I am on the 12:20 from LAX to IAH, typically a 764. Last night I went to reprint my boarding passes and checked to see if I still had my bulkhead seat. Nope, now something like 17E and the seat map was now 3 x 3 even though the equipment was still noted as the 764. I called the Elite Desk and the agent really could not figure it out either, nor could she assign bulkhead. I just logged in and assigned myself 16C on the "updated" seatmap realizing that there must be some sort of equipment swap to the 757. Doesn't a swap usually reflect in the system beyond the seatmap? Needless to say, there are going to be some ticked off elites who show up at LAX and find there seating assignments and/or upgrades changed to the worse.

Yah... especially the ones who paid for a F fare There're about to be gypsyed CO style Oh well, I�m sure that CO had a reason behind this (safety, equipment malfunction, etc.)

I am at the LAX PC now and the great agents here were surprised as well. Their system still reflected a 764 being scheduled but the seatmap was 757. I am sure there was some sort of an issue with a 764 in the system and they simply turned the HNL flight back to HNL instead of on to IAH.

I am sure most, if not all, of the paid F passengers will still get a seat. Upgraders, however, will be stuck in back and will not know it until they try to board the plane. If it ends up being some sort of computer malfunction, then it will be very very interesting!

Similar situation happened to me in December IAH-EWR on CO62, for some reason the 764 was swapped at the last minute for a 753, so last minute that my BP printed at BFL prior to the 6:45am departure had me upgraded in seat 4K on a 767.

When I stopped at the desk in the Presidents Club regarding an unrelated matter, the agent noticed I was on flight 62 and quickly took my passes and reprinted them with a new seat assignment. She said, "Ah, one of the lucky ones," and handed me a new pass with "3A" printed on it. It didn't exactly click with me right away as to why she was doing this, so I asked her why I had been moved from my preferred aisle seat to a window only one row up, and she replied, "I have aisle seats in coach, sir, if that's what you want. The equipment got swapped to a 757."

At that moment I glanced over toward gate E4 (might not have been E4, but I remember at least looking out the window to the right) and saw the "pencil" sitting there, looking pretty damn skinny parked next to a 777, and the bell went off in my head.

I asked the agent how many revenue first class seats were on this flight, and she said something to the effect of, "Well, sir, I can't give you that information, but I will say you were one of 3 Platinums who received upgrades, if that answers your question." Luckily I was traveling on something like an H fare, and I couldn't help but think about all those poor Plats, Golds, and Silvers (as if they had a chance ) sitting behind the divider who had checked in thinking they had a nice, cushy BusinessFirst seat for the ride up to Newark that afternoon, only to get to the gate and find a new boarding pass that said CO 62Y on it!

It's happened to me before, and I would rank that up there with one of the more annoying aspects of frequent travel these days!

Hope you made out fine.

I am very glad I rechecked my flight and grabbed an exit row seat via the reprint boarding pass option. Most people had no idea about the swap until they announced it at the gate and, unfortunately, there was a high volume of paid F passengers involuntarily downgraded or given the option to take a later flight if they were not connecting onwards. At an hour out I talked to the redcoat and offered myself up for VDB, but she did not end up needing me. It was a mess for the gate agents, espescially considering that this flight is always full of people connecting at LAX from Asia and Australia, which usually means grumpy passengers and language barriers.

Had I not checked, it would have been a middle seat for me as it ended up being for a lot of plats~