Check Your Flight Itinerary!!

We found that out the hard way last summer. If you book your flight on Orbitz or Travelocity or anywhere other than directly with the airline, your "seat request" is just that-a request and not a guarantee. We arrived at the Lufthansa counter in June for a flight we had booked in January only to find that our 2 aisle seats were not reserved after all. We managed to get decent seats on the way over, but were assigned the last row, non-reclining seats, on the return flight.We were able to change them at the last minute, but ended up in middle and aisle seats where half of the leg room in the aisle seat was taken up by a metal box. Miserable for a 11 hour flight! Lesson learned. Always confirm your seat directly with the airline.

I booked directly with United last November for my trip this May, and the seats I choose ended up being changed to unreserved when they changed the flight times by 15-20 minutes on 3 of my 4 flights! So YES, reconfirm EVERYTHING!!! Dont just assume that everything has already been taken care of.

I use FF miles for travel and that means making res about 10-11 months in advance. I check my res and seating at least 3 times/wk....just to be sure. Have had assigned seats before and then a change to a different plane with the resulting seat changes. I don't feel confident until I get my boarding pass!

Oh dear me we have been there! When flying Air France the first time (two middle-aged people with not a sprog in sight) the online booking system let us choose bulkhead seats. It assigned them to us. It printed our boarding passes. And when we got to the airport, we were told rather testily (!) that we could NOT have the seats because "it is our policy to only have families with children" in the bulkhead row. Gah! So even if you check - and check again - and get a confirmation - it can change. :-)

Janis, I'm the same way. Booked flights for our upcoming trip to Slovenia/Croatia last summer. Booking that far out (11 months) you can pretty much count on something changing. January 1, we get a call from United (we used United miles to book on Lufthansa connecting to Croatia/Adria), warning of a schedule change. Adria moved our connecting flight back 4 hours, then two weeks later moved it forward 1 hour (net change, 3 hours later than booked). Meanwhile, Lufthansa adjusted the long-haul flights by 10 or 15 minutes somewhere in there. No change in aircraft, no change in our seats. Still, having been burned by a late equipment change before, I'm paranoid and check regularly. Just checked, it's all still good, 3 weeks to go. It pays to be paranoid sometimes. On 13 hour flights, I do NOT want to get stuck in a middle, non-reclining seat next to the toilet.

I paid extra for a bulkhead seat on a United domestic flight about a month ago. So I'm boarding the plane, they scan my boarding pass, and say you have a different seat. It was a window seat 1 row back. As it turned out I was bumped out of my bulk head seat for a cello. Yes, a musical instrument! United never did respond to my request for a refund on the bulkhead, so I've disputed the charge.
For flights we book way in advance, I continue to check our seat assignments to make sure the airline has not changed aircraft.

I just found out tonight that my CONFIRMED flight into Gatwick no longer exists!! Delta apparently no longer flies to Gatwick only in and out of Heathrow. They neglected to notify me and the only way I found out was by calling them because tonight when I tried to go online to see about upgrading seats, I couldn't get to the flight, it just only showed the domestic portion of my flight - which by the way, leaves in less than two weeks! After my initial schock and panic subsided and I could actually talk to the agent on the phone, we did get booked on a flight to Heathrow and back on the same days, and they did upgrade our seats for no charge but now I have to cancel the Gatwick express tickets we purchased, figure out how to get to London from Heathrow and cancel the B&B we had booked near Gatwick for our last night (which has a no refund policy) and make arrangements for one near Heathrow. What a hassle with less than 2 weeks to go. Bottom line, as the title of this posts suggest - check your flight itinerary often, especially if you made it months ago. I can't bear to think what would have happened if I hadn't checked now and just waited until I went to check in 24 hours before the flight!

I guess i've been lucky. I've (so far) always been informed about schedule changes, althought i always use Expedia or Orbitz or something, never the airline. However trying to get an assigned seat is a bear. Last year I had assigned seats through Expedia...when I checked them, nada. At least this year Orbitz just refused to assign them. I guess it is better than misleading you.

Thanks for the warning! We are unable to book seats in advance for our SAS flights since they won't allow seat assignments until you check in. We are flying with 2 young children, so hopefully if we are stuck randomly throughout the plane other travelers will either take pity on us and voluntarily change seats so we can sit with our children, or other passengers will end up being babysitters, and what fun they will have when the youngest starts throwing up! We have 8 flights ahead of us, and it angers me that we can't reserve seats together. Makes me want to hurl a full barf-bag at the airline executive who decided not to allow advance seat assignments.

