Can't choose seats on Northwest? Experts?

[Dodie]

Our "local" airline, ATA, no longer flies out of Indianapolis, even though that's where their headquarters are and they are now supposedly out of bankruptcy.

I want to book with Northwest for September because they have direct flights at the best times for us. However, I got almost to the purchase screen yesterday when I discovered that the system would not allow me to choose my seats. It said that seats would be "assigned" when the "plane map" was available, probably "90 days prior" to the flight.

That freaks me out. I'm not a good flyer anyway and am pretty particular about where I sit. DH *has* to have a window or he's not a happy camper.

I've never experienced this before with any other airline. Is it typical? Will they contact us when they "assign" our seats? If we hate our seats when they "assign" them, any hope of changing them?

Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[Brian Noble]

If your flight is not particularly full at 90 days, it is very easy to change. If it is full (and you don't have status) it's a bit harder. But NW (like a few other airlines) doesn't assign before 90 days to avoid having to re-seat everyone when they change equipment scheduled on the route, and at 90 days they've got a good idea what they need to fly. Delta, on the other hand, would allow you to pick seats today, but there's a better than even-money chance that you'll get reassigned anyway.

I've never had a problem getting the seats I want, but I also have elite frequent flyer status.

 

[Dodie]

Thank you. I booked and will keep my fingers crossed. I did join their frequent flyer program since it looks like they will be the most convenient IND to MCO option, at least for awhile.

 

[dudspizza]

Simply go on nwa.com at the 90 day mark and you can change your seats if you don't like the ones they have assigned to you. It is pretty simple. You can do this by accessing the "my itineraries" page and then click on choose or change my seat.

Have a fun time!

Duds

 

[Rock'n Robin]

When NWA assigns the seats, do they put families together or is it all over the place? There are 5 of us and right now the planes are 2 and 2, so I'd like to get all 4 across plus one aisle directly behind, or two pairs and one aisle. I just want to make sure one of us is with DS and that the girls are together--DH or I can sit with a stranger, although he makes small talk way better than I do.
Robin M.

 

[petrymom]

Rock N' robin -
When we flew NW 3-05 - our family of four was seated across the isle. the seats were 3 and 3 and we were a full three on one side and I was across the isle from DH and DK's!!!!

Ihope that helps.

 

[delilah]

We are in the same situation you are with Indianapolis and NWA. I purchased tickets in January for our trip the first week of June (actually, Memorial day week). Our seats were assigned by the airline, and the flight is full. When I purchased the tickets, I specified what our preferences were--actually, window for me, aisle for DH, any for DS, who is 8. We were all assigned window seats and scattered all through the plane. We actually would have liked to have been all three in a row across--ABC or DEF. The woman at customer service had a really bad attitude with me when I called, probably no more than 6 hrs after the seats were assigned by the computer. She told me that "computers don't know how to read" and that we can try to get our seats reassigned when we get to the airport. Most interestingly, the airline has a message that after the call, one would be connected to a customer service survey. Apparently, the woman, named "Debbie", cut me off from the customer service survey, having the insight to know I would have nothing nice to say. Well, all window seats are better than all middle seats. I hope the people in my son's row will enjoy sitting next to a high maintence 8yo who could talk the leg of the chair who is phobic of sitting in a window seat on an airplane. I think I might just be mean enough to give the row mates specific instructions on what to do if he should get a nose bleed or motion sickness, letting them know I am in the window seat 5 rows back.

Just to let you know that they don't honor seat preferences, nor do they endeavor to keep families together, not even those with relatively young children. Of course, having a nonstop from Ind to Mco is a definite benefit.

 

[scoutsmom99]

delilah,

Just curious if your flight is all booked or if it is the typical thing where NWA is reserving a good portion of the front half of the plane for its elite World Perks members? If it is the later and you check in on-line 24 hours in advance they tend to free up those seats. My parents just came back from Vegas and I told them about this trick and they were able to get seats next to each other using this method.

