ITA Seat Assignments on Flights Booked Through Delta

Have you tried doing it online at ITA's website?

Yes, I have tried via their website. I searched for my flight using the confirmation number provided by Delta, it found the flight and had options to "Edit Passenger Details" (no seating option here) or to "Customize Your Travel". The latter comes to a page that says "Sorry, it was not possible..." with a link to "Contact Us". That link goes to a 403 error page (ie, not authorized). It looks like some of ITA's pages are linked to old Alitalia pages...

From USA

+1 877-793-1717* (24 hours daily, 7 days a week)
*Toll-free number

https://www.itaspa.com/en_en/support/contact-assistance/customer-center.html

You might want to hold off on booking your seats through ITA. I booked a United flight for the beginning of April. It had two legs with Air Canada and a leg with Swiss air. I haven’t been notified of it yet but one of the Air Canada legs has been canceled. I had to go through Air Canada to get refunds on those seats. The actual flight will be refunded through United, but I had to book the seats separately. As I will have to rebook the entire flight because it’s really screwed up now, I will also have to go to Swiss air and get my seat assignment costs refunded. I’m just saying with all the crazy stuff going on with flights, you might want to get closer to your flight to book those extra seats. It’s a hassle getting the refunds.

Thanks Joe! I wasn't able to find that site. Google provided links to something like that with different URLs, but none of them worked.

I was able to talk with someone from Albania using that number. After giving them the confirmation code, I was told they couldn't assign seats as it was a codeshare flight (booked via Delta) and that seat assignment would only be made at check-in, 24 hours pre-flight.

Would love to hear if anyone else has had success navigating a similar issue. Would love to have seats prior to check-in and ensure my wife and I are together, given that we paid for that when booking with Delta.

Just to finish this out...

I contacted Delta again and, understandably, they couldn't assign the seat, but this time the agent mentioned in passing a different confirmation code that was specific to ITA. I then called back ITA and used that code which allowed them to assign me a seat. We had to pay additional for the assigned seats, which I thought was covered via the Delta booking, but I guess not for codeshares.

Thanks for the suggestions and help. I'm just happy to have seats now.

For whatever it worth now, in the past when we have taken United and had connecting flights to our destination on another airline such as Lufthansa, our connecting flights have not assigned seats until 24 hours before the flight. The same experience with Swiss. There’s only been one time the seats have not been together and that was because the United Agent in San Francisco couldn’t get my ticket to scan, got frustrated and just waved me through which then affected my second flight. Good lesson, make sure your ticket beeps and you’re checked in. It’s easier discussing this with an agent in the US then in Frankfurt.

Thanks, I'm in the process of booking Delta/ITA to Italy now, but am uncomfortable because it is not allowing me to book seats. Your scenario is what I fear (booking cheapest flight but finding we have to pay extra for seats). I may go with United where at least I know I can get a seat at booking. Thanks for following up on the outcome!

I, too, have been unable to book a select a seat at least twice on tickets purchased from United that involve legs on other carriers. It has worked out fine for me as a solo traveler who is just looking for an aisle seat, though it does make me a bit nervous.

Just a word of caution with Delta (I assume the same for the other airlines) pay attention to the fare class. I typically try to book Main cabin on Delta because you can choose your seats in advance. When booking my Italy flights I noticed that there were flights operated by ITA and even though my search was for Main Cabin, if you read the fare class for those flights it actually says "Economy Classic Main"

When you click on the link for more info it explains that it is really an economy fare with ITA which does not include seat selection. So of course I looked for flights operated 100% by Delta to ensure I was really in Main cabin and could pick a seat.

Also please be aware that you cannot complete the Italian Locator form without your seat assignment. We just had to pay extra with Lufthansa for this because otherwise they don’t release the economy seat assignments for 23 hours before flight.

I have booked a flight with ITA from Rome to Palermo and know you frustration. I am flying 4 different airlines to get around. Be sure to check your baggage and carry on rules. I have seen different sizes, weights etc. I talked to the person in Albania to get my seats. Just remember I saw some fees of $300 for oversize overweight luggage.

I'm not sure what it is, but lately the whole "airline partnership" business seems to be booming for airlines and doesn't actually help the people using them. We're trying to book a flight to Italy for September, and I'm learning way too much about how airlines work (or don't work) together.

