DL assigns father seat 11 rows from 4 year old daughter

From the article: 
"The $88 fee Strong paid to switch seats was in addition to the $1,200+ he spent for tickets and an additional $25 baggage fee, he told ABC News today."
I'm going to go out on a limb and say some poster might cite that as an example of DL winning quality revenue.  Or maybe a case of an angry competitor pulling a negative publicity stunt .........
 
I can't wait for WT to spin this.
 
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It's the new order of things.  You want to sit together you pay. 
This is what happens when most every coach seat has a different cost. 
We see this many times.  Most would  handle it differently without having
to pay extra. 
1) get a f/a involved.
2) just ask another passenger if they wouldn't mind switching seats.
3) drop your child in a seat next to strangers.  You will be surprised how
quickly they would move to accommodate a parent.
4) see #1
 
The fair structure changed several years ago and of course the brunt is usually
on the f/a's.  Just another added inconvenience during our most hectic time (boarding)
I must say though, we have gotten use to it and usually 99% of the cases it works out well.
 
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As the father said, he paid the $88 rather than get to the gate and the agent might switch the seats, or another passenger might be willing to switch.  I know the solutions that usually work as you have listed them.  However, if you were the parent of a 4 year old, would you risk that none of those solutions would work?  I've had a couple of incidences where the parent had to decide to not go because, we couldn't get a passenger to switch--even solution 3 didn't work.
 
Amen, to the "dump the problem on the f/a" approach.  That is universal, I think.
 
jimntx said:
Amen, to the "dump the problem on the f/a" approach.  That is universal, I think.
 
It is absolutely unfair of dumping these problems to the f/a's. 
Usually in a situation of getting parents + kids sitting together the f/a will do whatever possible to help out once the people are on the plane.  However, I agree and think a lot of parents will hand over the $ instead of hoping that the situation will be resolved later, or worse, risk the chance of passengers not willing to give up / change their seats.
 
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Sad to hear. Question is why were they set up like that in the first place?  Surely an experienced ticket agent would have said that these 2 seats are 11 rows from each-other.  Some customer service should have been stepped up here.
 
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I've yet to see a mature adult who willingly sit next to someone else's 4 year old vs. switching seats, but in a day of paid seats, I can't say I'd expect the guy who already paid $88 for an aisle/window seat to move without some form of refund or compensation.
 
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eolesen said:
I've yet to see a mature adult who willingly sit next to someone else's 4 year old vs. switching seats, but in a day of paid seats, I can't say I'd expect the guy who already paid $88 for an aisle/window seat to move without some form of refund or compensation.
Many years ago, my young daughters were upgraded to domestic F and were assigned window seats (like 2A and 2F) while I was assigned a window seat at the opposite end of the cabin (probably 6F).

The gate agents were unwilling to try to solve the situation but the first class FA made a valiant attempt. When that was unsuccessful, I intervened and simply asked the two Type-As in the aisle seats why they were both so adamant about sitting next to cute five year old girls who weren't their daughters, and within about two seconds, they were tripping over each other to re-seat themselves so that my daughters could sit next to each other.

Others in the cabin, upon learning of the situation, quickly opened up an aisle seat for me across the aisle from my daughters. I was very surprised it came to that - the two Type-As (just had to sit in an aisle and could not occupy a window in first class) were obviously two of the duller knives in the drawer that day. I wasn't worried that they'd be molested - but the sisters had planned on sharing the books and activities they had brought on board, and they tended to want to talk to each other (alot), and could not do that with two pudgy, knit-shirt clad businessmen (with their respective company logos) between them.

On every other flight we've ever been on, passengers up front have always been willing to move to help reunite couples or siblings. I have never refused a request by other first or business class passengers when I've been traveling alone, and frequently volunteer to move when it's apparent to me that a couple is separated and if I move, that resolves the issue.

Fortunately, owing to top-tier status and occasional paid premium tickets, I've never tried to resolve this issue in the back of the bus. Up front, a window is almost as good as an aisle, while in the back of the bus, that isn't always the case.
 
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