789/388 Broken Business Suites Rife - PAX Involuntary moved

[jpp42]

If the name above hasn’t been screened, and it is who I think it is, it is a well-known Perth mining executive who is CL. I see him often on SYD-PER.

Oh haha, no Mr. Johnson was a sample name... think Mr John Doe

 

[jpp42]

That’s a bit strange. Normally if a seat is ”broken”, it will not be available to any commercial passengers. It may, at the Captain’s discretion, be used for staff, but even then I restricted it to people who actually wouldn’t fiddle with it (i.e. engineers or crew only).

Well, I didn't want to complain at the time, as I figured I would just get bumped down to Y. This was some years ago (5+).

 

[jb747]

Internationally no, domestic they are a little more relaxed on it.
There are no compensation rates set for domestic unfortunately, only international.

Ah, the leftovers of the old QF, and old AA.

 

[MarcB]

Bumping this thread...Has anyone got any more updates/insight into the issue of the broken 789 seats? I am flying out to Rome on Saturday and looking at EF, I saw some seats become blocked, including our original 10K,12K (we'd moved at T-80 to 1A,2A) and 3A. Speaking to a mate that works for QF, seems that they are only selling 37 seats on that flight in J (down from 42). He guessed that it was probably because the plane had broken seats. They've been using VH-ZNM for this route for the last couple of weeks and looking at the scheduled QF6 back from FCO departing 17/8, seems that 10K,12K and 3A are also blocked on that seat map suggesting at least three broken seats. We are on a points booking, so mildly worried that we will get bumped. Is there any way the call centre can confirm if seats are inop? Or is this only possible at check in?

 

[TheInsider]

Bumping this thread...Has anyone got any more updates/insight into the issue of the broken 789 seats? I am flying out to Rome on Saturday and looking at EF, I saw some seats become blocked, including our original 10K,12K (we'd moved at T-80 to 1A,2A) and 3A. Speaking to a mate that works for QF, seems that they are only selling 37 seats on that flight in J (down from 42). He guessed that it was probably because the plane had broken seats. They've been using VH-ZNM for this route for the last couple of weeks and looking at the scheduled QF6 back from FCO departing 17/8, seems that 10K,12K and 3A are also blocked on that seat map suggesting at least three broken seats. We are on a points booking, so mildly worried that we will get bumped. Is there any way the call centre can confirm if seats are inop? Or is this only possible at check in?

Call centre can't confirm if seats are broken. But if the seats are broken, then the airport will generally move you out of them at around -48 hours.
Highly unlikely to get bumped, majority of these flights now undersell in Business Class. If there are people in the broken seats, then it's nearly a 99% chance they are staff travellers.

 

[Gold Member]

Call centre can't confirm if seats are broken. But if the seats are broken, then the airport will generally move you out of them at around -48 hours.

LOL, the Qantas call centre (excluding HBA) can barely perform their own jobs properly let alone confirm some minor intricate detail about a specific seat issue.

AJ has hacked the call centre budget and standards to the bone. And with these ongoing cabin service issues (which are again cost cutting, not thing more), I’m baffled why people remain loyal to QF.

I challenge everyone to Take a stand and dump Qantas. Maybe they’ll get the hint then.

 

[TheInsider]

LOL, the Qantas call centre (excluding HBA) can barely perform their own jobs properly let alone confirm some minor intricate detail about a specific seat issue.

AJ has hacked the call centre budget and standards to the bone. And with these ongoing cabin service issues (which are again cost cutting, not thing more), I’m baffled why people remain loyal to QF.

I challenge everyone to Take a stand and dump Qantas. Maybe they’ll get the hint then.

Basically any reservation system wouldn't be able to 'see' a broken seat, they can see a reduced capacity though. Different regos have different seats broken or other changes. Not a reservations issue tbh. You can't predict an aircraft rego with any amount of certainty until the aircraft actually flies out.
The airport systems can see and manipulate the broken seats in/out of the system.

 

[harryhv]

With no-one bothering to fix broken seats at Qantas, makes you wonder what else is broken? The wiring to control the tailplane, is that broken too? Does anybody know? How are the wings? Is the undercarriage serviceable?

 

[MrJetset]

With no-one bothering to fix broken seats at Qantas, makes you wonder what else is broken? The wiring to control the tailplane, is that broken too? Does anybody know? How are the wings? Is the undercarriage serviceable?

A bit dramatic…

 

[MarcB]

Basically any reservation system wouldn't be able to 'see' a broken seat, they can see a reduced capacity though. Different regos have different seats broken or other changes. Not a reservations issue tbh. You can't predict an aircraft rego with any amount of certainty until the aircraft actually flies out.
The airport systems can see and manipulate the broken seats in/out of the system.

Thanks for this info. I had assumed that there would be some visibility of the airframe that was scheduled to fly a sector for planning purposes...but perhaps not immediately or logically accessible to reservations staff. I will report back on where things end up.

As it stands, I am hoping we can get shuffled into a middle pair anyway. The split sectors (SYD-PER, PER-FCO) means that there's no pairs available for pax going SYD-FCO, although there is if you were flying those sectors separately.

