Bowgie

Perhaps an e-mail to Delta, with date, flight, and seat number of your dishonest seatmate might result in Delta flagging her profile? One can always hope.

grahampros

EXACTLY. and the funny part as a former "airline employee" he should get it more then most.

gooselee

Big +1

gooselee

I really don't understand what's so hard to get here. Some pax want to sit together, and that's fine. Realize that you are making that choice, and you'll have to give something up to get what you want, whether it's money, favorable location, or (in the WN example earlier) time to check in early.

The story earlier about asking the GA for seats together and getting stuck next to the lav is pure whining. Of course those seats are loud and smelly, that's probably why they were the easiest to find open or to bump people out of to accommodate the request. The GA fulfilled the request using the resources available to him or her.

I'd love to sit in the cockpit on every flight, but I'm not willing to give up the next 30 years of my life to do so. I am however willing to shell out a few bucks or sit a few rows back to be next to my companions. Making that choice is a part of life.

grahampros

Problem is everyone wants something for free and whine when they actually have to pay for it. If these "health" concerns were that legit you PAY to make sure they don't become an issue weather your talking air travel or any business..or at least give them good drugs

houserulz77

And that folks, sums it up perfectly! +1000 ^

rwoman

You get what you pay for!

mtkeller

That's all well and good until a schedule change results in an equipment change that reshuffles a cabin that was already fairly full.

3Cforme

That's true, but I think the evidence is pretty good that the probability of scheduled equipment change declines as the travel date approaches. It still leaves the problem of last-minute equipment substitutions but there's no effective prophylaxis for that; the Feds don't even demand IDB compensation for equipment subs.

Has anybody argued for single-class, non-differentiated seating, no-seat-reservation flights? Does not Southwest beckon you?

xliioper

When our kids were younger we generally had good luck with people willing to switch seats so we could sit together (not as a family, just one kid paired with one adult to minimize switching). I think most people are generally sympathetic when you have little ones in tow. I don't think we ever even bothered to ask the GA to get us seats together as we just kind of assumed things would work out. I guess I can kind of understand how this can be traumatic to infrequent fliers, but I think this is getting blown somewhat out of proportion.

HongKonger

No but I think it's reasonable for them to expect the worst seats together for free, and to offer others better seats in exchange for taking the worst seats. A parent who has his/her priorities straight would do this.

Sankaps

Another preferred seat question: What happens if there are more pax than non-preferred seats? IE where they have no choice but to put pax for free into the preferred seats because those are the only seats left to assign? Wouldn't that be unfair to those who paid to be in a preferred seat? How do they handle such situations?

HongKonger

If only preferred seats are remaining, a non-status pax cannot choose a seat in advance (unless they pay for EC). But after check in or possibly at the gate depending on the situation, some of those pax will be put into preferred seating or EC (or even F if necessary and if there are no medallions or NRSAs left to upgrade), free of charge, so the flight can get moving. There is no compensation for people who paid for preferred seats in advance or earned them via status, nor should there be. Anyone who paid got the benefit of securing that seat in advance rather than taking his chances that he'd get it for free on the day of the flight.

CJKatl

I've sat next to people in F who have no idea how they were chosen to sit in F when the flight is full. Not often, but it happens.

My curiousity, though... Why would that be unfair to those who paid to be in a preferred seat? When he/she chose to purchase an F seat, the expectation was an F seat, free drinks, early boarding, etc, all of which still applies. What difference does it make if those sitting next to the pax are paying customers, medallions on UGs, airline employees or ordinary kettles who paid for a seat? How does that, in any way, change what the person who paid for F expected from DL?

Sankaps

There are many ways to "pay" for the seat, and miles, status, airline employee perk, etc are all legitimate forms of payment.

But if someone randomly gets upgraded to preferred, EC, or F, then indeed I feel it is "unfair" to those who paid for it or legitimately earned it, even though it may be common practice on many airlines.

Which is why some airlines like SQ almost NEVER upgrade people for free, even for ops reasons. It devalues the product for those who pay for it, and increases expectations for "free" upgrades and thereby potentially dilutes revenue too.

Note that I am not suggesting those who paid should be compensated or refunded except perhaps in egregious situations. But I was just curious as to how Delta would handle the more subtle preferred seating freebie situation.

Also, is there any mechanism in place to prevent people from moving from non-preferred seats to preferred seats on light flights?