Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Pissed at AS for dropping our seats Flt 852

Because of a 5 minute schedule change according to the res agent and an equipment change the seats I booked get dropped and now there are NO seats for web check-in. Sure you can go to the airport hope and pray you get something decent but res agent said row 14 (no recline exit row) and the last 2 rows are open and under airport control so nothing she could do. My partner cannot will not travel in the back of the plane literally he gets sick. No upgrades either. :mad:

We had seats in row 10 - literally 4 days ago (middle and asile) and what the heck could an equipment change SOOOO much that my seats get dropped?? I mean it's not like they can fly just any old 737 from Seattle to HNL. Then the res agent wanted to say well it's the automated system - hello wake up - a human programmed the computer and they did not think to retain a customers chosen seat? I'll schlep to the airport early to see what can be had but honestly this is where the attention to detail with air carriers and a host of other service oriented industries just drives me off the wall crazy. :mad: If I had to complain about AS for anything since I've been flying them for 7 years now with my relo to the west coast this is THEE largest complaint I'd have otherwise I think they do ok.

Sorry to hear about your experience. It has happened to me a few times with other airlines, but AS is [I]usually[I] pretty good.
The question I have is are other 737's ETOP certified besides the 800?
If they switched your plane with a 700, I can see how it would make more sense in the difference of seating configuration. If you flew on another 800, then I would say you have a legitimate gripe.
Either way, I would follow up with a letter. If you do, I am sure many of us here would like to know the response.
Maholo:)

The question I have is are other 737's ETOP certified besides the 800?


No, all of the AS ETOPS aircraft are -800's. However, there may be different seating configurations on them. I'm not sure.

I don't understand the equipment change part, as all the ETOPS 737-800s have the same seating configuration, and AS has no other fleet type that is ETOPS rated. Also, I don't understand why a 5 minute sched change results in the loss of seats, unless it resulted in an illegal connection and the agent had to reinstate you on the sea-hnl flight.

Thanks EASTWEST! I was pretty sure that only the 800's were ETOPS. There has to be more to this story.

I think there are 3 different configurations of the 738's though. See the seat maps at:

http://www.alaskaair.com/as/www2/company/Fleet/737-800.asp

It looks like there is a 6 seat difference and 1 extra row between Configurations 1 and 2.

I don't like it when I lose a seat assignment either, though...

The first three 738s AS received are 16F/144Y. After that they added a third lav in the back which resulted in the loss of three seats (16F/141Y). They did not squeeze in an extra row, all they did was offset the postion of the exit rows by one row. AS compensates for this by blocking out row 13 on the 737-800 seat map, because only one or two of the aircraft actually have a row 13 and the last 1-2 rows of Y. The exit rows are always 14 and 15. So, there is no reason why anyone should lose a seat assignment on this aircraft.

The first three 738s AS received are 16F/144Y. After that they added a third lav in the back which resulted in the loss of three seats (16F/141Y). They did not squeeze in an extra row, all they did was offset the postion of the exit rows by one row. AS compensates for this by blocking out row 13 on the 737-800 seat map, because only one or two of the aircraft actually have a row 13. The exit rows are always 14 and 15. There is no reason why the OP should have lost confirmed seats on this aircraft.

Yes, I see what you mean. (And looking at the seat maps again, I see now that one has row 13 and one does not. I had missed that.)

Here's what finally happened - having spoken with res agents and a supervisor to file a complaint - I was informed to arrive at the airport early and talk with the agent there for seat assignments. The skinny of it is we were assigned seats 16 B&C so not bad at all thank goodness however....

We arrived 3 hours early for the flight to which we found a standing line for check in at Alaska which was 7 deep already so we were 8th in line. About 20 minutes later the line grew big time to about 20 people deep and check-in did not open till 1045am. Even with using the self check in terminals several of us were not given seats but again told to see an agent so another standing line was formed and when we spoke with the agent we received seats.

In advance the res agent informed me of what rows were under airport control and being held - exit rows, row 16 and then the last two rows. So when we reached the agent I asked for two seats together - when I asked if I could get exit row I was denied but was placed in row 16. Now the interesting part is we left to grab lunch, upon return I asked the agent outside of security again about exit row and she said taken. When we got to the gate 21 there was a huge line so we took seats and I hung out to listen in and then also looked at the seat map on the agents computer. Then i found out that exit row was NOT taken matter of fact there was a group of 5 non-rev positive space who walked up to check in and they got the exit row seats. Now you'd say how did I know non-rev? Because they all had badges around their neck, talked of going to Seattle for training and you could hear them talk about positive space etc.

OK so I was not upset about row 16 it's not bad at all - until I heard the non-rev getting those seats. Hmmm ever heard of fare paying passengers? And why not give them the last row - you'll see why shortly. But at least we were together it was not the back row.

Once we boarded the plane about 75% thru the process security came on board - one guy flashed a badge looked like under cover police to me, followed by several people. Apparently a guy was in the last row o near the last row seat 28 B and was completely upset with his seat enough to throw a heated conversation with the flight attendant enough to have security come on board and the passenger was then escorted off. Maybe he knew that non-revs got the exit row I don't know.

I'll be posting a trip report shortly but like someone posted here if you had seat 10 B&C and they changed equipment - agreed why would that bump me out especially since I booked the day the flights were offered when they announced the service.