babe11

Hi Fellow FT's!

There's a very annoying metal change at TPA Delta E Terminal going on.

For the past 4 months, 100% of the time the DL metal changes the day of the flight. I print my boarding passes late in the evening prior to the flight. My seat is mostly just behind the bulkhead on the aisle.

My last 6 flights out of TPA I walk to the gate, FA swipes my BP, new pop-up seat assignment prints and I'm in seat 40 or 41! I always stop & ask for a better seat & luckily my requests have worked (probably because I'm Silver).

To avoid this happening in 2011, looks like I need to wait til the a.m. of my flight to check in. This will enable me to choose (hopefully) a better seat. I could also swing by the SkyClub to double check a possible metal change & ask for a reassigned seat.

It's really frustrating. Looking for your suggestions for some sort of one-up action I can take. I'm also considering emailing DL about this annoying practice.

Would like your thoughts/suggestions.

Happy Holidays!

RatherBeOnATrain

Are you sure the metal is actually changing on the day of the flight?

My recent experience, as a FO, is that Delta repeatedly takes my seat assignments away from me during the last 24 hours prior to departure.

babe11

Yes I'm sure it's the day of flight. Delta seems to be switching (TPA) from a larger aircraft to a smaller aircraft routinely on flight day.

If you're experiencing changed seat assignments routinely as an FO, I would definitely be complaining to Delta. That's ridiculous.

mnbp

Another strategy might be to try to discern a pattern to the changes, and pick a seat that exists on both the scheduled aircraft as well as on the likely substitute. Perhaps you've already tried this - but others have posted similar strategies when dealing with the six or seven variants of the 757-200 for example.

Or post a specific TPX-nnn route - you might well get a specific answer/recommendation based on the route(s) you're having trouble with.

babe11

All my seat selections are aisle. Hmmm...it's ALWAYS the flights to ATL. No surprise though. It's hard to fly out of TPA without going through ATL.

indufan

Why? Do they not fly to hubs in DTW (6), MSP (4), MEM (2), and CVG (2)? I concede that there is hourly service to ATL but it's hardly "hard".

spudley007

I have had similar issues with them changing the type of 757 they are flying. Sometimes it changes several hours before the flight. Just had my 8:45 am Thursday flight changed. Until they align the 757's, I believe this will continue to happen...

babe11

I'm not always flying to hubs. Depending on my flight departures & meetings with clients, sometimes directs aren't available.

However, I do see your point about flying through hubs. I suppose, if I think creatively, I could book flights through hubs to my final destination versus the TPA/ATL/XXX convenient flights. Longer flights through hubs would definitely give me more MQM's (which is my goal for 2011). I'll definitely make that a possibility.

Crazyhotelguy

While you are correct about the flight options, many times DL will price connections through DTW/MSP/CVG etc. Higher than through ATL, msking it not fiscally practicsl to choose those routes from TPA or MCO.