Big development! Qantas seat selection!

[anat0l]

Oops:!: Under risk of a painful death from SHMBO I should say 'hopefully our PE seats will be upgraded to business and then someone else can have our PE seats.'

Well, at a minimum, shouldn't it be:

'hopefully her PE seat will be upgraded to business and then someone else can have her PE seat'?

And just to get a little weirder, when I check the weekly AKL-MEL timetable (with my date in the middle) all QF26s are shown as operated by QF (red triangle), and all others show as operated by Jetconnect for QF - QF codeshare (green square). I suppose something to do with QF26 origianting in LAX, even though it's an aircraft change and all.

All dates after mine, I'm able to hover over the symbol, click and get the flight details. My date and all prior ones (in the week displayed), I am unable to 'click' the symbol!

I don't know when you're travelling, but...

I know that if you search the timetables on weekly view, if you try to view more details (i.e. click the symbol) for a date in the past, you won't be able to do so. But I searched for a random date in early September, and I was able to see all details for QF26 and its 'other' flight of similar timing, QF156.

Very confusing, all the same:

• As tuapekastar saw, all QF26 flights are shown as a red triangle, i.e. "operated by Qantas". Checking each of the red triangles in my random week in September, the weekend QF26 flights are operated by "Qantas Airways", but all the weekday ones are operated by "JETCONNECT" (cf. the green square flights are operated by "JETCONNECT FOR QANTAS").
• Equipment varies as well - weekends it's reporting 738; weekdays it's a 734. Odd is the only word.

Looking at the timetable for LAX-MEL on the same dates in weekly view yields similar confusing results for QF26. All equipments are listed as "CHANGE OF EQUIPMENT - ALL CODES" (the JavaScript command to bring up the "additional info" uses the equipment abbreviation 'EQV' for this). And again some flights are listed as operated by "Qantas Airways" and others "JETCONNECT".

Cross checking LAX-AKL on QF26 again shows that all equipments on LAX-AKL are 744s and all are operated by "Qantas Airways" (and not "JETCONNECT" ).

In both cases of looking up LAX-MEL (QF26) and LAX-AKL weekly timetables, there are no green squares at all - all red triangles.

 

[wandering_fred]

The OW downloadable timetable is showing various results as well.
LAX-MEL week of 13 Sep
QF26 not shown 13/15 Sep
connections via SYD/BNE not consistently shown

Good luck

Fred

 

[JohnK]

So hopefully my PE seat will be upgraded to business and then someone else can have my PE seat.

That would be your best hope and you need to be extremely lucky. There have been many reports of people on AFF with no, or little, status, getting upgrades on both leags of return flights but there was no such upgrade for this Platinum on a SYD-LAX flight.

Despite what people have posted on AFF I would stay away from PE seats masquerading as economy if possible. If, and that is a big IF, I fly QF long haul again I will gladly pay the money to sit in an economy exit row then sit in an PE seat....

 

[notzac]

Despite what people have posted on AFF I would stay away from PE seats masquerading as economy if possible. If, and that is a big IF, I fly QF long haul again I will gladly pay the money to sit in an economy exit row then sit in an PE seat....

Why is that John? The one time I sat in a W seat I really enjoyed the experience; the footrest is a complete waste of time but otherwise really nice. (I'm looking at coughing up change fees at the moment to change from an A380 flight to a 744 flight to take advantage of a cabin reconfiguration..)

 

[anat0l]

Why is that John? The one time I sat in a W seat I really enjoyed the experience; the footrest is a complete waste of time but otherwise really nice. (I'm looking at coughing up change fees at the moment to change from an A380 flight to a 744 flight to take advantage of a cabin reconfiguration..)

There's more space in an Y exit row than a Y+ seat (with the exception of the exit row of Y+ on the 388)?

 

[JohnK]

Why is that John? The one time I sat in a W seat I really enjoyed the experience; the footrest is a complete waste of time but otherwise really nice. (I'm looking at coughing up change fees at the moment to change from an A380 flight to a 744 flight to take advantage of a cabin reconfiguration..)

Many reasons. I am tired right and do not have enough time before the next flight but our experience in 37AB on the 747 the other day was very ordinary. It would have been much better sitting in my pre-allocated economy exit row.

- Cabin crew have no idea what is going on and service was extremely poor
- Did not receive snack on Q bag and only realised when I was walking down the back and noticed people in economy with snack on Q bags. When I mentioned to cabin crew that economy passengers sitting in PE did not receive them he just looked at me with a blank look. Still did not receive a snack on Q bag but they came with some chocolates and pretzels in a basket
- When seat in front is fully reclined the passenger (my father) sitting in window seat could not get up without yanking on the seat in the front. Yes this happens in economy as well but he is 71 and the whole idea of premium economy is to give more room to move not just leg room
- The IFE screen has limited movement and I could not get an decent angle to watch watch it
- The IFE had very patchy noise and I could not watch any movies but could hear commercials and announcements very clearly. I mentioned this to the crew on a number of occasions and the request was ignored each time with no feedback as to what was happening.
- The meal was extremely inadequate (less than half the portion of a SYD-BNE flight) for a 13:25 flight (probably not the fault of premium economy)
- They started breakfast down the back and I could hear the cabin crew half way through the economy cabin saying the eggs had run out and only had muesli left. Sorry but I was extremely hungry and I do not eat muesli and all I had was a few pieces of fruit. Qantas should load enough egg meals for everyone in economy and if anyone happens to ask for muesli then let them have muesli not the other way around.

This does not end there as there is more. The premium economy product is not worth a 10% premium on normal economy (let alone the 2x, 3x Qantas chanrges for the product now) and I would rather pay for economy exit row then sit in premium economy again. I would love to have my exit row back for LHR-HKG flight but I do not think QF will oblige without a payment fot the privilege.

