Today checking into YYC to AMS we get our boarding passes and my wife and I are sitting in different rows despite over a month ago going to My Trip selecting seats and upgrades, Calling customer service twice to confirm, all my seats are changed. This is my first time with KLM and thought I would try them since I mostly fly *A . I think AC should send them a thank you note for making AC's service look good. Waiting to see what happens on the return flight. Seems like a kind of bait and switch.

 

This is not unheard of at KLM, to put it mildly. I follow Tweets that people send to KLM and there are numerous complaints of people having their seats changed, purchased premium seats reallocated or being split up into different rows. That's why intercontinentally I fly Delta instead of KLM.

 

If this occurs on the return it will be the last time I fly KLM. This is a bait and switch scam to entice you to pay extra to be together and then change anyway. It is strange they do not equal it to I know your fee is in USD but when I arrive I pay in CDN both are dollars and at one time one was worth more and may be again.

 

You do not have to pay to select seats on KLM in any class. You are therefore incorrect when you say that you had to pay extra.

There are some seats in Economy that require extra payment. If you have neglected to select seats in advance and all the "free" seats are occupied, you will usually be assigned some of the "paid for" seats for free at the airport.

Seat assignments are never guaranteed and are always subject to change - this is the case on all airlines. If you paid for an exit row or economy comfort seat but did not get to sit in an equivalent paid seat, you can claim a refund.

I have never heard of someone "upgrading" in order to sit together. I suspect that you mean you bought one of these Economy Comfort/Preferred/Exit seats.

???

 

Yes I will try to make it clear, by upgrading I meant spending more money for Economy Comfort and getting a receipt with the seat numbers on it. Then when I checked in My wife was put in a non economy comfort seat for which for which I had paid $188.00 for. So why would I pay $188.00 for a seat if it means I would still get a seat in economy regular.

 

Was there maybe a last minute switch of airplane? It's rather strange that they changed only of the seats. You were both in the same PNR? Nonetheless it's not nice and you should easily get a refund for the seat that you ended up with in non economy comfort.

I have to say I only fly KL and over the last 5 years this never happened to me.

 

Did you enquire at check-in at the airport why your wife was moved? This is something that could usually be cleared up swiftly; if not, they would have probably been able to explain what had happened, make an attempt to reseat you together, and/or given you details of how to claim the refund that you are entitled to.

 

I religiously choose an isle seat every time I fly. KLM has consistently changed my seat without any notification every single time I fly them. On long haul flights this has usually resulted in getting relocated to a middle seat.

On a flight from Lagos, Nigeria to Amsterdam, I got cramped into a middle seat again. During the flight I looked around and saw a gentleman comfortably spread across 4 seats in the middle of the airplane. I asked him if I can sit there and he reluctantly said yes. I chatted with him for the duration of the flight. He was a Swiss "businessman" who regularly flies that route. He told me he got the 4 seats by bribing the check-in staff at the airport with a chocolate bar. Yes, a chocolate bar.

For this and many other reasons I avoid KLM at all cost.

 

apart from the fact that the story is just somebody else word, it says more about the airport staff at LOS than about KL.

 

It happens on KLM, not regularly but still too often. Sometimes it's because of equipment changes but most of the times it's just 'because'. For months and reservation after reservation it's fine and then suddenly in my experience from your 10 reserved legs 2-3 of them have your selected seats changed.
Dunno why but it suspect a KL ICT change/update somewhere resulting in loosing your seats.
You might use expertflyer to set seatalerts on KL flights so you know when you are kicked out of your seat and can hopefully correct asap.
If you don't have a subscription i would suggest checking your seats regularly on KLM, esp. close to departure.

 

I should try that in FRA (3 seats maximum though) or AMS

 

a couple of weeks ago I was on NUE-AMS, had reserved 4F in economy comfort zone. at the gate - beep - I got a new seat: row 12A. ..., the gate lady said that the seat change has been made by the back office. she could not do anything. seat 4C stayed unoccupied during the flight and nobody could explain why I had been reseated. so s.hit happens.

 

Where more seats empty in the front than in the back? Then it was a weight distribution thing.

 

The plane was almost full. Another guy was sitting on my economy comfort seat after boarding. Hence no weight distribution thing

 

It makes me wonder if the bump plats from EC seats when somebody else is willing to pay...