They were confirmed in assigned seats. I specifically went on delta.com and confirmed this by looking at the seat map a week before the flight and again the day of to make sure it was still ok after booking the flight so long ago.
I actually didn't even tell my parents they were supposed to be in first class- I blinded out the seat assignments when I sent them the flight details so it would be a surprise. They called me when they landed from the first segment (in first) and were so happy.
Originally Posted by
jdrtravel
agreed +++
Question for OP: When you said that your parents were still confirmed in first after the equipment change, did they actually have assigned seats or were they listed as F pax with no seat assignments? Were it the later, in this situation, I would have contacted DL to get seat assignments or rebooking.
That being said, I think you have a very legit frustration. I can also imagine that it would really feel very good to able to give your parents the gift of first class travel, that you may have told them what to expect, to not bother bringing food on board because they would get served, etc. And then to find out that the experience you paid for was not what was delivered would be really disappointing, and beyond just a simple inconvenience.