Delta Fares

Booked a flight with Delta...seat assignment?

I booked a flight online and when i went to choose a seat, i couldn't do it. So i called the hotline and they say they will assign the seat at the gate. However, few weeks ago i booked a seat on the same flight for my father but for him i was able to select the seat as i was making the reservation. Am i guaranteed a seat on the flight? I have heard that airliners will overbook and hope that someone wont show up. I have to get into this flight because i have a connecting international flight afterwords.

Public Comments

1. That happened to my parents. If they over book, the airport will get you on the next flight and pay for it I think. They also gave my parents two free round trip tickets for anywhere in the us for their "inconvenience"
2. Try going back to the web site, enter your itinerary number/ticket number (whatever it is). I believe there is an option to review the details of your flights, and one of the details is the seat selection. Try it again - it may work. If they are overbooked, they usually first ask for volunteers to take a later flight (which is, of course, at no charge because you have already paid for your present ticket). They also offer incentives, like vouchers for up to X dollars on any flight in the future (always within a limited future time period, though). The longer they go without getting enough volunteers, the better the incentives usually get. Personally, I have never found an incentive that was worth my getting to my destination many hours later than usual.
3. What is your flight number? If it's a Delta Shuttle flight, it's open seating, so there are no advance seat assignments. If it's a regular Delta flight, they should have advance seat assignments--so if there aren't any, then it means all of the seat numbers available have been reserved. However, they usually save a few seat numbers to be assigned at the airport. So that's when they would assign the saved seats (and seats from no-shows) at check-in or the gate. Airlines do oversell flights because some people don't show up. Just show up to the airport early, and you should be fine. Also, if your connecting international flight is also on Delta (or is part of the same reservation you purchased together), Delta is required to get you to your final destination. So if there are no seats left on your first flight or your first flights get delayed, they will rebook your connection for you, at their expense. So as long as you show up on time for your first flight, if you don't make it onto the flight, and it's Delta's fault (e.g. not enough seats for all confirmed passengers), they will rebook your connection for you (at their expense), or route you through a different connecting city, so that you can still make it to your international destination. It may be a few hours later, but you'll get there. And if there is a delay, or they have to rebook/reroute you, ask for compensation--you should be able to get a couple hundred dollars in discount certificates for Delta, or a free domestic roundtrip (you might not get to choose--they'll issue your compensation based on their policy and the nature of the problem). If you're lucky, or you ask nicely, you may even get an upgrade to first/business class for your trouble of having to take a later flight or connect in a different city.