I have a code share flight purchased through Alitalia and operated by Air France, Delta and Alitalia. On the Delta leg I was able to choose seats and upgrade to comfort seats. I was able to choose seats on the Alitalia flights BUT I can not select seats on the Air France portion until check in. I'm traveling with my wife and we'd like to sit together on the 9 hr flight. I've offered to pay and have just been told I cant. I've been told to call Air France, they say call the travel agent, the travel agent says call Alitalia ...and its this be circle that gets no where. Its all the same booking, I just don't get why I can choose seats on 3 flights and not this one. Anyone know any tricks or have advice ? :)
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Sounds like a good question for your Travel Agent. Or better yet - why is your TA not choosing your seats for you? Those kinds of things are why you pay a TA.
Posted by
Chicago
8162 posts
Pay a travel agent to plan a trip and then have to ask complete strangers for help. What is up with that?
Contact the travel troubleshooter he writes for the Chicago Tribune and gets results.
http://elliott.org/category/the-troubleshooter/
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area
5697 posts
Had a similar problem using a code-share Lufthansa flight booked through United. We ended up calling Lufthansa from Munich two days before our return flight and they were quite helpful. Agree that you don't want to spend the long flight home sitting in middle seats if you can help it!
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10621 posts
It may be your fare class if the TA got you a super bargain fare. Those seats are assigned or chosen when you check in. It's the legacy airline competing with the budget carriers. Check with your TA and ask AF.
Posted by
Salem, OR, USA
222 posts
fumunda2jp:
Here is from my post in 2015:
"Hey fellow travelers,
Just an fyi based on my recent experience. I booked tickets on Delta from Portland, OR to Paris, France with a connection in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis to Paris flight was on Air France via code share with Delta. I always pay the extra when available on long haul for economy comfort (helps to have that bit of extra space, especially with arthritis pain). No matter how I tried; on-line at both Delta and Air France sites, calling both, etc..... I could NOT upgrade my seat (there were plenty of these seats showing available on-line) for the Minneapolis to Paris leg via Air France.
The Air France rep told me that they do not allow anyone who books on another site (Delta in my case) to upgrade unless there is something left when you ARRIVE at the airport. He explained this was due to Air France wanting to save those seats for their own customers. I confirmed this by calling Delta a second time and it is true. Funny thing is I usually always fly direct to Amsterdam and then take a hopper from there but my son convinced me to try connecting in the US this time. Oh, well. Lesson learned. I realize it isn't the end of the world and bottom line, we will just be happy to get there but I was totally surprised and just wanted to share for those who care about this issue. The Air France rep also told me if I had booked with them direct instead of Delta, I could have chosen and paid for the upgraded seat."
I see nothing has changed with Air France. I could not book economy comfort and had to settle for regular seats as of course there were no EC seats left by the time we got to check-in. We don't plan on taking Air France any more unless no other options are available, the flight was not fun. I sincerely hope your experience is better!!
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10621 posts
The Economy Comfort vs Economy Premier is very confusing but I'll try to explain it.
Air France doesn't have the economy comfort add-on but it has a separate class called Economy Premiere. It's $300+ more each way and has most of the perks of Business but without the lay-flat seats. Delta doesn't sell Economy Premiere tickets because Delta has only First, Business, and Economy tickets, whereas AF has four classes for overseas flights: First, Business, Economy Premier, and Economy. On Delta you can choose a seat with more legroom for 100+ each way but it's still within the economy fare class and doesn't offer business perks. That's why the previous poster couldn't get economy comfort: it doesn't exist on AF. Delta doesn't offer or sell Economy Premier and AF can't upgrade a person without an AF ticket--sort of a catch 22 for that class. It's the same if you are cashing in Delta miles to use on AF metal--you can get economy or business but not the Economy Comfort class. It is VERY confusing because they are both called economy!
Back in 2015 travelers could choose their seats on AF and even pay for an exit row seat or some other "upscale" economy seat. I did it many times. Now, in 2017 to compete with the budget airlines, AF is selling an inexpensive ticket where seats are chosen or assigned at the airport.
However, you should call Air France and ask for your Air France confirmation number--not the Delta or Alitalia confirmations. Then ask to choose seats. If they say no, ask to speak to a supervisor. Stay polite, as I'm sure you will--in fact, use the "I have a little problem and I hope you can help" approach.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area
5697 posts
Well, I booked through KLM and just reserved seats online at the Air France site -- not upgraded to Premium Economy, but paid extra to get 2-across economy. KLM site just said to select seats at check in.
Posted by
20 posts
Last year when we flew AF from ATL-CDG, I managed to book regular economy seats for no charge and then at the gate, I checked the seat map from airfrance.com and saw that there were two sets of 2-across seats in the back. The gate agent moved us there at no extra charge. It was a fairly comfortable flight back there for our family of 4.