Nycfuturepilot From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 791 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 years 2 months 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1693 times:
I fly CO pretty often and occasionally, though seat maps show open seats and allow me to click on one, when I hit confirm seat choices, the response comes up that not all seat choices can be confirmed? Why do they do this?
IAHFLYR From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 4719 posts, RR: 25 Reply 1, posted (6 years 2 months 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1663 times:
Are those seats possibly for Elite members, or even worse Platinum Elite. I've never had an issue if the seat showed as unoccupied to be able to select it.
Only other thing I can think of is the flight you've selected had a change in something from the time you purchased the ticket to the time you wanted to change/select a seat......if that was the case, acknowledge the change whether aircraft type change or schedule change etc,. and follow the prompts on the website, it all works.
Any views shared are strictly my own and do not a represent those of any former employer.
COFreqFlyer From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 397 posts, RR: 3 Reply 2, posted (6 years 2 months 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 1516 times:
Quoting Nycfuturepilot (Thread starter): I fly CO pretty often and occasionally, though seat maps show open seats and allow me to click on one, when I hit confirm seat choices, the response comes up that not all seat choices can be confirmed? Why do they do this?
Only time I've seen this is when I'm booking a flight through on a code-share or other non-CO-controlled airframe. Mainline, Express, and Connection will all confirm immediately. Flights actually operated by NW/KL/DL will take some time to confirm the seating.
Nycfuturepilot From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 791 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (6 years 2 months 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 1389 times:
Quoting IAHFLYR (Reply 1): Are those seats possibly for Elite members, or even worse Platinum Elite. I've never had an issue if the seat showed as unoccupied to be able to select it.
Only other thing I can think of is the flight you've selected had a change in something from the time you purchased the ticket to the time you wanted to change/select a seat......if that was the case, acknowledge the change whether aircraft type change or schedule change etc,. and follow the prompts on the website, it all works.
nope just picking one of the regular empty seats right after confirming my reservations. it comes up as seat selected on the immediate screen however the final itinerary specifies that the seat could not be confirmed and must be selected on check in. It allowed me to select for my departure flight just not my return (theyre both CO operated DCA-EWR on 735s).
Phoenixflyer From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 81 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (6 years 2 months 4 days ago) and read 1383 times:
I had this exact problem when I was flyin EWR-LGW. I chose open seats then it said I couldn't be confirmed on them, I had to wait until i went to the airport. So I wrote an email asking why and got some generalized answer but they did assign me a seat on the return part. Never figured out why because it was mainline and there was no aircraft change. Other than that one time Ive never had a problem with CO.
COEI2007 From Vanuatu, joined Jan 2007, 1912 posts, RR: 6 Reply 5, posted (6 years 2 months 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 1322 times:
A lot of the time, only a certain % of the flight can be 'seat assigned'. This is so we can seat families, groups and couples together. If you want a certain seat, best thing to do is turn up early or go to a CO ticket counter.
CoolGuy From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 410 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (6 years 2 months 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 1271 times:
In general if you're one of the first to check in online (exactly 24 before the flight) you can get pretty much any seat you want, regardless of whether you had a seat reserved. I don't take notice of the seats I reserve because I always end up getting the one I want during online check in. Don't worry.
Edit: the 'premium' seats are available just as any other during online check in.
Jetdeltamsy From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 2984 posts, RR: 8 Reply 8, posted (6 years 2 months 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 1152 times:
Quoting COEI2007 (Reply 5): A lot of the time, only a certain % of the flight can be 'seat assigned'
This is most likely the correct answer.
Neary all US airlines hold back 10 to 25% of the seats in the coach cabin for airport control.
This gives gate agents seats to work with during check-in.
Worked for too many airlines to list. Banktupcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy.
Lincoln From United States of America, joined Nov 2004, 3887 posts, RR: 8 Reply 9, posted (6 years 2 months 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 1103 times:
Quoting Jetdeltamsy (Reply 8): Neary all US airlines hold back 10 to 25% of the seats in the coach cabin for airport control.
This gives gate agents seats to work with during check-in.
In my experience, though, Continental shows the 'held' seats as occupied on the Internet seat maps. The only time I've seen the "unable to confirm" after selecting an open seat is when mysself and a coworker both tried choosing the same seat at roughly the same time (such that when I selected what what appeared to be an empty seat it was in fact no longer empty)
I wonder what would happen if the original poster were to try changing their seats on Contnental.comow
Lincoln
CO Is My Airline of Choice || Baggage Claim is an airline's last chance to disappoint a customer || Next flts in profile
COEI2007 From Vanuatu, joined Jan 2007, 1912 posts, RR: 6 Reply 10, posted (6 years 2 months 3 days ago) and read 1020 times:
Quoting Jetdeltamsy (Reply 8): Quoting COEI2007 (Reply 5):
A lot of the time, only a certain % of the flight can be 'seat assigned'
This is most likely the correct answer.
Neary all US airlines hold back 10 to 25% of the seats in the coach cabin for airport control.
This gives gate agents seats to work with during check-in.
Thisnis exactly the reason why. We hold back a proportion of the seats, so we can sit people together. The last thing anyone wants is a family of 4 turning up together, and only middle seats in rows 1,10, 17 and 25 left!!!
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