Why doesn't Alitalia sometimes respect seat selections?
 

Just got back from another AZ trip in Magnifica. I had problems upon check-in with the agents giving me boarding passes for different seats than I had pre-selected.

On my FCO>MXP leg which was an all-Y plane, I had pre-selected 5C, but when the agent gave me a boarding pass for 28C! :mad: I complained that this was too far back and that I had a very tight connection, so I was given 8E instead. Why did they move me? Particularly since I had an already chosen seat near the front, I was traveling on a Business class ticket, as a DL Diamond I am SkyTeam Elite, and I had a very tight connection

The second issue was on my MXP>MIA leg, which I had selected the very private 2L, I was given a boarding pass for 1E, which is one of the love seats, and I'd be sharing with someone I wasn't even traveling with. I asked for my original seat back or any L seat on any other row, and he gave me 2L - my original selection! Both the forward and the rear mini-cabins were both pretty full, so they weren't trying to compress the cabin like they sometimes do.

Just wondering what is the point of pre-selecting if they aren't going to honor them.

Why doesn't Alitalia sometimes respect seat selections?
 

Are you sure that your preselection was accepted / saved?
If one flight had been changed... But both??

I've not had problems on this...
How was the mxp - mia?

Alitalia has no systems expertise, read other threads on their reservation systems, call centers etc. They are quite simply, not a serious airline. :p

There is enough traditional Alitalia in them for issues such as this and others in the last 25 threads to keep coming up ..., issues which you simply wont see on boards of major airlines. :rolleyes:

AZ has Good hard product intercontinental now but they have kept one tradition alive very succesfully... they are still the joke of the airline industry :D

I booked AZ flights on DL's website yesterday and chose seats but wanted to make sure they were in AZ's system - the whole SkyTeam integration thing does not always include seat assignments.

I've booked AF on DL.com many times and have always been able to log into AF.com to make sure my seats were there, and checked back often since AF also tends to change seats for no reason.

I was all over the AZ website and could not find a place to check my flight. Nothing comparable to the My Trips on DL's website. I posted on AZ's facebook page and there were multiple posts going back and forth, with them finally confirming my seats. But they never did answer my question - I asked if there was a way to check it on their website and they responded by asking for my ticket number. I don't like that there doesn't seem to be a way for me to check on their website periodically to make sure the seat assignments stuck. Am I missing something? Is there no way to pull up your booking with a ticket number or PNR?

Yes, I know my seats were saved.

I selected my seats when I purchased the flight at Alitalia.com, and they showed up on my e-mail itinerary. Next time I'll print it out so I can show the check-in agents if necessary.

Equipment change, regardless of the gurgling of non-flyers on this page, can happen anytime anywhere.

Also, did you notice if your seat was, e.g., given to a passenger requiring special assistance or otherwise disabled?

It might help to do the online check-in - you don't have to print the boarding passes, you can select to pick up at the check-in, or you could even just check you have the right seats and then abort online check-in with the knowledge that your seats are correct. If they changed for some reason you might be able to claim back your original seats before someone else takes them.

In case of aircraft change or some miscellaneous issue (as raistlin pointed out) it can happen that seats are lost between reservation and flight, although it hasn't happened to me for now. If you really want that seat I presume the check-in agent could change it for you if you turn up early, and make someone else unhappy instead :D.

I doubt that was it because I doubt I had 3 equipment changes on one day honestly. No, my seats were not given to anyone requiring special assistance and as I mentioned in one case my chosen seat wasn't assigned to anyone at all, as I was able to move back into that seat.


I did actually try the online check-in and got an error message when checking in or some other message telling me that I couldn't continue.

When I arrived at the airport at BCN to check-in, I went into the SkyPriority lane. There was a woman in front of me in the SkyPriority lane and her father was in the regular check-in line. They both got in their resepctive lines at the same time. He got to the desk before she did.

I used AF website with AZ confirmation.

Notorious AZ issue. I had to OLCI via their mobile app. Called constantly to confirm my seat assignment prior to departure. For whatever reason, when I checked-in on the AZ site it redirected to AF. My actual BP was on AF paper.

i agree with the previous post that the check in agent can do it for you. that's how i get my extra leg room.