[camarors]

I flew from Alaska to Alabama in June 2008 with my two year old. We had to take three flights. WHen I booked online, there weren't two seats together on one of the flights. I ended up with a seat assignment online for myself, but none for my son. When I got to the Anchorage airport, I asked for them to assign us seats together. She said she couldn't do it because I had a seat assignment for one of us and that I would have to get it taken care of in the second airport just before that particular flight. I said that I had less than an hour to change planes, change my son's diaper, and find food for him in the airport as we started flying at 1am. She still wouldn't fix it. So, I arrive in the second airport, run to the other gate and wait in line for for gate staff to arrive. Then I tell them the problem and ask for seats together. She says they are full and will have to wait until just before boarding to see what she can do but can't guarantee anything. They start the boarding process and then she finally calls me back up to the counter and gives me two different rows that are close to each other. I said that wouldn't work, that my son was two and couldn't sit by himself. She replied that she couldn't do anything about it. I asked what I was supposed to do. Her exact words were, "Get on the plane and beg."

I boarded the plane and told the flight attendants at the door the problem. They said, no problem, just sit together at one of our assigned seats and ask whoever came for the second seat to move. If there was a problem, let them know. I did that and the person was willing to move b/c she got an aisle instead of middle seat out of the deal.

I will NEVER fly Northwest (and now Delta) ever again. Plane reservation systems should automatically fix any seat issue when you book online with a child traveling. The system should detect the child passenger and ensure that the child is seated with the parent. Its that simple.