s0ssos

But this isn't "any other passenger". This is a DM. How often does a DM have no other seat available? Tell me. One in how many flights? A thousand?

ethernal

In fairness the vast majority of my flights are like this so it's not a strong indicator of preference. I'm sure what kind of special always available seats you think DMs are getting but it's definitely more than 1 in a thousand. I would imagine 49C (or 37C on a 739, etc) is one of the most common homes for a DM as the auto-assignment algo will assign unassigned DMs to those seats as soon as the check-in window occurs (if you were smart enough not to pick a middle seat).

s0ssos

No, I mean the idea that people make choices differently. Like, if you have a person who is a regular at a restaurant, and wants this particularly bad seat reserved, a person who works at the restaurant and recognizes the customer will do that. Because the customer is a regular, has preferences. Even though they may think it is stupid.
The idea of a frequent flier program is to recognize "regulars", if you will. And the whole point is to know what they like and don't like.

gooselee

Me either. Maybe I should start calling in to get the two-seat side of row 10 on the M88/90s I'm always on.

ethernal

They will not unblock the C+ seats - only the seats reserved in the back of the plane. I did have one reservation agent that tried to wink-nod me into me saying that I had a disability so that they could give me one of the blocked C+ seats once, but I declined as I didn't think that was fair to other pax (or general decency). On a 753 at least they will also unblock 20D but warn that you might be moved if a pax with disabilities comes onboard.

Not sure what they are on an MD88/90, but on a 739 it's row 35/36 on the left side of the plane and 36/37 on the right side of the plane. For the 753 it appears it is the last two rows (48 and 49). If I had to guess it is likely the back 1-2 rows on that plane as well.

pvn

Really? I mean I understand that you personally don't like this gesture but you aren't sure how it's considered a nice gesture when you understand that you're in a vanishingly small minority?

pvn

So, what "most people" want shouldn't matter, but what you, someone who is unlike 99.99% of passengers, wants SHOULD matter?

Listen to yourself.

ethernal

I doubt it is 99.99% of passengers. A portion of passengers might have a small preference to 20D, but it is certainly not 99.99%, and it is certainly not a strong preference.

Listen to yourself. You're basically arguing that Delta knows better than passengers that selected the seat. I see people complain all the time when a FAM kicks them out of 2B and gets them moved to 2C. It's an equivalent seat. But people have preferences, and people select seats that they want. I don't know why that is such a difficult thing to understand and respect.

pvn

I mean, not really? You "picked" that seat when there were basically no seats left, so it's not like you were able to pick THE SEAT you actually wanted.

I understand the frustration but basically everyone except you is either going to prefer the new seat or not care in this situation.

Would it be great if Delta had a "do not move me under any circumstances without asking me" box you could check? Yes, I think that would be great. There are all sorts of checkboxes I wish they had.

AANYC1981

This happened to me for the first time on AA in FC and agree its really annoying

gooselee

You know as well as I do that if that checkbox existed, or if DL consistently enforced a policy like that, we'd immediately have complaints of "I saw DL had a better seat open but they didn't move me to it because I was in the bathroom when the GA called to ask me and didn't wait long enough before moving on."

Reminds me of how my SPG profile has a preference set for "prefer room with 1 bed" whenever I have to book a room with 2 doubles (if that's all that's available). I never think about it until that one time I'm sharing a room with a friend and the hotel sees the preference and moves me to a King room. Whoops.

strickerj

I’m with the OP on this - I pick my seats well in advance, and it seems more often than not, I get moved without warning or apparent reason before the flight, so I’ve started checking it every few days (more often as departure gets closer), and I’m usually able to get my old seat back. On my last flight, I got booted from a paid exit row window seat into the middle seat behind it - and I overheard the seat’s new passenger telling the flight attendant he’s DM and was pleased he was able to get this seat on such short notice.

Whether they think it’s a nice gesture or not, why rearrange people and create confusion where it’s completely unnecessary?

ethernal

In this case I did pick the seat because when I called in I was asked if I wanted 20D and I explicitly refused it not once but twice (I had to call in to make the original seat request and then again to ask to be moved out of a C+ middle seat I had gotten upgraded into a day before the flight). I realize that Delta's systems are not set up to have such a 360 degree view of the customer that the gate agent would have any way to know this, but at least between these two seats, I did make a voluntary choice to pick 49C not once but twice.

My point still stands that gate agents have no business meddling with seat assignments without a very good reason. Trying to save a row for flight attendants is not a good reason. Trying to make room for families that booked on E fares is not a good reason. Trying to do a "nice gesture" that could potentially override a customer preference is not a good reason. I don't think this is a very unreasonable position to hold.

Alphazone

Uhhh, why would you want to sit in 49C, next to the toilet, and at the last possible position for deplaning,
over 20D near the door?

ethernal

The fact that I prefer seat 49C over 20D is the exact reason why seat reservations should be honored. Everyone will have different selection preferences and priorities for what makes a seat desirable relative to others. There is no way for a gate agent to know an individual passenger's preferred seating criteria and, therefore, they should not move a passenger without consultation barring exigent circumstances. This is precisely my point. What may seem like an obvious no brainer to you may be an obvious no brainer in the other direction for another passenger.

Also, 49C is not next to the lav on a 753. One of the many benefits to this seat is that there is no passenger traffic to deal with (meaning one's shoulder doesn't get bumped regularly by people walking to the restroom).