Reserved seats not honored

MetalJack21

Hello,

Myself and my partner booked and paid extra for reserved seats on a trip to the USA recently but when we received our boarding passes we did not have the seats we reserved but were sat with the rest of our travelling party, which was not a huge issue but we paid for window seats elsewhere on the aircraft and did not receive these.

Would our complaint lay with the booking company, Gotogate.com, or the airline,Aer Lingus?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

Grumpygit

Whilst I can't exactly answer your question.....


We had a similar issue when booking via Expedia to the US recently as well.


During booking we booked and paid for our seats, but after checking in, we noticed that the seats we had been given weren't what we had booked.


We went to the BA customer services desk and the lady there checked our booking (under a different booking number than what we had) and advised that there was no such booking for specific seats.


She then actually advised us that the checking in agent hadn't actually sat us together!


So she changed that for us but said there was nothing she could do about the prebooked seats and for us to take it up with Expedia


Which I did and it turns out that, whilst you may think you've paid for and booked your seats, you haven't actually done that and you must confirm with the airline directly on which seats you want.


So I suppose what I am saying is, is there a specific entry on your invoice that says booked seats £xx amount - if there isn't then it's possible that you've had the same experience as us and it hasn't gone through to the airline.


We didn't have any specific line item on the invoice for seats, but given we were in Premium Economy, the seat allocation was free so I wouldn't have expected to pay (if that makes sense)


I would probably look at your invoice/itinerary to see about the seat charge and then contact the booking agent (but I don't suppose it would hurt to ask Aer lingus the question on your booking)

budgetflyer

BA charge for seat selection in PE. Club too unless you have status

steve1500

The issue would be Aer Lingus,.

The fact that you have paid for reserved seats, does not guarantee that you will get them.

Any Airline can move you for operational or safety reasons.

If they do you should be refunded

photome

OP did you get a refund

zagfles

You never pay to "reserve" a seat, you pay to "select a preferred seat", all airline's T&Cs will state that you aren't guaranteed the seat you selected. I don't think technically they have to refund you, since you paid to "select a preferred seat" not reserve a seat, but most will if you don't get your "preferred" seat.

MetalJack21

sorry for no reply recent as I have been busy recently. we selected seats fot out flight (24H and 24K to be presice). we paid a total of £36 and it appears on the booking ahents imvoice. when i found out that we did not have these seats before our flight when I checked on I contacted both Aer Lingus and the booking agent. Aer lingus said that they had no record of it and to contact the booking agent. I rang the booking agent and they said to email regarding a refund white photos of the relevant documents. I emailed back on the 2nd of June and have not yet been in touch with me apart from a generated response.

not holding any hope for getting the refund as reviews I've read online regarding this company are not pretty

EveryWhere

MetalJack21 wrote: »

sorry for no reply recent as I have been busy recently. we selected seats fot out flight (24H and 24K to be presice). we paid a total of £36 and it appears on the booking ahents imvoice. when i found out that we did not have these seats before our flight when I checked on I contacted both Aer Lingus and the booking agent. Aer lingus said that they had no record of it and to contact the booking agent. I rang the booking agent and they said to email regarding a refund white photos of the relevant documents. I emailed back on the 2nd of June and have not yet been in touch with me apart from a generated response.

not holding any hope for getting the refund as reviews I've read online regarding this company are not pretty

Open a dispute with your card company.
Nothing to do with Aer Lingus. If you want to reserve a particular seat, do it directly with the airline.

cubegame

Why did you book with an agent rather than the airline direct?

For future reference, the advice generally given on this forum is NEVER EVER EVER book with any agent unless you are saving £100s, and even then don't do it until you're convinced the airline won't price match (as many will even if they don't advertise the fact).

MetalJack21

Got an email off of the company today saying that they will refund the money in full. just to wait for it to come through now