Should I be worried if I can't choose a seat for my Delta flight?

[tpmorley]

My sister and I reserved a package Disney trip through Delta.com. It automatically reserved seats on the flight home for us, but it would error every time I tried to pick seats for our flight there. I have checked our reservation a couple of times since then and now I don't get an error. But, there is only one seat available to be chosen.

Will we have seats on our flight to Disney? I'm not going to reserve a seat until there are two of them. We'd better not get bumped because we have reservations for a show later that day!

What do you think?

 

[dudspizza]

My sister and I reserved a package Disney trip through Delta.com. It automatically reserved seats on the flight home for us, but it would error every time I tried to pick seats for our flight there. I have checked our reservation a couple of times since then and now I don't get an error. But, there is only one seat available to be chosen.

Will we have seats on our flight to Disney? I'm not going to reserve a seat until there are two of them. We'd better not get bumped because we have reservations for a show later that day!

What do you think?

First off... hello to a fello MN Diser!

There are seats available. The airlines hold back a certain percentage of seats for booking at the airport.

My suggestion is to check in online at the 24 hour mark. If seats are available at that time, take them. If not, arrive early to be assigned a seat at the airport. You may or may not be able to sit together, but the earlier you check in, the better chance you have of getting there...

Duds

 

[DebbieB]

Delta holds alot of seats in the front half of the plane for their Medallion members, which are their most frequent flyers. If they are not taken, they open them up for anyone without a seat during online check-in.

If you can get one seat, I would take it. You have a better chance getting 1 more seat than 2 at one time. There are cancellations, so seats open up. I had a flight in September where I did not have a seat assignment, then a seat opened up in the back, I took it, then another seat opened up closer to the front, so I moved. Ended up I had no one next to me (this was an RJ with 2 x 2 seating).

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Agreed - it may be hard to get two seats together, so I would go ahead and select the one available seat, and then check in at the 24 hour mark to see if you can select get seats together. If not, check with the agents at the desk when you arrive at the airport, keeping in mind that you may have to sit separate from each other, but at least you'll have seats.

 

[tpmorley]

Thanks for your reassurances. Do you really think I should take the one seat? I was afraid one of us would get bumped if we didn't both have a reserved seat and I'd rather that our fates be linked together. But if it means that we're more likely to get on that flight, I'll reserve the one that's available.

 

[DebbieB]

Thanks for your reassurances. Do you really think I should take the one seat? I was afraid one of us would get bumped if we didn't both have a reserved seat and I'd rather that our fates be linked together. But if it means that we're more likely to get on that flight, I'll reserve the one that's available.

It's rare for someone to be involuntarily bumped. If it is overbooked, they will ask for volunteers and usually there are some. Even then, the volunteers are sometimes not needed because there are no shows.

 

[Disflyer]

Airline policy for who they select to get denied boarding is quite extensive. As pp have said it is very rare they do not find volunteers to give up their seats for a later flight. However; in the rare instance where a flyer is bumped the "pecking" order is usually based on check-in time, although other factors such as booking class and status do play a role. Best advice is to check in right at the 24 hour mark, if they still won't release a seat I would ask the agent to note that when your seats are assigned you try to get two together. Being polite and appreciative will often go a long way.

 

[Starr W.]

Airline policy for who they select to get denied boarding is quite extensive. As pp have said it is very rare they do not find volunteers to give up their seats for a later flight. However; in the rare instance where a flyer is bumped the "pecking" order is usually based on check-in time, although other factors such as booking class and status do play a role. Best advice is to check in right at the 24 hour mark, if they still won't release a seat I would ask the agent to note that when your seats are assigned you try to get two together. Being polite and appreciative will often go a long way.

Your last line is excellent advice. We were not assigned seats on a NWA flight to West Palm a few spring breaks ago. Of course the flight was overbooked and we volunteered to be bumped. $500/pp voucher and a flight to FLL 2hrs later was okay with us. Because DH and I were pleasant to the gate agent, she managed to get us on the original flight, DH in 1st class and myself and 2 kids sitting together.

 

[dudspizza]

Your last line is excellent advice. We were not assigned seats on a NWA flight to West Palm a few spring breaks ago. Of course the flight was overbooked and we volunteered to be bumped. $500/pp voucher and a flight to FLL 2hrs later was okay with us. Because DH and I were pleasant to the gate agent, she managed to get us on the original flight, DH in 1st class and myself and 2 kids sitting together.

Did you get the $500 vouchers too! If so, SCORE!

 

[Starr W.]

Did you get the $500 vouchers too! If so, SCORE!

No they got us on the original flight so no vouchers, but upgrading DH to 1st class was nice and considering how many families were split up on the flight it was probably a big relief to the FA's that I was sitting with the 2 boys.

The most I ever have gotten was $700 by AA to get off a puddle jumper heading from Toledo to Chicago. It cracked me up that all the volunteers were going on business trips and the flight ended up being a bunch of retirees.

They drove a bunch of us up to Detroit to catch flights and a couple of people ended up with upgrades heading to the West Coast.

 

[Chickkypoo]

We booked our flights thru Expedia and were not allowed to select seats either. Even after our flights were switched (we originally had one-stop, but now they are non-stop) we still aren't able to select our seats until check-in.

 

[tpmorley]

I have been checking every single day to see if seats were available and was always errored out. Five minutes before the 24 hour check-in time I still errored out. But, when I checked in my sister and I were both automatically assigned seats!! And we're only two rows from each other. Whew, all that stress for nothing.

 

[elainesj]

We booked our flights thru Expedia and were not allowed to select seats either. Even after our flights were switched (we originally had one-stop, but now they are non-stop) we still aren't able to select our seats until check-in.

I had trouble with Expedia seats too. I'd select the seats and everything would look fine but whenever I went back to look at my ressie, it would not show up. We flew a couple of times like that and it was not fun.

Our last Delta flight, dh sat by himself, the 2 kids were together, and I was in front of them. It was NOT fun for anyone around us.

Then this time DH discovered that if you log in to your flight directly through Delta (not through Expedia), you can actually choose your seats and it will stay put!

I was starting to dread the upcoming flight and think I would never book through Expedia again.

E