Everyone-CHECK YOUR FLIGHTS!!

[roelongo]

Just checked my flights I'm really getting annoyed. My flight was originally supposed to leave at 9 am and now doesn't take off until 10:20am It also looks like they put it on a bigger plane so there are more seats available and the price went down. Now I have to call the airline and see what happened to our seat assignments

 

[Debby7]

Last year, we lost our seat assignments when USAirways changed our flight. Same story about don't worry, they hold back seats to get assignment at check in. Well, I let them know that I had paid for a flight which gave me seat assignments(we were trying to keep two groups together, total of 6 of persons) and that I felt that removing my seat assignments and risking people being separated was a breach of the agreement under which I had purchased the original tickets and that I expected to be put on a flight on which we could have seat assignments now ! Well, the girl was not particularily cheerful, but she found a flight on which she could give us seat assignments and keep our group together. The times were not all that different either. I guess some of the agents are more willing to work with you than others. I would keep callilng until you find someone who will help you .

 

[poohbear2]

SAME THING WITH US AND DELTA!!

I didn't know that our flight was changed UNTIL I checked the website. Our flight leaves 20 minutes sooner( now 5:45AM!!!) plus it is on a small 32 seat plane!!! A small plane for 2 and 1/2 hours!! We could not select new seats, we were placed in the back and still no mention from Delta about this change!! If I wanted to go on a tiny plane, I would have booked one! I am afraid that there is going to be some bumping going on, especially since it is the Saturday before Easter Sunday!!

 

[Debby7]

iIf you booked and paid for main line jet service and the airline has switched you to regional jet that is a change of serevice and you can insist on being put on a mainline jet since that is what you paid for. Last winter , we had this problem with us air. We ended up flying out of a different airport, but we did get put on a mainline jet. (Airport was in my mothers town , instead of my town, but she was going to drive to my house to catch original flight.So--we just drove to her house to catch flight. )

 

[CarolA]

I am booked on an overbooked commuter plane from Panama City the end of this month. I do not have a seat assignement and I am not too worried. Delta will either bump someone or pay me well! (I normally only bump for at least $250 or $100/ per hour delay whichever is greater. I can't believe people who get off for $50 vouchers!) On an overbooked flight it is not the fact that you checked in early that meant you did not have a seat assignment it is the fact that by the time you purchased they were out of seats!

 

[Luv2Roam]

CarolA -- WOW! Interesting info.
I had ordered/paid for my tickets several weeks before my trip, sometime in June. I wonder when airlines cut off selling tickets for overbooked flights?
I can see where they may overbook by a few seats. But seems like in the long run they are losing money if they overbook significantly and end up giving away several free tix!
The good side for them is they filled the plane. The bad side is they gave away, according to their announcement, seven RT tix on a plane that only carried 26 passengers to begin with. Just seems odd to me. But I'm no air transporatation expert by any means.

 

[roelongo]

I called AA this morning and sure enough my flight changed they assigned me new seats ALL the way in the back I'm not happy at all. I originally booked so early that I was in row 11, I like to be in the front to get off quicker now we are way in the back I'm really not happy about this

 

[CarolA]

Luv2Roam,
I have a feeling that the overbooking issue is one of the reasons that the airlines are clamping down on the use of non-refundable tickets. They are trying to get like SW and do a better job of matching capacity to travelers. We will see if it works!

 

[wld]

My flight times have been changed twice by NWA. The second time we went from leaving at 7am to 10. We like to leave very early and get there so we are disappointed.
NWA does e-mail me with each change.
On the positive side I paid alot less for my flight than the one they changed me to.

 

[s&k'smom]

I didn't even finish reading the posts when I wanted to post. Got a message from Delta airlines yesterday changing our flights from Orlando back to Boston. It's less than a two hour difference but we did get the call at least. Actually it works in our favor as we will not be leaving in 12:45 instead of 11am. Most airlines are going to be cutting flights so if you are going this fall definately check your flights. My DH works for United so I know this for sure.

 

[peachgirl]

I had tried my best to get the AA agent I was speaking with to assign our seats after they changed our flights. Nothing doing, she just wouldn't, telling me that seat assignments were a courtesy the airline extended us, not guaranteed. Excuse me?? Didn't I just pay $300 more than I had to just so I could get assigned seats??? It's what makes me not fly Southwest. I hate having to get to the airports hours in advance and then stand at the boarding gate for an hour just to be able to get the seating arrangement I need. I finally told her that I wasn't going to screw up my entire weekend over this, but Monday morning I was going to be on the phone to someone and they were either going to assign those seats or refund my money. I took her name and let it be known that I was definately not going to put up with this. This morning I was going to make the call and went to take a quick look at my reservations. Amazingly we now have assigned seats on the flight...and the seating arrangement I requested. Maybe mentioning that 2 of us in our group get extremely airsick and looking out the window during the flight is the only thing that seems to help and if we didn't have those window seats it was going to be unpleasant flight for a lot of people had something to do with it! For now it's fixed, but I don't expect it to stay this way. What bothers me here is why do you have to get really mad and show your "you know what" to get them to do what they ought to do?? When I have to go that far they don't get any credit from me when they finally do what they should have done in the first place.

