Originally Posted by MikeMpls
Both.
On a trip to AMS next weekend that was booked thru travelocity.com several weeks ago, I given a decent seat immediately for ORD-AMS -- no need to change it.
On a July trip to Oslo (booked in Dec.) the longhauls are by NW but the AMS-OSL-AMS segments are on KLM and have no seat assignments.
MikeMpls,
IIRC ORD is also one of the stations where KLM switched from NW handling to Swissport handling and Swissport guys , especially in the US , where handling agents are even paid less than in Europe are the most incompetent guys out there, KL @ ATL is a perfect example....
Despite a confirmed reservation of 11 E on the 74E and issueing the right BP, they gave the seat away again and played clueless ( Take another seat, they are plenty more available ! ) on the plane....