 

[dudspizza]

delilah,

Just curious if your flight is all booked or if it is the typical thing where NWA is reserving a good portion of the front half of the plane for its elite World Perks members? If it is the later and you check in on-line 24 hours in advance they tend to free up those seats. My parents just came back from Vegas and I told them about this trick and they were able to get seats next to each other using this method.

I would suggest this for anyone. It doesn't help the perpetual planner who wants things in order months ahead of time (like me), but it is one of the best ways to change seats and sit together.

Look at it this way, it is very possible that your flights could change and your seats could be lost anyways. THis just happened to me for my May flights. The changed the plane and now we don't have the nice seats we originally got. Since they are on another airline (Continental), but were booked via NW, I cannot change the seats at all. All I can do is hope there are some better options when I check in.

Good luck.

Duds

 

[delilah]

Actually, if I look at the NWA website, it looks like they are saving 1/3 seats for the elite flyers. There don't appear to be any seats taken yet in that part of the plane. According to the website, there are about two seats taken in first class. The unfortunate thing is that the flight in question is from Orlando to Indianapolis, and we are going to be in Orlando at the time, so, probably, wouldn't be able to call 24 hrs in advance very easily, as I would from home. I also don't expect that I would have on-line access from WDW. I had thought about calling again, or considering writing an email through the NWA website, just stating the situation. On the other hand, I don't want to make such a nuisance of myself that we get even worse seat assignments than we do already. I still can't get over what a problem it must cause for us to want to seat all together in one row of three seats. It wouldn't cause any problem to me at all for another family to do so.

 

[dudspizza]

Actually, if I look at the NWA website, it looks like they are saving 1/3 seats for the elite flyers. There don't appear to be any seats taken yet in that part of the plane. According to the website, there are about two seats taken in first class. The unfortunate thing is that the flight in question is from Orlando to Indianapolis, and we are going to be in Orlando at the time, so, probably, wouldn't be able to call 24 hrs in advance very easily, as I would from home. I also don't expect that I would have on-line access from WDW. I had thought about calling again, or considering writing an email through the NWA website, just stating the situation. On the other hand, I don't want to make such a nuisance of myself that we get even worse seat assignments than we do already. I still can't get over what a problem it must cause for us to want to seat all together in one row of three seats. It wouldn't cause any problem to me at all for another family to do so.

You can check in online 24 hours in advance from WDW. If you are in your hotel, simply go down to the concierge desk or the ME resort check in desk in the main lobby and they will do it for you. Even if you are not using ME, the check in desk should help you print boarding passes, as long as it is during their operating hours.

If you are staying in a business hotel (there are 6-7 resorts on WDW property considered business hotels), you could also use the business center that has internet and printing access.

If you are at a park like MK, you can go to the closest hotel that has a business center. We always do MK the last full day we are there. I leave my family at MK, take the monorail to the CR and use their business center. I return to MK via monorail (nice relaxing ride) and join my family, boarding passes in my pocket!

Good luck.

Duds

 

[delilah]

Thank you, Duds, for the helpful information. I will certainly keep that in mind. I am also going to continue to check the website in case they release some seats closer to the flight.

 

[angel's momma]

When NWA assigns the seats, do they put families together or is it all over the place?

They didn't have us seated together. They had me & DH seated together, and DD7 seated 6 rows behind us. And there was an empty seat right across the aisle from us. I simply changed it online.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I hope the people in my son's row will enjoy sitting next to a high maintence 8yo who could talk the leg of the chair who is phobic of sitting in a window seat on an airplane. I think I might just be mean enough to give the row mates specific instructions on what to do if he should get a nose bleed or motion sickness, letting them know I am in the window seat 5 rows back.

I'm just a little curious why you already plan to take out the airline's policy on other passengers. Maybe you might FIRST want to ask either one of your seatmates or one of your son's seatmate's if they'll swap seats - WITHOUT the dramatics?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I agree with the above. The poster who would take out her frustration on other passengers is just plain mean. They had nothing to do with the fact that this person wasn't assertive enough with the airline. She should keep calling for a seat reassignment until at least 2 seats together open up and not leave seat assignment to fate next time.

