Taz

How does this happen?

The second leg of my trip today is DTW-ATL on 1647. I'm in paid first, and purchased the ticket in late November. There have been schedule changes, but the equipment hasn't changed, and the last schedule change was about 5 weeks ago. I'm an aisle seat "only" person and have had 3C since I bought the ticket. I do not like window seats. Early this morning, I got an e-mail from Delta saying that "due to a technical error, there has been a seat duplication" and I'm the lucky one that got moved to 3D. How the heck does this happen? And how do they decide who they're going to let keep the "original" seat? I understand that seat assignments aren't promises, but other than it being a quirk of Delta's world class IT, how can they assign the same set to two people? Did I get FAM'd? There's really nothing than I can do, except maybe gripe a little and score a few miles, but I'm really just interested in knowing how this happens.

AANYC1981

It’s very frustrating and it’s happened to me many times (paid FC always) people on here will just claim it’s a DL 360 diva that got your seat lol

acrophobia

This happened to me once. Fellow passenger and I both had 3C. First they moved him back to coach, then changed their minds and brought him back up and moved me to the back! They did give me a generous amount of SkyMiles for this, however.

Taz

You were in paid first class and they moved you back to coach? I'd be wanting more than just a bunch of SkyMiles for that!

I have one segment on my return that they downgraded from a CRJ700 to CRJ that they owe me $$$ for. The Twitter agent that helped me with that change told me to wait until the end of the trip to ask for compensation and then include everything that may have gone wrong with the trip in my request.

xliioper

Can't say I ever recall being moved out of my chosen FC seat. I once boarded a flight and found someone already sitting in my FC seat. He showed me his BP and it had the same seat number as mine. But when he inspected it more closely, he realized he was looking at the BP for his previous flight.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

This close to the departure I'd say you got FAM'd. You will be able to verify as you will be sitting next to them.

Allan38103

Then what's the point of this post?

Taz

Could be a FAM, or not. Middle aged guy in jeans and a t-shirt. He was working 2 phones prior to departure and seems to now be watching a movie. I asked him if him if he’d just gotten the seat assignment recently and he said he’d “always”had it. I asked about it at the gate and they said first was oversold by one.

danielonn

So what you are saying is lets say you booked the reservation 3-6 months in advance or even 330 days in advance you could be booted back to Y. Wouldn't they boot the last one who booked First Class on an upgrade or lower fare base plus status with Delta?

Shouldn't there be a reason for the boot like a letter that Due to unforeseen circumstances we regretfully had to downgrade you back to Economy. There should be some service recovery like refund of miles or Cash and a Voucher to use to be upgraded again for your next trip on Delta(with little to no restrictions) and of course include food and the alcoholic beverages as part of the downgrade.

Xeno

I have been in paid FC with 2B assigned months in advance only to be moved close to departure. I am certain the person who was in 2B was not FAM.

I, too, got an email and posted a thread here about it. I will try to find it.

Here is mine but there are other like threads: "Seat Duplication Error PNR xxxxxx (22 characters)"

aquamarinesteph

I've never had a seat duplication error, but I have been reassigned from one FC seat to another. I think it's happened a grand total of two times in two years.

3Cforme

A FAM isn't going to identify himself. A sensible gate agent isn't going to confirm your suspicion they added a FAM.

GeorgeBurdell

This happened to me on my JFK-NCE leg in DeltaOne. Had booked 3B & C back during the Skymiles flash sale in December. Now I've been pushed back to 9B & C. The only option I have is 1B & C or change flights. I have a connecting flight NCE-ORY so that's not a good option and probably not many seats available for a late April departure.

I don't know what the acronym FAM stands for but I can certainly guess. My suspicion is that someone at Delta with the appropriate level of access to the res system put someone who is a (pick one or more: paying, famous, higher status, big complainer) and the system had to resolve the duplicate seat assignment by moving me to the back of first. At least they kept my wife and I together.

Has anyone on FT had any success getting their original seat(s) back? Or getting some SkyShekels as compensation? Yeah, I know this is a first-world problem but I think DL ought to do something for me having to read automated emails and look at apps (which still show my original seat assignment) and make a call to find out what's going on.

GeorgeBurdell

Looked up FAM in the FT glossary (very handy BTW) and that would make sense. FAMs generally sit mid-cabin but close enough to cockpit to be effective if something happens. They should be easy to spot.

flyerCO

If this is 767, row 1 is the best IME. The area for your feet is in the bulkhead instead of under seat in front of you. Makes for much more comfortable sleep.