Not just Alaska Air

[rfholcom]

We leave July 17. I wanted to print out my itinerary so I pulled our tickets up on the Delta website. They moved our seats. I am traveling with an autistic 7 year old and his ADHD brother and guess what. We are scattered all over the plane (row 20, row 32 but on the opposite side of the plane, row 35. row 41, . My husband has been on hold with Delta for 3 hours to get us seats together and so far they are refusing to do anything. There are seats available but they are seats that are held for Delta employees who may be flying stand by. I am so frustrated. I feel sure that something will work out. No one else is going to want to sit with them and keep them entertained for 8 hours on the plane but we booked these seats 6 months ago. Delta said they changed the plane and had to change the seats. No notification/nothing. We are frequent flyers on Delta taking 15+ trips per year. The kids will do fine on the plane if we are all sitting together and we can take turns keeping them entertained. The original seats would have allowed for this. Grrrrrr.

[pfopma]

If they can't change your seats before the flight they may HAVE TO when you arrive at the airport. I can't remember what the age limit is but children under a certain age MUST sit with their parents. I was told this by a flight attendant on a flight (Continental) last year where my niece (12 at the time) and I were separated when our seat assignments were changed by the airline. I'm not sure if this is the airlines rule or what but a little research may help you. What happened in our case was the flight attendant asked several people to switch seats to accomodate us. Good Luck!

[Texasbob]

United cancelled my flight to Vancouver the day of the flight. They put me on a flight the next day which would get me on the ship in time. I spent two hours on the phone. Here's what worked for me:

 

- mention that you know that there are "deadheads" (employees) on the flight taking seats from revenue passengers.

 

- mention that your children are being separated from their parents even though you booked your flight 6 months ago.

 

- say "ADA" many times in your sentences in referring to your children

 

- INSIST on speaking to a supervisor.

 

After I did these things, I got hold of a supervisor who had the authority to allocate seats to me. I made it.

 

When the airline changes your flight, you have every right to expect reasonable compensation and allowance. Insist upon it. You will have to be a jerk, but HEY, it's your vacation.

 

I am normally not a jerk, but circumstances pushed me to it.

[rfholcom]

Hubby was on the phone with them for over 4 hours last night. He spoke to several jerks including a couple of supervisors and a couple of managers. They told us since we did not highlight that the child was autistic, there was nothing they could do about it. We told them that we do not normally shout to the world that he is autistic and as long as we were sitting together (which we were when we booked the seats) that he is fine. We told him that the tickets should have been coded that due to medical reasons we needed to sit together but we did not provide the medical diagnosis. No one offered any assistance or advice. Finally after 4 hours, hubby talked to someone at the corporate office who admitted that Delta messed up. She said the account was notated that due to medical reasons this party of 4 should not be split(everyone else had denied this). She also said that while a computer automatically reassigns seats, a real live person is suppose to review the seating and make adjustments as necessary. However, she still could not make the change. All she could do was notate the tickets that we needed to be reassigned to four of the "held" seats that were together and she told us that we needed to be at the airport 4 hours before our flight. So wish me luck. 4 hours at the airport because I am to far away to go back home and then 8 hours on the plane. We will hopefully get our seats changed and then go eat or do something for a couple of hours.

[eagletwo]

:mad: Delta. Used to be one caring airline. Our family used to always travel with Delta. We had the same problem with our booking for July 22 for our upcoming Diamond Princess cruise. Made the airline reservations Jan. of this year. Booked two first class seats, Row 2 A/B Seattle-Atlanta, confirmed by Delta. Thirty days later after I checked our reservation on Delta's website we had been moved to the front, Row 1 C/D. No call to us either. Called our TA and asked what's up? TA called Delta and never got a real answer except "sorry". No big deal for us, we don't travel "up front" very often and this was the seats we had booked. Good luck with Delta, but remember, they have removed the words "customer service" from their business model. Won't be long before they are in Chapter 11, laying off more employee's and being merged with another bankrupt airline. Oh, did I mention that we have eight people flying on this trip and I paid for the airfare, $6K, round trip from SC, didn't mean a thing to Delta.

[hermang]

After hearing the horror stories with Alaska air and Delta I decided to check our reservations on NWA -

 

We normally travel Aisle & Aisle - not that I don't want to sit next to dear wife

but I prefer an Aisle seat and if she can get one great.

 

Guess what - 2 of the 5 flights changed and she did not have a seat assignment. My ticket is a World Perks award hers was paid for. Now that's strange.

 

Called NWA - gal explained that due to an equipment change - A320R substituted for an A319 all seats cancelled and rebooked - ok so how come my seats were the same. No matter. She re arranged seats to Aisle and Aisle except for one segment. and on that one she had us sit together.

NWA is also one step from Bankruptcy but they seem to do a better job.

 

No they didn't call to tell us - and BTW - gal said call early August just incase there is another schedule change