Do airlines change seat assignments of bargain fare passengers?
 

Recently, two people told me that their seat assignments that were made during initial bookings were mysteriously changed when they arrived at the airport. Both were originally seated in aisle seats and ended up in the middle seats of the middle section. Both had very low fares. Has anyone else experienced this?

no, but I suspect there may be more to this than meets the eye. If there has been a change of aircraft (737 for a DC-10, for example), the seat configuration might be different enough that assignments have to be changed to accommodate everyone; if a connecting flight misses plane #1 but is in time to connect with plane #2, the seat assignments might be rearranged on plane #2 to accommodate the connecting passengers.<BR><BR>The only time I would think an airfare might influence seat assignment is if you're flying stand-by.

No, but I've had the reverse happen. Flying on an unbelievably low fare and had a request to be moved to a better seat honored.<BR>

If you're booking online, the seat map may show you seats that are not really available to you unless you are one of the airline's higher level freq flyers. So you may be "clicking" on a seat and thinking that's where you're sitting, but you are not really confirmed for that seat.

It's happened to me twice in the last 2 years where I was flying on a free frequent flyer ticket trans-Atlantic and consolidator ticket to Africa and my spouse and I were upgraded to Business Class both times. So no, I don't think the airlines "have it in" for people who buy cheap tickets. Though when I do buy a cheap ticket, I just mentally prepare myself for a terrible seat and consider it the price to pay.

Interesting. I thought I was just being paranoid. <BR><BR>I got back from a trip where I had a change of planes both ways. On only one leg were my daughter and I on the two-seat side of the plan as I had reserved. The other times we were with another person on the three-seat side of the plane.

Hi I work for AA in reservations. The only seats that are blocked are coach seats. Usually when we look at a map we either see a seat map and then a special letter that denotes that the seats are for Gold and Platinum only. Exit rows are always blocked but if not occupied, then you can request at airport. Of course you have to be exit row qualified. The fare that you pay has nothing to do with what seat you get. I promise! Of course the earlier you book your ticket the better off you are. The only thing is that no matter how early you book seats that are blocked for the Gold,Platinum and Executive Platinum will always be blocked. If not occupied airport can assign. Yes there are often aircraft changes that too can affect your seat assignments. I hope that clears it up. At least that is how it works at AA. <BR>Other airlines may work differently.

It's happened to me a number of times, and I'm convinced they do look at how much you've paid. But in my case, I think it also happens because I travel solo and it's just so easy for them to shuffle around a party of one. <BR><BR>It's happened so often that I usually call several times before the day of departure to verify that I still have the same seat assignment and I check in early (even earlier now). I've had to raise bloody hell (I have specific reasons for needing the seating I do) more than once to get them to give me back my original seat or even do better, if it's not available. I noticed once that they treated a lot better when they heard me say "I"m not trying to get an upgrade to First Class, I just need a seat that ......" <BR><BR>If it makes a difference to you, it's worth a little extra effort to protect your assignment.

Yes, Virgin Airlines does change seat assignments - and they openly admit it. When it happened to me the second time they explained that what I had was a "seat request" even though for all the world it seemed like an assigned seat to me when I made the reservations. They said the reason was that they want to seat families together, so if they arrive before check-in before I do they get my seats if they need them. I don't know if they would to that to their "premium" customers or not - I was paying the low fare.

I just traveled to Paris and Rome the first week of March with Continental coach class and they changed our seat assignments on every leg. At least they kept my husband and myself together.

I have been told that it's not so much price as when and how one has booked. For USAir, I learned the hard way that whatever seats you book online may have no relevance to the seats you get when you fly, even with the same plane configurations. Sure, even if I book by phone, sometimes the airlines have shuffled us to different locations and they usually tell us why. However, twice my online reservations have resulted in my kids' sitting at various points on the plane alone. Now if I book online, I call the airline two or three times before we leave to see if my seat assignments are "real."

In a word -- yup.<BR><BR>It also depends on what agent you get at the desk. We were on consolidator tickets at CDG without pre-assigned seats -- the agent wouldn't seat us together after my begging nicely and almost bursting into tears -- her comment -- it's only 8 hours. My husband went back and got in another line and got us put together.

I've had it happen at least twice -- once on AF and once on AA that I remember. I always get APEX fares but nothing more unusual than that. I don't know why AF changed me, but I think I had a similar seat (I prefer window) but a different row. AA completely changed my window seat to a middle one and when I looked to see who was in my seat, it was a family with a small kid, so I suppose that was the reason. I also think it's easy for them to do it to solo passengers.

The reason I asked was because I recently booked a flight, on American, that was the result of a data entry error. My fare was less than half of what it was supposed to be. When I called they didn't want to give me the tickets. Finally the third manager I spoke to gave in. I'm wondering if my wife and I will be rewarded with two middle seats even though we've been assigned an aisle and window. I think I'll arrive at he airport the THREE!! hours in advance reccomended for international flights. Ordinarily I wouldn't do this, but I don't want to give them any reason to cancel us. I'm probably being a little paranid here.<BR><BR>Signed<BR>Mr. X<BR><BR>

Now that you mention it, I actually had seat assignments in hand for two recent Air Jamaica flights only to find children in my seats with the same seat assignments. Apparently I was displaced both times to accommodate families.<BR><BR>GK

Interesting. After reading this, I just called to reconfirm seats on award tickets on SWISS. My seat assignments had been cancelled, so I had to rebook them. My seat assignments had been made with the Swiss 800 number. Have also had this happen before on AA award tickets but when I pushed the counter folks I was put back in our seats, now I am definitely paranoid. I suspect it is as much a factor of time as price. Award seats and cheaps seats tend to get booked a long time in advance which allows a lot of time for the airline to mess with you.