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Be vigilant in checking Reservation.


JZenkow
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After reading many posts of people encountering unknown /not notified problems with their reservation. I have made it a practice to keep checking on my flight to Seattle for our June cruise.

 

I discovered today that AA had moved my seat assignment away from the rest of my group. These were seats which I had a paid an additional preferred fee to pick.

Of course this is disturbing, I posted a comment on the AA FB page, letting them know my displeasure and asking strongly that they restore me back with my group. If they could move me, then move the person they put in my original seat, that I had reserved 8 months previous. AA responded that they could not, but that they would move my group, so that we were seated together. This was acceptable so we are once again together.But it wouldn't have happened had I not followed advise received here to keep on top of things, So If you are flying for a cruise, make an occasional check on your reservation to make sure they have not changed anything. Many Thanks to the people on this board who help us with their knowledge,

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Just curious, did they give you a reason for why they moved you in the first place, or why they were unable to move you back to sit with your group? Seems crazy when you pay extra fees to reserve a specific seat and then the airline just up and changes it.

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They didn't give me a reason for the change. They kept stating that they could not move me back to my original seat. They offered to move all 5 of us to seats that were together, and were still in the same area, This I accepted I would say that they might be considered slightly better seats, as they are a couple of rows forward from where we were. One thing to note is that they changed the flight number, not the equipment or times, just the flight number, and from reading posts from the good folks on here sometimes this causes them to play seat roulette. You can be sure that I will continue to monitor this until I am on my way to the airport.

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This is crazy that they couldn't move "one" person and return your seat to you but instead offered to move your entire group. Airline travel and trying to "keep" the seats you payed for and at a higher fee and reserved in advance is getting more and more ridiculous every day.:mad:

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After reading many posts of people encountering unknown /not notified problems with their reservation. I have made it a practice to keep checking on my flight to Seattle for our June cruise.

 

I discovered today that AA had moved my seat assignment away from the rest of my group. These were seats which I had a paid an additional preferred fee to pick.

Of course this is disturbing, I posted a comment on the AA FB page, letting them know my displeasure and asking strongly that they restore me back with my group. If they could move me, then move the person they put in my original seat, that I had reserved 8 months previous. AA responded that they could not, but that they would move my group, so that we were seated together. This was acceptable so we are once again together.But it wouldn't have happened had I not followed advise received here to keep on top of things, So If you are flying for a cruise, make an occasional check on your reservation to make sure they have not changed anything. Many Thanks to the people on this board who help us with their knowledge,

 

Great advice and thanks for reminding everyone.

 

Just to clarify for others. You are actually paying the extra fee for a type or section of seating. As long as the new seats are together in the same category, AA would not be required to offer a refund.

 

If they had not been able to get you seated together then I think AA should have allowed you to downgrade ( by moving to a different section)and issued a fee refund.

 

Glad it works out for you.

 

If you have an Expert Flyer subscription, you can create a seat alert for you seat. You will then be alerted if you seat opens up.

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This is crazy that they couldn't move "one" person and return your seat to you but instead offered to move your entire group. Airline travel and trying to "keep" the seats you payed for and at a higher fee and reserved in advance is getting more and more ridiculous every day.
At the moment we have no idea why the same seat number on the new flight was not available to the OP. Without knowing that, it's impossible to say whether or not it's "crazy". There may have been a higher priority reason why that seat number was not available.

 

In addition, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have paid for a specific seat. You have not. It's never been so, and it never will be. You have only paid to request a specific seat, in line with the terms on which the airline takes these seat requests.

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We have seen too much of this nonsense by both AA and United. Why? The airline will not admit it, but usually its because somebody with more FF Status wants your seat. They take care of their best customers...and beg forgiveness from all the others who get screwed.

 

Hank

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We have seen too much of this nonsense by both AA and United. Why? The airline will not admit it, but usually its because somebody with more FF Status wants your seat. They take care of their best customers...and beg forgiveness from all the others who get screwed.
I'm sure that the top-tier frequent flyers who are repeatedly frustrated by their inability to get their hands on the seats that they prefer, but which have already been taken by once-a-year passengers who paid only a fraction of the price, would strongly disagree with you.
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We have seen too much of this nonsense by both AA and United. Why? The airline will not admit it, but usually its because somebody with more FF Status wants your seat. They take care of their best customers...and beg forgiveness from all the others who get screwed.

 

Hank

I once had very high status with UA, and they never opened up a seat for me! I honestly don't believe this is true.

Think most people lose their seat assignments when there is a change made to the flight.

