QUERY: Airline Seat Assignments / Express Docs

[Kamfish642]

I am beyond frustrated with HAL and Lufthansa, other each continuing to point fingers at each other over the past several weeks. My wife and I are booked on the 14-Day Best of Norway leaving Amsterdam on July 10.  Several weeks ago, I went on HAL website to check on flights and seat assignments.  I was unable select seat assignments on Lufthansa flights from MIA to AMS.  After talking with HAL representative, I was told that electronic tickets had been issued, but that I may need to contact airline directly to pay for an advance seat selection.  So as advised, I contacted Lufthansa and was told that they could not help me since HAL had not yet issued tickets, even though Lufthansa website shows electronic ticket numbers.  I contacted Lufthansa again yesterday, and was again told that they could not assign seats until HAL issued tickets, even though electronic ticket numbers still on their website.  Lufthansa representative seemed not to really know any details and just simply told me I needed to resolve with HAL or travel agent.  She then placed on hold and was suddenly disconnected after 10 minutes.  I subsequently contacted HAL, and after being on hold for 70 minutes, the HAL representative seemed lost and unable to assist me.  She told me to contact Bookings tomorrow at a specific phone number, even those I selected appropriate phone prompts to connect me to flight reservations. 

 

In addition, the HAL website for my booking says that Express Docs (boarding passes) will be available on-line for printout on approximately May 26.  Since it does say approximately, I waited one week and asked same HAL representative why I still could not access and printout.  At my prompting, she verified that I had completed check-in and that final payment was made, so she did not know why I could not access at this time.  As such, she told me the assigned boarding time and group and again told me to contact phone number for HAL Bookings.

 

Has anyone else had either of these issues. Frankly, I am at my wits end and just about ready to cancel and say goodbye to HAL forever if Travel Agent can’t resolve today.

[pschweig]

I can identify with your frustration! Both myself and my TA dealt with Flight Ease and Lufthansa with the exact same issue - not assigning our return flights’ seats for our July 2-16 cruise. After 2 months, we finally were able to secure seat assignments this week. 
 

This is what we did: log into Lufthansa with your Lufthansa confirmation number (not Flight Ease). On the page which opens, you will see “seat details” on the far right. I’m doing this from memory but if tickets have been issued, you should see a ticket number (it’s either on this page or the one where you select seats).  Follow this to select seats. Of course, it won’t let you and gives you a message with a telephone number to call in a box in the upper right hand corner of the page. We spent 2 days calling this number every 30 min until it was answered. We then spent over 30 min on hold. Once a representative answered, we were able to secure our seats. 
 

Please forgive the lengthy explanation if this is what you have done.  If you have not called this number, I hope this will work for you. 

[iceman93]

Yep, this is a Lufthansa (not HAL or FlightEase) problem.  They are notorious for withholding seat assignments until check-in, even for tickets that should allow advance seat assignments.  One option, if there's an airport near you that Lufthansa serves, is to go in person and speak to a person at their check-in counter who may be more inclined to help.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

46 minutes ago, iceman93 said:

Yep, this is a Lufthansa (not HAL or FlightEase) problem.  They are notorious for withholding seat assignments until check-in, even for tickets that should allow advance seat assignments.  One option, if there's an airport near you that Lufthansa serves, is to go in person and speak to a person at their check-in counter who may be more inclined to help.

Not just Lufthansa this is also the case with British Airways.

 

We are also on the Rotterdam July 10th, no eDocs here either our flights are also not ticketed. We have 3 airlines to worry about, United going and British Airways /American returning. All seats assigned British Airways is the problem and wanting to charge a fee to assign Business Class Seats. Hopefully soon since in 30 days are when ur flights start. lso would like to see eDocs soon too.

[debdiva]

We booked using FlightEase for Rotterdam July 31. We fly in United, back Delta for KLM. We have seat assignments for all flights. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be.

[jlnprt]

We had trouble selecting seats for our return flights (booked through Flight Ease) and got conflicting information from HAL/Flight Ease and the airline. While I was dealing with that, our outgoing flights "disappeared." Called the airline and got that resolved and was finally able to select seat on our return flights as well. Long holds (over an hour for couple and over 2 hours for another) on all calls. Very frustrating!