@busdriver I did read my posts – they were clear that my own family ticket was “re-booked” but how that was effectuated on their system was unknown to me. What is the significance of whether it was effectuated through the issuance of new ticket or a name change which the TSA says is ok? I didn’t care either way and left it to them – I just wanted to be able to utilize a ticket I paid for. In the end they produce the same result and either would have resolved the Schear’s problem.
As to the their issue on Delta I posted the following which suggests I thought the airline could have done for the Schears what they did for our family:
@HarvestMoon1 - check my post 212. Take a look at the tix numbers and report back. I once had to ask JetBlue for a name change. A foreign student misspelled her own legal name in the email that she sent to my kid. I booked 5 tix for all of them… Then the girl sent another email saying OMG sorry! It took 2 managers’ approval and 20 min on the phone to fix that mistake. All 5 tix had to be reissued because they were on the same itinerary. But I did not have to pay 5 change fees and any extras. Just like the agent on the phone had to get many approvals before helping me, I bet the gate agents did not have the authority to let Mr. 15 Min of Fame simply swap the names.
Airlines do have rules that you need to purchase an additional seat if you cannot fit into one seat with the armrests down. To protect yourself, you should print out a copy of that rule and bring it with you in case you are seated next to someone who is taking part of your seat.
FAs just want to get the plane going and will try to brush off complaints or even threaten a passenger with deboarding if they complain. Who knows, you may even be threatened with federal prison and foster care for your kids. It makes sense to know your legal rights when flying and carry written proof with you.
@BunsenBurner I don’t know if they have that authority but I just don’t see the significance of how they go about doing it. There was a mechanism to get the ticket in the child’s name.
HarvestMoon, you say they could do what they did for your family, but you don’t know what they actually did for your family. Likely they cancelled your husband’s ticket and booked a new ticket for your child (which is not rebooking, rebooking is for the same person). What they did for you was on the phone, ahead of time, not while boarding.
Do you think they should have stopped everything going on onboard, gotten things going with the computer, and found a way to cancel the older child’s seat and book a new ticket for the younger one? I didn’t hear Mr. Schear offering to buy a ticket for his younger child, he kept yelling that he paid for it. And do you think they actually sell seats to people when they’re onboard (you want this seat? I’ll give it to you for $500.)
What makes these people so special that they deserve exceptional treatment that delays everyone else? What is different about them?
Okay, I gotta go to bed, but here’s my gate agent announcement for the night.
"I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but this flight is going to be delayed. The Schears have claimed seat 16D that their older son did not check in for as their own. Even though they know better, since Mr. Schear flies often, it is very uncomfortable to fly such a distance with a lap baby. His wife doesn’t want to have a baby on her lap all that way, and he certainly couldn’t be expected to help or actually pay for that child’s seat, as the rules clearly state.
However, we are going to spend some time changing the rules, getting supervisors involved and making exceptions for them. Because they are extra special…unlike the rest of you. Oh, sorry about those of you who will miss your connections. And lady heading to seat 16D, turn your butt around and get off the plane. Tough luck to you." 
@busdriver we are talking past each other at this point – it is not productive.
It’s possible. However, the crew does count lap babies, so they could have caught that. And if one does what you suggested, you could stand the chance of getting arrested, so I definitely wouldn’t play that game!
Being seated beside grossly obese passengers that spill over their seats happens much more often than these other airline issues that are making the news lately. On one of my recent flights, the passenger was like the one in the photo of the article that @busdriver11 cited. The man was at least 1/2 if not 2/3s in the aisle as he clearly didn’t fit in his seat. They had to deplane him to his wheelchair immediately upon landing so everyone else could get off the plane. The normal procedure is to deplane wheelchair passengers last but deplaning with seated would have been a significant safety hazard for him and other passengers.
It makes no sense that there is no minimum seat width and regulations requiring people who need larger seats or more space to buy more space. Most of my flights are are 5-10+ hours and there are definite health consequences to the person in a seat that is too small as well as those seated beside such passengers.
Our D is very petite and has been seated beside people spilling over their seats on many flights.
