FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Seat Swapping, Seat Poaching and Seating Etiquette: The Definitive Thread
Old Feb 22, 2017, 10:47 am
  #858  
strickerj
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: DTW
Programs: Alaska, Delta, Southwest
Posts: 1,661
Originally Posted by dm6214
My wife and I have been booked on a flight from ATL to MKE since June. The aircraft has been changed at least 3 times. The last time was in Dec. The aircraft is a 737. Seats have been moved by Delta several times but we were always seated together. The last time even though we are still on a 737-900 the put us in seats A and C with someone in B. Will we be out of line asking the person in B if he would rather have A or C so that we may be seated together?
Oh and by the way the original aircraft was a 737-900 and we prebooked A and B. I can understand if a plane is changed your seats can be changed but if it stays the same why does Delta in their infinite wisdom randomly move people around?
I'd say this is the best way to go when traveling as a couple - book the window and aisle in hopes you get the row to yourself, since an open middle seat is less likely to be booked than a window or aisle. If it is taken, offer the trade, but make it sound like you're doing them a favor - e.g., "Would you prefer..." vs. "Mind trading so we can sit together?"

Regarding the equipment swaps, I'm reminded of a Delta 777 flight I was on coming back from Europe in 2002, when they were transitioning from 2-5-2 to 3-3-3. The seat map showed the old configuration, but the new layout had exactly the same seat numbers - just which ones were aisle and which ones were middle had changed. But when the swap happened, Delta, in their infinite wisdom, deleted everyone's seat assignments and reassigned them randomly (apparently without even regard to groups traveling together). We had to plead with the gate agent just to sit together, much less get a window seat... (OK, yes, we didn't "have to" have a window seat or even sit together, but we were irritated that the system had treated this change in such a nonsensical fashion and wanted to see if they could fix it.)
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