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"5 of us". I'm lacking proper context here. Is this you and four of your buddies' date=' or a family here?[/quote']

 

Does it really matter? Family of 5, Golf Buddies, Co-workers... the point is now why they are traveling together but that they were and one was randomly moved after paying for a specific seat.

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I'm sure that the top-tier frequent flyers who are repeatedly frustrated by their inability to get their hands on the seats that they prefer, but which have already been taken by once-a-year passengers who paid only a fraction of the price, would strongly disagree with you.

So sorry for the "top-tier frequent flyers" that are "frustrated" with us "once-a-year passengers" :rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

How could we assume to actually get what we paid for and booked more than likely much earlier than they did :eek:

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How could we assume to actually get what we paid for

 

If you are so convinced that you won't get what you paid for, it would logically follow that an intelligent consumer would stop paying. Take what comes along and you didn't overpay for anything. Nor pay for what was not delivered.

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If you are so convinced that you won't get what you paid for, it would logically follow that an intelligent consumer would stop paying. Take what comes along and you didn't overpay for anything. Nor pay for what was not delivered.

I think you completely misunderstood my post !

 

Certainly I'm not as experienced a flyer as you and other's that posted above but I do consider myself an "intelligent consumer"... nothing wrong with expecting to get what I've booked far in advance and paid for.

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How could we assume to actually get what we paid for and booked more than likely much earlier than they did
I think it is you who have missed the point of that post. Frequent flyers don't get to turf once-a-year flyers out of their seats.

 

In an economically rational world, the late-booking high fare-paying frequent flyers ought to get better treatment because they are paying more; there is no virtue in being early. But that isn't what normally happens, except in some conspiracy theories.

 

Of course, you also have to be careful to understand what you have, and haven't, paid for. You haven't paid for a right to occupy a certain seat, only to be able to request it. But we have been across this territory already recently.

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Yes definitely check your reservations at least once a week. Just this morning our flight numbers changed for the umpteenth time on our Delta flights for June. The flight number changes shuffle our seat assignments every time, with one of the five of us being separated. I just move that person back with the rest of us, but if I wasn't checking every weekend I would miss this. There are no emails from Delta about these changes, you just have to be vigilant as the OP says.

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We have seen too much of this nonsense by both AA and United. Why? The airline will not admit it, but usually its because somebody with more FF Status wants your seat. They take care of their best customers...and beg forgiveness from all the others who get screwed.

 

Hank

 

This is complete and utter nonsense. Unless you have actual proof of this please STOP spreading crap like this, you are just making things worse spearding false info like this. If this indeed was the case, the folks over at flyertalk would be losing their minds on this and there would be 847 different threads about it. :rolleyes:

 

Now, a more likely reason is an equipment change. And, unless you pay careful attention you might miss that is goes from one variant of a plane to another. Thus changing the number of seats in each area. (For example, AA flies about 3 different versions of the 777)

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Now, a more likely reason is an equipment change. And, unless you pay careful attention you might miss that is goes from one variant of a plane to another. Thus changing the number of seats in each area. (For example, AA flies about 3 different versions of the 777)

 

And at one time, Delta had NINE versions of the 757-200. They still have four versions, plus the 757-300. And six different variants of 767.

 

 

So if the consumer just sees "757", it's easy to just assume all 757s are alike. And be wrong about that.

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This thread really annoys me...because it seems that some frequent flyers expect to be treated as Royalty...at the expense of everyone else. My issue is not with Frequent Flyers (and we qualify) but with the airlines. If I purchase a reserved seat for a Broadway show...I certainly expect to be in that seat as the curtain rises. And, if I purchase a certain seat on any airline, I also expect to be in that seat when I board the aircraft. I have long advocated much more stringent Federal regulations (and I normally hate government regs) on the airlines. For starters, I think they should pay any traveler who loses their seat (by the airlines own doings) triple damages....which means 3 times the cost of the ticket. And it should be in cash (not that garbage airline credit stuff). And when airlines change schedules after folks have booked, in good faith, flights that the airline never intended to fly....then they airline should also pay triple damages to the flyer (who has been inconvenienced) plus pick up the tab to get them to their destination within 3 hours of the original booking. I they cannot get them there in a reasonable time....another cash payment of triple the ticket price should be immediately forthcoming.

 

This all sounds harsh...but its just smart. With those kind of penalties the airlines will stop playing these silly games. History has shown us that we cannot trust most airlines to use good judgment when it comes to how they treat their customers. As much as I detest government interference...this is a case where we need intervention.

