NickB

Had a paper ticket, so could not check-in online, so decided to do a phone check-in instead. UK KL agent checked me in on my AMS-MRS flight in 2C. Turned up at AMS to pick up my boarding pass to find out that my seat had been attributed to somebody else. No clear reason why, as the flight was still very empty (I was at AMS 4 hours before departure).
Not much of a problem in this situation as 1C was still available, so I took that instead but what is the point of check-in by phone if agents feel free to change your seat allocation at whim?

Avallon

It could be that the agents after pulling up the seatplan and selecting a seat they have to lock/block it which might be a separate procedure. The problem with call agents however is that they're not very good at their jobs, so the agent that reserved your seat might have forgotten to finalize your reservation.

OR it could've been breaktime, and the agent couldn't do anything at all because he/she was dying for a fag...

Generally, when your seat is booked correctly you will get it at check-in. (if only we had KLM staff on this board...)

jetfan

I asked a friend working for an airline:
When you are checked in a seat is allocated for you (unless there are no more seats and you are put on the dreaded standby). This seat remains yours unless you are removed from this seat manually by an authorised employee. As your boarding pass is not yet printed when checking in by telephone this is allowed. Another reason could be that a configuration change occurred (e.g. Fokker50 to Fokker70 or 737-400 to 737-300). In such a case usually seat numbers are transferred as much as possible but logically not all seats are identical, necessitating a shift to a comparable seat.
Hope this helps.

stut

It's a great shame if something like this is happening. KLM used to be *really* good at this.

Back when I originally qualified for SE (by flying, rather novelly), and then much more for GE and PE, I would go to check in, only to find that I'd been pre-assigned one of the 2+3 aisle seats, or, if that wasn't available, one of the exit rows. Most of my KLM flights were LHR-AMS, and 9 times out of 10, I would be in a 738 with one of the nice big business class seats. Which made it a rather nice way to fly, all told!

And the one time it didn't happen (due to an aircraft change), at VIE, the check-in agent, entirely unprompted, leapt over the desk, and ran over to the ticket counter to make sure I got an upgrade.

These were the touches that made KLM a special airline, as far as I was concerned.

But then it all started to go wrong. Europe Select was the start of it. It's rather sad, really.

Papa Hotel

I once ended up in a middle seat on a F100 because of "equipment change" at AMS. The GA who told me this was right, in a way, since the original aircraft, a F100, was replaced by a........F100. (Note: in The Netherlands you can receive information on your GSM with flight information for a specific flight, including registration of the aircraft. That is how I know she was right about the equipment change.)

NickB

well, if there was equipment change, it was the kind of equipment change referred to by Papa Hotel.

It was meant to be a KLC F70, and KLC F70 it was.