American based airlines, especially Delta, United, and American, play this game where they offer Basic or "Cabin" economy. If it's not called "Cabin" it's something else that's non-descriptive. The Cabin Economy ticket will always let you select your seat, as well as be more flexible in case you have to cancel. American doesn't even bother to include any fine print that says, "If you're trip with us takes you on a flight operated by another airline, you'll be flying Basic Economy with them and will likely have to pay for seat selection." But that's what it should say. Our thing is... we're not going to cancel this flight. Sure, there's a chance we could contract COVID or something, but I see no reason we would need the flexibility of changing a flight, but whatever. However, I spoke to a woman at American just an hour ago to see if she could find a better flight than I was finding online. She hit me with one that connected with Iberia and told me the price of the Cabin Economy and made sure to say, "you'd get to select your seats free of charge with that!". I added, "not on the 10 hour Iberia flight, though." She said, "Oh... well, yeah, not that one. But your ticket is more flexible!" She didn't even understand how nefarious it is for American to offer 3 things at a $300 upcharge, but when one of those three things is taken away... the upcharge remains $300!

Seat selection is important to us. Mostly because my wife and I don't want to sit in the middle, and we don't want to sit apart. It's really a bummer that something as simple as selecting a seat has evolved into yet another scam the airlines use to pad their CEOs' wallets.

I find Google Flights is pretty good about laying out the many options these days for an "economy class plane ticket," which has indeed gotten quite complicated

Phred, I do love the way Google Flights lets you find flights. But the one thing they can't do is give you a way to figure out added costs for all airlines involved. If you're not booking a flight that's all the same airline the entire route, then fees will start adding up.

Let's say you book a flight to Rome from DC with United. You want to select your seat and check a bag so you pay the extra $300 per ticket to do that. The hidden charge comes if that flight has a connection, let's say it flies to Chicago first, then flies out on an ITA plane to Rome. Even if you pay the $300 extra so you can select your seat, when you go to do so, you'll be asked to go to ITA's website to do it... where they charge you again. And if your returning flight has a totally different airline, say it goes from Rome to London, then flights a BA jet to DC... then you have to go on British Airway's site and pay another fee to select seats (BA is off the charts with their fees on seats). I haven't tested whether or not bags are included in this fiasco, or if they're given safe passage by your first fee.

The reason, I'm told, that they do this is because that's how they're offering "cheap" flights. If you notice, it's much more expensive to flight a single airline all the way to a destination. If they throw a "partner" flight into the itinerary, they do so at the most basic level to make the cost of the flight look more enticing. You excitedly buy 2 tickets at $1200 only to find out that selecting your seats with 2 other airlines brings the total to $2100.

Hi everybody,

I still can't select my seats on a ITA flight booked with Delta even though I've got the ITA booking reference.
Any suggestion?

thanks

I'm in the same situation with a flight coming up in August. I also want to change the date on my return flight and both Delta and ITA won't let me do it online even though their Help instructions say that should be possible. I am not too happy with ITA. Learning one of their pilots fell asleep over France last month, almost provoking an international incident, has not helped with my confidence in them.

I have a September flight reservation via Delta that includes an ITA leg from Rome to Palermo. I obtained the ITA reference number and called ITA. The ITA rep told me I couldn't get an assigned seat until I was at the gate.

We too are flying MIA to FCO in August on a Delta flight that is operated by Ita Airlines. We are not able to get our seat selection even though we have our Ita locator number. We were told by Delta and by Ita that the seats are under the control of the gate. Not sure what that means, but we won't be getting seats until we get to the gate. My question is, has anyone gone through this and did you get seats ok?

I booked thru Delta and received an seat assignment. Are people using a third party like Expedia and etc? I have always been told, no seat assignment, no guarantee of seat. I never book without seat assignment.

No , I booked trought Delta.
I called ITA several times and they blame the fact that Delta doesn't allow them to make changes on their tickets.
Then when I spoke to Delta they say that ITA should be able to do it by their end.

There's one person in this thread that managed to do it , I tried with the ITA's confirmation code too but nothing..

