It is the exact same configuration if it is a different plane. Now they want to seat us either not together or on the back row. This is unacceptable in my view. We are taking our grandchildren for the first time even flying. I was very nice talking with them but now what do I do?

[Toyz711]

it happens, with all airlines...many times. happened to us in '06. i didn't check every update AA sent me. one of them was a notice of them changing planes. we did have the 2 seats, together...we were changed to different row. they changed to a bigger plane, we were one of the unlucky ones...no one would move to allow us to sit together. no biggie, but next time i will read the emails, so we can call and change seats sooner.

going to get worse, some airlines are cancelling flights that are under sold. this summer is going to be bad, people need to keep checking their reservations every week.

[Rascal03]

I had a similar situation happen to us. We reserved seats back in October for our June departure. In March were notified that they had changed the flights (only by minutes) and also the plane had changed. They emailed me the new seat assignments. I was furious, as we had selected very nice seats. I called and was told that when they make flight changes the computer assigns seats randomly. What a bunch of bunk!! I was able to get seats that we were fine with. Good luck to you!

[gazingm42]

We purchased our tickets in September. But since 3 were on FF points

and one was a purchase we have to reservation numbers. But I called and

had them linked together. But in late January they change flights and put

us on 2 flights from Anchorage to Seattle. They never called or email us

I was looking at seats and noticed it. I called and they moved us all on

the same flight. So since them I check often to make sure they don't

do anything funny like that.

 

Often when you get to the airport they have seats open up that they

can free up to put you together. Some airlines you can call within 24

hours and some seats open on block seats. I know we have had

this happen and its a pain.

 

Once we got moved like this and they put my 5 year old at the time

with me and my 3 year old in the back of the plane. We I called becuase

of the age they did some magic and got us next to each other.

[NancyIL]

Delta does that a lot! If the time changes by a few minutes, or the flight number changes - you're lucky to have ANY seat assignments!

[PennyAgain]

I've lost a seat assignment AT THE GATE. Having a seat assignment is absolutely not a guarantee you will have that seat.

[mdeane]

Thanks for all your replies. We fly quite a bit and have never had this happen to us before. Had great flights to Istanbul and Med. with Delta so thought I was doing a good thing for the children. Well, I have learned my lesson with Delta. Used to fly American but seemed to get more perks on Delta until now.

 

I will peruse it further and keep my fingers crossed for better results. Maybe they will get tired of talking to me. lol

[Cruising Photographer]

Thank you for the reminder to book my ailrline seats (we booked the airline flight last October, but forgot about seating). Delta's Atlanta to Vancouver, we got the last 2 aisle seats together (row 43 in the back of the plane). We'll see if we stay together now.

[bearbait]

If I was taking my grandkids or even my own kids I'd take the back row.

[mdeane]

WHY???? I did it once and it was a horrible ride.

[lovetocruise99]

I hate the back row because people are constantly leaning on your seat as they wait for the restroom.

[gazingm42]

A good site to look for good seats is http://www.seatguru.com

[flashdog_1]

I was never notified of a flt number change. I had emailed Delta about the baggage conundrum and the agent noticed my flt had been changed and advised me to call. It was only different by 5 minutes. I called and was not put on hold at all!! She saw that the computer had put me in row 42 on the new flight I'd booked in November! and she redid it for me. They hadn't messed with my return flight, which happens to be a choice seat according to seatguru.com (thanks for that link).

[plaso20]

I'm sorry, but the back row is where they make us sit when we are transporting inmates! The seats don't recline and they are always noisey.;)

[curry767]

If I was taking my grandkids or even my own kids I'd take the back row.

 

As an airline pilot on the 767, I can tell you that turbulence will always be worse in the back of the airplane - some aircraft are worse than others, especially the 767.

 

But hey if you like a bumpy ride, long wait to get off the jet and people standing next to whilst waiting for the bathroom - go for it.

[mdeane]

I am truly beginning to ponder loooong train rides as an alternative to flying after this fiasco. It is not so important for me, but I want a special trip for the grands. Was hoping they could both have a window seat. And it is not over yet.....I have just begun to fight. Why do the airlines THINK we choose a certain seat? They were open and I chose them. Now that seems simple to me but I guess I am not smart enough to think "airline thoughts". Sorry for the vent. I also suppose that when you pay for a ticket and select a seat that makes a contract. (Not in airline jargon). No wonder they are all having problems.....could you run a business with customers this way?

