Did KLM Internet Check-In, got different seat at airport

earthman · Post by **earthman** » 03 Jan 2005, 17:53

This morning I flew with KLM on their morning flight from WAW to AMS. I checked in using the internet the previous day. Unlike AMS, at WAW you cannot print your boarding pass at home, you get one at the airport. I picked seat 23F, which is the row before the last one on the 737-400 which was supposed to fly the route.
When I picked up by boarding pass at the airport, it said seat 3A, which is about the opposite corner of the airplane (in fact, it is exactly the opposite corner seating-wise, KLM has some cabinet instead of row 1 on the left side of their 737s).
What's more interesting, seat 3A is business class.
Now I don't mind being put into business class instead of economy, but I do find it rather strange that nobody told me a thing about the seat or class change (but the lady at the check-in desk was friendly enough to let me on the plane with a slightly overweight hand luggage).
I didn't ask about it either, I thought it looked like a business class seat so I thought I'd rather not say anything to make them change their mind. (Usually economy starts somewhere around row 4; besides, the boarding pass looked different than the usual ones, and the class said 'C', not 'M' like on the ticket.)

I imagine that the whole reason for the seat change is that the plane turned out to be a 737-300, which simply doesn't have a row 23.

Does anyone know how such seat changes are decided upon? Because when my boarding pass was being printed at the airport, there were still people standing in line to check in for economy class, so there must have still been some seats more or less available..

P.S. apologies if this post is a little chaotic, but this morning flight left at 6:40am thus I'm having a little trouble formulating my thoughts...

sab319 · Post by **sab319** » 03 Jan 2005, 19:20

Well It's nice they gave you a free upgrade to business...

earthman · Post by **earthman** » 03 Jan 2005, 20:01

Yes it was nice, unfortunately I had to wait a whole hour for my suitcase to show up. Only I, some couple with three kids, and maybe two other people actually ended their trip at AMS; apparently the whole rest of the plane transferred to other flights, and KLM felt like it was too much trouble to have someone throw those few suitcases on a conveyor belt or something. They only showed up together with the luggage from another flight. I took that early flight to get to work on time..

AFApresident · Post by **AFApresident** » 03 Jan 2005, 20:08

I flew a KLM 734 from geneva to amsterdam on december 18th. Seat 11D (exit row). And from what I could see I had a whole lot more legroom than those in business. In fact seat wise I didn´t see any difference between a business seat and an economy seat.

So I was very happy to have the exit row seat with heaps of space

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 03 Jan 2005, 20:09

I guess your post concludes in your being lucky, with just enough luck on your side.

Remember Earthman, First/business class is not just a boarding pass, its a way of life.

Enjoy it while it lasts......

athos · Post by **athos** » 03 Jan 2005, 20:39

Advisor;

Please advise us:"Om bhur bhuvah svah. Tat savitur varenyam: bhargo devasya dhimahi. Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat."

Ozzie1969 · Post by **Ozzie1969** » 03 Jan 2005, 21:28

To Advisor :

Bhaarata se hamaaraa mancha ke sadasya ke paasa shubhaakaamanaayen.

Flying_Dutchman · Post by **Flying_Dutchman** » 03 Jan 2005, 23:07

earthman wrote:Yes it was nice, unfortunately I had to wait a whole hour for my suitcase to show up...

Soon the problem with bags will be solved at AMS. The operational director of Schiphol has been fired. She is responsible for whole operations at AMS. She didn't do her work so well, have I heard

Post by **sn26567** » 04 Jan 2005, 09:09

Thanks, earthman, for telling us the trick to get a business class seat with an economy ticket!

I'll try using it next time I fly KLM.

earthman · Post by **earthman** » 05 Jan 2005, 13:28

*CORRECTION*

After looking around on the KLM website, I found their seating plans. Apparently I did check in using the 733 seating plan, and not the 734 as I thought, so I did pick an existing seat.

Can anyone shed some light on how this whole overbooking thing works? I can understand that if you check in at the airport just before departure, at some point they could say 'sorry, no more seats', or 'all economy seats are taken, we can only offer you a business class seat'. If the plane is completely full they could issue a boarding pass without seat, and sort things out at the gate.

But how is it possible that your seat gets changed after check-in?? If the seat was already assigned to me the previous day? And I was not the last economy class passenger to arrive at the airport either?

My mother checked in using the internet on the same flight a week before, she did get the seat she picked on their website.

EB-Air · Post by **EB-Air** » 07 Jan 2005, 22:41

earthman wrote:But how is it possible that your seat gets changed after check-in?? If the seat was already assigned to me the previous day? And I was not the last economy class passenger to arrive at the airport either?

My mother checked in using the internet on the same flight a week before, she did get the seat she picked on their website.

Maybe, someone else made the same reservation at the same time that you bought your ticket... I can imagine that the computersystems are linked with a delay... So it could be possible that 2 persons are choosing the same seat? Just a guess...

Regards,
Ben