Originally Posted by
lensovet
Was supposed to fly SEA-SAN-JFK (AS36). On arrival at the airport, saw that SEA-SAN was delayed with only 25 minutes left to do the layover.
Went to the customer service desk at the C gates, first question was did I talk to a gate agent. Which one? The one in SAN, or perhaps the one in SEA for a flight that isn’t departing for another 3 hours?
I think pretty clearly the gate agent to talk to would be the one for the SEA-SAN flight, but I'm rather confused why the customer service desk couldn't just help you. What else are they there for?
Then asked what would happen if I got to SAN and the connection was missed. “They will book you on another flight”. Okay, what about sleeping? Am I just bumming it at the gate for the night, or will they offer some kind of hotel? “That depends on why the flight is delayed”. Uh, can’t you look that up and tell me? How am *I* supposed to know why the flight is delayed or what your policy is regarding this? “We recommend talking to the agent at the gate to see what options they can offer”. Yeah sure, let me waste 2+ hours at the airport waiting for an agent to show up while whatever remaining seats are left on alternate flights disappear.
No, they clearly (to me) meant the SEA-SAN gate agent.
“Well I see only 2 open seats, what online doesn’t show you is there are people who booked a different class of ticket, economy, and they don’t have a seat assigned yet, so you can’t pick those seats”. What???
That is true. The seat map does not tell you much about available seats. An ExpertFlyer subscription letting you see the actual seats they're willing to sell is much more reliable. (Now once you're booked on the flight, you should be able to select an open seat. But they won't just book you on the flight based on unassigned seats, only actual availability.
Glad it worked out in the end; doesn't sound like the most helpful set of agents.