wlau

I tried booking direct but same situation - I used the US 24-hr cancel rule to get rid of that flight since I booked on the US version of the website. I called and they said only SKYPASS member with the right status can do advance seat selection. I then pointed to to SkyTeam polices on Elite/Elite Plus being entitled to Preferred Seats, but they said KE does not follow that rule either.

I think the people who are getting their advanced seat selection are flying business class. This restriction applies to economy.

daloosh

Thanks, I was afraid that would be the case. It's three hours faster on KE thru Incheon than JFK-SEA-HKG, but there's the chance of an upgrade to Seattle and both those flights are Delta metal. Yeah, this client won't pay for business class.

RealHJ

So what does that policy document say?

No seat assignments for 006 ticketed KE flights in Y (revenue or award)? Or only if DL codeshare of KE flights? Or..?

You wouldn't have happened to take a photo of that policy doc, would you?

In May I did have a KE flight on a 006 ticket, O class (award business). At OLCI (which is pointless as all it ever produces is a "this is not a boarding pass" screen) it specifically said that seat change is not allowed online/at check-in, only at airport, which I do not recall seeing before. Also back in April and earlier KE site didn't allow to change seat without inputting SkyPass number; in fact for quite a few months koreanair.com has clearly stated that you can only select/change seats if you have a SkyPass number on the reservation and are logged in. Until a few months ago you could select seats on koreanair.com, but no more lately, regardless of class, at least for 006 tickets in O and X.

sethb

If you're booking the flight individually, probably none. If you're booking it as part of a connecting itinerary, you might not be able to get the KE flight number.

pbarnette

wlau

I hope I am not the only pax complained because I ran into other DMs on the same flight that got stuck in middle seat. In the lounge, they told me they too couldn't OLCI and do advanced seat selection....

The policy they show me indicate codeshare DL marketed / KE operated flights in Y cabin does not permit DL passengers to have advanced seat selection, regardless of SM and ST status. This covers domestic, intra-Asia and international flights - by my interpretation is basically every KE flight issue on 006 tickets. OLCI is also not permitted, and CI must be done at originating airport. We are allowed to change seat when the seats are in airport control status.

Anyways, I am steering clear of KE for awhile. My crazy TPAC every week on weekends means I really need to sleep on the plane, so any bit of extra comfort is helpful to me. I hope this travel pattern doesn't prolong for me.. i usually do 1-2 TPAC/TATL flight a month but now it's gone crazy.

All negatives aside, I will stay this that I have been on KE 777, 747 and 380 and their main cabin regular Y seat are basically DL's C+ seat in terms of legroom. The seat padding is too stiff for my American-taste but no issue with leg room... On 747 and 380, window seat does not mean you can lean against the window- there are too much gaps there unlike other airlines' configurations.

enoscabell

My experience today booking Korean Air flights on delta.com:

I'm flying LAX-SFO-ICN-SIN one way and returning SIN-ICN-LAX. LAX-SFO leg is on Delta, all others are on Korean. Everything was bought on one ticket. Business for int'l, F for domestic.

At check out I was able to pick seats for all legs except ICN-SIN. All seats on that leg were grayed out.
Once the ticket was purchased, I realized that only my seat assignments for LAX-SFO and SFO-ICN stuck.
I tried to pick seats online multiple teams. Each time, they would show up as "Requested" but soon enough, they'd disappear.
I'm Diamond, so I'm able to see preferred seats on the seating chart. I realized that the reason my SFO-ICN seat was sticking was probably because I did not choose a preferred seat. Sure enough, when I picked the white seats for the SIN-ICN and ICN-LAX legs, the seats stuck.
I called Delta for help on the remaining ICN-SIN leg. They gave me my Korean Air booking number and told me to go to the Korean Air website to choose a seat.
Went to Korean Air website, tried to access my reservation, and was given the message "This reservation is restricted to display online. Please contact our Service Center for more information."
I called Korean Air. The agent confirmed that he could see my assigned seats for 3 of the 4 legs, but he couldn't help me with the final leg. He told me I had to call Delta's Codeshare Support Team.
I called the Diamond line back and asked them to check with the Codeshare Support team. They did so, and I now have an assigned seat on the final leg.

I have no idea if any of the above applies to economy tickets, but if you're traveling business, let me save you some time:

Choose only non-preferred seats on Delta's seating chart for Korean Air flights
If that doesn't work, call the codeshare support team at Delta.

Striple

adambrau

Hopefully booking a seat on a DL code on KE metal is just a current restrictionsuntil the reservations systems are more integrated. Sounds like for Y class only. I'm a GS on United and I would be rather put out if I could not get an advanced seat assignment on a connecting flight at NRT. Overall it seams that getting advanced seat assignments on codeshare alliance partners is getting tougher. Could be a good thread to start by someone who flies all US3 and the alliance members?!

wlau

No surprise here... I had seat issue with every flight since going with Korean Air starting on 5/1. High probability I am switching airline next year. Diamond status is worthless... Even they said the seat is selected looks like it sticks, it will unstick close to boarding time. Of all my flights, only one sticked. Korea GA will bump you for a KE passenger if you have a nice seat and a KE elite wants it.

I know the issue. Delta's codeshare fare class looks like unrestricted but they mapped to the Tango class on KE and its restricted with no advanced seat selection.

daloosh

Thanks for the headsup, I guess Seattle it is...

enoscabell

I just wrapped up the trip that I wrote about earlier in this thread. I ended up sitting in my pre-selected seats for all of my Korean Air flights.

On the first leg of my trip, my initial flight was on Delta, so when I checked in on Delta, Delta printed boarding passes for all flights including the Korean Air legs. I had time, so I checked in at the Korean Air desk after arriving to SFO on the Delta flight, and desk agent told me the Delta boarding passes were no good, and he issued new passes on Korean Air stock.

One the way home, I flew only Korean Air, so I wasn't able to check in early online, but it didn't matter since my seats were already reserved.

I'm guessing that Korean Air must not upgrade to business class, as the business cabin on 3/4 flights was only about 60% full at most.

MSPeconomist

steex

I have found that if I book KE marketed & operated flights on 006 stock, I can fully manage my seats on delta.com as long as I go into the seat selection tool twice. The first time I go in and select available seats, it will show the seats as "requested" when I save & exit. If I then immediately click on the seat number in my reservation to go into the seat map a second time, the seat becomes confirmed when I save & exit again. No idea why it would be that way (presumably isn't supposed to be), but I've had no issues with keeping my desired seats using this approach.

MSPeconomist