Big development! Qantas seat selection!

[serfty]

... Would it be worth it to swap from WHY exit row to premium economy? Would the new seats pre-allocated be likely to stick? I hope I have not stuffed up existing seats by going into the booking.

Have a look at C/M/T to confirm your exit seats are still pre-allocated. You should be OK.

It's up to you if you wish to take your chances on this. Of course it would be an issue to get those exit seats back without $$$ should you change then the allocation changes.

Me? I'd do the 58 ASAP and ponder the others, keeping an eye on the loadings.

As I have noted elsewhere, D seats in 744 aren't selectable on Qantas.com where they are designated wheelchair accessible. (Those with E/F can see this)

 

[JohnK]

Have a look at C/M/T to confirm your exit seats are still pre-allocated. You should be OK.

Yes no problem so far.

It's up to you if you wish to take your chances on this. Of course it would be an issue to get those exit seats back without $$$ should you change then the allocation changes.

I realise if I make the change I cannot go back to exit row without paying.

Me? I'd do the 58 ASAP and ponder the others, keeping an eye on the loadings.

I only have the 2 QF 747 flights. I have my eyes on the AB or JK premium economy seats which should be perfect with my father in window seat and me in the aisle. I don't think it is that important to have the first seat in premium economy as much as it does in WHY. I wish I had paid more attention to the recent reviews of Qantas premium economy seats.

The loads 2 months out appear to be very light on both flights. I need to weigh up the chances of op-up from WHY exit row to business class or from any old seat in premium economy to business class. I think my father will be happy with premium economy seats and I am just trying to make the flights as comfortable as possible for him.

 

[tuapekastar]

Just booked for myself and SO for NZ FT do in December (MEL-AKL-MEL). This is, AFAIK, my first experience of the 'new' system.

I am QP PS and have Forward Aisle (or Aisle Forward?) as my seating preference.

SO is QP NB and has Rear Window (or Window Rear?) as her preference.

We have been allocated (on a 738 each way) 8B (me) and 8C (her). This seems at odds with the preferences, particularly as the row 8 window is free in each case.

Rows 4 thru 7 are all unavailable for me to choose from...previously as QP NB I would probably have been automatically allocated row 4 this far out from the flight...so either these flights are unusually full this far out or this system is kicking in big time. Not too concerned, can swap for aisle with SO (or grab her a window if she wants it), just missing out on a little extra row 4 pitch, but interesting to see the new system in action.

 

[Cyclogenesis]

Just went silver QP the other day so logged into to pre-select seats for QF494 on 28/08 (Mel-Syd super-red-e-deal $69)

but I got a screen saying that

Your flight is not eligible for seat selection however you can nominate aisle or window seat preference.

 

[JohnK]

The seat selection feature has not been enabled for domestic flights. Thank God....

 

[Cyclogenesis]

Kewl... so as silver QP do I get better pre-allocated seats than when I was NB QP? Last couple of flights have been at row 45 ish on a full 767 (OLCI ~ T-20 hrs)

 

[JohnK]

Possibly but no guarantee. Read the various threads active on AFF about people with status now getting worse seat allocations. Someone must be getting better seats. I wonder who they are?

 

[Tooner]

Just OLCI'd for the flight with the Tooners tomorrow and all seats were listed as booked (during the brief window domestic bookings were available). Noticed that in OLCI almost all of Row 4 was available in the 738 (4C not). As 4C was booked out did not move the entire family 1 row forward!

 

[Anna]

Seat select seems to be back today for QF domestic flights, although very different from how it looked when it was briefly available before. Selection is now limited to aisle or window. Nothing about row numbers or exit rows. As SG my aisle preference had automatically been put in so I didn't need to do anything further for my next flight.

 

[Grooba]

As I have just booked Ms vec a couple of flights so she can accompany me on a project coming up I thought some people might like to see what the seat availability is for a WP and a PS at the same time on the same flight.

WP - SYD-AKL

PS - SYD-AKL

WP - AKL-SYD

PS - AKL-SYD

Hopefully some find this interesting information.

 

[sarlatcycles]

If I had a QF international sector coming up I would be happy to test for you. But all my international flights are booked on CX and BA, with only domestic bookings on QF at this time. My domestic booking is showing seat allocations have already been made for me (2A and 2B), but of course cannot select/change this on-line.

