When you get there, I feel very sure that the flight crew will shuffle the seats so that your child is next to at least one of you.

quote:

It sounded odd to me at the time, but she swears they required her to go Pre-check once, and given that she's a very truthful person, and it's the TSA we're talking about, my money's on her. Depending on how busy an airport could get, I could see that kind of scenario recommended as a requirement.

My last flight was a study in major league fuck-ups by UAL. Not to mention the TSA assholes.

Airline ground staff should be fully aware of all "rules" and actually work to accommodate passengers. Sadly, they seem to be working to make their jobs as easy as possible and are not above lying to paying passengers, either.

I distinctly remember an experience we had years ago while flying to Germany. Wife and I.

My ticket was paid by my company, and I had at least a gazillion miles and flights logged.

Decided to take wife along and tie some free time together and visit her family.

Got to the counter (note we had already selected seats in business class) and the "clerk" proceeded to scrap our reserved seats and reassign us. I would have been 4 rows away from the Mrs. which I found unacceptable. Clerk started giving me some shit about my request to reconsider. No dice. I asked to see her supervisor, and when he got there, he was not especially accommodating until I pulled out my frequent flyer ID (which had many thousands of files and flights on it) and suddenly things were working.

My bitch is/was that should not have been necessary to go through all that crap to actually get 2 seats next to each other, which we had already booked and received approval.

And service has only gotten worse, seats are now so small, and jammed together to tightly that someone of 6 foot stature is essentially packed in like sardines.

I decided to never fly again. Only family I have that is not within easy driving range is in Idaho, and if I have to go there. I will drive.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
When you get there, I feel very sure that the flight crew will shuffle the seats so that your child is next to at least one of you.

Does shuffling the sets mean moving others around who may also want to stay in the seat they picked when they paid for their flight?

what city did your little girl end up in ?

Well, we checked our 2 bags (for free!) about 2 hours ahead of departure and asked the ticketing counter about the SNAFU, they took our boarding passes and said "Better luck next time." Actually, they reissued us seats all in row 6. My $70 portable DVD player got the swab test and the liquids got a once over. Wife and the kids got metal detected only and the kids got TSA stickers. I told wife kids could leave shoes on, she has them take them off to set a good example

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
... asked the ticketing counter about the SNAFU, they took our boarding passes and said "Better luck next time."

The Delta folks are usually pretty good. My interactions with them are overwhelmingly positive (for reference, I'm Platinum Medallion with them).

Flying overall still blows most times nowadays though.

We recently flew roundtrip Charlotte to DFW on American, just the wife and I.

Waiting on the departure from CLT we are told the flight crew is coming in on another plane and once they work their de-plane they will amble over our way.

They finally showed up looking less than happy, more like haggard and pissed off. Plane finally leaves the tarmac exactly one hour late.

By some miracle our flight arrives in Dallas just 5 minutes late of the original landing time. WOW, how the hell did that happen. Call me impressed.

Flight back to Charlotte went smooth as silk and all is well. Hats off to American on that one.

My wife was flying back from San Dieago and was in first class (medical reason) they checked her in, she boarded and...there was no seat. In fact, there was row. The plane had been changed to a smaller one but Delta just put people on without seats.
On the "once you get there they will accommodate you" stuff. My flight stopped in Newark. A bunch of people came on and it seems nobody wanted their assigned seats "My travel agent assured my you'd change my seat..."after about the third, "Hey you have to give me your seat" I just snarled. We missed two push offs and were delayed as people just would not sit down.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
When you get there, I feel very sure that the flight crew will shuffle the seats so that your child is next to at least one of you.

Does shuffling the sets mean moving others around who may also want to stay in the seat they picked when they paid for their flight?

Yes, because if the plane wasn't full, they wouldn't have moved you in the first place. They reserve that right when you buy the ticket.

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:
after about the third, "Hey you have to give me your seat" I just snarled. We missed two push offs and were delayed as people just would not sit down.

I had this happen, albeit not three times in the same flight.

Booked four seats together, in a center row of a 5-across center section widebody for a family trip SF-Honolulu and booked the seats 6 months in advance - this was years ago when the kids were small. Checked in on line 24 hours ahead, got the boarding passes, printed them out. Got to the airport early, we were among the first in when my boarding group was called. Got the kids settled, sat down with wife on the inside, me on the aisle.

In other words, did it by the book.

Some well dressed jerk comes up and says to me, "You're in our seats. You've got to move." I always check before getting settled, but hey, anyone can make a mistake....except I hadn't and we were in our booked seats. I told him this. He then said, 'Well, I have a reservation for those seats - we have a problem. You need to come with me to the ticket counter.'

