I have benefited greatly from the collective wisdom of FT and ask for advice on preventing future reservation problems. I have only been flying for 2.5 years so I know very little. Ms artbuild and I made a OP reservation in Jan. for a trip IAH to LHR next week. We got our preferred seats in BF and everything rocked along swimmingly until recently. Confirmation showed 3a-3b and obsessively checking on the reservation at Co.com showed no changes until today when we found that our seat assignments had changed to a less desirable location [ but still in bf cabin ] No equipment change and no schedule change. Thinking there was some mistake we called Cust-serv to ask whassup and were told that the original reservation was made for our current seats[ 5k5l]. Nothing had been changed since the tickets were pulled in Jan. Golly I say I'm looking at the confirmation e-mail you sent and it shows 3a-3b.' Well 'says Ms Cust. serv. 'must have been some computer or internet hiccup because my screen does not show what the confirm e-mail indicates and I can see no changes made since origination'.

Art-'OK so how can I make this not happen again if I can't trust the validity of the confirmation you sent me ?.
Cont.-' Well perhaps you should phone in to make sure your screen reads what my screen does.'

Well OK I will.
FT'ers, is this common ? In my inexperienced naivety I assumed stuff like this was unusual. I understand things happen in cyberspace that can't be explained. I don't even mind being moved by an elite [ No Mr. Art we would never do that ]
So I guess next time I will call to verify ? Any advice please.

Some insight may be provided here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=714524

Thanks for the link kingalien. I suspect that the agent was unwilling to tell me what really happened to cause the change. I would have preferred that the change was acknowleged.
To just insist that I somehow must have imagined the original seat assignment is a bit disingenuous at best. And poor customer relations at worst.

Thanks again for the response.

Perhaps a FAM (Federal Air Marshall) took the aisle seat...........

Not sure why but I assumed row 2 would be FAM row.
But I guess they would tend to switch it up and not develop a pattern.
That is the most reasonable explanation

I have boarded "first" on flights and seen two people already seated in aisle seats in FC, usually staggered in rows 2 and 3.

and I've always seen it as: row 2-port side, row 3-starboard

I've seen this same exact configuration many times as I am frequently the first to board. Typically 2B,3D

I've seen this as well. So much for mixing it up . You'd think on occasion they would stay in the rear of plane until boarding is complete before taking their seat. Or are they afraid they'll lose their seat?

no, they like to eyeball pax as they get on, especially if there is a passenger of interest that doesnt warrant being on the no-fly lists.

I have never been on a BF flight but I imagine at boarding the folks go left for BF and right for the "other" classes so it probably doesnt make much difference for them to get on early.

I flew next to one on the way to ELP last week. I commented how regular flyers say they often know who they are. She said those are the ones they like pax to know are there. Then she said dont think the one you see is alone. On larger aircraft with two FAM upfront there is one and usually two or more in the back.

I have to say I didnt have to try hard to get her talking - their OPerational SECurity could use improving........

Funny it seems that what I hope to get out of BF would be so totally different from what a FAM could get out of it that our seating preferences would be totally different. Though I realize this thought may just expose more of my ignorance about the situation