Worried about our flight, any suggestions?

[The4OfUs]

OK..the background...we're flying out of Boston this Friday morning on Delta Express, and I'm very concerned about things going well. DH truly hates flying, finds it extremely upsetting, so in an attempt to help this be less stressful, we booked our flight back in Feb, figuring this was one less thing to worry about. Since that time, our flight was changed from a 7:15am flight to an 8:00am flight - we got our documents a few weeks back, and looking them over we notice there is no seat assignments for our flight DOWN to Orlando, but there is for our flight BACK. Our travel agent tells us that no one out of Boston assigns seats ahead of time....? Ok fine.

Figuring that knowing our seat assignments might help DH relax, even if I can only verify that he will be sitting with myself and DS and DD, I called Delta. The wonderfully kind and helpful woman on the other end (I was truly impressed with her phone mannerisms!) confirmed that there is no seat assignments for our party of 4, then informed me that the flight is completely full, as a matter of fact the flight is overbooked by 6 people, and she recommended that we get to the airport as early as possible to get seat assignments....but not to worry because there is a 10:40am flight as well as a 2:40pm flight if we don't get on this one.

IF we don't get on this one? *sigh* So now I have to not only worry about making the flight something DH can get through, I have to worry about MAKING the flight, despite the fact I booked over 5 months ago. And a later flight is no consolation, obviously, when time in Disney is already limited - a 7 day trip is really only 5 days because of time lost flying to and from, once you add in getting the rental car and grocery shopping.

So our plan is to get to the airport at a ridiculously early hour...do our best to get seat assignments on this flight AND near one another (especially since DD and DS are nervous now too, if we're split up, I feel VERY sorry for passengers nearby *sigh*)...and take it from there.

My questions (finally, huh?) - anyone flying out of Boston on Delta Express have seat assignments BEFORE checking in? And any suggestions on something for DH to take to help him relax and not feel so sick on the plane, does Dramamine actually help?

 

[Beverly Lynn]

I know southwest doesn't assign seats its first come first served. but Delta assigns seats. your TA is lying to you. call DL immediately and speak to them about your husbands problem and if necessary speak to a supervisor. they can get seats unblocked for you if necessary. and I would also have a talk with your TA's superior. that was uncalled for in what she told you. its bad ones like that, that make it bad for the good ones!

 

[The4OfUs]

Hmm...well, first off *looks around guiltily* the TA is my mother-in-law, so I'll have to let this one slide, although I will mention to her once again that I believe she is incorrect - after all, if I booked on the internet, I'd be able to pick my seats, right?

Second off, when I spoke to the nice lady at Delta, I did explain my husband's concerns, saying that it's bad enough he already isn't sleeping and we still have 3 days before the flight. Despite this, she told me that seat assignments for us are at the counter at check in. Should I try again, maybe get a different Delta agent on the phone, ask for the supervisor?

 

[ducklite]

If the flight is oversold, the seats might all be assigned. You need to get to the airport EARLY (2 hours or more early!) and get assignments. With luck there will be no shows, and it's also possible that there are some seats being held for FF's. If they aren't taken, they'll be unblocked. Your TA should have booked seats months ago for you.

Tell the agent nicely about your husbands fear of flying, maybe you'll get lucky and be bumped to FC!

Anne

 

[Momof2]

We fly Delta out of Logan on the 23rd - in fact, we're on that 10:40 flight. I bought our tickets through Delta's Website, and YES, we do have our seat assignments - for both the flight down and the flight back. I'd call Delta and hope to reach someone who can give you your seat numbers. And for sure, I'd get to the airport early that morning! Good Luck and enjoy your trip.

 

[The4OfUs]

Originally posted by ducklite
Tell the agent nicely about your husbands fear of flying, maybe you'll get lucky and be bumped to FC!

Anne

Would be nice, but I don't think Delta Express has FC?

Now I'm really getting worried, we do plan on being there before 6am for our 8am flight (which means starting our vacation at 3am that day, oh fun), but I'll try to call Delta again this afternoon, be VERY specific about the situation, and see if anything can be assigned to us now. Worst they can say is no, right?

Thanks for your input on this. Anyone have any experience with over the counter meds like Dramamine, is it worth trying?

