I am VERY DISTRAUGHT! Please help

[PRINCESS VIJA]

I called my airline today to change our flight into Orlando....We are leaving a day earlier! HOWEVER when she was looking at our return flight she told me we didn't have seat assignments, she said we have seats on the flight but we are not assigned. She told me that they can only assign the seats now at the airport? HOW CAN THAT BE? I have my email confirmation from JANUARY that says we have certain seats booked, and now they are gone? I don't understand. What can I do about this? BTW, it is just me and my DD traveling, I am not sitting on an airplane without DD next to me. I am so afraid that this is going to separate us, I feel like crying I am so upset. This was done in January, how can it change?????

 

[cbrfan]

What airline are you flying?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Sigh… any time there is a schedule or equipment change on a legacy carrier (what airline are you flying?), all seat assignments are wiped out. It’s why many travelers in general, and DISers, advise constantly rechecking your flights. As soon as you see a change, you need to call the airline and get new seat assignments.
What’s apparently happened is, all the seats that can be assigned in advance on that flight, have been. Read closely: This does NOT mean there are not seats available together, or maybe across the aisle from each other, on the flight. Many such airlines hold the ‘best’ seats for their frequent fliers, elite passengers, etc. Some coach passengers will be upgraded at the airport, freeing up seats. Some seats being held for last minute (i.e. business) travelers will be released the day of the flight. Do not panic.

For the record, all your tickets actually guarantee you is transportation between your origination and your destination on the given date (barring unforeseen circumstances) – not even specific flights, never mind your preselected seats.

Anyway, just get to the airport EARLY on your departure date.

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

We are flying with Midwest airlines.

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

Anyway, just get to the airport EARLY on your departure date.

We are taking DME, is that going to be early enough??? I just feel like crying...

 

[seashoreCM]

We are taking DME, is that going to be early enough??? I just feel like crying...

You can amend your DME trip back to the airport to be earlier than originally assigned. Do this at least a day before checkout.

Keep checking back on the airline's website or on the phone to see if assignable seats are freed up and you can get assignments ahead of travel day.

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[clkelley]

We are taking DME, is that going to be early enough??? I just feel like crying...

When you get your return time on your door the day before departure, go to the front desk and request an earlier departure time. They will set it up for you. It can be 30 minutes to 1 hour earlier.

 

[cbrfan]

I'm not sure of Midwest's procedures, but I would think DME would get you to the airport in plenty of time. It never hurts to call the airline again and talk to a supervisor about your concerns. I've found most airlines to be pretty accomodating about seating small children with their parents. I've even seen them make people move so they can sit together. Sorry I'm not more help.

 

[Nom]

I would just try to calm down. I know this is easier said than done, and the thought of travelling separated from your child is a horrible one, I have found that even in the worst case scenario when I see families seperated on a plane, there is always a kind hearted person willing to switch seats so that one parent can sit with the child. Especially someone who will be giving up a middle seat and gaining an aisle or window! So try to stay calm and remember that it will work out, even if you can't get seats together through the airline seat assignment system.

Also, you can try calling the airline 24 hrs before your flight- they sometimes release additional seat assignments at that time.

GOod luck!

 

[Rustysmom]

We flew Jetblue a couple of weeks ago and I picked my seats for the return flight home back in February. They changed my flight and when I called they told us our new seat numbers, which was fine.

When we got to the airport to go home and they gave us our boarding passes (the airline check-in desk at the resort couldn't print them out because we have an apostrophe in our name ), our seats were no longer together. We went back to the desk and explained that we didn't want our kids sitting apart from us, so we ended up with 2 seats together each, a row apart, which was ok I guess.

The guy at the desk said that it doesn't matter if you pick your seats ahead of time, you aren't guaranteed to get that seat. So why the heck do they have a whole section on the website to pick your seat, change your seat, etc?

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

thanks everyone! I tried to calm down, and called them back and I got a REALLY nice person on the phone. I thought I would try her first before I went to a supervisor. Well she took the info, and then went to look back at the history of my reservation and saw that indeed I did have those 2 seats booked originally, (now why the person this morning couldn't do that I don't know, but she was kind of grumpy and not super helpfull). ANYWAY, the lady (Jan) I talked to put me on hold and talked to her lead person and Jan said she kind of "pushed" the issue and the lead person was able to snag those seats back for me!!!!

I asked for another email confirmation and now I know to frequently check my itinerary!!!

thanks for all the words of wisdom.... especially the ones to calm down!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Yep, check frequently. Frankly, every day isn't too often. Three times a day might be pushing it... just a little...

 

[NHWX]

Just one note on the seats issue. When we fly on a mix of paid and frequent flier tickets, I check very often. Usually the combination means that you have more than one record locator number and when they switch seats around, they don't understand that we're a group.

NHWX

 

[danjoan14]

We had a time change, and equipment change with Delta for our fights in November. Our seat assignments never changed. I guess we got pretty lucky.

 

[NancyIL]

Sigh… any time there is a schedule or equipment change on a legacy carrier (what airline are you flying?), all seat assignments are wiped out.

That has happened to me ONLY on Delta. I've never lost my seat assignments on American due to a time change.

 

[Hopefully]

Our Delta flight has changed 4 times since March and I have lost our seat assignments 4 times. I check it nearly every day now.
As a PP mentioned we are also a mix of award tickets and they do have different locator numbers.
I check and I call right away. So far, they have been able to get us back together. But I still have 40 days to go - so who knows!

 

[Allegro]

Maybe I'm too much of an optimist. I never worry about these types of things and figure in the end they will always put a child and parent together. Last time DH flew with our DS (then just 2) the airline assigned them seats two rows away from each other. DH considered leaving it that way. They fixed it. No worries.