I'm having the same issues as everyone else here, and it really is infuriating. What should be an incredibly simple process appears to be purposefully (?) difficult, and my assumption is that it is, indeed, a way to bilk more money for seat selection.

We are trying to book seats together for an international flight from California to New York to Rome via Delta, with ITA Airways as the partner for the overseas leg. We can select seats within the USA, Cali to NYC, via Delta with no issues. But when attempting the ITA leg, it says we need to call ITA for seat selection, which has not been fruitful at all.

If, somehow, we can get through to ITA, does anyone know the cost for standard (economy) seat selection? From other random reviews, it appears to be about $40 per seat on the low end. That sound right?

We seriously are considering just scrapping the Delta flight altogether, as we're within the 24-hour window to cancel. Anyone feel confident with any other airlines going from the USA to Italy at the moment?

A few months ago we booked a Delta flight to Rome with ITA as the transatlantic leg --- we'd always avoided Alitalia, but thought we'd give ITA a try. We always get the two seats by themselves in the back of the plane on the left side due to various issues of mine. Couldn't reserve the ITA seats. Same thing, called ITA, offered to upgrade our Delta seats, offered to pay extra to reserve the seats, asked was there ANY way to get the seats we wanted --- ITA said there was no way, it was "impossible." It was only about 15 minutes since we'd booked the tickets, so we just changed our flight to a slightly more expensive one at about the same time that did not use ITA. The part that annoys me is that Delta is still, months later, acting as though it IS possible to reserve seats on ITA.

Wow... dealing with this exact same thing. Glad and sad to see I am not alone.

My husband and I have now:
-Tried ITA online - no option
-Called ITA Albanians - told us to do it 'in person'
-Showed up at the airport (my husband does work there for his job, so he swung by the counter) and talked to ITA in person, who sent him over to Delta
-Talked to Delta at the airport, who said they could not help
-Talked to Delta messaging and phone

Last chance we are going to call ITA Albany again... I even submitted a complaint through ITA and got a case number assigned, over two weeks ago, with no response.

Wish us luck...

Funny, I filed a complaint to Ita as well a month ago and never heard back.

Im glad you tried to go to the airport and shared your experience because I was about to drive to LA and see if someone could help from there.

The problem wouldn’t exist booking trough ITA directly, it’s a codeshare issue between the two companies but what really annoys me is that DELTA is selling tickets without allowing their customers to do something so basic like selecting a seat.
But of course, if you wanna upgrade to business class suddenly the problem disappears and Delta will let you book your seat.

I can’t even cash out my money and go directly to ITA because there are miles and eCredits from my COVID’s cancellation involved and yes, right now at least from LA, that’s the only company flying directly to Italy..

It’s just really frustrating .

I have been told by 2 different ITA agents in not so nice terms NO SEAT ASSIGNMENTS FOR CODESHARE. literally yelling at me so I am guessing lots of codeshare travelers are calling in. After getting my ITA confirmation from Delta this am via text, I tried again and was quickly and rudely told NO and you can get a seat 48 hours in advance(my flight is from Rome to LAX). I have flown to europe yearly for 30 years and every other partner airline(british/american, lufthansa/united) has allowed us to book seats after our reservation was settled(couple days). Was excited for the quick option home to CA but not worth it if you can't get a seat assignment. WOrried we will be in center center. Will give the feedback to Delta, not sure it is worth giving the feedback to ITA. I will keep checking here in case something new pops up. I went through the process of booking my flight with ITA and the plane is showing

I also am having the same issue. I also booked directly through Delta and it looks like we might have to wait until two days before the flight to make the seat arrangements. I also found that email to ITA and have a "claim number" for my email. I'm not holding my breath.

Would one of you report back on this when you fly with ITA? Everything else went smoothly. I swear that the French and Italians really don't want us tourists there!

Will definitely report back, but our flight is not until September. We're also going LAX to FCO (and then on to Naples), for our friends wedding in Ravello! We were so excited about the direct flight option from LAX. I always try to choose the direct flights. The other options with Turkish Air were a 6+ hour layover in Istanbul... maybe that would have been worth it now. Not excited to sit middle seat on a 14 hour flight. Sigh.

