Flight seat fiasco

[Carabbean2014]

I am very angry with P & O, we have booked to travel to the Barbados to start our cruise on Azura, this is a special occasion for us, it is our Ruby wedding anniversary. We booked premium seats on the plane as a lovely relaxing start to our holiday. However, it would seem that there is a class system at work here, instead of a first come first serve basis, as I assume we have all paid the same price for the seats, that if you are Baltic or Ligurian you get first pick of the seats, had they paid more for their seats I would have no problem, however, they have not. I find this to be an archaic system and very unfair. We have saved for a long time for this cruise and feel very aggrieved that the system is very unfair. We didn't book premium seats to be sat apart but to have a comfortable and special start to what is a very special holiday for us. We will be travelling with my sister and brother in law who have sailed with P & O for many years, they have never heard of this happening in the past. P & O seem to be returning to the class system and not prepared to treat their passengers in a fair and equal manner. I would be interested to hear others views about this.

[kandajones]

I guess that P&O are trying to encourage people to move up their loyalty scheme (although this negative experience is hardly likely to encourage you) by rewarding the higher levels, and it does clearly state in their documents, this is one of the perks :o(

Priority to book preferred seats on charter flights prior to embarkation
If you are taking a fly-cruise with us you may wish to book and pay for a specific seat on the inbound and outbound charter flights. If so you'll be given a priority of two days in which to select and book seats ahead of their general release. You will be able to do this online through Cruise Personaliser. Please note that the Peninsular on board discount does not apply to this item and priority booking is only applicable to Caribbean fly-cruises (exotic fly-cruises are excluded).

I agree that is is a shame, but I suppose that the people in the higher levels would also be miffed if P&O didn't play by their rules.

I hope that the rest of your cruise more than makes up for this disappointment.

Alan.

[Donna]

So sorry for this disappointment with the flight, no, doesn't seem fair to me either. Hopefully, you will end up with seats that you will be happy with, keep us posted.

[Trip]

Tha airlines are finding more and more ways to get more dollars out of our wallet, and paying for this new twist is maddening. I have heard of parents not being seated with their children,and this is just insane.

[Donna]

On my last trip home from Fl. we had two seats 2 rows apart, so I just nicely asked if it was able to get two together. Much to my surprise, the ticket agent at the gate, did just that and put us in the isles where there is more leg room at no charge...So, it never hurts to ask...

[Paul Motter]

Yes - I have often found that gate agents can do so much more than you would ever expect. Sometimes it is just a matter of finding the right person. I have had some incredibly good luck.

For example - just last Sunday I was in Houston and booked for a 2:30 flight to PHX, but I was exhausted and saw one leaving at noon. So, I asked the gate agent if I could get standby and she said yes (for a $75 change fee, I had a restricted ticket).

At that same moment another man walked up and said he had talked to the ticket agent (baggage handlers) outside and they had told him that if HE wanted to get on this same flight there was no standby so he had to purchase a full fare ticket, which he had done. He was at the gate to get a seat assignment.

He had done that that before I got my standby ticket, but had to buy a full fare. I only paid a change fee.

There have been other times when I have been told (for example) that I could not get a seat assignment until the flight agents came to the gate desk, but I just happened to find someone at a different gate who happily gave me an aisle seat for the flight I needed several hours prior to my flight.

I have even been bumped up to business class twice (both times on British Air) - without asking.

SO SORRY for your problems however. I admit I did not fully understand the original post, but other people seemed to.

[Donna]

I too got very lucky on my last flight from Orlando to O'Hare, we had 2 seats, but a few rows apart, so I figured I would ask the gate agent if he could find 2 together...Well, he did and they were in the row where you had more leg room, so he changed my seats to those at no charge. It never hurts to ask, but ask nicely and things can happen :-)