Hey I was booked on SAS Plus, when I did the online check in I could only choose seats in the first 7 rows, with row 7 the only row where I could two seats for me and my partner, so we choose those two seats.
After boarding we saw that the "SAS Plus" cabin was only till row 5 (not a big deal since the seats are more or less the same), when it comes to service I ask for a dring and a meal/snack and showed my boarding pass which clearly stated "SAS Plus", but I was denied that service since I was not sitting in the right part of the cabin, the purser told me since there still free single seat in the Plus cabin I could easily get the service if I had choose these seats at check in - fair enough but as said I was traveling with my partner, and we believed that all seats we could book should be Plus seats. Anyhow we did not get the service.
After the flight I complained about this to SAS, asking for a gesture of compensation but they told me this:
Thank you for reaching out to us. We do apologize for your seat change onboard.
The seat specified in a booking is a request that the airline intends to fulfill but cannot always guarantee due to different circumstances.
Giving a definitive reason for individual seat change is difficult since various factors influence these decisions including: short notice of aircraft type and layout change, corrected aircraft weight and balance for safety reasons, or arrangement of travel companions/groups to sit together or close by. This is especially important when families are traveling with small children.
In some cases, overbooking can explain seat reassignment, which is most common when a seat is assigned at the gate. With this in mind, airport staff do try to provide a comparable replacement on these occasions.
As said I had no problem with the seat I was complaining about the denied service, so how to handle this? Is it really just a "seat change", which I find difficult since I got the booked seat, just without service.
They explained it like this:
Article 6.3 ¨Seat Allocation¨
The Carrier will make reasonable efforts to meet seat allocation requests but cannot guarantee the allocation of a given seat, even if the Reservation has been confirmed for such seat. The Carrier reserves the right to change seat allocation at any time, including after boarding, for operating, security or safety reasons and for reasons of Force Majeure.
It is beneficial to check in as early as possible in order to choose your seat. With your booking information, you can log on to our website and normally check in 22 hours prior to departure. Bear in mind, it is possible these chosen seats may be changed due to the reasons mentioned above.
Anyhow this is by far the worst experience I had in customer support for a long time, I did not get the service paid for and the airline tells me that this was only a "seat change", what happens when J class is overbooked and they give you a seat in Y? Will they refer to
Article 6.3 ¨Seat Allocation¨?
Is there a way to get this further? Since this experience on SAS was so bad (not that part of the flight, it was more the longhaul J part which did not meet my expectations at all)I can t see me flying SAS anytime soon so maybe useless all in all.
Anyhow sitting in a lounge sometimes leads to a post on FT.