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

Status
Not open for further replies.
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

I'm always impressed when couples still want to sit together :p - or should that be amazed? :mrgreen:.
 
I'm always impressed when couples still want to sit together :p - or should that be amazed? :mrgreen:.

Well, there's a cynical voice. I know lots of devoted couples, some married for over 40 years, one couple for over 50 years, and they wouldn't dream of NOT sitting together.... Myself, coming up 25 years, and my husband is my favourite travel companion: of course I want to sit next to him. He's a navigator & Master Mariner, so we have a good chance on knowing where we are in the world when we get on a long distance airplane. We often ask the hostess to ask the Captain if we are really unsure, it's so amazing and interesting to be blatting about the globe at this time in history...... don't you think?
icon7.png
By the way is Mr Green something to do with envy?: :mrgreen:
 
Well, there's a cynical voice. I know lots of devoted couples, some married for over 40 years, one couple for over 50 years, and they wouldn't dream of NOT sitting together.... Myself, coming up 25 years, and my husband is my favourite travel companion: of course I want to sit next to him. He's a navigator & Master Mariner, so we have a good chance on knowing where we are in the world when we get on a long distance airplane. We often ask the hostess to ask the Captain if we are really unsure, it's so amazing and interesting to be blatting about the globe at this time in history...... don't you think?
icon7.png
By the way is Mr Green something to do with envy?: :mrgreen:

It was a joke...
 
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.

Yes, it is not all bad. There are many airlines that do not make this charge, as listed elsewhere on this thread.

Cheers
Ned
 
If you're on the same booking you *will* be allocated seats together, no need to chance that. I've frequently seen passengers moved to accommodate people travelling together.

Such blind optimisim! In 2009 my husband and I flew Syd-JFK-Dublin with QF/Aer Lingus - booked as a single fare through QF. Actually it was a points redemption which makes me wonder if that is why we got such appalling service.

It was before the $20 seat fee. I requested seats 3 months before by phone. I told the operator I did not want to sit in the middle at any cost. The seat numbers I had requested showed up on all the itineraries and emails I had from Qantas. There was no online check in as it wasn't available to the US.

When we checked in we were seated 6 rows apart - both in the middle. We stood at the desk for 20 minutes before the check in person managed to get through to the one person who was on for doing seat allocation. She then told us to get new boarding passes at the gate. Unfortunately there was also a delay going through immigration. When we got to the gate they gave us two identical boarding passes - instead of 1 each! So we had to wait again. They did finally seat us together for the first leg (SYD-LAX), and one behind the other for the next (LAX-JFK) - we were in the middle section both times however.We got to the airport over 3 hours before the flight but ended up with no time for any shopping or breakfast as we had planned.

When we came to check in for our Aer Lingus flight two weeks later, they had not allocated us seats together either. They were quite surprised when we checked in together. So although Qantas denied it, obviously their computer had de-linked our booking somewhere along the way.

So now I definitely pay the $20 for a seat on a long haul. Have a current QF booking on a couple of BA flights and they charge 25 GBP per person per seat, so Qantas seems quite reasonable!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lufthansa have a neat trick with their Australian operations. If you ask them whether they have IFE on flight from Syd to MUC they say yes - equal to world's best. Then once you've paid and board the 2nd 13hr+ flight to Munich you find a 20+ yr old 747 with MA rated movies on the aisle screen - no IFE.

When got back to OZ, tried to ring to lodge a complaint (3 children not happy) given I asked the question and made it clear that I would not book if they did not have it.

No option to lodge a complaint just sales, changes or rewards. So went for sales. Confirmed - We do not deal with customer complaints please email ASIAN customer service operation.

Did so, nearly 6 months later got a reply. We do not have to offer IFE so you have no complaint to lodge.

Reply, I asked if IFE was offered prior to booking direct with Luft staff, Luft said yes so I booked. Luft lied. Luft owes compensation.

3-4 months later (from memory) - No we don't. IFE not required to be offered.

I reply - if you say it is on all flights and customer says will not book if it is not on all flights then if you lie there is a problem.

Delayed reply - no problem. Hope you fly Luft again in the future.

At least Qantas has been known to provide compensation when IFE does not work compared with Lufthansa misrepresenting to get business.
 
You should contact the ACCC - sounds very much like misleading & deceptive conduct.
 
