Seat Changes

[DrJamesP]

We booked round trip out of PHL to Bcn for Oct 7, with our return on Oct 18,on US Air on Nov 22 of last year, got a good price so we booked that far out. My sister booked the two seats in front of us. Everything was fine until last week, when I checked our reservation last week they changed our seats, My wife and I were 2 rows apart and different sides of the airplane, my sister and BIL were at least still sitting close together but not in there original picked seats. My wife called US Air and got our seats changed again we now have the emergency exit row sitting across the isle from each other,on the way out, and same row sitting next to each other. My sister got seats changed so going they are sitting next to each other on the way out but on the way home they now don't have a seat assigned to them. It is obviouse that they can do that without notifying us, but are there any tricks to getting our original seats back ? And as a side question why would they do that, the excuses that the different customer service reps. gave us didn"t make sense. My sister is at the top level in that FF club what ever they call it, so I figured it wasn't sombody from that club wanted our seats, my other thought was sombody who paid more and booked at the last minute wanted them so they got them

[klfrodo]

As to why they would do that?

 

My first inclination is that the airline changed equipment from 1 type of aircraft to another with a completly different seating arrangement.

[greatam]

As posted previously, the most likely reason is an aircraft change.

 

If your sister is a top level elite in Dividend Miles, she should be able to call the "club" number and get just about any open seat she wants (including your exit row seats). Elite fliers generally have first priority for exit row seating.

 

Could your sister have ticked the box for the GoEnvoy business upgrade when she booked the original flight??? If so, the seat assignments in coach may fluctuate due to the upgrade being available. $300 at the gate for the business sleeper upgrade for Chairman's Preferred.

[Gsel]

The only answer to your problem is to continually check your seating on the airlines website! AA is notorious for doing this, when we book a flight far in advance we check our seats almost weekly to be sure this doesn't happen, and it has more often than not. Unfortunately, they are not obligated to let you know, I think they should be, but they don't. Keep after them to put you together, or even talk to the gate agent or your fellow passengers when you get on board, maybe someone will feel sorry for you. But, don't count on the four of you being together. (The nicer you are about it the better your chances will be!)

[flhokie]

This happens all the time. Airlines change the equipment they fly and as a result the seating arrangement of the aircraft is different. It would not be practical to notify passengers every time this happens. There are even times, due to operational issues, that aircraft are changed right before a flight (the original type of aircraft is not available for whatever reason, but there is another type availabe--and they have a crew for it).

[FlyerTalker]

You may want to look over THIS THREAD, especially post #14 by Shorex. Probably the best analogy for describing the upset over assigned seating.