Last year, DH and I were travelling on the same flight, but we had to ticket them separately as his ticket was being paid for by his company, and he has to ticket though a third party travel agent site. We looked up the fares and found the lowest fare. I made the mistake of suggesting he book first (we were sitting next to each other on our computers) because apparently there was only one seat left at that fare and the fare that I would then have to pay went up. I called the airline to explain, and asked if we could changes his to my name and then book a new one in his. NOPE. We had to cancel his ticket and then HOPE that in the few moments it would take for the agent to book my ticket , that the one fare that would go back into the system as available when he cancelled his ticket didn’t get snared by someone else who might also be booking that flight.
It worked out, and I was able to get the lower fare and then DH rebooked his ticket at the higher fare (almost didn’t work since he had to pay with a corporate cr. card and it would take a few days, they said, for his refund to process for his first ticketed, then cancelled, ticket.)
So lesson learned- if DH and I are going to travel together on separate itineraries because his has to be ticketed through work, I book mine first- then he books his. There is NO changing the name on the ticket.
jym, I learned that lesson the hard way, too. And sometimes you put in to buy two tickets at the same time and the price goes up for both. Aggravating.
I also made the mistake not too long ago of tracking the fares through google flights and then accidentally clicking “1” instead of “2” tickets. I did select for it to take me directly to the airline website to book it, but I realized it after I was through the booking and then had to book DH’s ticket separately. Ironically, I happen to have the higher status right now as he is travelling less and I have the airline credit card in my name. His ticket ended up more expensive , again, by about $30 or so, and when I got notification within 24 hrs of a fare drop and called the airlines to credit us back the difference, it again turned out that the drop was available on only ONE seat. So, since DH’s ticket was more than mine, they did the price drop on his ticket.
Then, get this, even though we were seated in the same row in steerage, the lower price ticket didn’t let him sit in that row, and it changed his seat assignment!! Say whaa?? We were in the back somewhere, with an aisle and window seat. Apparently his lower price ticket didn’t qualify him for a window seat!!! The agent worked with me and had to get permission form a supervisor to put him BACK in the seat he had originally selected!!
This all happened the night that Hairspray live was on tv, b/c the agent was enjoying the music in the background (I had it on softly, but apparently loud enough for him to hear!)
That would make me want to scream. What is that quote again? Something about it’s not the big things that will drive you crazy, it’s the gnats. All the gnats.
What is that fare tracking notification you’re talking about? I should pay attention, if it involves getting refunds.
Google flights will send you notifications of flights you track. If it drops within 24 hrs of your booking, some airlines will refund the difference.I assume that is the policy of most, but I don’t know for sure. It is the policy of the airline we were booked on, so I did get the credit back on my credit card (not an account credit)
Cool! If I do that, now I also know to make sure they didn’t move me from my exit row seat to a center seat in the last row.
My final vent for now:
DH and I were flying on the same itinerary a few months ago and qualified for automatic upgrades. The airline decided to “upgrade” us by moving us from a row with 2 seats (yay, not a 3 seat row!) where we were seated together (window and aisle), to economy comfort seats, one behind the other in center seats of three seat rows!! Um NO this is NOT and upgrade in my opinion!! Had to call the airline and wait on hold for… 2 hours!!! Could not change the seats back to what we had on line because it was a different fare class (even though we were trying to go back to a lower seat class). We were able to get seats back in a 2 seat row ( a few rows from our original seats, which had already been reassigned) but sheesh!!!
That is awful! I’m guessing same route but not booked together? If you were booked together, that seems like a royal messup. I think that is why Delta stopped doing automatic upgrades to economy comfort seats, because they were taking you out of your lovely exit row window seat, and moving you up to a center seat. Now you have to specifically request the upgrade to economy comfort, so I often won’t even select that. And then you can’t move back without a phone call, as you say. Two hours? Wow! I have called Delta a couple of times the last week and now they have this callback system, where you keep your place in line and they call you back. It’s much easier, though I don’t know if other airlines do that.
We were booked together, on the same itinerary!! But… this WAS on Delta!
I did the auto callback with my cellphone# and stayed on hold on a landline. The hold worked better.
That’s a serious messup. I hate center seats.