Condor's new seating policy a 'backward step'

If you are husband and wife – one disabled – you have to wait until 24 hours before travel and the seating will be on your ticket, even though you have booked eight weeks in advance.

I am told by Condor, if you are not happy with the seating, go and see the cabin manager on board.

So, if you are near the last to board – on a fully-booked ship – for sure you have to take pot luck as to where you might end up. To me this is a very bad backward step for the company to take.

When I phoned Condor the reply was 'this is our new computer system, this is how it is done'.

Condor do want a family of, say, four or six to be able to sit together, not separated. Fine.

Well, we are only two and there are window seats of two. What is the difference?

Over 30 years we have always been able to secure seats – booked two months in advance. Now Condor is going totally backwards.

I have already anticipated the usual reply we will receive from the company.

Please Condor, get your act together.

Name and address withheld.

Editor's footnote: Helen Day, corporate communications manager for Condor Ferries, replies:

I am pleased to hear that your reader has always enjoyed a wonderful service when travelling with Condor; it is always nice for our staff to receive positive feedback of this nature.

In terms of the query regarding seating, our new booking system allocates seats 24 hours before departure, followed by a manual check by our reservations team, which means, as your reader quite rightly points out, that you are no longer able to request specific seats. This new policy makes it fairer for all our passengers and reduces the risk of families and groups being seated in different parts of the ship. This often occurs when customers request specific seats, meaning there are not enough seats left together to accommodate groups.

I'm sorry to hear that your reader is disappointed with this new process. However, we have received plenty of positive feedback from travelling groups and families who enjoy the benefit of being seated together.

I note that your reader is concerned that they won't be seated together if they are only travelling as a couple, however I would like to reassure them that with any passengers who make bookings where more than one person is travelling at the same time, we will always endeavour to allocate seating together. We also ask all our passengers to inform us at the time of booking if they have reduced mobility or a disability so we can ensure that, where possible, your needs are taken into consideration. In addition to the automatic seat allocation, there is a further review by our customer services teams before the sailing to make sure that the allocation has performed as expected. This extra step gives us the chance to double-check that the needs of all passengers, especially those with reduced mobility or a disability, are taken into account.

I would like to thank your reader for their feedback and hope to welcome them on board one of our ferries again soon.