 

[PoohNPiglet]

My DH gets motion sick on rides in the park, etc. and Dramamine did nothing for him. (Not quite the same thing...) I get really stressed flying and I did not find Dramamine to be much help for that. My DH uses the patches that people get for cruises and that lets him ride rides -- even roller coasters. If your DH's problem is motion sickness, I would highly recommend those! We just call our doctor and say that we are going on a trip and he needs them for motion sickness and they call them in for us, with no appt.

On the other hand, if stress is you DH's problem, that is not really going to help at all. I have tried things like Valerian or Camomile (herbs) for stress. You have to make sure they don't conflict with any meds he is taking but they help some. A lady I work with lives by her Valerian! She uses both root of Valerian tea and pills when she is really stressed.

Hope that helps some. Maybe others will have some ideas for you.

 

[sgtdisney]

I hope you didn't let your hubby watch Dateline last night.....

 

[The4OfUs]

No, lucky he hates those types of shows, why, was it bad?

PoohNPiglet, thanks for the info - not sure exactly WHAT he hopes the Dramamine will do, he does get ill on some rides, mostly those that spin him around or jolt him back and forth, so I'm sure he worries about turbulence - but he's also just very frightened to fly. When we first met, he was fine with it - this all manifested itself about the time the kids were born, and seeing as this is our first flight flying together as a family (he usually drives from MA while we fly) his stress is at an all time high. I'll check with the drs. on this patch.

 

[sgtdisney]

Originally posted by The4OfUs
No, lucky he hates those types of shows, why, was it bad?

Well, let's just say it was about an incident that happened to United's Flight 232 in Iowa, and I will leave it at that.

 

[Lewisc]

You don't have to worry about getting bumped. I'm sure there will be more than enough volunteers who want the compensation. If all seats are assigned you may have to see if people will switch for you (or if a family gets bumped get their seats). Some people find a drink (bloody mary, screwdriver) may be enough to help relax others get a prescription for valium or somethink like that. BUT DON'T COMBINE THE TWO.

 

[CarolA]

I agree with Lewis, there will be volunteers to get bumped. Now that you know about the seat assignement thing I think that next time you had better call and get them early. (It would probably be hard to fire your TA in this case!) Really you only need to be there 1 hour or so in advance. They normally don't start taking volunteers until they start check in and they already know they have a problem. I have been on several overbooked planes in Boston and they always seem to have plently of volunteers! The last time I flew out they were up to about $600 a person in travel vouchers, but I could not take advantage of it!

 

[The4OfUs]

Thanks all, you've helped me calm down a little bit. I'll still call Delta again this afternoon and see if I get the same answer, or if I might be able to get the assignments ahead of time, especially if others are already assigned, I don't see why they can't give me one until I get to the airport.

Next time, we're booking ourselves, online, for sure - besides, his mom probably never wants to book for us again.

 

[Lisa F]

My husband and I fly fairly often and have had all kinds of situations happen on airlines from missing planes to not having seat assignments etc. We always ask a ton of questions so we can understand exactly what is going on and this is what I think is going on with you....

First of all, in our experience airlines stop giving seat assignments when the plane is 80% full. For the final 20% you will not get a seat assignment prior to the day of the flight. If you get to the airport early enough you should have absolutely no problem getting a seat assignment for you and your family since they have these 20% of the seats retained as open for check-ins that day.

The other thing to realize is that if you are going on the first flight of the day, people tend to miss their flight. It just seems to happen a lot, I don't know if that is because they know that they can get a later flight so it's no big deal, if they oversleep, if they underestimate rush hour traffic on a friday morning... I have no clue, but there will be people who don't show up on your flight. That will also help alleviate the overbooked situation. More than once I have gone standby on an overbooked flight first thing in the morning and I have always gotten on the flight... that means everyone that was booked, including the overbooked parties, got on the flight and they still had room for a few more (we fly out of the DC metro area so it's a pretty busy airport).

What I SUSPECT may have happened (though this is just a theory) is that with airline bookings down as much as they are (hence the really great fares that people are finding) that perhaps Delta combined two flights that were only half booked into one flight... maybe the 7:15 and the 9:30 am flights were combined into one 8am flight? I'm just guessing, id on't know for a fact that there was a 9:30am flight, but I have ALSO had this happen to me... again, when people have their flight times changed on them, the new time may not work for them and some of THOSE people may end up on a later flight.