 

[westjones]

Thanks for posting this! I forgot that DH told me he couldn't pick our seats back when we made our reservations.

I just checked (we are also flying on NWA out of Indy) and they have us assigned all together as a family. The girls and I are in three seats together and DH is right across from me. This is on both flights (there and back).

I hope it doesn't change. We don't care what row we are in, we just want to be all together.

Thanks again for mentioning it! I forgot to go check once we hit the 90 days and we are not two weeks away!

DJ

 

[kaytieeldr]

I agree with the above. The poster who would take out her frustration on other passengers is just plain mean. They had nothing to do with the fact that this person wasn't assertive enough with the airline. She should keep calling for a seat reassignment until at least 2 seats together open up and not leave seat assignment to fate next time.

Y'know, Lost, I'm not even thinking that - exactly. About being aggressive with the airline. It just seems that other poster has already decided to bypass dealing with the airline on the phone between now and the flight, bypass working with the Gate Agent on arrival at the gate, bypass working with the Flight Attendants upon boarding the plane, bypass dealing reasonably with other passengers (if it even gets that far) and go right for - to use her words - being mean to other passengers.

Now, to Delilah - you are WELL within your rights to be perturbed (or worse) with the phone agent who treated you rudely. First thing you might want to do, immediately following such an incident, is call RIGHT BACK. That's something that's typically recommended when dealing with Disney Reservations CMs (some of them know everything, some know less than we do ). You virtually never get the same person twice, and chances are the next person you speak to will have a different, better attitude and be helpful. If necessary, insist politely but firmly on speaking with a supervisor. In the case of airplane seats, maybe a supervisor can do something a 'plain old' reservationist can't. Everyone should ALWAYS get the name or employee number of everyone to whom we speak in such situations. I called Verizon today - everyone I spoke with started the conversation with their full names. I didn't have any problems, but if I had, I knew exactly who to report
Granted it's too late to call righ

 

[delilah]

I agree with the above. The poster who would take out her frustration on other passengers is just plain mean. They had nothing to do with the fact that this person wasn't assertive enough with the airline. She should keep calling for a seat reassignment until at least 2 seats together open up and not leave seat assignment to fate next time.

I'm not sure how you would know whether I was mean. The seats were assigned and the section was full before I ever had a chance to choose a seat. That is--last Saturday no seats were assigned, Sunday, we were assigned to seats all over the plane. I don't really think I have a mean bone in my body. Sorry.

Personally, I think it's mean to tell tales about people you don't know, have never met, and probably never will. (Although "mean" is a kind of childish and non-specific term).

 

[Bronte]

We are in the same boat ... we loved ATA from INDY to MCO and used it for years. We will fly NW for our May trip (may 26-june 5) We were not able to get a seat when we booked in Sept. but did stay up on the 90th day so that we could pick the closest seats to the front (I hate flying and the less the plane seams to bump around the better.) Well, I was a bit dissappointed that the first row we could choose was 13 because of first class and elite class (ATA did not have that and I guess SW does not either.) Well, perhaps the elite class seats will open up 24hrs. before hand and we can get closer, but being togther is the most important ... though I do realize that everything with the airlines is in flux all the time ...
(We did get a great deal ... direct flights am down and pm back for $135 each TOTAL, tax & everything.)

 

[delilah]

I'm just a little curious why you already plan to take out the airline's policy on other passengers. Maybe you might FIRST want to ask either one of your seatmates or one of your son's seatmate's if they'll swap seats - WITHOUT the dramatics?

If you would have read the post two above the one you've written, you will see that I plan to do just that. Actually, I only have one other rowmate (having a seatmate would involve two adults sharing a seat). Next time try reading all posts before responding negatively to another poster. I am really a very quiet and polite person in real life. I am more likely to be trod upon than to do the trodding.