stratofortress

4 of us flying in PAID first class (A) tickets Sunday from MHT-EWR-IAH. When I booked the tickets, there were only seats available to assign 2 of them, but this was on a 757-200, so 2 seats were blocked (1A & 1F). I assumed there would be no problem and they would be released at the gate.

Get to Manchester, and they say "Sir, we cannot assign the remaining two seats - they can only do that in Newark." Fine. Get to the gate in Newark, present boarding passes, GA says: "There are no first class seats left. The two of you without seat assignments will have to sit in economy."

Me: "We have 4 PAID full-fare first class seats. If you upgraded someone in error to our seats, please remove them as we PAID for these seats."

GA: "Sorry sir, we didn't upgrade anyone - we oversold the cabin."

It was clear at this point that nothing was going to be done, so the two of us with seat assignments boarded and flew in first, and the other two went to the back. Before boarding, I asked the GA what they were going to do about this, and he said: "I have your boarding passes and will make sure you're taken care of."



2 Questions:

1) I am obviously due some compensation. What should that be?

2) I have never encountered a situation on any airline where the premium cabin has been oversold, thereby forcing a downgrade (have seen business oversold and folks upgraded to first). Does CO do this regularly?

FWIW, I'm Platinum Elite on CO.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, our bags didn't show up until 24 later.

OPFlyer

1. Yes, you should PM CO Insider with the details. He outlined in another thread the new policy regarding involuntary downgrade but I cannot find the thread.
2. CO rarely, if ever, over sells their premium cabins so I doubt that is what happened in this situation (especially by 2 seats).

stratofortress

Completely forgot about CO Insider! Thanks for the tip - PM sent.

entropy

they could've been bumped for FAMs.

stratofortress

The blocked seats were 1A & 1F, both windows. IIRC, FAMs have to sit on the aisle.

CO 1E

Essentially, you were involuntarily denied boarding. I would have refused to fly in coach and would have insisted on being placed on the next flight to IAH in F, plus involuntary denied boarding compensation.

PSU Mudder

I would make sure any compensation they offer you in fare difference is between what you paid and the lowest available coach fare at the time you booked. Don't let them try to refund only to full Y.

J.Edward

x2

Bonehead

Too bad this wasn't posted yesterday...we could have used the PDA site to see if anyone was upgraded.

Any chance that it was an equipment change (e.g., from an 18-FC-seat 738)?

doobierw

Was this flight 211 on Sunday morning??

stratofortress

Nope, it was originally scheduled as a 752, and that's what we flew.

vsevolod4

Sorry to hear about this experience ... at least it wasn't the TATL segment that got screwed up.

Depending on one's flexibility, I might have tried to get rebooked in F on the next flight out, but since there were 4 of you, I think that would have not been practical.

You should (and I presume will) get fair compensation and, more importantly, an apology.

I, too, am puzzled that the F cabin would have been overbooked. Perhaps there were irrops on some earlier flights or delayed inbound connections for other F passengers, but that might be an explanation, not an excuse.

DavidHatt

Hello FTers,

A couple of friends on independent flights on CO with PAID F seats were bumped to coach because F was oversold. It amazes me any airline would overbook business or first.

One friend made CO put him in first on UA from LHR to SFO.

David

AustinWeatherGuy

FT Colleagues:

Now that I read this thread.. I wonder how unusual this is.

On Tues/08 Jul...CO47... AMS-IAH... my traveling partner and I were asked by the Concierge in AMS to give up our two award BF seats and to take coach seats because.. and I quote.. "BF was oversold." To be honest, I was so surprised by the request that I chuckled and simply said she must be kidding and then said no. She then informed us that the back end of the plane arrived at the same time as the front end. I didn't really bother to respond.

tk

OPFlyer

Perhaps CO is beginning to oversell to increase revenue?