We randomly checked our itinerary in February (for a trip in July) and discovered that our middle connection had been rescheduled and had us arriving in DCA after our next flight was supposed to have left. A thirty minute call sorted it out, but then the EXACT same thing happened when I randomly checked two weeks ago - our original flight was cancelled and the flight we ended up on landed more than a half an hour after our connection. We ended up being able to cancel the tickets and rebooked with another airline (with only one layover instead of two), but it does not give me a lot of confidence in airline computers. :-</p>

Heather, from everything I have observed, most airlines go out of their way to accomodate a family - especially if the kids are young enough to still be in the throwing up stage! :-) It will probably work out well.

For the first time, I decided on the upcoming trip in June to be "smart" and booked my own flight on Cheaptickets.com.
I did not realize until after-the-fact that tickets bought online from such sites (Orbitz and Travelocity, etc) are not full fare "Y" class coach tickets. They are a lower coach fare in "Q" class. They DO NOT tell you this until after you buy them. As a result, I cannot get seats assigned on 3 out of 6 flight segments on American and British Airways. Furthermore, American tells me that I will not be able to confirm seats until the 4 of us actually show up at the airport. I will not be able to get them if I check in online 24 hours prior to the flight. This efffectively means I am flying standby! As a consumer, I feel as though I got screwed. I don't think I am required to understand the complicated fare structure of airlines and their booking agents. Its up to them to explain what we are buying.

Allen, can you purchase assigned seats from BA? I was also told that I had to wait until 24 hours to check in but went to the website and was able to select and purchase "assigned seats" for about $38 each. Sad story...good luck!

European airlines do not as a general rule pre-assign seats on intra Europe flights. And this is pretty consistent throughout Europe with most legacy airlines. There are exceptions, e.g business class or status passengers normally are allowed to have seats pre-assigned, and some airlines allow pre-assignment for a fee. But normally, for "ordinary passengers", seat selec-tion is done at check-in. The best way of getting good seats is to do online check-in as soon at it opens, usually 22-24 hours before departure.

Heather: hopefully things will go smoothly for you. We have flown to Europe many times with our 2 kids (from the time they were 15 months old) and have never had a problem getting the family seated together. Sometimes it means 4 seats in the middle section, but at least you are together. (Flying within the US, well, that's another story...) I would suggest arriving at the airport plenty early so that there are good seating options still available. Pop your two smiling kiddos right up the counter and be polite. Should work out fine. (And SAS is delightful with kids!)

I logged in and checked my seat assignments, made through Orbitz upon booking - it did allow me to request seats then. However, when I logged in after reading this post a few weeks back, those requests were nonexistent. So I made requests there first. Then thought to log into the airline's website. I had randomly assigned seats there - so I picked new seats. I have checked several times since then, and on the airline's website those seat reservations remain. My question is, Orbitz is showing me in different, random seats. I am hoping it is safe to assume that what the airline's website says is most reliable? I will continue to check on the airline's website as the flight approaches. But just want to make sure that these "seat requests" made through Orbitz aren't going to pop up when I show up at the airport. Anyone know?

I read about numerous folks having seat assignment problems when making reservations thru Expedia and sites like that. I do not read about folks who book thru the airlines having so many problems. I choose to book thru the airlines for the last 10 years when flying to Europe and only once had a seat problem and that was when the flight was cancelled and I only found out about it when I tried to check in 24 hours before the flight on NWA. I feel that if there is a problem with anything, seat assignments included, I have more leverage when I have booked directly with the airline.
Only had a problem once so guess I am just lucky.

I traveled last summer the same way, through an agency like Orbitz, and had no problem with my seat assignment (on a full flight). Despite being new here, I do travel often enough to know it is smarter to do business directly with the airline. However, there was a significant price difference per ticket, and I needed to buy more than one. I was under the impression that this was a place to ask for help, not a place to have to explain my actions, and be made to feel like I made the wrong decision by booking what was affordable for me. I apologize if that was not your intent, however, that is how it came across to me. So, given that I cannot change my flight now, and that, having traveled this way several times before and never encountered the problem, I was looking for something that I CAN do, or at least can know, about the situation, if anyone else has encountered it. Thank you, in advance, if anyone is able to provide insight.

Kristen, I suspect that the airline is showing you in the seats that you are actually assigned to whereas the travel agency is out-of-date. Updates between the travel agency and airline tend to be one-way for certain thing. I routinely book through a travel agency website for work (I'm required to use corporate negotiated rates). When I want to change a seat assignment, I always go directly to the airline site. I rarely have a problem. Sometimes your seat assignments just disappear or get reassigned because an airline changes aircraft. This can happen even when you book directly with an airline. Regardless, I would suggest that you check in online as early as possible. You didn't mention the airline, but for many that is 24 hours in advance.

