[jimworcs]

Phx.. that is a very long post, to not produce any evidence to support your assertion! I am stating that at no time has Delta provided a guarantee to the mother that she will be seated with her child.


My suggested response addressed directly the issue of Delta being unable book the seats.

Mrs. Fuhrmann, we are so sorry that Expedia have let you down this way. Unfortunately, all our seats for advance booking have now been reserved, and we are unable to book two seats at this stage for you. However, Delta would never separate you from your 4 year old child on such a long flight. In fact, we set aside a number of seats which cannot be reserved for precisely this kind of situation. These seats are allocated at the airport. I will put a note on your reservation explaining the problem, and we will ensure that you are seated together. Please arrive at the airport early to give the agents time to make the arrangements. Thank you for choosing Delta and we are sorry you have had this difficulty. I hope that has put your mind at rest.

You, Justme and The Judge have all argued that the passenger should be simply reassured "not to worry, it will be handled at the gate". Not once has this been guaranteed. Justme continuously quotes the bits of his postings which support his suggestion that it will all be ok, but in the fine print of his response is a huge "escape clause".

If an agent said to me...

"don't worry we will sort it out at the gate, I am sure it will be fine.. but the airplane could be completely full, which means in order to change your seat, potentially several others would need to be changed as well. Why should they be forced to change seats because Expedia didn't follow thru with their side of the deal and book the proper seats?"

Which in essence is what Justme has said, I would not find that reassuring.

That is before we get onto the issue of the reliability of the word of Customer Service agents working for Delta. My original issue with Delta involved a Delta agent telling me a bare faced lie. My response included the reassurance of a notation being placed on the file that the mother was guaranteed to be seated next to her child. If you are all so certain this will be done at the gate, why are Delta not willing to say it? Because... the OP knows, that no such guarantee has been made. The reassurance offered by Justme and The Judge are not reassuring. I accept the word of both of them that many times they will do their best to make sure this would happen. But people are at the mercy of the agent. It is naive not to realise that many people have very negative experiences of agents and FA's, who are at the end of their tether and simply don't care. I wouldn't want to take that chance myself.