Anyone else have airline change your seats?

[JoEllen]

We bought our AA tickets several months ago for our May trip. At the time I got our seat assignments directly with American and made sure they were all together and toward the front. Since we fly from Seattle, we had four different flight numbers to assign seats.

This week I noticed our flight numbers had changed on two of the legs of our trip so called American to confirm. I then asked to confirm our seats. We were no longer together and were seated almost in the very back of the plane! I was able to get us back together again but with seats over the wings, not up front.

I have to wonder what would have happened if I hadn't caught this two months before our flight! Does this happen frequently? I never thought to keep checking our seat assignments once we had our tickets.

 

[ducklite]

It happens when they change equipment or flight numbers. It's actually pretty common.

Anne

 

[diseyore]

I had this happend when traveling with a 7 year old from Seattle to Orlando also. A nice man traded seats so we would be together. I would have thrown a fit if she would have been seperated from me.

 

[DebbieB]

I've had it happen a few times. One way to help avoid it is not to choose seats in the very front. For example, when you book the plane is a 737, first class is rows 1 to 3, you get row 4. They change the plane to a 757 where rows 1 to 6 are first class, you get bumped out. By then, the only seats left are in the back. I've also had cases where our assignments were "lost". I really think sometimes that somebody went in and bumped us out so that other people could sit together. Last May when we were flying from Orlando, we had row 4 , I confirmed it before we left. When we got to the airport, they had our seats in the back. The agent looked perplexed because she said it did show row 4 in one part of the record, they had exit row seats so we took them. When we were on the plane, I looked where our seats were and there was a couple with a toddler sitting in them. I'm glad the family could sit together, but I didn't think it was right that the seats we got 8 months before were reassigned.

 

[padams]

We just had this happen to us last week. I selected seats on Expedia when I booked our tickets. When we checked in at curbside at the airport, we were told that we had no seats, and that there were no seats together left. When we arrived at the gate, DH explained to the gate agent that we were traveling with small children, and we were given seats together.

 

[JoEllen]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one! I was getting abit paranoid with my ticketing procedure. Guess it pays to be abit compulsive and check every once in awhile with the airline.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

I, too, have had airlines change my seats MANY times! Now, when they change my coach seat to a first class seat, I never have a problem with that!

US Airways now has out their schedules with aircraft from now till June 15. I'm waiting to see what aircraft they put on each of my flights for my trip in July, they'll probably have to reassign my seats!

 

[inkkognito]

I am a big fan of "airline paranoia." We visit Orlando frequently, flying from Chicago, and I always make numerous phone calls before each trip to confirm things. We've had our seats changed a couple of times due to equipment changes, but never anything major...just a couple of rows, and still seated together. The thing we mostly discover is time changes (and, right after 9/11, flight cancellations on United. They hadn't notified us, so I was glad I called early enough to get things taken care of). Anyone who gets bumped and doesn't like their new seats should keep calling. I discovered that we had been moved to separate seats once, and an agent on the phone informed me that they would release more seats 24 hours before the flight. Sure enough, I called at the 24th hour and got new seats together. Paranoia and persistence pay off!
Barb
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