seat changed????

[ls1222]

I booked our flight (2Adult3child) w/ continental in July for our Sept trip. I booked over the internet and chose our seats. Does the airline ever change the seat assignments? Are we guaranteed to sit together? When I checked our itiniery on the website, it said the seats have been reserved for other passengers, please select others. I don't know why this is on there, and now the plane is full!!

 

[seashoreCM]

Yes seats can change suddenly without warning, the airline might have substituted a plane, although not necessarily smaller, with seats arranged differently.

The best way to stay aware of things like this is to recheck your itinerary on the Internet (if you booked it on the Internet) every few weeks.

If small children are involved, the airline will try to seat them with you if you get to the airport early. Generally they will use the first few rows reserved for last minute businessmen to reunite split families if the families check in first. Also it is unlikely that children will be seated apart since most adults would rather switch seats than sit next to someone else's children.

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

 

[kel3420]

The last several flights I have been on, it has gotten sticky regarding our seat assignments. I have three children, 5, 14 & 14. Obviously I would prefer to sit with all three of them, but for whatever reason, Delta has had all four of us sitting apart. I usually have to reiterate several times, that my youngest absolutely cannot sit by herself. We were usually the last to be seated in the airplane, then magically they find several seats together. It can be quite nerve wracking. We had originaly had confirmed seats, but that flight was cancelled, so we had to make three layovers to get us to our destination and on all three flights, had to go thru the same thing. On all three flights, my 14 year old son sat far apart from us, and it made me crazy checking on him often. I felt sorry for the passengers around him, as he just loves to chat.

I don't know what the rules say, but I know in our case, it didn't matter. We were supposed to be "VERY" grateful, they found seats together for us. I just can't imagine a five year old sitting by herself. Geez.

On a side note, my husband, who flew on another airline, the same trip, had problems with his seats also. He way flying business class and both coming and going, they had two people with the same seat assignment, and of course he boarded after the other person, both times, and this caused quite a bit of confusion, and embarrassment on his part until they figured it out. He was supposed to get an aisle seat, and both trips ended up having to sit in a middle seat.

Seating arrangements can create quite a mess if handled improperly. Hopefully with our next trip, things will go much smoother.

 

[Sandi]

They can mess up seat assignments. The advice to go early isn't always helpful either. I've lucked out a couple of times with my DD and with my DD and mom. Two times NW had us seated all over the plane (even after I called to explain the situation and after we got there early). Anyway, we were moved to first class (seated together) both times. So, we got the silver lining to that cloud!

 

[hercamore]

Last time we flew in April, we used NW's internet check in from home.

chose our seats and printed our boarding passses from home..

This is usually done about 24 hrs prior to departure.

Does Continental have this option since their partners with NW?

Herc.

 

[marn913]

The same thing happened to us on ATA last year. We just arrived really early at the airport and we were able to change the seating without any problem. Most seats are not set in stone (particularly economy seats), so they usually will accomidate you unless there are no more seats available next to/or nearby each other.

 

[sgtdisney]

When in doubt, call ahead a week or 2 before your flight and ask the reservation agent to confirm your seat assignments and also confirm that they are still all located together.. It is usually easier to find open seats a few days before the flight than it is on the day of departure. Also many airlines, have web pages where you can view your reservation, including seat assignments, live. I have flown for years, and have never had a problem with my seat assignment except for one time when I get to the gate moments before the flight was to depart and they released my seat. Perhaps I have just been lucky.

I will say on our last flight on ATA coming back from Orlando in July they switched an older 757-200 for a 757-300 which had been scheduled. That did throw a wrench into boarding for some passengers whose had seat assignments for seats that didn't exist on the new plane. It can happen on any airline, they do try to keep families together when they can.

 

[jel0511]

It's definately possible and it has happened to me!! Usually it's because of a schedule or equipment change why they change seat assignments. I was travewling with an 4 month old and a 3 year old at the time and we had 4 seats ALL OVER the aircraft!! I told the lady checking us in that that was unacceptable and I was told that they could help me at the gate, she couldn't do any more. Well, I get to the gate and they were VERY unaccomdating, just kept telling me that we would be able to sit together. Well with traveling with children that young I just didn't want to wait, so I kept asking. Well, they finally start boarding the plane and I get on line for the pre-board. I held up the boarding of the plane, refusing to board until we had seats together. They eventually gave us 2 sets of 2 seats together, it was better than what we had. Now this was all pre 9/11, so if I probably did that now, I'd might have been arrested. Moral of my story, call your airline NOW, try to work it out before you get to the airport, after that fiasco, I called my airline right from the airport and got seat assignment for our return flight, since I found out then that our seats were also all over the plane, since it was a week to go, they were able to accomadate us.

 

[ls1222]

I called Continental and they assure me that are seats are together and originally as I had requested them. I'm hoping it was just a glitch on their website (like I said, it stated the seats were reserved previous for other passengers and that I had to make new selections) although the flights are showing full. This makes me crazy, their is so much to do and pack and then you have to worry about the plane seats. I am a very nervous flyer so even if they put my child w/ me and the other 2 w/ my DH, I would not be happy. I like all of my family right together. Jel0511-I think your right, a friend of mine was flying from Cleveland to Australia last month w/ her 2 children to see her parents and the airlines had them sitting apart for all 3 segments. She got very upset w/ the gate person (I really thought they were going to call security). Oh well, I'm sure I'll be fine and it will work out ok. Thanks again.

 

[cindala]

This happened to us once on Delta when they changed from a 767 to a 757. Our seats were separated all over the plane. I immediately called the Delta web services desk, and they were able to give us FF seats in the exit rows without using any FF miles.

The key is to keep checking your itinerary every week to see if there are any changes. This way you can keep on top of them.