 

[Gavros333]

With no-one bothering to fix broken seats at Qantas, makes you wonder what else is broken? The wiring to control the tailplane, is that broken too? Does anybody know? How are the wings? Is the undercarriage serviceable?

To be fair, I am friends with a Qantas LAME and a 737 FO and both have said that there’s a lot of aircraft flying that are carrying many defects and MEL’s. Some 737’s have up to 40 defects piling up, waiting for parts and/or their next maintenance visit (as we know Qantas are short on staff and have an aging fleet). I was assured that these aren’t an immediate threat to safety but can result in delays and breakdowns.

 

[jpp42]

The airport systems can see and manipulate the broken seats in/out of the system.

It should be noted that by "airport" in this case what I think is meant processes that occur in the close lead-up to the flight . These actual systems certainly aren't located at the airport, rather they are in the HQ office or data centres or "cloud" etc. It's only the technicians who are inputting data about broken seats who are actually at the airport. I think a clearer way of stating this is that there are many technical and backend systems which are accessed by different teams at HQ and at airports, that aren't used by call centre reservation agents.

 

[NM]

It should be noted that by "airport" in this case what I think is meant processes that occur in the close lead-up to the flight . These actual systems certainly aren't located at the airport, rather they are in the HQ office or data centres or "cloud" etc. It's only the technicians who are inputting data about broken seats who are actually at the airport. I think a clearer way of stating this is that there are many technical and backend systems which are accessed by different teams at HQ and at airports, that aren't used by call centre reservation agents.

The systems may not be located at the airport, but the people making decisions related to the flight operations as departure date/time approach are located at the airport. The common term used is that the flight is "under airport control", which results for a set process where certain staff at the departure airport take control of the flight operations and can manipulate the seating allocations if required. Once this occurs (flight is under airport control), call centre staff have limited access (if any access at all) to make changes to seating allocations.

 

[jb747]

With no-one bothering to fix broken seats at Qantas, makes you wonder what else is broken? The wiring to control the tailplane, is that broken too? Does anybody know? How are the wings? Is the undercarriage serviceable?

A tad melodramatic. Nobody here knows, but the pilots and engineers do on the day. You don't need to know.

Management of airworthiness items is heavily controlled (by CASA, and the aircraft manufacturers). The pilots aren't going to take non airworthy aircraft flying, nor would the engineers sign them out. Note that the likes of AJ and his friends do not have any authority when it comes to the actual day to day operations (perhaps that's why he hates pilots so much).

Nothing being discussed here is an airworthiness item.

There is also a difference between MELs and hold items. MELs take quite some time to actually process before each flight, and are very restrictive. Hold items relate to much more trivial (non airworthiness) items.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Bumping this thread...Has anyone got any more updates/insight into the issue of the broken 789 seats? I am flying out to Rome on Saturday and looking at EF, I saw some seats become blocked, including our original 10K,12K (we'd moved at T-80 to 1A,2A) and 3A. Speaking to a mate that works for QF, seems that they are only selling 37 seats on that flight in J (down from 42). He guessed that it was probably because the plane had broken seats. They've been using VH-ZNM for this route for the last couple of weeks and looking at the scheduled QF6 back from FCO departing 17/8, seems that 10K,12K and 3A are also blocked on that seat map suggesting at least three broken seats. We are on a points booking, so mildly worried that we will get bumped. Is there any way the call centre can confirm if seats are inop? Or is this only possible at check in?

I flew VH-ZNK to JFK in June and it had several inoperable J seats. I was moved from 1A to a middle in row 7.
ZNL did not appear to have any inoperable seats on the way back.

I last flew VH-ZNM a couple of weeks ago on QF5 and QF6. I did not look too closely but I don’t recall seeing any inoperable seats near me (1A) on either leg and the cabin was totally full.

 

[bjhearne]

Looks like this problem has spread to the 737s now too. I saw a "not for passenger use" sign on an economy seat on Saturday

 

[RooFlyer]

I saw a "not for passenger use" sign on an economy seat on Saturday

They could put that sign on all of them.

 

[RichardMEL]

Sooooo I have an international flight coming up and am in 1A (yes, spot the entitlement! ). Anyway just happened to notice on EF that 1A is now showing as blocked rather than occupied.Several others also show as blocked. I thought of this thread so will be interested to see if I still hold this seat on Wednesday (I would like to for the footspace!)

 

[madrooster]

I thought of this thread so will be interested to see if I still hold this seat on Wednesday (I would like to for the footspace!)

I guarantee you that you have been moved but can't see you've been moved.

 

[RichardMEL]

I guarantee you that you have been moved but can't see you've been moved.

Some extra corn for the Rooster.

did OLCI. What do you know, all of a sudden my seat is now 2A (so not totally shocked).

Amusingly, or not, when I go in to select seats, the seat map still has me in 1A, with 2A blocked. I know that's an illusion, but gee.

I'm not the happiest camper to be honest. I know, seat is broken then it's broken, but I much prefer the privacy of the nearer window seats than the aisle side seats such as 2A gives on the 787. First world problem I know, but still - not ideal.

I could move to row 10 and get the wider footwell and privacy, but I less like the noise there and being so close to the galley. So, I guess I have to decide quickly which is worse.