Qantas Gold - Seat Split on JAL Flight to Japan

[garrence]

Qantas Gold here. I booked a family trip to Japan (SYD–HND) with JAL and selected three seats together at the time of booking. However, when we arrived at the airport, we were issued boarding passes with split seats: 23H, 24H, and 48F — with my 5-year-old assigned a seat on their own (48f).


We never received any notification about the seat changes. I showed the airport staff my booking confirmation with the original seat selections, but they just kept saying the flight was full and they’d try their best.


Has anyone experienced this with JAL? What would be a reasonable amount of compensation to request in this case? And is it even worth pursuing a complaint — does JAL typically respond well, or is it a waste of time.

 

[Cruise Luxury]

Surely they will resolve this. You can’t have a 5 year old seated 15 rows away!

Sometimes last minute aircraft changes are to blame for these outcomes.

 

[markis10]

Doubt any compensation would be forthcoming, JAL use Dnata for ground ops at Sydney and Cleary they don’t care.

 

[garrence]

Thanks. Yeah agree compensation is likely not going to be forthcoming. JAL staff (along with passenger goodwill) managed to allow wife and daughter to sit together. Taking the turd out of a turd sandwich makes it a whole lot better.

 

[drron]

You should complain staright away at checkin. We were flying LAX -NRT on JAL as a family of 7. At checkin we were all over the place but saying it was unacceptable the agent worked miracles and had all 7 in the one row.