I told him "We don't have a problem - you have a problem. I'm not going anywhere." He sputtered, got a flight attendant, who took one look at my boarding pass, apologized to me and hustled the asshole off to the gate.

The Airlines make it tough on themselves. No one to blame but themselves.

First, why allow customers to pick seats to begin with if you aren't going to honor the reservation? Aren't you setting yourself up for failure, issues and complaints? A rhetorical question, but you get my meaning.

Second, why not empower the ticket agent or customer service people in the airport kiosks to solve the problem instead of just forwarding the problem down the line to the gate agent? All that does is piss off passengers several times and really ramp up the potential for conflict at the gate. Why not solve the issue at first contact and diffuse the potential for conflict immediately?

That's gotta be a shitty job, but I have no sympathy.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
I told him "We don't have a problem - you have a problem. I'm not going anywhere." He sputtered, got a flight attendant, who took one look at my boarding pass, apologized to me and hustled the asshole off to the gate.

Karma is a bitch. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall listening to the conversation between airline and asshole on that one. I have a feeling you may have missed the real show.

did I ever tell you about the time I got the middle seat between two other 300 pound guys?

The nicest person I ever met on a flight happened to be an attendant.

We three were mashed together like bad comedy skit.

Before we got backed out of the gate, The lady motioned to me to come with her, she took me back three rows and I had three seats all to myself .

woo hoo

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
Well, we checked our 2 bags (for free!) about 2 hours ahead of departure and asked the ticketing counter about the SNAFU, they took our boarding passes and said "Better luck next time." Actually, they reissued us seats all in row 6.

Glad it worked out

quote:

Originally posted by jigray3:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Of course you can "opt out." You're under no obligation to use the Pre-check lane just because you have pre-check. She probably just told you that so she didn't have to deal with the regular security. Haha. As a frequent flyer, I would've done the same thing.

It sounded odd to me at the time, but she swears they required her to go Pre-check once, and given that she's a very truthful person, and it's the TSA we're talking about, my money's on her. Depending on how busy an airport could get, I could see that kind of scenario recommended as a requirement.

I have seen TSA here in Birmingham require a pre-check person to go through the pre-check line, even though it was longer and they wanted to use the regular line. Dude went all the way through the regular line only to be told he had to go to the back of the pre-check line. I don't know what the rules are, but it would appear to be TSA's discretion on whether you can opt-out or not.

Glad it worked out. Delta is the best at reoslving the separation of family issues, at least in my experience (traveling about 4-5 times per year with family). Lots of times the tickets weren't together, and ALWAYS has been resolved at the gate.

Re pre-check: I am pre-check, my wife is global entry. We have never been told we HAVE to use the pre-check line.

quote:

Originally posted by jaaron11:

I have seen TSA here in Birmingham require a pre-check person to go through the pre-check line, even though it was longer and they wanted to use the regular line. Dude went all the way through the regular line only to be told he had to go to the back of the pre-check line. I don't know what the rules are, but it would appear to be TSA's discretion on whether you can opt-out or not.

When I go thru the regular line here at TIA, I don't see the TSA comparing my boarding pass/ID to any lists. How do they know you are pre-check if you don't tell them you are?

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:

quote:

Originally posted by jaaron11:

I have seen TSA here in Birmingham require a pre-check person to go through the pre-check line, even though it was longer and they wanted to use the regular line. Dude went all the way through the regular line only to be told he had to go to the back of the pre-check line. I don't know what the rules are, but it would appear to be TSA's discretion on whether you can opt-out or not.

When I go thru the regular line here at TIA, I don't see the TSA comparing my boarding pass/ID to any lists. How do they know you are pre-check if you don't tell them you are?

It's written on your boarding pass.

It's hard to believe someone can't go through the regular lane even if he had precheck. Apparently it's happened though. Absurd.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
did I ever tell you about the time I got the middle seat between two other 300 pound guys?

The nicest person I ever met on a flight happened to be an attendant.

We three were mashed together like bad comedy skit.

Before we got backed out of the gate, The lady motioned to me to come with her, she took me back three rows and I had three seats all to myself .

woo hoo

Years ago I was in the Houston airport, took the underground trolley between terminals, the fellow sitting next to me made some bizarre statements. When we reached our terminal I found security and reported the matter. They asked if I could ID the fellow, which I did, they were looking for him but didn't have a good description. A couple of minutes later about half a dozen officers cuffed him and walked him out.

My seat on the plane was with two 300 pounders, a husband and wife. Just after the door shut, the attendant leaned over and whispered "the captain would like me to invite you to sit in first class".