Zorak

Friends of mine bought an E fare (I wasn't consulted :-/ at least not about the E fare part). They mostly understood what they were getting into and don't exactly have any complaints. I am posting this on my own initiative after chatting with them about it, mostly because I have a few lingering questions and in case I need to offer them any proactive advice.

The traveling party is my friend, her two young children who will both be in car seats, and her mom.

1. They were somehow able to get a phone agent to issue seat assignments. I didn't think this was possible on an E fare (the flight isn't until later this week) but does infant/family seating take precedence? This thread talks about "unintended consequences" of E fares and specifically mentions the hypothetical possibility of families being split up but it's from Dec. 2014. Other discussions I can find about being split up have to do with adults.

2. Although, I have pulled up their reservations at delta.com and the upper part of their trip page says "Seat Assigned After Checkin." In spite of this, the lower part where seat selection shows up, does show them as having seats ABCD on a 753/MD88 and on the return MD88/739, in the second-to-last row on all 4 aircraft. The phone agent insisted this was the only possible configuration (e.g. they couldn't get two consecutive rows of D/E on the MD88). But given the conflicting info between the upper half/bottom half it's unclear to me whether they truly have these seats assigned or if it'll still be seat roulette at the gate.

3. Also very curious to me, friend+mom+child1 are on one PNR and child2 appears solo on on a separate PNR. Is this going to cause a headache or at the very least inhibit online checkin for child2 because DL will think child2 is an unaccompanied minor?

4. They have a 40-minute connection in ATL on the outbound, which concerns me considering they will in the second-to-last row of a 753. Although at least if they misconnect there are two more later nonstop flights to their destination (and worst case it's a ~4-hour drive, although ugh). But there's probably not much to be done about this in advance, other than pray for good weather and a tailwind on the first segment.

3Cforme

I would guess that the agent was confusing seating rules for lap children and children in car seats. Lap children aren't permitted on the 2-seat side of MD-88/90 because of the air mask count: they don't have 3 masks (2 plus a lap child).

People who buy this kind of stuff willingly - tight connections when toting toddlers and all the toddlers' stuff, separate PNRs, separate tickets (not the issue here) have no right to complain - not to GAs, not to FAs, not to other travelers.

Mr. Tickets

It is pretty much impossible to miss all the warnings Delta provides
when you go to purchase the tickets. If I were you, I would let them learn their lesson. Also, the child on the separate PNR is not a problem, as long as the reservations are linked (not that that does much). They will NOT be able to get a boarding pass in advance for the child on the separate PNR. They will have to get that at the airport. No way around that.

Orange County Commuter

Phone agents have been helping out the idiots with small kids who purchase this. Should they? Who knows. I think they should charge them a fee, but....

btonkid12345

Are you saying that phone agents have been overriding the caveat that E fares cannot select a seat until check in, to assign seats to passengers traveling with kids (so they do not get split up at check in seat roulette)?

If so, this is ridiculous. They simply should refuse to do it because the restrictions couldn't be any clearer.

First pre-boards with children, now bending certain rules because you have children...enough is enough. One's children is one's own responsibility - if you want to sit next to them, BUY seats for them next to you, instead of depending on better treatment based on the rules than other passengers simply because you have kids.

flyerCO

One exception is bulkhead seating for passengers with disabilities. They have to be assigned a bulkhead seat if requested.

ajwright

While I may generally agree with you, if you bought an E fare you accept the possibility of being separated from your kids. HOWEVER, there is a difference between overriding the E fare restriction because a parents WANTS to sit next to their child and because Delta REQUIRES the parent to sit next to the child.

As I understand from the OP, the children will be in Car Seats (which Delta recommends for children) and when a parent is traveling with kids in a Child Restraint then "An accompanying adult must sit next to the child." I would say that in cases were Delta has another rule such as this one, it is appropriate to bend the seat assignment rules - so as to prevent an issue where the GA at the last minute has to scramble to ensure the family can legally board (regardless of their seating preferences).

SeaHawg

I'm for letting them learn their lesson on this. Did you warn them beforehand?

E Fares draw the type of flyers who are on a Spirit Airlines budget, yet they expect 1960's Pan-AM levels of service, or DM levels of assistance once something goes awry (which seems quite possible given the scenario you painted).

apodo77

Stroking quite the broad brush with your last sentence.

pvn

how many of the posters here are going to be negatively affected if a mom and a toddler are seated next to each other in the back of the plane? The fact that you guys even care about this at all is disgraceful. Just wishing misery on other people for no reason other than to prove your superiority.

pvn

You guys should actually be thankful. The agents are putting them in the very back. If it goes to gate roulette you might wind up sitting next to a toddler and then we'd have to hear you ..... and moan about THAT.

beachmouse

While I'm all for 'you buy the E ticket, you deal with the consequences' in theory, in practical terms, I'd rather Mom or Dad gets a seat assigned next to their 3 and 5 year olds rather than a total stranger being the one expected to somehow keep the kids entertained and from kicking the backs of the seats in front of them.

Especially if that total stranger is me. Why should I have to suffer as they learn their lesson?

wrp96

I think that the DL agent is being smart. Yes these passengers bought basic economy and shouldn't expect anything other than a seat somewhere on the plane, but they do have to sit next to each other due to the child in car seat - according to DL's rules. So assigning them seats together in the very last row of the plane meets the two conflicting criteria. It's not like they are assigning these BE passengers C+ seats in advance.

SeaHawg

If you are on a layover with time to kill, go to Delta's Facebook page, and look at the public comments.

I can almost guarantee you, given the content of the comments, when E Fares were purchased.

People seem to click through the disclaimers.

Zorak

Sadly, no, it didn't occur to me to warn them about E fares, because it would never occur to me to buy an E fare, so it's sort of a blind spot for me. These aren't cheap tickets, BTW, bought inside 21 days. They're not poor, just infrequent flyers (and absolutely not DYKWIA types or I wouldn't be friends with them ), so it's useful to remember that what's obvious to us it not obvious to everyone else.

So while I fully agree they only have themselves to blame for the situation they are in (and to be clear, they are not blaming anyone), instead of everyone using this thread as an opportunity to signal how superior and righteous they are to other people, maybe we could refocus it on whether there's anything constructive to tell them that could help make the trip go easier (that means THIS trip, let's take "don't buy an E fare next time" for granted )

I'm already going with: check in early because of the child on a separate PNR, and make sure the PNRs are linked (with the usual caveat about linking just being a note). Get to the gate when it opens and double check what's going on with seat assignments. Any other suggestions?