Do we know if seat selection for ITA is free on a delta economy light ticket 24 hours prior to departure? Also flying from LAX to FCo

My direct flight from FCO to LAX in August is no longer direct. Now routed through CDG. Sigh. The return from LAX to FCO is still nonstop, at least for now. I wish I were not involved with this airline.
Cynthia

Is there a reason why the flight is stopping at CDG?

@dgawell - Italian want tourists for sure, the economy counts on it. Agree that Ita Air is not warm and welcoming though. @amandajgrue We travel to see our family in the south of Italy every year from N. Calif. to Napoli via Frankfurt/Munich on Lufthansa/United - smooth and get seats FYI(one stop). This year we were flying into another country and out of Rome so ended up on Delta/Italian Airways. Nervous hearing about the change through Paris. We booked it for the convenience direct to LAX. Looking forward to people giving feedback how their trip went

I think this is a general code share problem. I bought seats through United that included Swiss air and Aegean components. I could pick my seats on United flights ahead of time but not the others. I logged in 23 hours before the flight as instructed and was able to pick my seats. I just wanted a window seat which I got.

Presumably this question:

Is there a reason why the flight is stopping at CDG?

relates to this comment:

My direct flight from FCO to LAX in August is no longer direct. Now routed through CDG. Sigh. The return from LAX to FCO is still nonstop, at least for now. I wish I were not involved with this airline.
Cynthia

Here are 2 speculative opinions on why the is

1- The FCO-LAX flight is flying into the jet stream and the plane does not have the range into a headwind.

2- Business decision due to passenger demand (or lack thereof) to fill the plane for the westward flight

We booked a flight from Miami to Rome via Delta operated by ITA. I finally spoke to a rep from ITA (in Albania) who said there is no way to select a seat prior to arriving at the gate the day of. I asked her if we can select seats if we book directly through ITA and she said yes. We cancelled our Delta flights (got issued eCredits) and rebooked through ITA, paid a small fee to select seats.

"We booked a flight from Miami to Rome via Delta operated by ITA. I finally spoke to a rep from ITA (in Albania) who said there is no way to select a seat prior to arriving at the gate the day of. I asked her if we can select seats if we book directly through ITA and she said yes. We cancelled our Delta flights (got issued eCredits) and rebooked through ITA, paid a small fee to select seats."

Might I assume your flights were cancelable?

I was told by Delta chat: "ITA Airways discontinued "Pre-Reserved Seating" (PRS) in economy compartment with all partner airlines on June 23, 2021. For the sake of clarity, also during Interline Through Check-in, seat change for the Economy seats allocated by the system will not be allowed anymore".

My understanding from both Delta and ITA is that Delta is the only one who can upgrade the codeshare, and an upgrade from Economy (to Premium Economy or Business) is required to get booking seat assignment, rather than gate.

To Eric's point above, today I purchased a Delta itinerary that included leg in premium economy seats on a FCO/BOS flight on ITA and was told by both ITA and Delta that I would not be able to book seats until 48 hours before the flight. So, purchasing a premium seat does not get around this issue either. Very frustrated along with others about this. Looking into other itineraries.

Yes this is some sort of technical codeshare issue that seems like nobody is in hurry to fix.

Delta already got the money so they don’t care. I’ve been told from a ITA agent that the problem is that delta doesn’t share with them fully the tickets information and the capability to make changes, which is what they need to assign a seat.

Either way, I dont think ill be able to select my seat until 2 days before my flight ( if lucky ) .

Flying LAX FCO, and I really hope they don’t make up any bs like layovers or things like that, since I paid for a direct flight.

The only good news here is that finally the Italian company has new airplanes and we’ll be flying on the airbus 350/900, way more spacious and comfortable than the old planes.

I booked an ITA flight (Also Delta partner) from Jfk to Rome connecting to Palermo through American Express for September. I spoke to ITA and I am able to pick seats anytime for a fee. Or I can wait when I check in 24 hours prior on the ITA website and can change my pre selected flights for free and that time.

I booked ITA/Delta for 9/13 premium economy thru AmEx and was able to select seats...guess I'd better check on them now & frequently to make sure they are still recognized/valid. Thanks, all. any suggestions welcome as always.

Yes the problem is not the flight itself but the seat selection for those that got the Ita airways tickets from Delta ..

