Turns out my assigned seat wasn't!?
Sep 27, 2017, 12:21 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Snohomish, WA
Programs: AS MVP Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,793
Turns out my assigned seat wasn't!?
This is a new one for me.
I'm flying tomorrow and when I checked in discovered I was in seat 7E. What? I groom my reservations regularly, and as recently as yesterday I was shown as in seat 6F on the Alaska site. Contacted Alaska via Twitter and they said "I see you're in 6F".
Clearly not what my boarding card said, so I forwarded them a screenshot of the boarding card showing 7E.
Response back? "I see it was booked through a travel agency. They put in a request for 6F but it was not available". The travel agency was everyone's favourite: Concur.
Has anyone seen this before? Why would the Alaska site show me as actually being in a seat in the days leading up to check-in time that I'm not actually assigned?
Neil
I'm flying tomorrow and when I checked in discovered I was in seat 7E. What? I groom my reservations regularly, and as recently as yesterday I was shown as in seat 6F on the Alaska site. Contacted Alaska via Twitter and they said "I see you're in 6F".
Clearly not what my boarding card said, so I forwarded them a screenshot of the boarding card showing 7E.
Response back? "I see it was booked through a travel agency. They put in a request for 6F but it was not available". The travel agency was everyone's favourite: Concur.
Has anyone seen this before? Why would the Alaska site show me as actually being in a seat in the days leading up to check-in time that I'm not actually assigned?
Neil
Sep 27, 2017, 2:00 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Snohomish, WA
Programs: AS MVP Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,793
Twitter customer care reverted back to saying it's because Concur requested the seat but it was never confirmed, therefore I never had it. Called in to the MVP line and an agent put me on a 15 minute (!!!) hold to look into it.
Came back and said "oh, it was an aircraft swap, and when that happens everyone gets booted out of their seat and it all gets jumbled up".
Seriously???
Neil
Came back and said "oh, it was an aircraft swap, and when that happens everyone gets booted out of their seat and it all gets jumbled up".
Seriously???
Neil
Sep 27, 2017, 2:28 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Snohomish, WA
Programs: AS MVP Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,793
Lol. This just keeps getting better and better. The app shows me as "Waitlisted for first class" but I'm nowhere on the upgrade requests list. And yet... I was upgraded to first.
Twitter response? "The app doesn't necessarily have the most accurate wait list. For up to date wait list information you would need to wait till you got to the airport, boarding gate."
Good grief.
Neil
Twitter response? "The app doesn't necessarily have the most accurate wait list. For up to date wait list information you would need to wait till you got to the airport, boarding gate."
Good grief.
Neil
Sep 27, 2017, 2:29 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kirkland, WA
Programs: AS 75K,UA Gold 1.6MM, Hilton Dia, Marriott LT Plat, Hyatt Glb, Natl Exec, Hertz 5*
Posts: 3,657
Yes. I had this same problem a few weeks ago.
In an aircraft swap, it indeed re-seats many, even those people in seats that exist on the new seat map. I got booted out of the exit row aisle to a non-reclining window seat right before check in and someone else took my old seat at check in so I couldn't get it back, even though I picked up on it 30 minutes after it happened.
All I could do was complain and get some miles sent my way. GA was able to get me to non-reclining aisle after boarding.
Yet another instance of bad logic in their systems that has probably been there awhile.
In an aircraft swap, it indeed re-seats many, even those people in seats that exist on the new seat map. I got booted out of the exit row aisle to a non-reclining window seat right before check in and someone else took my old seat at check in so I couldn't get it back, even though I picked up on it 30 minutes after it happened.
All I could do was complain and get some miles sent my way. GA was able to get me to non-reclining aisle after boarding.
Yet another instance of bad logic in their systems that has probably been there awhile.
Sep 28, 2017, 7:39 am
#8
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kirkland, WA
Programs: AS 75K,UA Gold 1.6MM, Hilton Dia, Marriott LT Plat, Hyatt Glb, Natl Exec, Hertz 5*
Posts: 3,657
My corp's Concur portal won't even price out Alaska economy fares at all. It shows Y available but then prices F. I haven't been able to get them to fix it. That's ok, gives me an excuse to book direct.
I know elite seat assigning on Concur is kludgy so I always go back in to airline site to pick my seat as a general practice to be safe.
Sep 28, 2017, 7:44 am
#9
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: PDX
Programs: DL Gold
Posts: 282
I'd say it's a best practice to always use airline sites to update and confirm seat assignments. I have seen seat assignment issues with a number of TA sites. Once I have booked I tend to ignore whatever the TA sites says and rely on the airline. Of course, not much you can do if it was an actual equipment swap.
Sep 28, 2017, 9:11 am
#10
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
Programs: TK ELPL (*G), AS 100K (OWE), BA Gold (OWE), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat
Posts: 7,763
For clarity, Concur isn't a travel agent - it merely is a customizable compliance solution which interfaces with your company's travel agent. For example, my company's travel agent is CWT, which fulfills all bookings I make through Concur.
Sep 28, 2017, 9:56 am
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Snohomish, WA
Programs: AS MVP Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,793
I'd say it's a best practice to always use airline sites to update and confirm seat assignments. I have seen seat assignment issues with a number of TA sites. Once I have booked I tend to ignore whatever the TA sites says and rely on the airline. Of course, not much you can do if it was an actual equipment swap.
Anyway, it appears it was indeed due to an aircraft swap. I got upgraded to FC though so now I'm not cranky. Although the waitlist in the app still shows no sign of me at all. Sigh.
Neil
Sep 29, 2017, 3:52 pm
#12
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kirkland, WA
Programs: AS 75K,UA Gold 1.6MM, Hilton Dia, Marriott LT Plat, Hyatt Glb, Natl Exec, Hertz 5*
Posts: 3,657
Sep 29, 2017, 4:49 pm
#13
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS
Posts: 2,293
Sep 29, 2017, 7:05 pm
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Snohomish, WA
Programs: AS MVP Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,793