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Delta passenger caught off guard by seating change

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Published  April 5, 2021 4:48pm EDT
Delta
FOX 5 Atlanta

Delta staffing shortages led to fully booked planes

The Atlanta-based airline said more than 1 million passengers flew over the past two days while it dealt with staffing shortages.

ATLANTA - Flight cancelations over the weekend forced Delta Air Lines to temporarily fill up middle seats on some flights. The company said on Sunday, around 100 flights were canceled because of a staffing shortage.

Many customers said they should've been notified about the change.

Caroline Fohlin said her daughter's flight was canceled this weekend.

"The day before Saturday, she got an email indicating that her flight had been canceled," explained Fohlin.

When Fohlin went to rebook her daughter's flight, she found out her daughter would end up sitting in a middle seat.

"She went up, and sure enough, she was in a center seat and every other seat was booked," said Fohlin. "They told her for today and tomorrow we are unblocking middle seats."

RELATED: Delta CEO: New Georgia voting bill 'based on a lie'

The Atlanta-based company previously said it would stop blocking middle seats beginning May 1, 2021. FOX 5 reached out to Delta about the issue. They said capacity on flights opened on Sunday and Monday so customers could get to destinations quickly.

The company said the move to unblock seats over the weekend is temporary. But customers like Fohlin said they should've been notified about the decision.

"To find out that they weren't doing it and not notifying people and weren't compensating, it was very upsetting," said Fohlin.

A spokesperson for the airline put out a statement about the issue:

"Delta teams Sunday worked through various factors, including staffing, large numbers of employee vaccinations and pilots returning to active status.

"We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and the majority have been rebooked for the same travel day."

The company said it is reaching out to impacted customers as a gesture of goodwill. Fohlin said she did not hear back from the company after she posted her frustrations on Twitter.

"It doesn't engender trust and confidence in the airline, and that's my frustration," said Fohlin.

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