Originally Posted by
trilinearmipmap
Yesterday flying Air Canada Jazz I checked in 2 hours ahead of time. There was no seat on my boarding card, the agent said my seat would be assigned at the gate.
At the gate after some wait I was assigned a seat shortly before boarding. The gate agent told me "we always overbook flights" and that was why I had no seat assigned. If this happens again, and if the flight is overbooked, what will happen? Will I automatically be the one who does not fly if I have no assigned seat. Or will they go through the "offer people flight vouchers" thing to decide who gets bumped.
I assumed that a confirmed ticket meant I would fly that day, it looks like I can't be sure of that, I want to know my rights for next time.
Although not as often on AC, you will find that flying within Europe- where they will not assign seats unless you are flying in Business, have certain frequent flyer status memberships, or on some full fare tickets, that often you will be issued a boarding pass with no seat number. Usually it works out without a problem. As others have mentioned, OLCI can help you avoid this- additionally, if you DO have status, make sure it is clearly noted on your file, as this may help you in terms of priority. Lastly, if you have an urgent reason to get somewhere- ie wedding, important meeting etc, I would at least mention it politely to the gate agent- although it is not SOP I find that courtesy goes a long way. On the contrary, if you don't mind waiting an hour or so for another flight- you may want to volunteer- or offer to- in case of an oversell they can offer you some type of compensation- and, you are helping someone else get to where they really need to go. As far as rights go, I wouldn't start using that language- as if you read the terms of condition and carriage you are probably at a disadvantage- although I am not an expert flying lawyer
