Last minute - Luftansa just changed my seats to center - Help!
 

I booked tickets 6 months ago (economy) on Luftansa from Seattle to Istanbul via Frankfurt. I got exactly the seats I wanted from SEA to Frankfurt for me and my wife (in our 60's) ... perfect! We leave in two weeks. I was emailed about a slight schedule change, so thought it would be smart to confirm all the details, including seats. Big surprise - we've been moved to the middle (for a ten hour flight!) I called Luftansa and apparently they've changed the aircraft type, so all seat assignments were tossed and that's that. There are no available better seats - I was told I need to check in early and hope for the best. Any suggestions on the best way to approach the airport agent to either get better seats or maybe even moved up to Business? Thanks.

1. Call back and speak with another agent.
2. Repeat until you get better seats.
3. If #2 is unsuccessful, check in as early as possible and hope for the best.

"<i>Any suggestions on the best way to approach the airport agent to either get better seats or maybe even moved up to Business?</i>"

You have next to no chance being upgraded.

Follow Seamus' instructions. If 1 & 2 don't work and you end up w/ #3, get to the airport plenty early. The agents reassign seats all the time.

(BTW -- even if they hadn't changed your seats, there are no guarantees you get the same ones you reserved. 'Stuff' Happens.)

Fact of the matter is that Europeans and European airlines see seat assignments as simply "courtesy" while American travelers see that as a right. My parents and I had flown AF/KLM several times in the past few years between the US and CDG/AMS and our seats got changed over half of the time. Though every time we got similar or better seats when we did online check-in or at the airport.

I think I recently got email from Lufthansa announcing that they are having a sale on business and first class. If you have some spare money, you might call them and explain the seating problem and ask how much it would cost to upgrade to business, and go from there.

At this late date, they probably still have some tourist seats open, but they are under gate agent control so the gate agent will have some flexibility in assigning seats.

I once saw a passenger who limped badly and used a cane and prevailed on the gate agent for a choice seat. When we deplaned, his limp was cured and he carried the cane; no doubt his limp became more severe every time he approached a boarding gate.

Our latest confirmation from our travel agent showed our good seats requested and assigned months ago had changed. I called Lufthansa, asked why. She didn't seem to know for sure but thought it was a plane change. I said I want our seats back. She said OK, and it was done. Apparantly our new plane wasn't yet full and "our" seats were still available. Hope it all works out for you guys.

Check in on line as soon as you are allowed to and choose the seats you want.

European airlines normally do not allow seat assignments before check-in, although some allow it if you pay a fee.

<<Fact of the matter is that Europeans and European airlines see seat assignments as simply "courtesy" while American travelers see that as a right.>>

European travellers (notably the British) are no different in their attitude towards pre-assigned seats and kick up just as much a fuss as the Americans if they don't get the seat they want or their pre booked seat changed gets changed. There are no rights to pre assigned seats no matter which airline.

I guess if this happened on a US carrier and they had an aircraft change, it would have been handled differently and the original seat assignment matched.

Odin: Not on Delta. They changed my seats and had no interest in my concerns about it.

>>>I guess if this happened on a US carrier and they had an aircraft change, it would have been handled differently and the original seat assignment matched.<<<

Hahaha. Seems that you have never flown United. They cancel flights all the time. Then you are rescheduled and you not only miss your preassigned seats - you are lucky if there are not more than 5 rows between you and your family members.

>>>we've been moved to the middle (for a ten hour flight!)<<<

Planes do have middle seats. In fact, most of the seats are in the middle and most of the passengers sit in the middle - also on ten hour flights. That's economy class. If you want better seats, fly business class.

Specific seats are never guaranteed by any airline.

Delta is actually pretty good about trying to get changed seating adjusted back. The easiest way, of course, is to change online; you may not get your original seats (or seat type) but can still move to any available seat.

On the phone, same thing. What is interpreted here as disinterest could simply be that there were no available seats.

Note that Delta (and others) will try to hold the "better" seats (usually windows and ailes) for their better customers. If one does not have such status the seat maps may show a lot of seats as unavailable to you, even though they may not already have been selected. This is as it should be.

"Hahaha. Seems that you have never flown United. They cancel flights all the time. "

Well, that may be true in the past, but not anymore. They completed over 99% of their flights in 3Q2010, and with the new Continental management in charged since October, you'll expect that to lower even much more. CO completes 99.8% of their flight during the same time, and also historically.

"In fact, most of the seats are in the middle and most of the passengers sit in the middle - also on ten hour flights."

Really? What plane type are you talking about? On a 747, there are 2 windows, 4 aisles and 4 middles. On a 777, there are 2 windows, 4 aisles and 3 middles. On a 767, there are 2 windows, 4 aisles and 1 middle. Even on a hated 757 across Atlantic, there are 2 windows, 2 aisles and 2 middles.

When they change planes between identical planes, you will never know about it. It is when they change from one configuration to another that seats get changed. If the new plane has fewer seats in business, for example, and they were fully booked, someone is going to get a nasty surprise. Often the change in equipment is when they consolidate two flights onto a larger plane. In that case, if two people had seat 24a on their original planes, only one is going to get 24a on the new plane. This often happens because they start selling tickets nine months in advance, but make changes in flights and equipment later.

I understand why it happens; my only complaint is that they don't email you immediately when it happens, so you find out too late to get a better seat than the one they assigned you.

If having a specific seat is really that important to you, you should probably check your reservation every day, or two or three times every day, so you can catch it when it happens and try to remedy it. And avoid the european airlines that don't preassign seats. When it has happened to me, I've been really lucky in making a trade with someone so my wife and I can sit together.