My wife and I took a trip to Rome a few years back. I tried to check in online 24 hours before and couldn't. Arrived at Ter 5 in good time for the the mid morning flight, no seats together. It was a code share / connection with a flight that had originated in LA some 15 hours earlier. So the through booking facility had taken the seats and on paper we were not able to sit together. No help at check in or the gate, on plane, steward was convinced, that "she who must be obeyed", was a well known actress, and couldn't possibly sit with some unknown oik. My wife bears no possible resemblance to aforsaid diva, and anyway last time I saw th lady concerned she had dyed her hair pink, and I am not having my wife do that to get a seat together on a flight.
I have always been asked for the Credit Card used to buy the ticket, and I have always thought that it was some kind of fraud prevention. Alan
