All seats taken but still got a reservation?

Question

i'm flying delta LGA-ATL-DAB in a week w/ my dad. i booked my flight a month ago but my dad did it a few days ago. when he selected the ATL-DAB flight, all seats were reserved on the chart but he was still able to make a reservation. is delta overbooking? how will he get on the flight? we are required to be at DAB at a certain time and can't afford to miss the flight.

Answer 1

It could be overbooked, but not necessarily. You can't be certain.

Not all seats are available for advance assignments. Airlines commonly hold back seats for airport check-in. This is to accommodate families, handicapped passengers, and other special situations. So, it's possible that the flight is not oversold and that your father will simply get his seat assignment at the airport.

Two tips. 1. Keep checking. There may be some cancellations and some seats will open up for advance assignment. 2. If that doesn't work, get to the airport early. Seats are assigned first-come, first served. If the flight is overbooked, later arrivals without seats will be the ones to get bumped. The early arrivals will get first pick of the remaining seats.

Answer 2

All Airlines do overbook, and that is because of the no-show factor.  But that is not always the case of not getting a seat assignment.   I work for an airline and we are not given 100 % of the seats to assign.  Usually the front section is reserved for frequent flyers of the paticular airline, then you have the exit rows   which are not suppose to be given out ahead of time. (because the airline has to see that you are able/willing to help in case of emergency, also we have disabled seating that is reserved in case they are needed.  My airline also blocks the last 2 rows in case there are families with small children, so that they can be seated together.  We always advise customers to check in a little earlier when they don't get a seat assignment because if the flight is full the people who check in late are the one's likely to get bumped off the flight.

If you call the Airline directly they can put a seat request in for you, so if something opens up ahead of time a seat will be assigned.  Your alway welcome to call the airline directly to see if any seat assignments have opened up...that's what were here for  :-)

Have fun and enjoy your trip with you father

Answer 3

call delta 1800 323 2323

Answer 4

Most airlines do over book - Also many of the airline will only allow 80 percent of actual seat assignments to be pre-reserved.

If he does not have a seat he could be denied boarding in the event of an overbooked flight. Keep checking a couple of times a day to see if an actual seat assignment becomes available.

Also usually with in 24 hours of the flight, they unblock certain seats.

Answer 5

Delta saves good seats for their elite members then release those seats 24 hrs before departure. At that time, he may get a seat much better than yours.

Answer 6

All airlines overbook.  They know that a certain percentage of people don't make their flights.  Now they can charge more people than they have seats.

Nothing illegal about it so long as the airline offers you compensation if you are non-volutarily bumped.