Continental seating....

[DOREEN1779]

I only started flying with my family a couple of years ago. So, I am not a savy flyer and I am still learning and I am confused about something. Maybe someone could shed some light. I reserved a Continental flight for Orlando back in October for August of this year. 5 seats, DH, myself, DS9, DS8, and DD4. DS8 has special needs so I wanted to pick seat assignments early to avoid confusion. I have a continental rewards card and was going to use points for at least 2 tickets. When I called, after holding for 20 minutes, I was told the points could not be used for this flight. I would of liked to use the points because it would have covered 2 tickets but the ticket prices came in at $190 each way so I said I will hold them until next time. The lady on the phone said because I was a one pass holder and due to the inconvinence I was experiencing trying to use my points for the first time, our seats were placed in the elite member reserved seating area. She said because these seats cost extra $$$ due to legroom and rewards status they are reserved. I checked the reservation yesterday and they switched one seat to the back of the plane. I called and they aswitched it back but couldn't really explain why or how this could happen. Someone else was placed in the seat but there was at least 12 available connecting seats. So after this very long post.....Is reserved seating for elite members really reserved? or was this really a computer error

 

[DOREEN1779]

Sorry, $190 was round trip.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Continental calls this seating Extra Legroom Seats and they are reserved for those with elite status or for those who want to pay the extra cost to sit there.

Who knows why one of your seats was switched to regular economy? This can happen if there is an aircraft switch (changing from one type of aircraft to another) or possibly Continental was updating this flight and you lost one seat because you don't have elite status. Check your seats occasionally to make sure this doesn't happen again. Also Continental is in the process of merging with United, so I'm sure there are going to be glitches with the computer systems as this happens.