ATA Seat Assignments - BEWARE!

[inkkognito]

Do NOT wait until the morning of your flight! When you book online, you have an opportunity to choose seats if they are available. If you did not realize that, call them NOW to see if any are available. If not, normally web check-in is your best best for getting seats, as they release a block that morning (or the night before). But with all the screw-ups lately, they might refuse to honor the web passes. Conversely, if you get seats at the airport that rightfully belong to a web check-in person, you could possibly lose them if it someone like me who raises a stink because my seats have been incorrectly reassigned 8 times now!
I know that all sounds scary, but the best thing you can do now is call, get an assignment, and call again the day of your flight (if you check your reservation on their website, it's not always right). If you do web check-in, call their help desk when you are done to make sure it worked, even if you are able to print boarding passes.
Good luck!
Barb

 

[HappyLawyer]

i agree i called and was able to get row 5 there and back, i hate always being last off the plane, now i am one of the first

 

[Bronte]

I booked our flights for late October a few months ago ... we called this morning to see about where we were sitting ... going down there ATA said that our flight is "first come first serve" as far as the seat assignments and comming back we are row 38 (that does not sound good either.) Northwest is sounding better and better ... they just opened up direct flights from Indy to Orlando starting Oct. 31 (does not help for this trip but perhaps next time.)
Bronte

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

Is what you're talking about only if you didn't receive a seat assignment at the time you booked or are you saying that they are reassigning seats on all their flights. We're going to WDW Nov 6-13 and we're flying ATA out of Chicago. I was given seat assignments for my entire family for flights coming and going when I booked the flights. Do I need to call and reconfirm my seats, are they in jeapordy, or am I OK since I already have seat assignments?

 

[inkkognito]

Bronte, that is not the norm with ATA at all...it's this reconfiguration thing. Try to do web check in the morning of your flight rather than waiting until you get to the airport. And before that, KEEP CALLING. You can get five different answers if you speak to five different people. I had one phone agent tell me there was no such thing as the Elite program and that I would have to fly an airline like American to get something like that!
Tay N Evie's Mom,
Normally, you don't have to call. But for anyone fly up till December, I DEFINITELY would call.
Barb

 

[ibidforit]

Hey Barb, or anyone else who might know? When I made my reservations for December for my flight from IND to MCO I chose seats 6 ABCD. This is a 757-300. I went to check my reservations, and they have changed my seating assignment to 23 ABCD. Should I assume that this is because this plane will be reconfigured. Otherwise, wouldn't row 23 be an exit row?

Gretchen

 

[HappyLawyer]

Well after reading this thread i called to double check to see if they had changed our seats, for dec flight and my seats are still row 5

 

[Bronte]

thanks Barb ... I will be calling and checking and trying to relax
Fourteen more days till we leave and we can't wait

Bronte

 

[dislvr75]

I know it was said that the reconfiguration would be done in january, or by January. But if we bought seats a month ago for May, and chose seats, wouldn't we still be in jeopardy of losing seat assignments if the planes are reconfigured???

I know there's plenty of time to get it changed, I was just curious why it seemed like you were saying those of us flying after January would be spared??

Let me know if you think I should call anyway. We are a family of four who flies 2 and 2, seats A & B in two sequential rows.

Thanks!

 

[inkkognito]

Good point...I didn't think of the impact down the road, as we don't hold any tickets beyond Dec. so that's all I've talked to ATA about. Business class will change all of the seat numbers and lessen the rows. Hopefully they took that into account, but if not, this is going to be an interesting ripple effect.
Tonight we were on a very old, unreconfigured plane, so our seats were safe. We saw people getting shuffled around...not sure if there were problems or if they were just trying to keep families together.
Barb

 

[dislvr75]

Thanks for responding inkkognito! I'll call and see what they say!

I'll post and let everyone know what happens just in case there are others out there holding tickets way into 2005.


*UPDATE*

I called ATA and as it turns out, much to my dismay, I never chose seats for our May 2005 trip! So unfortunately I don't have an answer whether those flights for next year are affected or not. I was able to use the phone rep to go ahead and chose our seats though, he did say that some planes had already been retrofitted and others had not been yet.

Sorry for those that hoped I would have an answer!

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Here is an update on our ATA flights for Nov/Dec and March. Thanks to this board, I know to check on my flights for changes.
ATA has changed my flight times on both the Nov/Dec flights and the March flights. In both cases, we are flying out to Orlando a half hour later, and flying home 40 minutes earlier.