 

We have had more then our share of airline problems over the years...and its almost always 3 US airlines.....Delta, United, and American. For some weird reason we have not had problems with the foreign carriers (who we always book when possible).

 

Hank

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This thread really annoys me...because it seems that some frequent flyers expect to be treated as Royalty...at the expense of everyone else. My issue is not with Frequent Flyers (and we qualify) but with the airlines. If I purchase a reserved seat for a Broadway show...I certainly expect to be in that seat as the curtain rises. And, if I purchase a certain seat on any airline, I also expect to be in that seat when I board the aircraft. I have long advocated much more stringent Federal regulations (and I normally hate government regs) on the airlines. For starters, I think they should pay any traveler who loses their seat (by the airlines own doings) triple damages....which means 3 times the cost of the ticket. And it should be in cash (not that garbage airline credit stuff). And when airlines change schedules after folks have booked, in good faith, flights that the airline never intended to fly....then they airline should also pay triple damages to the flyer (who has been inconvenienced) plus pick up the tab to get them to their destination within 3 hours of the original booking. I they cannot get them there in a reasonable time....another cash payment of triple the ticket price should be immediately forthcoming.

 

This all sounds harsh...but its just smart. With those kind of penalties the airlines will stop playing these silly games. History has shown us that we cannot trust most airlines to use good judgment when it comes to how they treat their customers. As much as I detest government interference...this is a case where we need intervention.

 

We have had more then our share of airline problems over the years...and its almost always 3 US airlines.....Delta, United, and American. For some weird reason we have not had problems with the foreign carriers (who we always book when possible).

 

Hank

Spot on Hank...I only expect to be treated fairly nothing more.

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"And when airlines change schedules after folks have booked, in good faith, flights that the airline never intended to fly....then they airline should also pay triple damages to the flyer (who has been inconvenienced) plus pick up the tab to get them to their destination within 3 hours of the original booking. I they cannot get them there in a reasonable time....another cash payment of triple the ticket price should be immediately forthcoming."

We certainly have experienced our fair share of schedule changes since we book quite far in advance. However, I take exception to the statement regarding flights that the airline never intended to fly as fact. There's a myriad of factors that play into airline schedules, most which cannot be predicted. When booking so far in advance, one must be cognizant there will be MANY changes to the schedule prior to departure, be it equipment, flight numbers or departure times. On our upcoming trip to Dublin, we've had numerous changes since booking. Our JFK-PHX flight has changed aircraft 4 times!

 

"For some weird reason we have not had problems with the foreign carriers (who we always book when possible)."

Consider yourself lucky. We've booked several foreign carriers over the years (not codeshare, either) encountering both schedule and equipment changes. It's all worked out in the end, but no airline is exempt from irregular operations.

 

Although we travel Business Class internationally, we are not "elitist" flyers and have no expectation to be treated "better" than any other human being. We treat the airline crew with respect, and generally get what we give. The industry has changed and although it's cheaper to see the world, the flying experience have degenerated substantially.

 

Safe travels to all.

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This thread really annoys me...because it seems that some frequent flyers expect to be treated as Royalty...at the expense of everyone else. My issue is not with Frequent Flyers (and we qualify) but with the airlines. If I purchase a reserved seat for a Broadway show...I certainly expect to be in that seat as the curtain rises. And, if I purchase a certain seat on any airline, I also expect to be in that seat when I board the aircraft.

 

Simply put, that is a false equivalence; usually brought out by those who don't understand the airline industry, and especially the operational aspects of flying thousands of flights and hundreds of thousands of people per day.

 

I have long advocated much more stringent Federal regulations (and I normally hate government regs) on the airlines. For starters, I think they should pay any traveler who loses their seat (by the airlines own doings) triple damages....which means 3 times the cost of the ticket. And it should be in cash (not that garbage airline credit stuff). And when airlines change schedules after folks have booked, in good faith, flights that the airline never intended to fly....then they airline should also pay triple damages to the flyer (who has been inconvenienced) plus pick up the tab to get them to their destination within 3 hours of the original booking. I they cannot get them there in a reasonable time....another cash payment of triple the ticket price should be immediately forthcoming.
Spoken by the man who wants his pound of flesh, and figures it will come from that nasty airline CEO who most certainly is responsible for making a flight go mechanical, just so Hank is inconvenienced.

 

This all sounds harsh...but its just smart. With those kind of penalties the airlines will stop playing these silly games.