[pmc097]

If you would like to check your seating, go to www.delta.com and click on

traveling and check in. Go to itineraries. Type in your confirmation number . Once your itinerary comes up click on then click on trip details. Once there, go to seating and click on change/select. This will show you available seating. You should then be able to change to any open seat.

 

Take it from someone who flies Delta 80 to 100,000 miles per year( (plus other airlines). Go with the flow. They are as good or bad as any other airlines. Regardless of the seating, you'll get there the same time everyone else gets there. Sometimes you just have to make the best of it.

[mdeane]

Thanks for the information on Delta. Believe me I have been there many times lately. I think I would feel better toward them if they could explain to me why we were pushed out. One supervisor did tell me there are rows held open that only the gate agents can fill, how about that. I think I have rearranged it as well as possible but it is not good. It will not put much of a damper on our trip as I am not telling the children. I'll let them think I was crazy enough to select the seats we have. I just hope we will still have a seat when the day comes. Good luck to eveyone who hopefully has a seat......lol

[cruisegirl06]

I would call back, you may have just gotten a poor customer service representative. When I have issues with my rep, I usually ask to speak to a manager, this may make your customer service rep more helpful, or at least put you in touch with someone who has the power to change your seats. It's always tough dealing with these customer service lines, because a lot of the times the people you talk to are not empowered to do anything (which makes for unfortunate customer service).

 

You may also ask about other flights with better seats (if applicable) or suggest some form of compensation (e.g frequent flyer miles?) if the seating arrangement really is unacceptable to you.

 

Good luck!

[loves2cruz]

My Delta flights have changed three times since February only by a few minutes either way, and different flight numbers. Not once did Delta notify me and yes I had the seat mishap too.

[SEPyle]

I'm sorry, but the back row is where they make us sit when we are transporting inmates! The seats don't recline and they are always noisey.;)

 

Please excuse my post since it's off topic but I can't resist: My daughter works for Princess on their trains. Once in a while they ask employees to fly back to Anchorage from Fairbanks for scheduling purposes instead of coming back on the train the next day. One day she called me quite excited. She had just gotten off a flight and said she was able to sit across from an inmate being transported back to Anchorage. She sat across the aisle from the covict and person transporting him. She told me he made eye contact with her and had a very strange look. She then told me his name. I asked her how in the world she knew his name. She said: "Oh it was easy: He had a box with his stuff in it and it had his name on it." I googled his name + Fairbanks. To my surprise it came right up. He was in a mental hospital; and chased a worker out the door and stabbed her to death. They were bringing him to Anchorage for trial.

 

The reason I said my daughter was excited: She was actually assigned to the seat where they put the convict. They moved my daughter. Her friend was sitting across from him and my daughter WANTED to sit across from him. Oh how our grown children still find ways to make a Mama worry!

 

By the way: Do any of our Alaska friends know how the trial turned out. I don't remember his name, but I'm quite sure it made the headlines.

[loves2cruz]

My Delta flights have changed three times since February only by a few minutes either way, and different flight numbers. Not once did Delta notify me and yes they had changed my seats, not for the better. After spending much time I did get improved seats, but why don't they ever change you to better.........lol.

[mdeane]

loves2cruz......AMEN, AMEN and Amen. It will never happen. And the problem is what can anyone do. We are captive flyers.

[curry767]

My Delta flights have changed three times since February only by a few minutes either way, and different flight numbers. Not once did Delta notify me and yes I had the seat mishap too.

 

This seems to be the norm with airlines in the US, doesn't seem to happen on such a consistent basis elsewhere in the world. I for one check my flights regularly when on US carriers, especially a day before travel. It’s not uncommon for them to move the departure time forward and not advise you.

[Greenwhite]

As has already been noted, Delta is not he only airline to do this :mad:. We can speak from beaucoup experience. You have to be very proactive about checking your flights and seat assignments if you book far in advance. Sometimes the airlines will notify you of changes and sometimes they won't. However, it has been our experience that every single time they have made even the slightest change, we have lost our seat assignments. If you don't keep on top of it, you are out of luck. You can absolutely count on the airlines to cancel flights, change routes, change arrival and departure times, and change seat assignments. We have had all of those things happen to us--so we are talking from experience.