We are booked on a return Perth - SIN - LDH - CDG flight in August with our points (J on the way out and Y+ on just the LDH - SIN leg on homeward leg). Travelling on Qantas just for the Perth - Sin return leg and BA on the other legs. To select my BA seats, I was able to join BA (free of charge) enter my fight details and select all my BA seating. I was pretty chuffed with that until BA cancelled my SIN - LDH flight and found me 2 business seats on a BA flight that left SIN a day earlier :shock:

To cut a long story short, Qantas were able to fit us onto QF9 (J) on the night we were actually arriving in Singapore . A bit worried about my return BA flight though with all the stuff about asking employees to take leave. Could be more flight cut backs later in the year.

 

[pauly7]

As I have just booked Ms vec a couple of flights so she can accompany me on a project coming up I thought some people might like to see what the seat availability is for a WP and a PS at the same time on the same flight.

WP - SYD-AKL



PS - SYD-AKL



WP - AKL-SYD



PS - AKL-SYD



Hopefully some find this interesting information.

Thanks for posting. Hopefully you can get both of you into first couple of rows to get the personal DVD players

 

[justinbrett]

I'm still confused by this seat selection thing. I understand it is advertised for international flights. (I am gold).

I recently had about 5 bookings in my profile, 4 of them MEL/BNE return and the other DRW-BNE-MEL (one way).

The MEL/BNE did not show a seat assignment, but did have the button to select seats, only to be told the flight was not elligible.

The DRW-BNE-MEL flights both showed seat assignments (the BNE-MEL was the exact same flight number as one of the other bookings) but I could not change it with the button (also not elligible).

So I figured it was a glitch and that I actually did not have seats assigned. However, I turned up at the airport in Darwin - and was issued the exact same seats! So there must be some way to preselect domestic seats now.

Also interesting that it showed up for DRW-BNE(-MEL) and not the BNE-MEL flights. Perhaps they intend to exclude city flyer flights?

Ideas?

 

[JohnK]

Seat selection is only available on international flights. Yes the button is there for domestic flights but in theory you should only be able to request seat preference for a flight/booking.

Some people have reported that they can see seat allocations for domestic fliights but I think this is glitch carried over from the premature implementation for all flights back early June. As far as I am aware domestic seat allocations are done somewhere between T-48 hours and T-24 hours but if your booking is showing a seat allocation the software may take this into consideration.

 

[justinbrett]

Seat selection is only available on international flights. Yes the button is there for domestic flights but in theory you should only be able to request seat preference for a flight/booking.

Some people have reported that they can see seat allocations for domestic fliights but I think this is glitch carried over from the premature implementation for all flights back early June. As far as I am aware domestic seat allocations are done somewhere between T-48 hours and T-24 hours but if your booking is showing a seat allocation the software may take this into consideration.

Understood, but these seat allocations were diplayed about 3 weeks prior to the flights.

 

[NM]

Understood, but these seat allocations were diplayed about 3 weeks prior to the flights.

There are two things at play here. One is the fact that domestic flights are no eligible for on-line seat selection. So the inability to do so is consistent with the policy.

The second is that for some reason Qantas has already allocated some seats on some of your domestic flights, and when this happens the seat allocations are visible on the web, but still cannot be altered. Just because Qantas has allocated some seats does not change the policy that on-line selection is not available for domestic flights.

 

[NM]

I can confirm that on-line seat selection for international flights is not restricted to Qantas Silver, Gold and Platinum FF members. As a OneWorld Emerald (AA EXP) I also have access to on-line seat selection for Qantas international flights.

 

[Cyclogenesis]

So is it OW status that matters (ie can a NB or other non OW status member allocate seats on international flights?)

 

[justinbrett]

I really can't see why not. AA and BA let QF members do so. (BA even let me select the exit row with Gold membership).

 

[NM]

So is it OW status that matters (ie can a NB or other non OW status member allocate seats on international flights?)

According to the Qantas Media Release:

"And we are rewarding our top tier Frequent Flyers, (Platinum, Gold and Silver) with even more choice - the ability to choose their seat online.

"Immediately after making a booking, whether at qantas.com or through other booking channels, eligible Frequent Flyers are now able to request their seat for international flights.*"

Eligible frequent flyers does seem to include OneWorld statue member, certainly Emerald. Sapphire members are supposed to get preferred seating as a OneWorld benefits also.

And this would imply that QF Bronze and non-members would not have access to on-line seat selection.