Hi Everyone - I don't normally post but had a frustrating day trying to figure out how to get seats booked on an ITA flight booked as a codeshare through Delta.com from LAX to FCO; the alluring direct flight is what sucked us in. The bottom line is that you cannot as of today, August 21st, 2022.

After speaking with ITA's Albanian Call Center (who were very nice and helpful), there is a limitation with the ITA systems that a seat cannot be assigned unless the fee has been paid. They cannot handle this for codeshare passengers and there is no functionality in their systems that allow them to take a payment through the call center for a codeshare reservation. If you try to book directly through their site, you can see that seat assignment comes at a cost.

The agent acknowledged that this is an issue on ITA's systems, not Delta and they have told Delta about the issue many times. That Delta has done a poor job making this clear should not be a surprise to anyone. The agent did offer to me that many people would be in this predicament and that they guaranteed that my travel companion and I would be seated together.

I am trying to work out with Delta why they upsell you to Economy Classic by telling you that you can "select and change seats at any time" when you cannot.

Confirming the above, I flew ITA from FCO to LAX earlier this month, and I could not select a seat until I checked in at the airport. The online checkin did not work, either on the app or my laptop. The Delta/ITA systems apparently don't talk to each other. The flight itself was uneventful, although I have to say ITA has possibly the worst airline food I have ever experienced. So bring snacks. I've decided I am done with ITA. I changed my return flight to Delta, even though it's not direct. And of course I had to call them to do that, since it can't be done online.

we booked premium economy tickets on ITA via Delta website several months ago, for our trip in October. the itinerary is roundtrip BOS-FCO, and the return trip is on Delta. we were assigned seats, however not together, so I called Delta to see if they could assist. happened to get a very helpful agent on the phone, who acknowledged that assigning seats on the ITA codeshare flight was problematic. when she heard that it was important for us to be seated together, as the trip is a combined 65th birthday/retirement/30th anniversary celebration, which is why we were splurging on the premium seats, she made it her mission to work with ITA to change the seats. here's hoping the flight is uneventful and the food quality has improved somewhat (but let's face it, no one flies for the food).

Last night, I purchased tickets through Delta which included a flight on ITA. Same story…Would not allow me to change seats. I just changed it to all Delta. I have noticed that AA also codeshares with ITA.

Flying from LAX to Rome soon on a Delta economy ticket codeshared with ITA. Will ITA charge me for economy seat selections when we check in at LAX? Don’t want any surprises.

When I upgraded to premium economy I got an email the next day to book my seats. Believe me premium economy was not much bigger--not sure how bad regular economy is!

The solution to this is quite simple. Go to ITA website and search for your flight using your Delta confirmation number. When you find it you will see the actual confirmation number that ITA uses, it is different than Delta. Call in to ITA customer service and give them that number to select your seats. I just booked a November flight for my family, 2 adults and 2 kids and feel confident there will be no issues with us being separated on the trip.

what number did you call? Last flight I called, I was on hold for an hour. I was connected to a person in Albania who was unable to help me. I would like to upgrade and am unable to. Even with Delta's special ITA code.

I also tried calling ITA with ITA's reservation number and spoke to the rep in Albania. She said she could not do it and that we would have to get our seat assignments when we arrived at the airport. Frustrating.

ITA is in the process of changing ownership. The Delta, KLM, Air France group will be the partners. New government and Prime Minister. Everything is in flux. Terminal at FCO is now T1 for departing flights to Miami and Boston (since Aug 2022). Customer services is slowly ramping up. I hope I can purchase my seats for my March trip soon. Because I bought tix through an agent, I must wait until 48 hours before when online check in is available. My agent checked today through a backend system and sees temp assignments way back - row 30 - but together. Other airlines like Spirit (shudder) do the same. You can purchase seats only booking directly with them and paying at that moment. I suspect after Oct 31 that the purchase of the company is finalized, things will improve and better business practices ensue. I follow ITA groups on FB too. Fascinating. Everything is connected - politics, financial transactions, the war, pandemic, and we are all caught in the middle. We have to make the best of it.

Spoke too soon. Just called their new toll free customer service at +1 (877) 793-1717 and paid $33 per seat from rows 25 back. At least we have that peace of mind. No issues.

