My experience has been that despite how nice you are to the ticket counter or gate agents, no one gets these seats until they process the standby list. Then all of the infrequent flyers get them and we slugs are stuck in middle seats.

This is something DL needs to change.

I started a similar thread a few weeks ago:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=450097

Note that all my experience is with domestic flights.

My wife and I are now traveling with our 6 month old baby, and bulkhead seats help tremendously. By the way, it's primarily the row 10 bulkheads on Delta mainline flights that are typically held for special needs pax. Some Song bulkheads are held, but not all, and I've found that most RJ bulkheads are available at booking, as are many of the second cabin bulkheads (i.e. row 33 on 767-400s and I think row 27 on 767-300s and row 26 on 767-200s).

I don't entirely agree with AAPlatRN, I have had some success getting bulkhead seats in recent weeks. However, it is very unreliable, and it would be very helpful if Delta had some sort of policy to give bulkheads to Medallions or other frequent flyers.

I've understood (been told by ticket counter and gate agents) that bulkhead seats are held for special needs passengers until the gate agents "open the flight" which normally occurs about an hour before the flight. So the best advice that I have at this point is to be at the counter at the gate when the agents open the flight. However, like I said, this isn't always reliable.

Here is some of my recent experience.
1) On June 24th, I joined the Crown Room Club when I had a long layover in ATL. An agent in the club was able to give me a bulkhead seat about 3 hours before my flight, presumably long before the gate agent opened the flight. I was stoked and thought that I now had a foolproof method of getting bulkheads - go to the CRC where the agents have special privledges. But read on...

2) I didn't fly Delta again until July 25, with an itinerary of TPA-ATL-SFO. I went to the TPA CRC and asked for bulkhead seats (for both flights) and they told me that this could only be done at the gate, but that we looked good for upgrades, so we shouldn't worry about it. On another topic, I checked back about 35 minutes before take-off, and somehow they had screwed up our upgrades and I had an upgrade but my wife didn't. 10 minutes of phone calls to the gate agents later and we both had FC seats - not together, but a little on-plane negotiation took care of that.

3) In Atlanta, we went to the CRC to relax between flights, and I asked the CRC agent if we could get bulkhead seats. She said that they could only be given at the gate. Mind you, this is the exact same CRC as the one where I was given a bulkhead seat 3 hours in advance a month earlier. So I left my wife and baby at the CRC, and walked down to the gate (fortunately only 2 gates away), asked nicely and received two bulkhead seats in the middle section of a 767-200. Note that these are quite possibly the roomiest bulkhead seats in coach in the Delta fleet. We were able to lay the baby down on the floor in front of us allowing him to sleep - he sleeps better on his own than in somebody's lap, plus it made it very easy for us and allowed me to work on my laptop.

4) Returning from SFO to ATL on July 29-30 on a redeye, the flight was way oversold, and we got there 1.5 hours before departure, checked in at kiosk then when immediately to the CRC and asked for bulkhead seats. The agent told us that all the held seats were already given out, although I'm not entirely sure that she was correct about this. This agent and the ones in Tampa do not seem to be as experienced as the CRC agents in ATL (makes sense to me). But we just took her word for it and after missing upgrades by just 2 pax, we dealt with row 12. It actually worked out OK as the baby still was able to sleep on the floor and we slept OK too. If it hadn't been a red-eye I would have had trouble using my laptop, though. As I suspected, the people in the bulkhead seats were not frequent flyers (they had bags on the floor at their feet until the FA told them to move them). I'm still wondering if I would have had better luck by going to the gate.

5) From ATL-TPA after two rebookings, we didn't get the upgrades that we should have had, but we got home a little earlier than planned, and the flight was fairly empty - allowing us to have a seat next to us for the baby's carseat. This worked out well, but again I was glad that I wasn't trying to use my laptop.

Hey all Delta guys out there,

I'm flying delta this summer from LAX to bucharest OTP via JFK

I would like to know if it is possible to reserve bulkhead seats at least for my flight from JFK to OTP. It is on a 767-300ER. I have emailed my travel agent and requested those seats and i await an answer. I have heard i can only get those seats on the day of the flight. If true and i have another seat reserved, can i change it to the the bulkhead at check in. OR is it done at the gate.
Thanks

The bulkheads are reserved until the day of the flight. You will need to request at check-in and may find they're under control of the gate. Reserve the seat you'd most want to sit in because that's likely where you'll be.

Are you sure you want a bulkhead? Often families with small children and seated there. It can get noisy and active. If you plan on sleeping, it may not be the best choice.

oh you can bet i want a bulkhead, especially on the 767-300ER, i flew on it and it was the only row with monitors right in front of you (although not personal), plus i'm okay with noise.

I'd just as soon grab an exit row if you can as I've had no problems viewing the LCD screen that hangs near it.

Greetings, fellow travelers.
I have a question: I am FO, hitting gold Friday heading SFO to AUS.

One thing I notice: the bulkhead seats are almost never -- well, exactly never, in my experience -- available for selection at booking. Exit rows always. Bulkhead never.

Why is that? I'd sure like to try sitting there and see how it is?


Thanks much.

They are normally held at the gate for people who need extra assistance, etc

and the sometimes-irritating UM's.

Bulkhead seats usually don't have much leg room--there are a couple of threads on the different models. But on the DC-9's, they are some of the best coach seats in the fleet.

When you book close to travel date, you often find that the only seats left are middle seats.

Can an elite (DM) request a bulkhead seat after booking and have any expectation to have their request acceded to? I know, someone has to sit in the middle seat and seating is first come first serve. But it's not fun sitting in the middle seat for 14 or 15 hours with a stranger on either side.

If you are talking about a 14-15hr flight I assume it's an international flight.

If there are seats available for selection I'm not sure what they will do. I can say that I did an SDC recently where there were no coach seat assignments available. The phone agent said, as a DM, they would provide a bulkhead seat assignment with the understanding that blablabla if they needed it (handicap, etc.) I could be asked to move.

So I was placed in 5C...but I actually received my upgrade at the gate to the only open FC seat.

Not exactly your situation, but that's the only data point I have for advance bulkhead seat assignments.

Delta agents told me that only the ga can give those out. They reserved it for me when I was flying right after surgery, but otherwise there's no way to get it

Was told the same thing on the phone by the agent. I was flying to SGU with my son (10) and we could not get seats together. Requested bulkhead. Agent said only GA can give them out but I will put a note in the record etc, etc....Got to the gate in SLC and GA already had bulkhead tickets printed for us. Dont know if this was because a child was involved, but always worth a shot.

VDB last month giving up DCA-ATL-ORD to take DCA-CVG-ORD.
The agent processed as soon as I volunteered -- didn't need to wait for departure and was seated directly into FC for DCA-CVG. I asked about a bulkhead on the RJ from CVG and he told me that could only be done by the GA in CVG, except when he printed out the boarding pass it was for 1B. The agent processing the VDB was surprised.

I guess I don't understand-I choose bulkheads all the time, 3 of 4 legs of the trip I'm leaving on today are 1B on a CRJ. Do they just hold those back for the international flights? Or maybe it's because I'm on a DL connection rather than mainline? Either way, I almost always choose a bulkhead aisle, exception is this first leg I chose the exit, as they were all still showing mty, hoping for both seats to myself....could happen!