Seat allocation question

[timmcat]

Hope you guys can answer this.

Just done my annual paxing with the family, flying LBA - ALC - LBA. We forgot to ask to prebook seats, but a friend with contacts at Leeds sorted the outbound leg no problem.

On the return from Alicante on Tuesday morning, we arrived very early to check in, in fact we had to wait for the desks to open. I asked (politely) the check in lady if it was possible for the six of us to sit together as close to the front of the aircraft as possible. I was told this was not possible, as the pre-booked pax who had booked meals were allocated front seats. Seemed a fair reply. Boarded the plane to find we were on the back row.

Was the lady being particularly unhelpful, or was she loading from the rear (I think we were the second family to check in). The party in the row in front of us had asked the same due to a lady having a panic attack on the inbound leg when sat at the rear.

[Little Blue]

Now....when I was a CSA....back in the dark distant days of the late 80's....It was common unwritten policy to never let the pax see the seating plan, especially on a charter (it was all manual check-in in those prehistoric times).
If any pax offered any kind of bad attitude..then if they wanted non-smoking, they were shoved in smoking and vice versa...
However, a polite attitude usually resulted in the pax getting whatever they wanted..

Timmcat, at least they sat you all together !
;)

[tallseabird]

As far as I know all seating is pre-allocated, its just the ones that pre-book are pre-allocated first.

Prior to check-in the tour operator specifies to the airline who is to be pre-allocated, that is done and then the rest are allocated, by the time the check-in opens all seats are allocated, if you get someone who is prepared to do it, then you may get moved but then so does someone else.

[FinalsToLand]

It is common now for seats to be pre-assigned depending wether you have a meal or not.

I dont know who you flew with but on Britannia people with meals booked are assigned seats at the front and no-meal pax get given seats at the back.

F.T.L

[timmcat]

Thanks for the replies. The flight in question was operated by MyTravel, but on a Skyservice A320 which I believe is wet leased for the summer.

I can assure you my request to the check in lady was very polite and I fully understand that the pre-booked pax with meals would be given priority. I just could'nt understand why we were put right at the back, despite our request.

Obviously I don't know how many pax were pre-booked, but hardly anyone had a meal.

[FinalsToLand]

Unfortunately even if your request was very polite if your seats have been assigned by the airline (some airlines not all) the check-in agents are not allowed to seat change you and must allocate the assigned seats.

F.T.L