 

No, what will happen is that airlines will jack up their prices to cover all of those treble penalties that will now be imposed. Want that $150 flight to Miami? Will NEVER happen under such a draconian system.

 

Those who do not understand economics seem to be oblivious to the fact that companies will pass along increased costs to their customers. They think that the price to the end user will somehow miraculously stay the same, but that the "pain" will be inflicted on the company. HA!! It will just get passed along to the consumer. Do you think that this will come out of the pocket of Ed Bastian or Oscar Munoz or Doug Parker. Double HA!!

 

History has shown us that we cannot trust most airlines to use good judgment when it comes to how they treat their customers. As much as I detest government interference...this is a case where we need intervention.
Go back to the days of the CAB and see how well that served the flying public. Which was far smaller then because of....higher prices due to government regulation and "intervention". Where prices were set by the CAB (aka "the government") and there was no competition on the basis of price. Where you didn't have low fares, didn't have the route networks and didn't have the ability for the masses to fly.

 

We have had more then our share of airline problems over the years...and its almost always 3 US airlines.....Delta, United, and American. For some weird reason we have not had problems with the foreign carriers (who we always book when possible).

 

Then I suggest you take Lufthansa for your flights to Wichita. Oops. Well, maybe you should start flying Spirit, Allegiant and Frontier and let us know how well they treat you.

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If I purchase a reserved seat for a Broadway show...I certainly expect to be in that seat as the curtain rises. And, if I purchase a certain seat on any airline, I also expect to be in that seat when I board the aircraft.
Well, here is the problem: your expectation is simply wrong.

 

If you buy a seat for a show in a theatre, your agreement is for the use of that seat.

 

If you request a specific seat on an aircraft - and you can never do any more than that when you buy an airline ticket - your agreement is not for the use of that seat. It is no more than a request. Assert all you like that you would like the agreement to say that it's the same as a ticket for a show, but that does not change the reality.

 

We have had more then our share of airline problems over the years...and its almost always 3 US airlines.....Delta, United, and American. For some weird reason we have not had problems with the foreign carriers (who we always book when possible).
The reason is likely to be that you're not as frequent a flyer as you think. I've been seat-shifted by every airline that I've had regular dealings with, all of them non-US airlines.

 

If you do over 100 flights a year on non-US airlines and you haven't ever experienced this, then would you please be kind enough to buy me a lottery ticket?

 

As for frequent flyers expecting to be treated like royalty, I think you must be misunderstanding what's being posted on this thread. It's the frequent flyers who are telling you that they too expect to be seat-shifted for little apparent reason, and that that is merely life. It seems to be the non-frequent flyers who insist that they have a right to sit in the seat that they made a request for.

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As for frequent flyers expecting to be treated like royalty, I think you must be misunderstanding what's being posted on this thread. It's the frequent flyers who are telling you that they too expect to be seat-shifted for little apparent reason, and that that is merely life. It seems to be the non-frequent flyers who insist that they have a right to sit in the seat that they made a request for.

 

I would agree with this statement.

 

I will use Air Canada as an example (other airlines do similar things). They upload last years scheduled about a year in advance and then start to adjust it. There are not a lot of people booking flights that far out. As they start to know about maintenance, airport constraints, etc. which aircraft are available they tweak the schedule. They may fly into certain of their own hubs or partner airline hubs with the goal of having certain connections, and need to tweak times a little bit. As the months pass and its gets closer to the flight it becomes more and more solid. They design the aircraft layout to reduce the impact. Economy always start at row 12, even if Business only has 3 rows. If it is a 2x2 seats are AC DF and if it is 3x3 it is ABC DEF. That lets them change the aircraft type with minimum impact.

 

As for Frequent flyers, I have never been in a program where you can arbitrarily bump people out of seats assigned to them. I don't think that frequent flyer program exists. It is just to disruptive.

 

If there are passengers in wheelchairs, they may be certain seats they want to put those people into to make it easier to load and unload the aircraft.

 

On wide-body aircraft there are certain bulkhead seats that accept bassinets for babies that clamp on to the bulkhead.

 

In the case of Air Canada (and likely many of the foreign airlines), the airline is required to ensure parents and kids gets seated together.

 

If the flight is particularly light, or has odd cargo distribution below, they sometimes have to do weight balance adjustments to seat assignments to ensure the aircraft can safely take-off.

 

The US has these air marshals on their aircraft that the airline has to accommodate and in the seat they want regardless of who had it booked before.

 

Odd time I have seen prisoner being transferred on a commercial flight or a medical transfer. There are certain constraints around where those groups get seated.

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