BNE-CNS swap/downgrade

[jonboixxx]

As a regular flyer (WP) to Cairns, there has been diminished service for a while. 737 to Embraer (no Wifi and almost no IFE). Often a bus at BNE because of standoff etc. Tomorrow there is a swap to a one class Alliance, but my question is, if already booked in J, why would all seats forward of row 9 be already allocated by the time my notification came through? I asked the Qantas agent, but she just said all seats had been allocated. I thought about booking a VA $167 economy flight (QF $404) but apparently QF will refund 31,200 pts (2 seats), so we'll see.

 

[sudoer]

Looks like you're referring to 8:05am QF1882? That's the only departure I can see without J seating today.

It seems the seats are genuinely filled... (although there are a couple available in row 7 and 8)

 

[eastwest101]

Similar story with the increasing use of E190s on the TSV-BNE services as well (fewer B738 services and lots of no-wifi E190 flying), although I haven't seen a single class substitution instead of a J class-equipped E190 yet. The bussing to the gates at BNE is also becoming very common even when there are ample Qantas gates available at BNE domestic, which is time-consuming and annoying for transit to other Qantas flights.

Not really much of a premium experience over VA, which at least has enough gates for their B738 flights but obviously you pay extra for baggage and wifi, although increasing appearances of Qantas A220s on BNE-TSV services is welcome. Generally, the prices of Qantas and Virgin at similar times within 3-5% of each other as far as airfares go, sometimes even Virgin is more expensive than Qantas once checked luggage is included.