Beware: AA & Delta may sell your reserved seats

[bobpark56]

Yesterday we learned that American Airlines had cancelled our reserved outside-row seats for our 7 April flight home from Madrid to Philadelphia. They now sell those seats for $71...or try to (at the moment most are empty, including the ones we were evicted from). AA moved us to seats in the center of the plane.

The same happened to us on a Delta flight out of Kauai last May. We did not learn about that until we checked in at the airport (they blamed it on equipment change, but it was the same model aircraft with the same seating configuration...so go figure).

So beware. As they say in Chicago, check early and often. Not sure what anyone can do about this.

 

[Passepartout]

Yeah. The airlines will get you to your destination, but if you want to sit where YOU want to sit, it's gonna cost you. But if you sit where they tell you to sit, you might make a new friend. So far anyway, the seats are still inside. ( subject to change)

Jim

 

[taterhed]

Also, if you don't know......

Let's say you're on a sold-out/oversold flight.
If you check-in at the counter (or kiosk, or online) inside of an unspecified time (lets say 1 hour prior to departure), they may force you to check-in at the counter. If so, by the time you get through the line and check-in, you may find that they will have already released your seat--due to your late check-in. I'm not saying this happens everyday, at every airline etc.... But I have personally seen it happen.

Always check-in early. If you're running really late, consider using the curbside check-in (for bags) or the kiosk (even for bags). The faster you stamp and get your luggage on the plane (or in the system) the less likely they will be to release your seats.

YMMV

 

[DebBrown]

I'd be annoyed if I already had the outside seats and they moved me without letting me know. How much do you want the outside seats? That is a long flight. If it were me, I'd be trying to get the first class upgrade and I'd also be willing to pay for the outside seats. I hate sitting by strangers!

Deb

 

[Karenann]

Seat assignments

I have experienced this issue a couple of times when the airline sends a schedule change notice. This most often happens when you book a flight months in advance - which is how you get the best choice of seats. If they change the type of plane, they change your seat assignment. If you check the change notice and are not happy with the new seat assignment, you can call the airline and request a seat similar to your original assignment. I have have success every time I called. Of course, call asap you check the change notice, so you can have the best choice of available seats.

 

[Sea Six]

Our rule is ALWAYS check in 24 hours before departure. Most resorts have a computer terminal with a printer to print your boarding passes. If no printer, just have them e-mailed to you, because you will be able to get new ones when you check your bags anyway. Or just use your phone. Just check in EARLY.

 

[Sandy VDH]

It is possible they changed planes and then change planes again. I just keep checking periodically, and expect change.

 

[Ken555]

Also, if you don't know......

Let's say you're on a sold-out/oversold flight.
If you check-in at the counter (or kiosk, or online) inside of an unspecified time (lets say 1 hour prior to departure), they may force you to check-in at the counter. If so, by the time you get through the line and check-in, you may find that they will have already released your seat--due to your late check-in. I'm not saying this happens everyday, at every airline etc.... But I have personally seen it happen.

Always check-in early. If you're running really late, consider using the curbside check-in (for bags) or the kiosk (even for bags). The faster you stamp and get your luggage on the plane (or in the system) the less likely they will be to release your seats.

YMMV

Just check in online. Why wait until you get to the airport?


Sent from my iPad

 

[dioxide45]

I started this thread a few years ago about having to constantly babysit seat assignments for flights. You can't wait until checkin. It is almost a second job.

 

[DeniseM]

When we make our airline reservations, I try to watch carefully for any notices that there have been changes - it's easy to miss them and think they are just advertising emails from the airline. *It's helpful to sign up for text message notices as well as email notices.

I also log onto the airline website about once a month to see if anything has changed, and then a week before check-in, and 48 hours before the flight.

I also try to check-in online exactly 24 hours before the flight.

*Recently, I discovered that our June reservation for Hawaii had been changed to an overnight layover. I didn't receive any kind of notice from the airline, and I wouldn't have known, if I didn't review our reservations online.

 

[taterhed]

Just check in online. Why wait until you get to the airport?


Sent from my iPad

Ken, you and Denise are exactly right!
I didn't state it very well, but checking in 24 hours prior is the best. I always use the phone-app and keep the boarding passes on my phone (and email).

I guess my point was....for those that DON'T check-in online or can't or forget..... If you find yourself getting close to flight time (inside 2 hours) and you haven't checked in yet......do anything you can to check-in as soon as possible--including using curbside check-in.

thanks for pointing that out

 

[dougp26364]

This is one of the reasons I'm glad SWA's started flying out of our home town airport. Of course they're not available for every route we fly. To that end we do exactly what's been suggested and check our reservations frequently. Even the "premium" seats aren't immune. Recently AA changed our seats, bumbling us OUT of our extra charge exit row seats. Post flight they refunded us the difference but, we didn't receive the round until AFTER we completed our itinerary.

 

[lizap]

Recently flew first class ONT-DFW on AA. Seat was hard and narrow. The coach seats on Southwest are better than some of American's FC seats.

This is one of the reasons I'm glad SWA's started flying out of our home town airport. Of course they're not available for every route we fly. To that end we do exactly what's been suggested and check our reservations frequently. Even the "premium" seats aren't immune. Recently AA changed our seats, bumbling us OUT of our extra charge exit row seats. Post flight they refunded us the difference but, we didn't receive the round until AFTER we completed our itinerary.