 

[Carrieberry]

I wonder how they decode who gets assigned seats and who doesn't? We have first class tickets and so I'm assuming that they continued to assign us seats since there are only so many available. We used frequent flier miles to get these tickets, so we are pretty much at their mercy. I hope they don;t change our flights again. If the cancel the red eye flight we're on, we are going to lose an enitre day at WDW.

 

[peachgirl]

I wonder how they decide who gets assigned seats and who doesn't

The way it was explained to me by the agent is this; they hold back a certain number of seats to assign at the gate. As long as there are more seats available other than those that they are holding back, you can get a pre-assigned seat. When those are gone you have to wait till you get to the airport and check-in. What she didn't tell me was that if you give them more trouble than it's worth, then it seems they're willing to go ahead and assign seats from the held back block. At least that's the way it worked for me. I would bet in your case ( flying first class), there are more than enough seats left that they are still able to pre-assign seats without getting into the seats they hold back. On every leg of our flight, online at least, all the seats are taken except for the first class section, still plenty available on every flight.

 

[CarolA]

As a general rule, they will NOT release the held back seats. A lot depends on the airline. Delta for example will book exit row seats while NW won't. What could have happened to you is that someone changed their flights over the weekend and the seats opened up. First class actually holds seats back on the off chance that someone will come up and pay full fare for that ticket. That is why the frequent flyers are always hanging around trying to get upgraded!

My one piece of advice when dealing with airline employees is "you catch more flys with honey than vinegar" Actually, you are guranteed a seat on the plane, not any particualar seat if you read the thousand page contract of carriage.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Thanks for the heads up about seat assignments. I called Air Tran last night and asked whether or not we had seat assignments. She looked at our flights and said that she didn't think whe could assign us seats on our flight down, something about "Q" class. Anyway, she tried and could do it, so we have assigned seats down and back. I feel better knowing that we will be sitting together.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Thanks for the heads up about seat assignments. I called Air Tran last night and asked whether or not we had seat assignments. She looked at our flights and said that she didn't think whe could assign us seats on our flight down, something about "Q" class. Anyway, she tried and could do it, so we have assigned seats down and back. I feel better knowing that we will be sitting together.

 

[peachgirl]

My one piece of advice when dealing with airline employees is "you catch more flys with honey than vinegar"

Well sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The trick is to know which one of these tactics to take and when. I'd find it very strange that in less than 24 hrs, the exact number of seats I needed (the online chart still shows all seats booked)opened up in exactly the arrangement I requested. It doesn't matter to me why they did it, just that it stays this way. Not likely to happen, I know.

 

[CarolA]

The reason I say that was that I read an article where they interviewed an airline station manager (the guy in charge of the gate staff for an airport). He says the first thing he asks the agent when he/she comes to get him or calls him about an upset passanger is "how is the passanger treating you?" If the passanger is being rude, he says he does not give them what they want!

And trust me I have heard RUDE like you would not believe. I was at the DL counter a few weeks ago and some man was CUSSING the girl out because he wanted to buy a ticket for a flight later that day and it would cost $800. I also saw a man chew out a gate agent because the airport closed due to a storm (what was she suppose to do? I doubt she has a direct line to God to discuss the weather!)

 

[noodles]

I have a few questions regarding seat assignments... American Airlines changed our flight today (again!). They moved our flight up four hours then gave us a four hour lay over....Long story short they fixed the problem and we now arrive earlier at Disney with only a one hour lay over!!!

At the end of the conversation I ask if we have new seat assignments on the new flights. The agent says no, but when I exchange my paper tickets for new paper tickets (he told me I have to make an extra trip down to the airport this week to get new tickets???) they MAY be able to do it then. There are 10 of us on this flight. Me DH, DD7, DD3, DS1 and then my Dad his girlfriend and her 3 teenage kids. When I looked up the seat availablity on aa.com there are only 10 seats available on the flight and none of them are anywhere near each other. They wouldnt let my young children sit seaprate from either me or my DH would they? I just dont want my kids not to be next to my DH or I. What do you think???

Thanks
Shannon

 

[peachgirl]

As I understand it, some of those seats that are showing up unavailable on the online charts are being held back by AA to assign at check-in. If what they told me is correct, they won't assign you those seats prior to check-in, but they are there. You can try to get them to do it when you pick up your tickets but most likely you'll have to wait. I can't imagine they'd separate you from your children. I'd at least make it know when you pick up the tickets that you absolutely have to be seated together.