Airline seat allocation

whirleysad

Booked 6 seats with Ebookers to South Africa on Virgin Atlantic. On arriving at check in we discovered we had been allocated 6 of the worst seats on the plane, next to the toilets at the back. On a 12 hour overnight flight this is no joke. The return journey was the same. It appears that Ebookers customers are automatically offered the worst seats on the plane, so cheap(er) tickets come "at a price" take care. :mad:

Amba_Gambla

When you get you seat allocations you can change them...

When I book to the US with expedia last summer, I got my confirmation and could see what seats I was booked on. I checked online (www.seatguru.com) and luckily tehy were ok. I know my parents have found they've been allocated crap seats and called the airline to request seats. It's all about advacned planning.....

whirleysad

Unfortunately Ebookers told us they were unable to reserve seats, so we tried to check in online and get first pick but it wouldn't work. The Virgin check in desk said that the only seats available to us were the grotty ones at the back because these were the only ones ever offered to people booking with Ebookers. Lesson learnt

Amba_Gambla

OK, stand corrected.... worthy of note. Does anyone know if this is just Virgin and Ebookers, or is it other airlines and ebookers, or just virgin?



(did you try ringing the airline direct?)

richardw

With long haul flights it is worth finding out first if you can pick seats, before you book.
I also always ask if the agent can give me an airline reference, as this is what the airline's website will recognise, if the agent can't do this I try a different agent.

I booked a flight and hotel package through an agent, they gave me the airline reference and I picked my seats online, even though I had only paid a deposit.

Amadeus compatible references can also be used at https://www.checkmytrip.com but not all airlines can do seat choosing.

trav100

Happened with us to. We booked to SA with Ebookers on BA and we couldn't check-in online when we were supposed to be able to. BA said this is EB doing the way they set up the booking is wrong. EB will promise you anything before you book but I had alot of trouble with them and wouldn't use again.

WiseInvestor_2

whirleysad wrote:

Ebookers customers are automatically offered the worst seats on the plane, so cheap(er) tickets come "at a price"

I've absolutely no idea whether or not this is true but it sounds like a good idea to me. It wouldn't be right to have a full fare passenger in the worst seat would it?

nelly_2

expedia let you pick your seats online, not entirely sure if its every flight, but I ve done it a couple of times, unfortunately theres no option to pick yourself a 1st class seat or one in the !!!! pit ;(

Cardew

The seat booking policy varies for different airlines. All of them have a booking code system and the cheap seats bought from EB/Expedia etc generally have a lower code.

If you suscribe to Expert FlightBooker it is possible to see all the codes for every airline and their allocation of seats to each flight by code.

Airlines are fighting back against 'bucket shops/agencies' and these days the cheapest prices are often found by booking direct from the airline themselves - some airlines guarantee they will be the cheapest. However if you do get a cheaper flight from an agency you will normally get less favourable treatment from the airline.

PNEfan

We too have decided not to use Ebookers again after being allocated 2 seats in different parts of the plane on outgoing and return flights to U.S.

When I complained to Ebookers they said there was nothing they could do - they just had to accept the seats that were offered by the airline!

ynot2005

WiseInvestor wrote:

I've absolutely no idea whether or not this is true but it sounds like a good idea to me. It wouldn't be right to have a full fare passenger in the worst seat would it?

perhaps the airlines could put a sign above the worst seats and what company was used to book them

then the cheap fare traveller could feel some shame about getting a cheap fare, and the full fare passengers paying lottery wins prices for their seats can have at least some value for their money