Customer service gone in the airlines?

[*Belle*]

I know there is not a darn thing I can do about the situation, but I thought I'd feel better if I could cry on the shoulders of my Disney friends. We are a family that purchased airfare from Delta at 331 days out. We bought the first seats sold on the flight. Delta is an airline that allows you to select assigned seating on their planes with the purchase of your ticket. We chose ours seats sitting togather. Now that we are 74 days out, we have a 10 min. time change. Same plane , same flight number. BUT.... my family is no longer sitting together. This is the only airline we ever fly and it saddens me to hear sorry there is nothing we can do. Maybe you can get to the airport early and see if there are any seats together, at this time another group is sitting in the seats you were first assigned.
I,m having trouble understanding why someone else is in our seats and I am sitting next to a perfect stranger while my DH is sitting alone 5 rows away.

 

[maxiesmom]

Delta is know for changing flights, and changing the seat assignments as well. Have you called the airline? They will usually resort everyone out.

To answer your question, as people do not choose airlines based on service, but on price, they have no reason to go out of their way for their customers. Most people just look for the lowest fare and buy it, they are not loyal to any particular airline.

 

[Andrew_Lubow]

Belle once you get to the airport see if the check in can do anything for you. If not try on the plane itself. I've seen stewardesses and stewards often ask if people wouldn't mind changing seats to accomodate families traveling together, usually successfully.

 

[*Belle*]

We always fly Delta, we like the fact that we can purchase 331 days out.
Because the craft did not change, I don't understand why for 10 min. time change we should have to forfeit our seats. iT seems someone else was more important than our family. Andrew, thanks, we will hope for the best at the airport.

 

[DebbieB]

I don't understand why it happens either, I think it's a computer thing. I don't think they decide who is more important.

Some people don't want to fly SWA because of the no assigned seats. I think that is better than the situation with the other carriers where assigned seats are constantly moved.

I did see a situation on USAir a couple of weeks ago where a mom and a young child were switched to sit together but the older child (maybe 8 to 10) was sitting elsewhere in the back. I couldn't switch because I was in an exit row. The 3rd person in the row was disabled, so she could not move to the exit row either.

 

[loveswdw]

Call them. As long as there are seats still together on the plane they will re-seat you. I had to do this last trip. Its a pain because they always connect you first with someone overseas (who you can't understand) then I get transferred to someone stateside I assume who I can understand. They just re-assign your seats. Then you can log back into delta.com and change them again if you wish. That's what I did. When they re-assigned our seats we were all the way in the very back of the plane. I kept checking every day and finally one day there was an empty row in the middle of the plane. So I just changed our back row seats to the middle row. Easy.

A friend of mine told me NOT to wait until the airport. If you don't have an assigned seat then you will be the first to get bumped. Call them.

 

[DebbieB]

Delta's website allows you to call up your reservation and change seats, I would keep watching it to see if something together opens up.

 

[*Belle*]

This darn flight has been sold out for awhile now. Being school vacation week was a concern for us. That is why we book so early. I did call and got no where. I just feel if I purchase seats together with my family, then I should be sitting with my family. With the airline, first come just means we have your money. They had no problem moving us, but they will not move the new party to give us back our seats. Yesterday we still had our seats togather.

 

[Mikelly1221]

I understand your frustration. We had a similar situation with Delta where they changed plane sizes and assigned our seats where our two year old was in row 13, I was in row 32 and my husband was in row 34! I didn't care about not sitting next to DH, but you can bet I pitched a fit to sit next to DS! The gate agent didn't care-told me to take it up with the flight attendants! The flight attendants took care of everything so kindly-and a kind man moved so me and DS could sit together. Because of that flight I went from a Delta fan to a non-Delta fan-cancelled my Delta Amex card, used up the FF miles I had accumulated and try to avoid them completely!

Good luck-I bet they can help you this far out!

 

[Alexander]

The new party probably paid a lot more for the seats than you did. Therefore, all of a sudden, they had a choice of where they wanted to sit.

Delta has always been very, very good to us. The agent at the gate (be nice to him or her) can do wonders. They will often look to see if there are any adults traveling alone, or those that may want to move to the exit row (these are often not assigned until near departure time). I had a gate agent in Orlando last year wink at me and say "You'll be seated together, all of you!" Lo' and behold, we were, row two. Just be really nice and don't demand anything.

I understand booking 300 days out, we do it too. It gets us rates we can actually afford to pay. I know going in however, that the flights, times, and seats will all be changed.

It'll be okay, have a great vacation!

