Extra Seat Given to Another Passenger: IDB?
 

Is this an IDB?

Booked three award tickets for my wife, son, and an extra seat. All three tickets were confirmed on the same PNR and issued with three different 016 ticket numbers. The name on the extra seat was "Extraseat Lastname".

Checked-in for all three tickets several hours before departure and three boarding passes were issued. Wife: aisle, Extraseat: middle, Son: window. All three boarding passes were presented and scanned at the gate early in the boarding process. Late in the boarding process another passenger arrived at their seats with a boarding pass for the same seat printed on my son's boarding pass (window).

My wife actively protested and produced all three boarding passes, but was rebuffed. Apparently the gate agent had decided to offload Extraseat and move my son from the window to the middle. At no point before boarding did my wife hear any solicitations for volunteers to give up their seat and she expressly did not agree to give up the extra seat.

Q: What happens if I've purchased an extra seat, but another passenger sits there?
A: In that event, you must be an active participant in preserving your extra seat. You will be provided boarding passes for both seats. If necessary, you can ask a crew member for assistance.

from: http://www.united.com/web/en-us/cont...e/default.aspx

Not sure what the compensation should look like (it isn't exactly IDB), but definitely shenanigans on the agent's part.

Just thinking out loud here (actually, on my keyboard) and am wondering if purchasing the extra seat just guarantees that you have another seat on the plane SOMEWHERE, but not necessarily that one. Not sure if the rendering of the boarding pass would be the final guarantee, though.

Sucks that you spent good money (miles) and then got hosed, though.

It's not IDB because nobody was denied boarding due to an oversale. The Rule is really clear on this (14 CFR 250).

I think that OP is entitled to a refund of the seat and that's it. Hopefully UA tosses in some CS gesture as well.

If EXTRASEAT is being used for its intended purpose, there would be an argument for IDB because the POS would have to be deboarded (but only one IDB, not two). Since this doesn't appear to be the case, a refund is the most I think should happen.

+1. Compensation is due, since the OP purchased the seat for his wife's and son's use (even if it remains empty), but was denied that use by the gate agent.

gdenny, it wouldn't make sense for the purchase of an extra seat to entitle the purchaser to an empty seat "somewhere" on the plane. The purpose is to allow someone to specify which seat is empty. Otherwise, what's the benefit in spending the extra money? So a random stranger could have some elbow room? Or to allow the gate agent to fill it at her discretion?

Edited to add: OP should request the compensation ASAP, before all of the flight information is removed from the system. The agent he speaks to needs to be able to see that the window seat was given to someone else.

They would have had four extra seats because I would have gone ballistic on them. Nice touch they take away the window seat too. Really a class act on the GA's part. Hope you gave your son all the drinks with out lids and stick food you could find.

Think I'm being unreasonable? The carriers have all these rules and restrictions on how a ticket and be used and stick it to you if you are the least little bit out of parameters. Move from a morning to mid morning flight weeks in advance- $200. But the airlines can screw with everything and give you very little back in return.

I'm in the same boat as the OP, when I fly I spend a lot of time getting the airplanes right, the seats right- and I usually end up paying for it. I'm not the bozo who books their family with small kids with out seat assignments to save a few bucks, and then tries to make some schmuck out to be a bad guy when I don't want to give up my aisle for a middle.

I work hard, spend time and money to make sure that the trip goes the way I planned -AND THEY WAY THEY AGREED TO IT. Then some GA decides that "It's an award ticket, screw him, its not revenue."

I earn my miles with my ..., I earn my hotel points being away from my family, if you think they aren't revenue linked YOU ARE ON CRACK. They are not 'award' sets, they are payback seats. I put effort into being loyal to an airline and then they treat me like that in front of my family?

Once again, this is something promised to the OP and then taken away. It's not asking for special consideration, its just ASKING THEM TO DO WHAT THEY PROMISED TO DO.

Not that I have strong feelings on the matter. ;)

Should definitely report to United and get a refund for the shenanigan. However, this is not IDB IMO, since no actual passenger was denied boarding.

I would be pushing a bit harder and have the son remained in the previously assigned seat, since now there is a seat dupe. If needed, get a supervisor involved.

I wasn't originally very empathetic, but you make a great case Tin!

What if the extra seat was for a medical reason? Did the GA eye-ball these people and decide that they really didn't need it?

I would have told the GA/FA it is for a medical reason. My wife can produce a legitimate doctors note for anything in sixty seconds or less. ;)

It sounds like the neither the son or wife were obese, but what if it were for another medical reason? Something that you really don't want to explain to the whole economy class? Maybe a PTSD issue where the wife (or even son) doesn't like to be cramped next to a strange man for hours? You planned ahead to deal with it and some GA decides, Naaahhh, we'll do it this way.

Once again- DO WHAT YOU PROMISED. I understand things go sideways and the wheels fall off- but don't pull out a hammer and start trying to screw stuff up.

And what of the passenger inserted into the seat? How awkward for them.

What ridiculous wording. What exactly does "active participation" mean? Complain? Yell? Body-slam the other passenger?

At any rate, I think the question on UA's site is geared towards the situation when some other passenger simply takes the seat, not when the airline actively puts someone there.

My guess (and it is only a guess): Agent scanned all 3, then in order to get his/her passenger count, to match the number of passengers shown on the computer, he/she deboarded that seat (most likely to print paperwork for the crew and for weight/balance.) He/she then either failed to recheck that person in so ticket showed used, or another agent (were there 2 working the trip?) saw the open seat and moved someone to it or onloaded a standby into it (after all, people want windows instead of centers.)

So my theory is either poor communication between mulitple agents, or a forgetful agent (if he/she then reassigned it out without remembering it was in use.)

I've seen this happen before, I'm sure I'll see it again sometimes. Rare, but not unheard of.

mine, fixed it for you. certainly a refund is in order at least, right!?

also...there isn't any criteria listed to my knowledge of what the "intended purpose" of EXTRASEAT is. it's used for POS, sure, but also used for musicians transporting large instruments that cannot/will not fit in the OHB. and if someone wants to pay 2x economy fare to have EXTRASEAT, that's also a reasonable usage of it.

i personally think this shouldn't be considered IDB, and at a minimum OP should get a full refund. a CS gesture is also appropriate here, as is retraining of the GA involved.

Fascinating -- So this implies that UA's systems don't really handle "extraseat" correctly without a bunch of workarounds by the agents. I know that they're rare, but not so rare that the system shouldn't be able to handle them correctly, since there are a bunch of special properties associated with an extraseat, which would seem to be (at a minimum):
1. Can't be separated from passenger <lastname>
2. Should not count toward headcount for passenger manifests, weight and balance, etc
3. Cannot be offboarded w/o also offboarding passenger <lastname>

It's ridiculous that UAs systems make you do the things you describe to handle what should be a straightforward transaction.

The other weird thing is that the agent intentionally moved the son's ticket from window -> middle, which is really unusual and implies something more than the lack-of-communication or forgetfulness scenarios you describe.

Dan

Ok, thanks. That's all well and good, but the fact that the window seat was taken by someone with a last name different from the mom and son (and extra seat) leads ME to the conclusion that it was GA antics.

Dave