I hate to say this, but... If you actually READ the terms and conditions on 90% of the tickets you purchase it says they are selling you A seat, not "The seat you picked out or wanted" or even the exact flight you asked for, but transport from A to B within certain parameters. (For example Atl to London not Atlanta to Gatwick or Heathrow) Now generally if you pay for Premium Economy or Business etc your seat stays in that cabin but.... So, "calling media relations", your local news station etc... really won't do much (And if you live in a town where this is news I doubt the airline is hysterical abou the bad publicity" :) ) That said, when you call the airline, talk to the agent etc.. you get MUCH farther being nice! They get a lot of abuse and your rant is not a new one and they have learned to "turn it off" My favorite was on AF. I had an exit row, They moved me, I showed the agent at the check in counter my confirmation and she gave me my seat back. I get on the plane and Mr Jerk was in my seat. Mr. Jerk then proceeded to tell EVERYONE within the plane "how much he spent on the flight, how many miles he flew, how much money he spends annually on the airline" etc... All the while I stood there. FA leaves and comes back with my new boarding pass. UPGRADE!!!!!!! YEAH! I could tell the FA didn't want me to say anything but I wanted to thank Mr. Jerk. If half of what he said was true he should have the upgrade not me :)

Nancy's post here is about buying directly through the airline. I guess Charlie has just been one lucky guy. It has happened to me when the air craft was changed, and it also seems to have gotten worse with consolidation. Right now I have a Delta frequent flyer ticket on an Air France craft, while my husband is flying in the seat next to me using Air France ff miles. Delta not only has me in a different seat but on a totally different type of aircraft, a regular jumbo jet instead of the new Airbus 580. I do all my dealings directly with Air France for this trip and ignore whatever Delta has in their computer.

Nancy, you give sound advice to everyone!! While as recently as a year ago, it seemed problems were not as common when booking directly with an airline, seems things have changed this past year. We had problems booking directly with an airline.........ridiculously repeated problems, which ultimately resulted in a comp upgrade to business class (which rarely happens in this age of air travel). My sister recently checked her European reservations on line and was shocked to see that she had been rerouted with a booking that was requiring her to spend the night in Dallas, which would have caused a one-day delay in her travel itinerary. As she asked the airline, "when were you planning to tell me this?" She had done her homework, and requested a better re-routing which was ultimately approved by the airlines a few days later. On a recent group tour in Europe, several other travelers also experienced similar problems, and most of those had also booked directly with their airlines. So, follow Nancy's advice and check your flights regularly....weekly, then daily, close to departure. We had paid for an upgrade and chose seats next to each other, but 48 hours before departure were suddenly separated and my husband stuck in regular economy by the restroom....ugh. I ultimately called media relations for the airline, after being on hold for a total of 8 hours over two days. I was ready to go to the Nashville airport to have my boarding passes printed (to insure all was fixed) 24 hours ahead of time. As a rep on their executive care team was re-entering seat assignments for us, she was shocked that the re-entry was not "taking," and then she understood what I had been experiencing. It's a mess out there in the world of airlines and unfortunately not improving. Too bad we can't just do the "beam me up Scotty deal," and arrive at our European destinations.

I had a non-stop flight scheduled to LHR about 6 months in advance. A month before the flight, United e-mailed me changes to my schedule. My flight was now a connecting flight in DC (IAD). With 44 minutes to change planes. Uhuh, I thought. I should change my reservation or cancel or something. I kept the new reservation, trusting that United would make it work. Well.....the flight out of SFO was 2 hrs late in leaving. Missed my connection in IAD. Stood in line for two hours at "customer assistance" desk. I was close to passing-out after that much standing. There were many people waiting for hotel vouchers, etc. Finally, at 12:30am, I had my vouchers. It took another hour to reach hotel. I got about 2 hours sleep. My rescheduled flight for the nexty day was supposed to be at 9:30am. The flight left IAD at 12:30pm, 3 hours late. (Technical problems). I arrived at Heathrow about 1am with no workable hotel reservation. Ended up spending $$$$ for an overnight at Sheraton hotel, and finally arrived at my hotel in Bath that afternoon, a day late I ended up with the big bill at the Sheraton and had to pay for the unused night in Bath. LESSON: if a changed reservation doesn't look workable, get it changed if possible. I'm not young and flexible anymore; I can't easily tolerate the kind of stress both physical and mental of this scheduling disaster.

Nancy, thank you for posting this!!! After reading all the horror stories, I went to United.com to check my flights for September and found that they moved me a few rows back. My original seat is now in Economy Plus and if I wanted it, I'd have to pay $99. I called my sister and told her. She checked and saw that they moved her a few rows behind my new seat, so she changed her seat to sit next to me. She's a nervous flyer so sitting together on the transatlantic flight is important to her. We will check our flights once a week as you recommended.

I guess I don't understand why the airlines don't sell seats. If you select your seats when you buy your ticket, why aren't those seats yours?

I'm going to private message Carol to share w/ her how very effective calling media relations was..........and my issue was not just about a seat, but 9 months of total hell dealing with an airline. I agree that one does not call media relations for every little complaint, but when issues mount to the point your story would TRULY make great front page news for the New York Times, then yes, pick up the phone and call media relations.