Delta Separating Couples
 

In February I purchased two first classes tickets from JFK to Cabo for a Christmas trip. I purchased them for myself (Gold) and husband (Platinum) when they first went on sale because I knew they would sell out quickly. I picked two seats together, and we have one Record Locator Number. There have been a couple of schedule changes since then, by a few minutes here or there, but no equipment changes. I periodically check these seats, and everything was fine, until I noticed last month that both of our seats were changed. My husband was moved back a row, and I was moved over into his old seat (we are now 3A and 4A). I wrote and called Delta but received no helpful response or explanation ('the computer did it automatically') other than they can't do anything as the cabin is sold out, that I should keep checking, and perhaps someone will change with me on the flight.

I am putting this here for two reasons. If it could happen to me, it could happen to you. And wondering if besides moving back to coach to sit together, did I miss any options to fix this? Thank you.

I don’t believe you missed anything. I’ve had this happen, though not in the last year or so. For better or worse I’ve become accustomed to (obsessively?) checking reservations after Schedule Change Saturday.

Keep checking the seat map to see if an adjacent seat opens up between now and your flight.

That stinks that they did that. I would keep an eye open for seats to open up. I would also look for an aisle seat to open up somewhere nearby and swap one person into that. Odds are, someone will swap seats with you, particularly if you have both a window and aisle to offer.

This is not uncommon when schedule changes happen. Seats can get shuffled when there is any type of change: flight number, times, equipment swap, etc. Best practice is to review your reservations weekly after Schedule Change Saturday processes and make any adjustments needed.

I'm sensitive because it is a 6-7 hour flight, and you paid for first class...
buuuuut.... this is an overreaction (the title is borderline clickbait, coupled with "it could happen to you" in the body.

If we're talking a family of 4-6, Delta actually does the opposite - they prefer people all together, even when one family member might, say, want an exit row seat.

Why not ask the person next to you (or next to your husband) to move to the window?
One row isn't really "separated". Different flights or scattered across the aircraft? That's "separated."

Anyone else think this would be about people getting rebooked on different flights?

This is definitely annoying but you'll probably be OK in the end. I suggest keeping an eye on the seat map, and consider taking any non-bulkhead aisle seat that comes available. Then I'm sure either the person next to you or your husband will be willing to swap for the same type of seat they are already in.

Happened to us on our last flight. We were seated separately and had selected seats we were both happy with. No seats were available together when we booked the flight, but I was in 5B because I like the unlimited legroom even though I get bumped into on boarding and wife in 6D because she hates not being able to reach her bag under the seat in front of her. Go to board and the machine spits out a receipt for each of us now seated together in 7A/B. It did not look like they were trying to accommodate anyone else together - so they were definitely trying to seat us together, but it's strange we weren't asked if we wanted to be moved.

I assumed they meant kids. Not able bodied adults

I tried to edit the title but didn't see how - sorry that it is misleading. And we are seniors, if that matters.

I'm pretty sure that if you ask nicely, people would move / accommodate.
I would about 95% of the time - I've done this in coach and FC and BC (D1 and other airlines). I prefer not moving to crew rest area or weird seats, so that's the 5% I've refused.
(and it's only been about 20 times in the thousands of flights I've been on)

This happens to me all the time with my teenager on the same reservation, even before the kid was a teen. It's annoying but we are resigned to it. It's typically full flights and the gate agent can't do anything. We don't mind on a short flight but it happened on a flight to Hawaii as well. I try to check regularly but it seems more common these days! I always tell the kid either way we get there so it is what it is.

It probably happened to others on the flight as well. This is a route that likely is mostly couples in FC, so I think there's a good chance you'll be able to get it worked out once you board. Don't just assume and sit in the seat you'd like, wait until they board to ask politely for the seat change.

Almost 50 years of travel in the Bahamas and Caribbean. I can't find a place within one flight (and no ferry) that meets our needs (good service and food, uncrowded beach). Bermuda works in May and June. Some resorts outside of Cancun come close, but we have been going to Cabo for about ten years and love everything about it.

The opposite happened to me recently. I booked two FC tickets for me and a co-worker with him on the other side of the plane because…well, 6.5 hours is a long time. When we got to the airport we were moved next to each other and I simply couldn't find a polite way to request a seat change. Did I mention that 6.5 hours was a long time?

Air France is the worst with this. They split my wife and I to separate parts of the plane on a transatlantic flight at the last minute. The Delta and AirFrance staff at CDG couldn't care less.