+1 to all of this. Of course things happen while flying that you don't want to happen or are unhappy with. Schedules change. Airplane break. Weather happens. But there are ways to watch and anticipate problems before they occur and then know how to properly deal with them when they happen. These are big airlines and lots of flight changes, rebookings, seat assignment changes, etc, happen automatically and without some big bad boogie man purposely doing this to you or your family. No airline is immune. No passenger is immune. But it says a lot about you with how you handle it. I always wonder who the people are that are standing there yelling at gate agents - I suspect its a lot of people on this thread! |
What about your husband? They DID deny him boarding. When/how did they rebook him? This story gets less believeable by the minute. Did you call the airline 800 number? There is no way this happened the way you described. |
OP here. I noticed when we were getting ready to board so they weren’t even done with first class yet. I’m group 2 so was on the plane right away when most of the plane was empty. They did end up getting my two younger kids seated with me. Oldest sat several rows behind us. I thought United would at minimum send us a notification that our seats were changed. I will be sure to check in the future. It seems it is somewhat common to reassign seats. Dh and I usually do spend a minute to see where we are sitting, usually to decide who sits with which kids. He wasn’t there so…. |
Yes, this happened to us, on a direct flight to Hawaii. We checked our reservations regularly and my husband noticed the change the night before, he called immediately, and was told that no change could be made until we were at the gate. Then at the gate, the gate agent was very slow to try to make any changes. Our son was 7 at the time and it was a ten hour plus flight. This was business class, and I'm sure no one wanted to pay for business class to Hawaii and randomly sit next to a child for ten hours. Finally the gate agent got someone to change so our child could sit next to my husband. I understand things change but the airline should be able to keep a child under 10 next to one of the adults on the same reservation. Our kid is 10 now and while it wouldn't be ideal, he'd be fine sitting by himself. But at 7 on that long of flight? Sorry but no. |
PP here...actually our son was 6, I got the year mixed up. What's funny is on the return flight I sat with out son. My H sat next to half of a couple; they asked if he would switch so they could sit together and he was like sure, no problem. So it's not like I'm tied to the seat I get assigned; I just don't think children should be randomly assigned elsewhere alone. It just makes so little sense for anybody, and feels like it would be a good PR move for an airline to guarantee something like that. |
This happened to me with United. I checked in online 24 hours in advance on the app with seat assignment and I paid for economy plus. Got to the airport , checked in through security with my boarding Pas. . While at the gate, got a notice that I “hadn’t checked in” and when I opened app, boarding Pass assigned a new seat in economy. Had to go to gate agent. My seat was given away but they could see I bought the upgrade so they gave me one they had left. None of us understood what was happening. |
In this new digital world, I screenshot everything! I usually go through once a month or so and delete all the screenshots I no longer need, but you’d be surprised how often they come in handy! |
The airline can see what your previous seat assignments were. Not sure what a screenshot will do to help you. |
I cannot stand people like you. It is crap that airlines do this. They should not be allowed to sneakily do so. This is a company problem not an OP failing. |
I’m poster 09:24. We have silver status and book directly through the United site. Made no difference. In fact, now that you mention it, all three times we had front row/extra legroom seats. Guess those are the first seats to go when they change aircraft’s. Also, the amount of United reps on this thread is comical. You can tell exactly who they are. |
Do you honestly think United sends their reps to scour the internet and respond anonymously to complaints? C’mon man. |
Absolutely no one is saying the airlines "should be allowed" to do this. No one. Lobby Congress, get the laws changed, vote with your feet, whatever you think will work. I fully support it. In the meantime I'm going to jump through these extra hoops to minimize disruption to my travel. That should not be construed as my condoning airline behavior. Merely accepting it. And no I'm not an airline rep. Good grief. I effing hate United but they are sometimes a neccessary evil. I'm not willing to pay a bunch more or take a convoluted route to avoid them either. |