Do you have economy or premium? I can’t get seat assignments in economy.

We booked a Delta flight to Rome that went through Amsterdam (via KLM to Rome) -- THAT one, we could reserve seats on. However, the ITA return connection from Rome to Amsterdam, we CAN'T get seat reservations on -- tried through Delta/online ITA with their confirmation # that Delta was able to look up for us. However, in our case, I think at least part of the problem is that the flight lists FOUR different Airbus configurations with slashes, so we're guessing they haven't assigned a plane, yet (as the return flight is in March 2023). We had already upgraded to more legroom, etc., but it made no difference. Delta agent was as helpful as she could be, but just told us to try again closer to the flight. And, yes, it's absurd to sell us the tickets to a flight (that is supposed to include choosing our seats), and then we can't do that -- at the very least, a helpful note stating that plane is not assigned yet would be nice (if that's the reason). Hoping situation changes as flight gets closer, but at least it's only about a two-hour flight, so not as bad if we can't sit together. Our trans-Atlantic flights are Delta, and we do have seat assignments. (Also finding out just how convoluted flying within Italy is, with luggage rules that are more severe than our Delta ones, so we'll have to plan accordingly. If it weren't for having to get to/from Sicily, we'd take only the trains in Italy. And still might try to make that work!))

Success! Egads. That was a long ordeal of several months. I wrote an email five months ago to ITA and finally received a reply. They suggested I call that number in Albania, which I had done before. This time it worked, although he first said that I had to pay for a seat assignment. I told him that my booking said that was not true. I was correct and was assigned a seat at no additional cost, BUT he said I had only three flights, not four. That's not what my reservation says. Once again, EGADS.

This ended up being a real disappointment.

We checked in online at the 24-hour mark and our seats were already assigned and not in the configuration we wanted (window/middle vs. aisle/middle). In order to move the seats, even in the same row, there was a charge. We moved the seats around but never paid the charge and somehow it worked.

We went to the airport and asked the check-in agent to move our seats for us - he said is could not do it without a charge. Additionally, we were not allowed to bring on and carryon luggage that exceeded 8kg regardless of the size.

Overall, I'm glad we had a direct flight from LAX to Rome on a fairly new aircraft - the service and the food were mediocre but we did get there on time. I would recommend not booking the ITA codeshare flight through Delta if the above issues would be a dealbreaker for you. If Delta had just been upfront about all of it - that would have alleviated a lot of the issue.

We booked through Delta on ITA from NYC to Italy. I would never travel ITA again. Not only did we have to deal with the assigned seat nonsense, but ITA lost my husband's luggage for two days. What a fiasco! They were so hard to contact, and it was "wait until your luggage is found in our system, and then we will tell you what to do." So, for two days, we spent our time in Italy on the phone and then tried to find some replacement clothing, BUT it was Nov 1- a holy day, so little was open for shopping. When we finally got word that the luggage was found, we were in the difficult situation of staying in a not fully attended B&B. So, we had to go to the airport to retrieve the luggage unless we wanted to waste all three days dealing with luggage problems. Never again with ITA.!

BTW, our return flight home only on Delta went very smoothly.

dgawell, sorry you had problems. I've never flown ITA but to be honest it was not their fault you were in an unstaffed B&B or that you were there over a time when stores were closed. I'm glad your flights home went well.

i'm seeing same issue - I'm trying to help my son. He booked with United tho. ITA is his first flight out of Catania to Rome and then connect to Munich and back to boston. However, he has a very short connection in Rome so he's trying to book seat close to door. No checked luggage. When i put my record locator in My Flights on the ITA site, it shows The Booking Code entered is not valid. Yet, if i put same number in under Check In - his entire itinerary loads - tho of course he can't check in yet, as the flight is Dec 11. From the thread i see that he can select seats at 48 hours, but where and how? Normally i would check in with the airline i booked - in this case United and the flights are all on one ticket (again bought from UA). Are you guys saying that he must first go on ITA website at 48 hours and check in - independent of checking in with UA? and then hopefully he can pick seats then?? thanks for your help and advice!!

ITA had a different booking number for this flight. Delta and ITA need to coordinate in a more efficient manner.