Airline changed our seats!

Did the type of aircraft change? We had seats on a plane with a 1-1-1 business class configuration and booked one in front of the other. I make it a habit to periodically check flights and prices and discovered the aircraft had been changed to a larger one with a 1-2-1 configuration. We had not been notified. I was able to change our seats to 2 together but notice others that I am guessing are 2 people traveling together are still in back to bad or cross aisle configurations. So they may be in for an unpleasant surprise when they check in.

Can you contact the airline in advance and request 2 seats together as you had originally booked? That way if anyone else wants seats changed (which may well be the case) or seats open up you’ll be higher up on the list to be reseated together.

If I remember correctly it was a different seat arrangement. 3-4-3..Now it is 3-3-3. So maybe that explains it. But every seat is now booked so maybe they will go back to a bigger plane. Fingers crossed

Happens all the time. I check my flights and seats once a week in the months leading up to our trip and once a day in the week before our trip. Airlines change aircraft, which changes the seating plan, which changes your seats. Or they move you for another reason--like a mom with a baby needs the bulkhead seats you purchased (happened once to us). Call or chat with the airline--they can usually accommodate you.

I agree with the above advice: call and talk to an agent. Maybe they can move someone else traveling alone on an reservation and allow you to be together. Odd they would split up people who are on the same reservation.

One more thing to add: When this has happened to us in the past, the airline blocks out all the seats for a period of time until they get the flight schedule and aircraft finalized. It will appear that all seats are booked (occupied) when really they aren't. They are still in the process of finalizing everything, and the actual, correct seat plan and available options will be viewable when that is done. In my experience, this takes a few days to up to a week.

What slbdaisy said - you may have tickets "booked" but not "issued" which sometimes affects whether you can upgrade or change seats. Agree with the others who said to call...

This happened to me coming back from Paris on air france, since we had a new plane none of the seat numbers synced up and several people discovered that they were supposed to share a seat with another passenger. Hilarity ensued.

I finally got an email about the reservation and just like you said there was a plane type change. It went from 4 seats in the middle to three across. But there were some of the “ main extra” seats we had paid for that were still together so I changed. I’m in the middle seat now but the person next to me is on the aisle in the middle section so won’t be climbing over me to get up. I’m happy about that. Husband got the aisle seat and that is all he cares about.
I will keep checking though to make sure the flight coming home doesn’t change too.

This seems to come up often, maybe it is more prevalent with some airlines than others, or certain service classes, but have to say in 20 plus years of flying Delta to Europe, I have never encountered it, unless it was an upgrade. I know that if we do make our reservations separately (as opposed to both on one booking) we call and have the itineraries linked. That way, if there is a major change, we are changed together.

Interesting, Paul. We fly almost exclusively with Delta, and I do have status, such as it is. We've been experiencing change of aircraft a lot, lately, including the tickets I booked for my daughter to come home. Then the "computer" puts us in whatever random seats with little relevance to what I initially booked. My view is if wanted to be booked to whatever crappy seat is open, I'd pay for a Basic Economy ticket.

For my daughter's recent trip from Honolulu to Minneapolis, I booked her for one of the legs into an aisle seat. They changed her to a middle towards the back of the plane. Of course the plane was quite full. I called and the best they could do was give her an aisle in one of the back rows of the plane. Of course they end the conversation with how much they value my business. Whatever.

For this and other reasons, Delta, is falling out of favor with me. I'm super interested in what is occurring with Alaska. They fly to places that I frequent.

Just to add a bit of info the airline is American. Since they are based out of Dallas we are using them more and more since we moved up here in 2020. Previously we flew on United mostly. However recently we made the decision to drive up to Denver on a recent trip rather than fly. Yes, we had to pay for an extra night in a hotel, but it was worth it to us. We also booked two extra nights before our tour starts in Paris, just to give us a cushion in case of more delays like American experienced this week.

I'm super interested in what is occurring with Alaska. They fly to places that I frequent.

Jules, my favorite airline. We use them as much as possible and the service is excellent. We now have close fam8ly in the Twin Cities so delighted to have a non-stop on Alaska to visit.

We had this happen on a British airway flight codeshare with American on both legs of a flight back from Rome. It took quite a few months but finally got my money back for prebooking my seat on BA. I did go from a window to middle but husband was able to keep the aisle.

If they are going to charge for a seat they should pay you back if they change it.