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- Newsgroups: rec.travel.air
- Path: sparky!uunet!paladin.american.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!uwm.edu!linac!att!cbnewsc!cbfsb!cbnewsb.cb.att.com!sbrenner
- From: sbrenner@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (scott.d.brenner)
- Subject: Re: Questions on Boarding Passes
- Message-ID: <1992Dec29.133311.7875@cbfsb.cb.att.com>
- Sender: news@cbfsb.cb.att.com
- Organization: AT&T
- References: <1992Dec28.152753.1@us.oracle.com>
- Distribution: usa
- Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 13:33:11 GMT
- Lines: 63
-
- In article <1992Dec28.152753.1@us.oracle.com> bkush@us.oracle.com writes:
- |>If you have booked a flight and then called to get a seat assignment, you
- |>do not need to have a boarding pass in your hand. When you go to the
- |>airport, you can pass the long lines out front and go to the gate. At the
- |>gate, they will print your boarding pass. By the way the gate has the most
- |>control over which seat you get, like exit row or handicapped seats that
- |>are not being used.
-
- I know that you don't need a boarding pass before you arrive at the airport.
- I also know that you can avoid the ticket counter line and go directly to the
- gate. Often, however, there are long lines *at the gate* where people with
- seat assignments are given boarding passes and people without seat assignments
- select their seats.
-
- I'm very picky about the seat I get. I don't have severe motion sickness, but
- I can get a little queasy. I like to sit over (or near) the wing because the
- plane seems more stable there. Also, like many people, I like a window seat.
-
- The reason I like to get my boarding pass before the day of the flight is that
- I want to avoid a situation I found myself in several years ago. I was flying
- Continental out of New Orleans and had gotten my seat assignment several weeks
- before the flight. When I arrived at the gate, however, I was given a boarding
- pass for a different seat (and an unsatisfactory one). After I argued for a
- while, I was told that seat assignments mean almost nothing to the airline; the
- boarding pass is what counts. I was told that a passenger has absolutely NO
- guarantee of the specific seat assigned until he receives a boarding pass for
- that seat. Even then, of course, the airline can move you around. This has
- never happened to me, though, since I've been getting my boarding passes weeks
- before my flights.
-
- |>You also mentioned that having a boarding pass is safer, it might be, but I
- |>have found, and I am on a plane a couple times a week, that possession is
- |>9/10'ths of the law. For example-- You get to the airport and then board the
- |>plane to find someone in your seat. You both have a boarding pass. You call
- |>the flight attendant, and at this time people are getting pissed since you
- |>are standing in the aisle. After about five minutes, the flight attendant
- |>comes back and says there was a mixup and take any empty seat. They are
- |>usually more interested in getting the plane pushed back rather than if you
- |>are in the right seat. Therefore get on the plane first/early!
-
- I agree that possession is .9 of the law. If I found myself in the situation
- you describe, where someone else is in my seat and has an identical boarding
- pass, I would raise hell with the airline. I would do everything I could to
- cause a fuss and delay the pushback. If the airline wants to treat me like
- a bus passenger, I can act like one. IMHO, if I'm paying several hundred
- dollars to travel with them, I expect an airline to treat me with respect. I
- understand the business problems they face, and I understand the basics of the
- "yield management" programs the use to maximize their profits. But it's an
- insult to my intelligence and shows a lack of respect of its customers if an
- airline tells two people they can sit in the same seat.
-
- I agree also that arriving early and getting on the plane as soon as possible
- is the best way to go. When I was a kid, I liked to be one of the first ones
- on the plane so I could get a deck of cards and maybe see the cockpit. Now,
- unfortunately, I feel I must be one of the first ones on the plane so I can
- make sure I get the seat I paid for.
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Scott D. Brenner
- AT&T Consumer Communications Services
- Basking Ridge, NJ
- sbrenner@attmail.com
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-