Two passengers with same seat number on boarding card

DumbBrunette

I had the pleasure of flying Icelandair this week and it was excellent. However the passenger next to me and another lady both had the same seat number on their boarding card so one of them had to move. There were a few empty seats so it was OK, but what if it was a full flight?

Has anyone heard of this happening before? Surely the booking system of every airline should be set up to prevent something like this?

Cuddlesworth

They overbooked the flight, which is a legal practice in Europe.

Irish Steve

Overbooking may well be allowed, but I find it hard to believe that any of the check in systems in use now will allocate the same seat twice, that's a fundamental issue that raises all sorts of questions, there's more to this story than we've been told, we're not getting the full picture here.

Clearly the flight was not full, as there were other seats not occupied, so something else happened that caused this.

Atlantic Dawn

Probably someone booked a seat, then changed it but printed out the original seat allocation number.

EchoIndia

Maybe one was a transit passenger who had their seat allocated when they checked in for the preceding flight, and for some reason someone else was allocated the same seat at KEF check-in? Agree it shouldn't happen but there may have been a logic or series of events that led to this.

plodder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120943481#Comment_120943481

Can you do that? It sounds like a recipe for chaos.

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120944584#Comment_120944584

I know on Ryanair I could check-in and print out that boarding pass and then change my mind with the same booking and get a new boarding pass for a different seat. I'd assume if I tried to board with the first boarding pass I'd be rejected at the boarding gate when staff scanned it and perhaps getting airside at the airport too.

Tenger

As above. Could have been a pre-book/tranfer situation. Such duplicates are supposed to be caught before boarding. The ground staff should have reallocated one of the passengers before boarding them.

ie when the 2nd 23E gets scanned it flashes up an alert to indicate this person has already boarded.

DumbBrunette

Thanks for the replies everyone, agree it should have been spotted by ground staff. It was a complete surprise to the cabin crew.

It really shouldn't happen though. I always book a window seat and if I had to move because someone else had the same seat I would be a very unhappy customer!

Paul2019

Here's my experience...

Nearly 20 years ago myself and my other half were flying the old Continental Airlines 09:00 Dub-EWR on Christmas Eve.

We struggled with our carry on bags to our seats about 3-4 rows from the back of the 757.

It was a full flight, and we had window and middle seats with the aisle seat already occupied.

During the usual boarding chaos a couple arrived and pointed out that we were in their seats and indeed, we had the same seat numbers.

FA arrives, looks at our boarding passes and says that in these situations somebody usually gets upgraded - she thinks it goes by whoever paid the highest fare - so away she went to investigate.

It would be hard to describe our feelings while she was gone and the other couple were still standing in the aisle, boarding was largely completed and surrounding pax were taking an interest.

Soon, back comes the FA and I can hardly breathe with the suspense until she looks me in the eye and asks would we mind moving to row 3 ?

So, first time ever in Business Class and what a great flight.

It all unravelled at a chaotic EWR however. We were bumped involuntarily from our connecting flight and spent Christmas Eve night at an airport hotel instead of with family, but all things considered it was still a memorable journey for being our first Business Class long haul.

whomitconcerns

I had my flight changed last minute to the US one time (arrived early for flight, was travelling on my own and they had space on the earlier flight and I could make it if i ran).

I boarded as soon as I could, then a couple got on late, and had the same seat as me (and the one beside). However, the stewardess (Virgin airways) just asked me to step out and moved me to their "upper class" cabin, which was nice.

Noxegon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120949325#Comment_120949325

I got upgraded on ICN-LHR a few years ago. The check-in lady, a British expat, was quite amusing about it: "I'm really sorry about this sir, but our flight is oversold. Would you mind awfully if we changed you to a seat in Club World?".

g g murpho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120949314#Comment_120949314

DUB-EWR isn’t long haul 😉

Paul2019

For me at the time it was a very long haul indeed, but yes it's amazing how everything changed with a pre-take off glass of bubbly and a huge recliner seat to explore.

The crash back to reality at EWR was stark when the bubbles wore off, the connecting flight shambles kicked in and Continental's "customer service" proved to be something Ryanair might have modelled itself on.

Still, it ruined me for trans Atlantic economy afterwards and now I travel less often and only at the front for mid or long haul flights.

Flying can still be very enjoyable, even in 2023.🍾

Wanderer78

jesus, how come ive never been upgraded, im not far from the cargo hold, in regards affording flights these days, cant complain though, just back from iceland, return flight was extremely quiet, many of us with entire rows to ourselves....

ednwireland

I flew back from Australia last week qantas to Heathrow aer lingus to dublin. was amazed to get all my boarding cards in darwin (darwin perth London dublin) and my bag arrived as well !

only problem is someone sat in the wrong row on the darwin perth leg.

upgrade once but it was only to business on dub to Munich a long time ago. didn't make much difference to be honest.

IngazZagni

I had a flight recently were 5 people were assigned to the same seat. Late aircraft change and old computer systems and glitches were thought to be the problem. Bit of a headache for the crew to sort out on board but we all got a seat eventually.

LiamaDelta

Also happens when FR change from a max to a regular. People have boarding passes for rows 34 & 35, crew just relocate people as required.

andrew1977

I was on a ryanair Dublin to Manchester few months back,i i was sitting in front row, busy flight with people heading to a match, 2 lads had 1 seat, the guy who completes the end paperwork/talks to pilot told the cabin staff which lad to ask to leave the flight, i heard them say " he was the last of the 2 to check in online "

crusd

Flew with a colleague and our manager from JFK to SNN on Delta a few years back coming home form a work trip. Boarding card at check in was Seat number - "Assigned at Gate". The others in the group were in row 30 or similar. Arrived at the gate to an announcement that the flight was oversold and they were looking for 3 volunteers to take a voucher and an overnight in hotel to fly next day instead. Kept the head down as needed to be back in the morning and who knows when I would ever be near Delta again. Eventually 3 people took the offer. They then announced "can passengers Smith, Jones and Crusd please come to the gate". At this stage the boss was gleefully telling my colleague how I was going to be spending the night in the airport. Gate agent then informed me that since the flight was oversold I was going to be assigned Seat 5b. Certainly took the smile off my managers face when I told him.