Perhaps I just had a bad flight but it is simply not good enough. I need to gather my thoughts and send off some to feedback to QF on our experience. By the way my father is a casual flyer and he was extremely disappointed....

 

[simongr]

Most of the issues seem to be more about the service than the PE seat JohnK.

 

[Flashback]

Most of the issues seem to be more about the service than the PE seat JohnK.

I tend to agree especially regarding the food. If flying PE the food situation would have been better I imagine.

 

[file51]

I tend to agree especially regarding the food. If flying PE the food situation would have been better I imagine.

Not if they were using PE seats with Y service, i.e. better seat, same service as Y

 

[notzac]

Perhaps I just had a bad flight but it is simply not good enough. I need to gather my thoughts and send off some to feedback to QF on our experience. By the way my father is a casual flyer and he was extremely disappointed....

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that John it doesn't match my experience with the W cabin at all. Definitely recommend you write QF to let them know, it doesn't sound like the service was anywhere near acceptable.

 

[Flashback]

Not if they were using PE seats with Y service, i.e. better seat, same service as Y

I think you misunderstood my comment.... John was flying in a PE seat with whY service. If he was in a PE seat with PE service it would have been different (this is regarding his comment saying he doesn't think the 10% premium would be worth it).

 

[docjames]

Did not receive snack on Q bag and only realised when I was walking down the back and noticed people in economy with snack on Q bags. When I mentioned to cabin crew that economy passengers sitting in PE did not receive them he just looked at me with a blank look. Still did not receive a snack on Q bag but they came with some chocolates and pretzels in a basket

I wonder if they loaded the snacks for the Y seats and forgot to add extras for the Y+ seats (normally they wouldnt load extra snacks).

Sounds like 90% of the problem was an indifferent crew, rather than the Y+ seats.

 

[MarcB]

JohnK I am not that suprised by your comments about the service in the whY cabin. On many a trip I have found this to be the worst part of the whole experience, even when sitting in a standard whY seat. Given the choice to sit in a standard whY seat versus a whY+ seat, I know I would choose the whY+ simply for the extra recline and the width - plus the 2-4-2 configuration means when I travel with my partner, we don't get bothered by the random next to us. Perhaps the comparison to a whY exit row is where things come unstuck. My only experience in a whY+ seat was in a whY+ exit row...to be honest, I found it to be a little exposed - the main advantage came from being to have a 20 minute chat with the PE crew member sitting in the jump seat in front of us because it meant she was very attentive to us for the rest of the trip (even though she wasn't required to be as we were in a PE seat with whY service.) I think we are all in agreement that Qantas' biggest issue at times is the lack of service - particularly in whY. I could probably forgive all the other issues like lack of space and dodgy headrests if the crew were just pleasant.

I would certainly say that your experience with the whY+ seat has been marred by the service aspects. Having experienced the whY+ service - which is like business class in terms of staff demeanour and quality of food, I would certainly pay that little bit more to have a nicer time when trapped at 30,000 feet.

 

[straitman]

Well, at a minimum, shouldn't it be:

'hopefully her PE seat will be upgraded to business and then someone else can have her PE seat'?

anat0l,

I'm trying hard to ignore that possibility:!:

 

[anat0l]

anat0l,

I'm trying hard to ignore that possibility:!:

As LW would say, "Happy wife, happy life".

I think we are all in agreement that Qantas' biggest issue at times is the lack of service - particularly in whY. I could probably forgive all the other issues like lack of space and dodgy headrests if the crew were just pleasant.

Does this kind of "non-service" have a higher probability of happening on particular kinds of flights? For example, more often than not on Trans-Pacific routes?

Just a thought.

 

[simongr]

I have found TT and DOM to be the best J service - HKG and NRT have been my worst experiences in J.

 

[reflector]

I recently travelled QF107 (SYD-LAX) with my sister. Because we booked separately, i recieved an op-up to PE at checkin, and she did not. (may 22) The lounge staff were good and tried to have her moved up, but couldn't manage it. (we're both QC members, but i've been in longer and flown more so i guess that's why it happened under the new system)
However at the gate, her seat was double booked, and they bumped her up to PE with me.

During the flight, she got airsick, and the PE crew were AMAZINGLY helpful!! I mean above and beyond!! They got her peppermint tea to help calm her stomach, got her a cool moist towel to put on the back of her neck, found some fruit for her to eat when she was feeling better, and checked back every so often to see how she was doing. Words cannot describe just how grateful I was for helping out like that.

I guess overall i'd prefer the service in PE anyday, but i've had no real complaints against staff when flying in Y. At the end of the day it's all relative anyway... a bad flight attendant on Qantas would be better that one of the average AA Flight attendants


edit: It has crossed my mind more than once that we probably would not have received that same level of care in Y...

 

[docjames]

reflector, sopunds like a mix of good (PE seats) and bad (airsickness).

Have you considered writing to Qantas to praise the crew involved?

Everyone's quick to write when things go badly, less so when they go well.

 

[reflector]

Definitely doing it when I get home. Coming from a customer service background myself, i like to recognise superior service when it happens!

 

[pauly7]

Definitely doing it when I get home. Coming from a customer service background myself, i like to recognise superior service when it happens!

Should definitely do it... hopefully you noted staff names too.

I got rescued by a wonderful QF club syd domestic staff member, was sick, running late, ticketing had stuffed up etc etc. She bumped me up to J and was so helpful. As I was running to the flight i tapped out an email on the iphone to QF customer service with all the details.

2 days later got a lovely phone call from a rep to say thanks for the feedback etc etc and the staff member involved has been personally spoken to and rewarded which was great.

Positive reinforcement!