It's not a big change nor a bad change, but I did need to let my towncar service know so we wouldn't be charged for the waiting times. Of course the flight times could change again, but at least I know from these boards to keep checking the virtually there dot com site from my online reservations.

I hope the times do not change drastically before we leave. I think I have some options with ATA if they do, but I will have to find out what those options are. I think I read them here somewhere.

So thanks for the info Dis'ers!

Tink

 

[Captain Blue Sky]

WOW!

Just imagine, if all of you were flying SouthWest, you wouldn't have to worry about seating as they don't assign ANY seats! You just show up for the 'cattle call' and hope for the best!

ATA is without a doubt a great airline! And if you haven't seen the new Business Class seating, you are in for a treat! The 50% off sale ended yesterday, for Business Class, but you still might be able to find coupons for 50% off Business Class upgrades circulating around.

The seats are HUGE and very comfortable, with extension foot rests, huge tray tables, and those now famous articulating head rests. Treat yourself to something special by flying Business Class on select ATA flights.

 

[delilah]

I had written on an earlier thread about our recent aggravating experience with ATA. We went to Orlando in July so I could attend a conference. There are three of us, mom, dad and 6yo. My only request was that the three of us sit together, three across, in one row. They split us up. It was most aggravating because I made my reservations in April or March, and were told we had to get seats assigned when we got to the airport. Then, when we got to the airport, two hours before the flight, we were split up, and were told the flight was totally booked, we couldn't be assigned together. When we got to the gate, we were nearly the first passengers there, and there was nobody at the gate desk. We hoped to trade with the third person in our row, but, it turned out to be an adolescent girl whose mom wanted to sit next to her as well--so much so she hijacked the seat next to her, and refused to move when confronted by the flight attendent. Obviously, somebody got to pick seats before arriving at the airport. I was by the window, my son next to me in nearly the last row of the plane, and dad was in the front section. My son kept wanting to get up to see dad. Oh well.

 

[inkkognito]

We have seen the new business class seating on two of the 753s now, and upgrades were only $20. We didn't bite, as we had our favorite exit row, which actually has more leg room (no footrests tho'). But we got a free upgrade coupon when we reached Elite status, so we'll pop it next time we're stuck on a 737.
Our Dec. flights have all had time changes. I was surprised that ATA didn't call, as they are normally very good about that. It wasn't earth shattering changes so we won't need to switch our flights around, but check if you're flying around that time.
Captain Blue Sky, no matter what, I prefer ATA to the cattle call any day! I just hope that nothing else new gets implemented...first it was the online check-in and then the retrofitting that goofed up the seats. I will be happy when everything settles down again.
Barb

 

[Captain Blue Sky]

Inkkognito, hold onto your horses as ATA will be servicing Europe next summer!

Just think, being able to 'hop the pond' and travel to Europe for very little money!

And wait until you hear of the destinations that ATA will be servicing to Europe! You will flip-out!

Look for service to begin in Summer 2005!

 

[inkkognito]

Oooooo
We are due for about a zillion free tickets with our frequent flyer miles, so I will be excited to see if we can use some of those like we can for Hawaii. That would be so cool! We rack them up quickly because we fly at least every other week. That's another thing I love about ATA...the very generous FF program.
Barb

 

[bujuni]

I am now confused and very worried. I was under the impression that most people who use air tran usually buys the web special fare, thus - not allowed to check in untl within 24 hours of travel. Are you saying that EVERYONE can check in months in advance. I am worried because there seems to be some people that feel that it may be a problem for a family to have seats together. I have only used air tran once a couple years ago. I was able to get the seats I wanted with on-line check-in 24 hours prior to departure. Is it more difficult now? Are more people paying for advance seating fares? Thanks

 

[inkkognito]

Air Tran is not the same as ATA, which is American Trans Air. ATA only allows check in no earlier than 24 hours prior to your flight.
Barb

 

[bujuni]

I know. I just called AirTran and told me that am not allowed to check in until 24 hours prior to departure. I think you being an Elite member you can check in anytime(maybe).

There are usually 3 choices for each flight when I reserve on-line:
1. Coach -------this fare does not offer advance seat assignments
Lowest Fare

2. Coach----------usually cost 100 -150 US dollars more than above
Advance seating

3. Biz Class--the works