Hello FTers:
Hope someone have the answer to this strange "phenomenon" I have experienced...
Hubby & I are booked for a trip to Paris for the year end holidays, flying from JFK to CDG,
with our two infants (one each of our laps) in Premium Economy.
When selecting the seats (we are flying in a B777-300ER), we are however able to select seats 24E, 24F, 24G or 24H,
i.e. the 4 middle seats of the first row,
only, despite other seats being available (not booked) but blocked and unavailable to be booked.
I called the Platinum Line (in Paris) in order to see whether they could get us two seats next to each other on the side section. The reason is practical – we would like to be seating next to each other – but also for health reasons (we don't want to be sitting next to other passengers, especially when having two babies on our laps) during these COVID-19 days.
The Platinum Line agent confirms that the other seats look available, but "blocked" to her as well. She suspected that this is because we have infants.
Those seats 24E, 24F, 24G and 24H have bassinets, which makes sense, but why would the other seats be restricted? She was then very puzzled, because she:
- simulated a reservation without infants on the very same flights, and seats were available to be selected.
- she removed the infants from the reservation, booked the seats, and re-added the infants, but then the seat selections got cancelled right away.
- she simulated a booking with infants in Business and Economy, and there are no such restrictions in those cabins (you can select seats with bassinets or any other seats in the cabin), so it seems to indicate this is Premium Economy-specific issue.
- she simulated bookings with infants on other types of aircraft (B787, A350) with Premium Economy, same issue in that all seats in that cabin are restricted.
At that point, she said she didn't understand and had to ask her supervisor and would call me back. She did call me back an hour later and told me her supervisor did not understand either. She told me that although it would make sense that "some" seats be restricted for passengers with infants (exit row, not enough oxygen mask
etc...), it does not explain why
all seats other than the 24E, 24F, 24G and 24H would be excluded.
They said they would escalate because they have no idea which services to ask, but they would keep me posted, but without much conviction, as they don't know who to ask.
Fast-forward a day later, I had another issue on my booking to be taken care of. Because I could not call the Platinum Line (it was 6pm in NY so the Platinum Line in Paris was closed), I called the regular Air France USA Reservations number (+1-800-237-2747). I was directed to an agent based in Amsterdam, and when inquiring about this, she immediately told me she would send a request to the "Special Services" to get me the seat assignment, and would follow up with me in the next couple of days.
Therefore, I have two questions:
- does anyone here know why AF restricts all seats in the PE cabin for passengers with infants? It seems very specific to PE. Is it a bug from the reservation system, or is there a deeper reason to that? It seems strange that even the Plat Line was clueless as to why.
- What is that "Special Services" the agent in AMS was referring to? How come the Plat Line agent was not aware of that service?
Thanks for your feedback!
vinnyc