3Cforme

Yes, if it's paid (not an upgrade).

I would look to rule out the routine causes before thinking this is something malevolent:

Schedule change - even just a few minutes

Equipment change - even one 757 to another (like 75H for 75D or 75P, even if seats by cabin count is identical)

Reassignment from bulkhead (because those can't be guaranteed except to disabled passengers)

bizeesheri

I was booted from paid EC+ seats to 45 C&D, saw on check in. Got the oh I see you paid for those but nothing I can do when I called. Did get refund plus 5000 miles. but quite unhappy about it. This was BCN to ATL leg. I had purchased ultra low fare during a sale (PSC-BCN for 405.00, then later paid for the EC upgrade). This was the second change, the first due to equipment or time, moved me from a decent economy to the row with the bathrooms behind me, no recline. Some research concluded that due to my cheap tix, my priority on realigning seating was at the bottom of priority.

AANYC1981

I had a really strange seat situation last night DTW-LGA and would love everyone's thoughts on what happened. I had a paid FC seat in 3B. I go to board and the BP scanner spits out a new seat assignment of 2B. I tell the gate agency my BP says 3B and he just says you're 2B. Since they're both forward aisles I just moved on. Then I get on-board and someone is already sitting in 2B (3B, my original seat, as well). I tell the FA someone's in my seat 2B and she says, oh just take seat 3C. OK no prob (another forward aisle seat). I was worried someone would then show up trying to claim 3C but no one did.

Not complaining, but just found this very strange

LonghaulCommuter

That happens all the time. That's why Flyertalkers always advise people to check their itineraries constantly. I booked a JFK-SFO RT and chose specific flights because of the 767 configuration (four of us so we can be 2+2 in the 2-3-2 cabin). Without any warning, they switched planes on both flights to 757 so now we're in the single aisle 3-3 cabin, which is not ideal. Luckily, I caught it in time so I could put us back together but we have no choice but sit with random passengers (on my last long flight, the guy next to me in C+ weighed over 300 lbs--talk about torture!).

AANYC1981

In my case the equipment stayed the same, a 739, so I can't figure out why my seat changed (and then someone was in my newly assigned seat) since when I checked in via the kiosk just a couple of hours before it printed out the seat I had originally picked, 3B.

ethernal

When you boarded, were people in both 3A and 3B? Most common reason for these gate changes is because people want to sit next to each other and gate agents (rightly or wrongly) make some assumptions about seat equivalence. This doesn't always work out (I got extremely annoyed last week when I got moved from 33C to 28D on a 739 to allow a family booked in E to sit in the same row - which means rather than using my touchpad and having my elbow go into the aisle it goes into someones side).

This is very different from Delta's incredibly annoying habit to change planes and - sometimes - just screw up seats for no reason weeks/months in advance (sometimes due to equipment changes but others for seemingly no reason at all).

AANYC1981

Yea, very different from an eqp swap. There were people in 3A/3B when I boarded but also someone in my newly re-assigned seat 2B which is why I'm so perplexed. Basically I got my seat re-assigned twice: 3B -> 2B -> 3C (2B & 3C were showing as already occupied on the seat map I when I checked in a couple of hours before this flight too). So weird......

MSPeconomist

Did you see whether 2B really had a boarding pass for 2B? It could have been a seat poacher who was assigned to 3C for example and just decided that he/she preferred 2B. It also sounds like the FA was confident that 3C was unassigned (to someone who would claim it), so your poacher could have moved with the complicity of the FA.

AANYC1981

sethb

Did the person in 3B look like an Air Marshall?

AANYC1981

sethb

Yes, but . . .

Healthy alert well-dressed people who don't drink or sleep is a clue.

danielonn

If you dig déep enough you will find that your seat is simply a request like a special meal. Nowhere in the travel industry are you ever guaranteed the hotel room,seat,flight or rental car. Essentially you are renting a space on the flight which is subject to change due to mechanical issues.

For me I know that when I book my seat it is subject to change up until the moment the plane takes off. As long as I get a comperable seat or better then I am fine.

strickerj

puddinhead

Probably no brag tags as they don't pay for flights therefore they don't have status. And they pre-board the pre-boards.