As far as booking online goes, if you're relatively sure that your mil isn't incompetent then if you had booked online you might have run into the same problem. What I ALWAYS do after I book online is call and confirm my seat assignments. Not all online bookings will allow you to do seat assignments on them and chances are if that flight wasn't allowing your MIL to do the seat assignments that you wouldn't have gotten any if you booked online either. Don't second guess yourself at this point... there's nothing you can do anyway.

I think that if you arrive early for your flight (maybe 1.5-2 hours early, check in and then get some breakfast and relax for aw hile before your flight) that you will not have a problem getting seat assignments on your flight.

Lisa

 

[The4OfUs]

Thanks, Lisa, the bit about people missing the first flight out really made me feel better too - when I tell people that I have the 8am out of Boston, they say "Oh, so I'd get to the airport around 7:30 to be safe" - hopefully more have that attitude and we won't have a problem. With the current schedule, we'll be there before 6am, which is fine with me, I'd rather stand there waiting for them to open the desk than to get there and get stressed out waiting in a line.

I called Delta back, and talked to a gentleman there who filled me in on this - Delta Express only pre-books 60% of the seats, 40% of the seats must be saved to be assigned on the day of the flight. He said that what most likely happened is that when my MIL called to make our reservations, the 60% that are preassigned were already filled (wow, and I thought we booked early, calling in Feb for an end of Aug trip!), therefore we got the 'At Check-in' notation on our documentation. So with 40% of the plane unassigned, I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will not be forced to take all middle seats, and that we can sit together.

We're just going to have to "wing it" I guess, I knew the flight would be horrible, so I should have been better prepared for this. The end result will be well worth it, a week at OKW with my family.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

I would suggest getting to the airport as early as possible to get your seat assignments. and make sure that your PNR is noted with fearful flyer in it so that the agents are aware of this. we generally handle these passengers with kid gloves. and also try calling your family dr maybe he can give your hubby something to help calm him down.

 

[Mouser]

I do not know anything about only booking so many seats but I do know that Delta is redoing a lot if its routes and our flights were changed in Sept when we had booked seats on a fllight already in our hand....We got rebooked on replacement flights and it worked out well for us..so moral of the story is heads up on all flights, times and flights seem to change frequently even when you buy them far ahead....

 

[Lisa F]

Trust me, the whole REASON that they keep that much of the plane open for the same day booking is to try to keep the plane from turning into a nightmare where 1/3 of the people on board can't sit with their families and are stuck in middle seats between two strangers. When given the choice, people will take either a window or aisle seat, and by keepign 40% of the plane open (BLOCKS of seats together, not all middle seats!) they can make sure that people are more comfortably seated... before the flight, a delta rep will look at the passenger list and temporarily assign seats to groups so that they can sit together.

Once again I know this because on a similar flight where my husband and I were flying together, we had to check in at the gate for our seat assignment... When I handed over our ID, the gate attendant said "oh my gosh, you have different last names!" (we'd been recently married and I hadn't gotten aroudn to changing all of my ID's over yet). They'd assigned everyone on board seats and grouped together people with the same last names.... I started to get upset (not yelling and screaming, but I guess it just showed in my face that I was unhappy) and she said not to worry, she WOULD get us sitting next to each other... and she did! I have found that most of the people who work for airlines (especially at the gates and the flight attendants) tend to try really hard to make your flight as comfortable as possible.

By the way, I've also found (from trying to show up as early as possible to get things straightened out) that airline ticket counters open at 5am (at least in orlando and BWI they do!) We generally show up just over an hour before our flight and have never had a problem getting seats together on a plane even if we didn't have a seat assignment... Just to be safe since there are 4 of you, I would not lose one minute of sleep over the possibility of you not all sitting together... with 2 hours leadtime before the flight and 40% of the seats open you aren't going to have a problem getting seats together!

Lisa

 

[lucky1]

Some airlines will release the seats the day of departure and you don't have to be at the airport to get your seat assignment. Just call first thing in the morning of your flight and request the seat assignments. It may save you having to be there extremely early.

 

[The4OfUs]

Thanks to everyone for the words of advice, it's truly helped me AND my husband sleep better and now the excitement is overwhelming the fear. We'll be there early Friday, which is a good idea when driving from near the NH border to Boston's Logan Airport anyhow *grin* and see how it goes.

Beverly Lynn, what is PFD, passenger flight document? Do you recommend me calling ahead of time and asking them to put that in the records, or should I just tell the agent at the desk on Friday?

Thanks again everyone. 2 days till Disney!