Involuntary Change of Seats
 

Having booked an M fare to Venice thru Munich many months ago and had confirmed our seats in row 18, I was surprised to find out after being put on the upgrade waitlist that our seats were actually in row 21 and row 40. Called the SE desk and was told that they really didn't know how this happened, maybe the Fin number changed she said, if that happened all prebooked seats would have to be reassigned. The plane is still a 333 and is full, what recourse do I have?

Not much unfortunetaly...seat assignments ar NOT confirmed seats and are subject to change is the answer you will most likely get. Ask the concierge to pull up the history in your PNR and he/she may be able to approach the people that have your original seats at the gate and/or lounge and ask themto switch seats. This happened to me once in J Class I had an assigned seat 1A checked-in for it and when they printed my boarding pass I was re-assigned in 3A for no reason.

Besides asking the SE desk to try and fix it, your only other option is to write in and complain, and enjoy the 5% off code they send you.

They did this to us too and we were previously in bassinet seats, I find it hard to understand why they don't actually tag bookings with a bassinet request so it could be easily remapped if the metal changes.

So did the metal change with OP..

I think it was arbitrary administration that probably resulted in the seats being switched around.

According to the SE desk, the only explanation was that the Fin number changed, it's still a 333 plane, I still can't understand that i have confirmation from Air Canada of having 18A and 18C and now have 40K and 21G all of a sudden AND I would have never known this, it's just because I asked for an upgrade that I found out. This is definitely not the way to treat two long time SE customers.

The fin change makes no sense. All 333 have the exact same configuration. I don't imagine a specific fin no. gets assigned until fairly close to departure and they often change.

Row 18, has to be a bassinet issue. Better avoid these seats, i guess.

It happens all the time. When there is a fin change, seats are randomly reassigned irrespective of whether the aircraft have the same seating configuration or not. There was a thread a few months ago with several experiences of people paying for a preferred seat and being reassigned to the back of the bus, even though the same preferred seats were available in the new aircraft. Another gem of AC IT for you.

When AC changes metal.. they should be considerate of SE's I agree.. and for that matter everyone else that's booked on the flight.

IT should get it straight.. I mean, this is the 21st century.. its not rocket science to keep seat arrangement the same on a replacement aircraft that's exactly the same.

I don't believe these events are simply "a fin change." These must have been changes of plane configuration. For example, between differently configured 763s, or 320s.

When does a specific fin get assigned to a specific flight? Not that early in advance I would guess. Remember when some planes had been XMed and some not. Often, J seat map would change a couple of days before the flight. Or even the day of the flight. So fin change by itself should not result in seats being messed up. Only if there is a change of configuration.

Plus, row 18 is bassinet row.

On one of my upcoming YVR-YYZ flights, it was a 763 when booked, then changed to 321, and then changed to 320. At no point did my assigned seat number change, so I don't know if it is true to say that seats are randomly reassigned in the case of equipment changes.

The whole point of AC's seat numbering protocol was to simplify seating during equipment changes, so if you have a seat that exists in most aircraft types (eg 24A), you should be OK. But the widebody/narrow body changes can cause real headaches, not only because there are more seats in a row, but particularly when the first row in Y is 18 on a 777 or 330, but 12 in a 767 or Airbus.

IMO, AC does not handle these well, particularly if going from a 777/330 (say, in 18A) to a 767, when that seat is already allocated - they just find a seat in any old place, irrespective of your status or obvious desire for a preferred seat.

A real life example of seats not necessarily having to be relocated when metal changes.

Interesting.. so you're suggesting that airlines combine flights to increase load factor..

Then I can definitely agree that it would be a zoo trying to combine flights.. Of course the choice seats would already have been chosen on both flights.. so someone would have to be displaced.

I am not sure how you interpreted my post as "suggesting that airlines combine flights to increase load factor". I was merely trying to make a comment on what happens to seat allocations when AC makes an equipment change on a single, specific flight due to different seating configurations.

But of course AC itself does combine flights, such as when its ends a 763 to LGA to pick a few smaller plane loads of pax stuck after bad weather etc.

I was just inferring it as a possibility..

It would explain why, seat assignments are all over the place.

It would be pretty undercut for AC to combine flights just to increase load factors.. perhaps an enhancement to their service?