 

[crew]

This is one of the reasons I'm glad SWA's started flying out of our home town airport. Of course they're not available for every route we fly. To that end we do exactly what's been suggested and check our reservations frequently. Even the "premium" seats aren't immune. Recently AA changed our seats, bumbling us OUT of our extra charge exit row seats. Post flight they refunded us the difference but, we didn't receive the round until AFTER we completed our itinerary.

Just out of curiosity, did they issue you a refund proactively or did you have to pursue it?

 

[dougp26364]

Just out of curiosity, did they issue you a refund proactively or did you have to pursue it?

They issued it without me making phone calls or requests.

 

[dougp26364]

Recently flew first class ONT-DFW on AA. Seat was hard and narrow. The coach seats on Southwest are better than some of American's FC seats.

A couple of years back I spent the extra FF miles for first class seats on UAL from LAX to HNL and back. It's not something I think I'll do again. Sure they were wider and the meal was nice but it wasn't worth the price paid.

Less impressive are the first class seats on the regional jets. If they're going to put me in one as a free upgrade, sure, otherwise there's NO way I'm paying first class prices for those particular seats.

 

[Bwolf]

I have experienced this issue a couple of times when the airline sends a schedule change notice. This most often happens when you book a flight months in advance - which is how you get the best choice of seats. If they change the type of plane, they change your seat assignment. If you check the change notice and are not happy with the new seat assignment, you can call the airline and request a seat similar to your original assignment. I have have success every time I called. Of course, call asap you check the change notice, so you can have the best choice of available seats.

Yes, this happened to us as well. The "algorithm" that was to keep us together in seats similar to those we had booked didn't work. We found ourselves in middle seats one behind the other. We called and got them changed. As others have mentioned, you must babysit your seat selection all the way until check-in.

 

[tfalk]

Last summer we flew United from NJ to SFO, Alaska Air from SFO to Anchorage and United from Vancouver back to NJ. We booked the tickets 10 months prior including upgrading to economy plus seats on both United flights. In the 10 month interim, they made 5 schedule or plane changes between the 2 United flights. All of these resulted in us 'losing' the upgraded seats we had paid for. For each of these changes, we immediately called United and they fixed it over the phone. On one of the changes, the seat upgrades had increased about $30/seat, times 6 would have been an extra $180. United waived the increase on every flight for us...

It's a complete PITA to keep on top of this stuff but if you do, they usually will work with you.... I already anticipate having to do the same thing starting in October this year when we start booking our trip to Hawaii for next August.

 

[sjsharkie]

I fly fairly frequently for business and I use TripCase to track my itineraries.

Works very well -- you can tune down the alerts if you don't want them. But it will generally notify you of seat changes amongst other things if you want it to.

It isn't instantaneous -- but it often will know about a flight delay before I am notified by the airlines themselves. I'd add it can be noisy with it notifying you of every change to your itinerary -- especially within 24 hours of travel -- so you have to live with the noise if you want fine grained alerts like seat changes.

-ryan

 

[dougp26364]

Last summer we flew United from NJ to SFO, Alaska Air from SFO to Anchorage and United from Vancouver back to NJ. We booked the tickets 10 months prior including upgrading to economy plus seats on both United flights. In the 10 month interim, they made 5 schedule or plane changes between the 2 United flights. All of these resulted in us 'losing' the upgraded seats we had paid for. For each of these changes, we immediately called United and they fixed it over the phone. On one of the changes, the seat upgrades had increased about $30/seat, times 6 would have been an extra $180. United waived the increase on every flight for us...

It's a complete PITA to keep on top of this stuff but if you do, they usually will work with you.... I already anticipate having to do the same thing starting in October this year when we start booking our trip to Hawaii for next August.

If you book through UAL, I can almost guarantee you'll experience flight # changes, equipment changes, schedule changes and repeated movement of your seating assignment. We've flown UAL to Hawaii 3 times now and it's been a major PIA keeping track of our flights. We've always booked as far out as possible using FF miles accumulated through credit cards, then upgrade to UAL's economy plus seating.

 

[tschwa2]

Yesterday we learned that American Airlines had cancelled our reserved outside-row seats for our 7 April flight home from Madrid to Philadelphia. They now sell those seats for $71...or try to (at the moment most are empty, including the ones we were evicted from). AA moved us to seats in the center of the plane.

The same happened to us on a Delta flight out of Kauai last May. We did not learn about that until we checked in at the airport (they blamed it on equipment change, but it was the same model aircraft with the same seating configuration...so go figure).

So beware. As they say in Chicago, check early and often. Not sure what anyone can do about this.

If the same seats are available you should call up and see if they can re-instate those seats without the additional fee.

 

[tfalk]

If you book through UAL, I can almost guarantee you'll experience flight # changes, equipment changes, schedule changes and repeated movement of your seating assignment. We've flown UAL to Hawaii 3 times now and it's been a major PIA keeping track of our flights. We've always booked as far out as possible using FF miles accumulated through credit cards, then upgrade to UAL's economy plus seating.

Yep, our experience exactly. Last time was my 20th trip to Hawaii (all on UAL) so we're kind of used to it but it's been getting progressively worse each trip.