Lufthansa have a neat trick with their Australian operations. If you ask them whether they have IFE on flight from Syd to MUC they say yes - equal to world's best. Then once you've paid and board the 2nd 13hr+ flight to Munich you find a 20+ yr old 747 with MA rated movies on the aisle screen - no IFE.

What you have labelled is indeed IFE.

What there was not was Personal IFE.
 
What you have labelled is indeed IFE.

What there was not was Personal IFE.

True, but main screen IFE is not equal to the worlds best. If I was told my flight had "IFE equal to the worlds best" I would be expecting AVOD as standard which has a very large collection of movies, music and games.

I personally think that airlines which do have an inconsistent product need to be fully upfront with that inconsistency. QF and their B738's is a perfect example, some have AVOD, others do not.

EDIT: I was going to check at the QF website to see what they advertise about their B737's and IFE but the QF website is right now down...
 
True, but main screen IFE is not equal to the worlds best. If I was told my flight had "IFE equal to the worlds best" I would be expecting AVOD as standard which has a very large collection of movies, music and games.

I personally think that airlines which do have an inconsistent product need to be fully upfront with that inconsistency. QF and their B738's is a perfect example, some have AVOD, others do not.

EDIT: I was going to check at the QF website to see what they advertise about their B737's and IFE but the QF website is right now down...

I am still correct in correcting the point about the LH flight not having IFE which is not correct.

What does the LH website say about the 747 entertainment options?
 
What does the LH website say about the 747 entertainment options?

It doesn't specifically say anything about 747 entertainment options.

but it does have the following

Entertain yourself as it suits you best with Entertainment on Demand via your personal screen*​

the star simply says "*On flights of the entire Airbus fleet". It doesn't specifically have anything about the entertainment options on board their B747's. If you look up the fleet, it simply has tech specs for the B747, no details about on board service. But the way the in flight entertainment page is written it looks like they are talking fleet wide. Not "On airbus aircraft you will get".

So it could be argued that it's misleading, and I could easily understand how a LH call center person who has never actually flown on their B747 could believe that they do in fact have AVOD on their B747 flights as there is no information to say they don't, and a lot of implied information to say they do.
 
one cannot always do the on-line check-in - say if you are remote or no computer or no internet gadget?

Usually, on the normal, 1st world common routes (I'm being very generalised here), you will sit together if you book together. Very rarely you have to splite unless it is for operation reason.

As for online check in & selecting seat? I'm sorry to say, but the whole world is moving to the Internet age, like it or not. No internet banking? Earn less interest, pay more interest, and pay more fees.

No internet check in? Pay more to check & select your seat, and MAYBE greater chance of being bumped on an oversold flight.

This is the reason why I always check in online using my mobile phone, even when overseas.

I have been very lucky in that I have never been split on international flights. I always get split on domestic Australian flights, and flights within Europe.
 
Good point, I need to check my posts more closely. In the conversation with Lufthansa I did ask the question about seat back screens and the response came back clearly on seat back screens (Personal IFE) including a bit about the computer games.

What they offered to induce me to book 5 return Europe tickets was not what they delivered.

Now they are following the tried and tested model of not answering promptly and hoping that the customer will get sick of the run-around and give up.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I have and they were amazed at my patience. They agree that what was offered and subsequent follow-through not meeting Australian law.

Note: In my post above I should have added personal IFE.

In the interest of space I did not detail the full quote by Luft talking about how if the children got bored with the movies they could choose they could watch a variety of TV programs or play computer games.
 
Sponsored Post

Struggling to use your Frequent Flyer Points?

Frequent Flyer Concierge takes the hard work out of finding award availability and redeeming your frequent flyer or credit card points for flights.

Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, the Frequent Flyer Concierge team at Frequent Flyer Concierge will help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

So what was the compensation you got in return???

Lodged information as suggested y them using online system and uploaded emails from Lufthansa & myself last week. Update when I get some news
 
I tend to agree with the OP.

A full service should not be charging to select seats. What next luggage? Food and beverage? And before you know it there is no difference between full service carrier and LCC....
 
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.
You actually answered your own question below...
I could see that it was optional, but I wanted a window seat, and I wanted to sit next to my husband... Qantas usually puts you together, but my husband didn't want to chance it, and we could have been put together in the middle seats, with no view out of the window...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top