 

[Skroops]

Since Delta is one of the airlines in bancruptcy, you may find the employees a little less caring than usual. If you find yourself all the way to the airplane and the flight attendants are short staffed and unable to assist, they'll tell you to ask the people next to you if they are willing to switch seats. This happend to us recently on another airline with my DH and our toddler (we all had center seats). We asked the people next to us and because we had a little one, everyone was willing to move for us. Don't panic!

Don't give up, even if you do not get help at all, people will be willing to move for a family.

 

[dopeyfanatic]

This concerns me a little. Everything I've read and been told has said I should NOT book more than 6 months out because the prices will go down as you get closer. In our case anyway, because we're not going over a holiday... one of the things I thought would be good about booking farther out was getting seats together. Although I don't plan to go on Delta, this does worry me that another airline could change us. I'm thinking now that waiting for Southwest is looking better and better!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Pretty much any time any legacy airline makes a schedule change, this action automatically unassigns the seats. It has NOTHING to do with some passengers having paid more than other passengers - it's just that, in this case, the pax now assigned to Belle's seats either picked up on the schedule change before she did and got their seats reassigned (or assigned for the first time, if they formerly didn't have seats selected) or that they happened to call to purchase their tickets after the schedule change. Since those seats were at that time showing as not assigned, they got 'em.

The OP can continue checking seat availability online and/or calling Delta periodically to see if any seats together have opened up.

If that doesn't work, get to the airport early. Your flight is not sold out, there are just apparently no assignable adjacent seats left. Some seats do not get assigned until the day of the flight, at the airport; also, since exit row seats can't be assigned until that day, there'll probably be six or more passengers switching to those seats at the airport, freeing up their original seats.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Legacy carriers that alter schedules (and thereby seat assignments) do so randomly and without regard to what you may or may not have paid for your ticket. The computer doesn't care what you paid for your seat, it only reassigns seats based on your trip segments and final destination. Most carriers who alter schedules semi-annually (or more frequently in some cases) will allow you to re-choose your seats online. Apparently Delta is not one of those carriers. The likelihood of having your flights altered increases if you are flying into or out of a major hub for that airline, or are headed to a seasonally popular area. Flights that change most often are the before-noon routes headed TO a hub.

I'm very sorry to hear about your seat assignment loss. It can be very frustrating as a family traveling together. We normally fly standby (which means begging for a seat) but when we have to have confirmed seats, we book far in advance in order to use our vouchers for the better flight times.

Personally, I would try calling Delta again. It can't hurt. I'm sure the Delta telephone reservationists are all on suicide watch... but you can always try.

 

[taximomfor4]

how old are the kids in your family?

 

[seashoreCM]

Call several times over a period of a few weeks. If your request is denied, at least try to speak with someone other than the person who answered the phone. This way you have a chance of getting a more senior person who may be able to assign you seats out of the allotment held back for airport assignment.

 

[DonnaL]

I'm sorry to say I've had nothing but bad experiences with Delta. IMO, their customer service is the absolute worst in the industry. We haven't flown them for several years and will not fly with them again. In so far as loyalty goes, my family is loyal to SWA because their customer service IS so great. As a matter of fact, everything about the airline is great. I have never met a nasty flight attendant, gate agent, or phone rep. Their prices can't be beat and they seem to be one of the very FEW airlines making a go of it these days.........so it seems they're doing something right. So, whenever we fly as long as SWA goes where we need to be I don't even check another airline.......and being almost 100% sure the price I'm paying will still be lower than the competitor anyway. And, they don't have assigned seating, which as you've discovered, can be more problems than it's worth.

 

[CarolA]

I am going to defend Delta. They bent over BACKWARDS to get me home Friday night. The SLC airport was closed to inbounds due to freezing fog and Delta rushed me on the the AA flight to DFW with minutes to spare. (Well actually no minutes I got on and they closed the door. DL got as many of us on that flight as they could in the short time they had to deal with us.)

And there are those of you who know I say I don't like AA. See why I never say never. The flights were nice, but I do HATE the DFW airport. As usual I came in at D and had to get to A. (More monitors showing you the gates and directional signs for bathrooms would be an improvement, but not much is going to help that place LOL!)

 

[salmoneous]

One thing you can do is call several times in the few days before the flight - especially 24 hours ahead and the morning of your flight. There are usually blocks of unassigned seats that are held until the last minute for frequent flyers. If they aren't taken, they can move you to them. The odds aren't great, but its worth a shot.

 

[pooksma]

iIhave not had a problem with Delta until 2 weeks ago. Our seats were also changed and we are only flying in August. I am a compulsive when it comes to checking my itinerary. Checked and we have been move from the front of the plane to the back. We went in and changed our seats back, closer to the front than we had been before. Guess it pays to keep checking.
I am sorry this can't help you if the flight is sold out and wish you the best of luck at the gate.