My first impression is that I think so. I’ll apologize in advance for the length of the post. However, I want to give a complete description and would like to hear what others on the forum think of my experience on CO 2284 from IAH to TYS this evening, November 17. The flight was on an EMB-145, and I had seat 12A reserved. The scheduled departure was 5:10 pm.

I arrived at the gate around T-20 minutes right behind another gentleman, and the GA told us that we were the last passengers to board the flight. My boarding pass scanned with no issues, and the GA did not indicate I had a new seat assignment. As we boarded the plane, the FA asked for our seat numbers. When I told her that I was in 12A, she asked that I take another exit row seat, 12C. This caught me off guard, but I didn’t think much of it as I was contemplating a text message I received at 4:52, according to my Blackberry, as I was going down the jet bridge. The Blackberry syncs with the network, so I am confident of this time and that I had my boarding pass scanned before the T-15 cutoff. I saw a gentleman sitting in 12B, and my brain finally came to enough to realize that I had no desire to rub elbows and shoulders with someone for two hours when I had the single seat emergency exit reserved. There were a number of empty BC seat pairs available, so I asked if I could take one. The FA said it wasn’t a problem, and I settled into 8B.

12A is empty at this point and no passengers board after I do. After being seated for a few minutes, the GA comes on board and she and the FA go behind me to speak to a deadheading pilot regarding the whereabouts of another pilot who was supposed to be onboard. They end up concluding that he was getting there another way, and they closed the cabin door a few minutes later. At this point, I look back again, and there is someone sitting in 12A. The flight pushed back at T-10 according to the PDA site.

When we were served after takeoff, I asked the FA about the seat reassignment. She indicated that there was a duplicate seat assignment given. In her words, since I was not going to show up, she gave the seat to one of the duplicates. A few minutes later, but still in the middle of the beverage service, she did come back and offer me a complimentary alcoholic beverage.

I’ll state that I am not going to ask Continental for any sort of compensation. If I had not been elite and had paid for the ELR seat or had been uncomfortable sitting next to someone else, I might not think the same way. However, the potential to be moved to an undesirable seat on a full flight for no good reason concerns me. The issue I have with the duplicate assignment explanation is that there were multiple BC seat pairs open at the rear of the aircraft anyone could have taken. Why not offer them one of those rather than displacing a fare paying passenger? If this was the case, shouldn’t the passenger already have been in 12A when I boarded? Also, why not wait until the T-15 cutoff before deciding to give this seat away?


So, I am back to wondering what the forum members think. Was this shenanigans with the FA giving the seat to a friend or was there really a duplicate seat assignment and the reassignment handled poorly?