Why do we have to pay extra to Qantas to secure the ordinary seats we want?

[SeatBackForward]

Geocities - love it. I had quite a few properties back in the day....
And yes they were ugly graphical days!

But netscape rendered them so beautifully at break-neck 56kbs speed.

 

[drewbles]

But netscape rendered them so beautifully at break-neck 56kbs speed.

Ahh. Netscape Navigator and Communicator. They were the days (sorry Firefox, you don't stand a chance!)

 

[Mwenenzi]

From 9 June 2012 about the same topic http://www.australianfrequentflyer....gram/qantas-fee-grab-40299.html#post626777pic
business class seat = CW on British

BA charge for seat selection in business for some passengers.
Bought a CW ticket and I STILL have to PAY to pick a seat? - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[Timba-Jet]

Remember it was only a few years ago (if I remember correctly) where QF did not offer pre-seat allocation at time of booking on Int. flights to general public. You had to take your chances at check-in, aka get there early.

Many might disagree, but offering this did a few is an improvement ish!

 

[mannej]

Remember it was only a few years ago (if I remember correctly) where QF did not offer pre-seat allocation at time of booking on Int. flights to general public. You had to take your chances at check-in, aka get there early.

Many might disagree, but offering this did a few is an improvement ish!

I can remember having to call up to pre-allocate seats.

I am fairly sure NB's could pre-allocate, but only certain zones.

 

[straitman]

That's a sweeping statement. There are particular views on peak oil and many wouldn't agree with your statement here.

Not a sweeping statement, peak oil has passed, and is a fact.

Which is why the major oil companies now have greater reserves than they have ever produced in total :!:

 

[simongr]

I'm missing out... Comic Sans doesn't render on my iPad

Yet another benefit of the iPad

 

[FierceDinosaur]

If i had paid business class airfares, I would really be annoyed to have to pay extra for the seat I want!!!

 

[mannej]

If i had paid business class airfares, I would really be annoyed to have to pay extra for the seat I want!!!

The seat selection few only applies to economy bookings.

 

[adamgosp]

Life wasn't meant to be easy guys but you only get bare minimum for what yuo pay for these days. I'm a frequent flyer and on our last leg back from Buenos Aires, 14 hours in a Qantas Economy seat did it for me and I've travelled a lot. Crammed centimetres mean getting an extra row in somewhere I guess. I'm 183cms tall so where do I put my legs after a few hours? Booked to fly to Fort Worth Dallas later this year on FF points but was ahppy to pay $!60 per seat each way for exit row. No cramming and still cheaper than Premium Econkomu by far. Sure, it's extra cash but will save a whole lot of pain in the long run.

 

[Sumnerned]

Hello everyone. Why did my husband and I have to pay Qantas $20 per person each way to Hawaii recently, in order to secure the seats we wanted. I was very annoyed, as they were just ordinary cheap economy seats, one window and one next to it; nothing special such as extra leg room or exit aisle! No personal seatback TV either, which is just about standard nowadays. I've had it with Qantas - it was a really good airline and a great national icon, sadly being run down. Many of the people I know work there, or at Kingsford-Smith airport, which is near where I live, and they are very unhappy with the Qantas management.
Thank you very much, from a first-timer.

Hasn't this got a lot to do with the fact that Qantas have a lot of highly overpaid Australian staff?

 

[Rebekkap]

What about the cost of fuel - it will not last forever especially at the cheap price of today..... peak oil has already come and gone.

Synthetic fuel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[straitman]

Hasn't this got a lot to do with the fact that Qantas have a lot of highly overpaid Australian staff?

Hi Sumnerned,

Welcome to AFF.

I'm not sure whether you meant to put smilies after your post but as you didn't I will treat it as serious.

The answer is that it has very little to do with what you are saying. So long as the passengers demand the cheapest prices across the board we will gradually get further towards having to pay for even little extra.

Do remember that this only applies to economy and it only applies to non status passengers so it is not all bad.

 

[blackcat20]

I can remember having to call up to pre-allocate seats.

I am fairly sure NB's could pre-allocate, but only certain zones.

Yes, NBs could call up and get a seat allocation, but all the other rules applied including no exit row request until 7 (?) days prior...

 

[ellen10]

We are flying to London in Sept. First leg is with BA we paid about $58 each for 2 back seats in a set of 2. Have sat in them before without paying and like them. So was happy to pay.
Next leg is on the A380 and yes we are paying for an exit seat. We are both tall and felt the extra leg room was worth it. Although was not overjoyed to have to pay, felt its a long way to London so may as well be as comfortable as possible.

On a side note I had friends (a couple) who flew on QF last year (first time international on Qantas) and not members of QFF. Did not do online checkin and arrived at the airport to find the flight was full and they were seated separately. She cried but they could offer her nothing different at checkin. So at the gate they waited to see if something changed. And in the end a passenger traded their middle seat for her aisle seat.

So I guess it can happen that you may not be seated together and paying for a seat worthwhile in my opinion

 

[FierceDinosaur]

Probably! "Competition is good", dont you know?? Not when everything goes down hill and all the staff are really unhappy....

 

[FierceDinosaur]

Interesting story - and of course one cannot always do the on-line check-in - say if you are remote or no computer or no internet gadget? I find that you can usually arrange with people to swap seats if there is a good reason, I would do it to help someone. Once I suffered the intermittent kicking of the back of my seat for 6 hours, from a little boy behind me - he could just reach the seat with his toe, and he loved my reaction I think. His mother and the hostesses could not/would not control him, and there were no other seats. It nearly drove me demented, as I was trying to sleep. I could have strangled him. I wonder, is there an air equivalent of road rage? Air rage? Flight fury? Mid-air madness? Cabin Fever???? Any clever suggestions out there?

 

[FierceDinosaur]

I am beginning to feel very low-caste as a "non-status" person, like a peasant really.

 

[FierceDinosaur]

Yes, but it will cost a motza won't it - let's face it we will never have the era of cheap mass travel ever again, so we have to take advantage of it now, don't we? Does anyone out there pay the extra for the carbon offset - sometimes I do pay, sometimes I don't - depends on my mood, and whether I think it is genuine (you can't tell).

 

[Traveltragic]

Well, I thought it was odd, but it was my husband who did it. I didn't even know you could do it. And to answer all those sarky persons out there: I have been travelling as a hobby since I was 14 (nearly 40 years), on all forms of transport you can imagine, including a lot of funny little airlines in very remote places: I just don't travel often enough to have any "status", and I pay for it all myself in good hard-earned after-tax dollars, hence the economy seats. Depends on your meaning of "Frequent", I suppose......

Actually, I'm with you on this one FierceDinosaur. I think it's quite misleading how Qantas charge for seat selection when it shouldn't be needed on a group booking, particularly when families travel together. We ended up paying for seat selection on a recent Honolulu flight as well precisely for the reason that the last time our family travelled together on Qantas, we were split up and couldn't all sit together (despite checking in well in advance)!