PDXPremier

Last month I was moved to 1C from 2C on PDX-LAX....it was a bigger deal since I had chosen that seat since my wife was in 2A....and there was no aircraft swap. I don't always check-in online at T-24 but I learned my lesson this time since it looks like the change happened sometime after that. Reservations couldn't figure out why I had been moved and couldn't move me since another passenger was already sitting in my seat. They ended up sending me a $75 ecert and eventually my 2A seat magically opened up on the seat map so I grabbed it and checked-in. Weird....

Westcoaster

Yes, that's what I've been told. As a matter of fact a phone rep warned me some weeks ago that major schedule changes would likely be loaded in August so I'm extra careful to check this month.

dmodemd

I checked at the gate about my seat swap and they had theories but none really panned out. The person who got my seat was also a 75K on a B fare, so no hope of trying to get my seat back. The best guess the agents had was that when the reconfig processing was happening, I temporarily was seatless and the other guy saw the seat at check in time and grabbed it. The eqpt swap happened inconveniently right before check in time. I checked in about an hour past check in opening.

The agents were never able to get a better seat for me by the time I boarded. When I was on the plane I got an EF alert for 15C (I was sitting in 15A). Then 3 minutes later, one of the GAs came onto the plane and offered me 15C. Still no recline, but at least I had some aisle room. Fortunately I was able to work with my laptop as the guy in front of me didn't recline until half way through the flight.

I am supposed to get some miles for the inconvenience but I would really prefer they look at the eqpt change logic and improve it to allow people with seat numbers that don't change to keep their seats. This is what I experienced with United (after they did their own straightening out of the logic). Also, add notification on seat changes.

bofc

I've also had trouble twice booking Virgin America flights on the AS web site. The seat assignment selected on AS (up to the day of the flight) was different than what VA showed. AND to make it even more fun, if you print your boarding pass thinking you have a particular seat (because the AS web site shows it) and you get a different seat there is nothing you can do but try to change it at the airport the next day - even if the type of seat you want is available. From now on I check the Virgin web site before printing my boarding pass. They should disable the AS web site seat selection function if it doesn't work.

Waitlisted

I was in 1B on a Q400 PDX/SEA the other day and it swapped to an E175 and I got moved to the last row. Don't know why they couldn't have put me in the first row of coach, or premium or event first as I am a gold and had to be on the list somewhere. I was just plain happy to actually not have the flight cancelled which has happened several times, QX is a freekin mess right now so I book my flights 1-2 flights up before I need to be in SEA or avoid SEA as much as possible.

Boraxo

I would be very unhappy if this happened to me so I can sympathize with OP. That being said this is a poster child for why you should "garden" your reservations as Gleff likes to say. Unless you fly RT weekly it should not be too difficult to check your rez every week (I do this with the apps) when you have a few moments - this also picks up schedules changes, misconnects, etc.

Unfortunately there is not much that you can do if there is a last minute equipment swap, but it makes for a good reason to checkin at T-24 even when you have a reserved seat. At that time you may have a better chance of fixing things. Though I find often the swap is not announced until you get to the airport. At that point, status may help...

98103

I had this happen to me out of AUS. Had a good seat towards the front, and then was moved to a middle in the back. Wasn't happy about it. ($200 credit apology, if I recall correctly). Flight was overbooked. Opted for an extra 24 hours in AUS, plus $400 and an aisle toward the middle for the flight home.

Silk purse/sow's ear.

PDXPremier

Wow....a VDB on AS....not very common...typical compensation in the past has been $300 so $400 was a win! ^

dmodemd

When I got mine recently, it was a pad of pre-printed slips from which they tore one off so it seems to be a pretty standard amount now?

98103

The amount was only a third of what the two people involuntarily denied boarding received.