Economy X [Domestic free for Platinum] - May 2017

[Justchecking]

Actually, aside from the odd 330 going cross country on positioning segments for the then getting rarer international PER flights Qantas had no lay flats in regular service across the continent.

Around the time QF had just introduced 2x3x2 with 38" pitch in business on brand new aircraft, so you can see what their intention was.
....
to match VA with lay-flat as standard on these services.

Even less reason then, to go to the extent that VA did. It was unnecessary to compete. If QF's intention was to offer a fairly standard domestic J product then VA could have trumped it with far less effort and expense. And now they've raised the bar beyond where they can sustain it. Unless they're about to buy a bunch more 330's? But anyway, lets see if YX is going to help turn the tables for them? I have my doubts.

 

[Pleb Status]

Back to the economy extra, really don't see this being much of a money spinner to be honest. The only people clued up enough about the xtra space there are FF's who will probably be entitled to those seats for free.

BTW - I agree with you about Economy X - I would be very surprised if many "average punters" would consider paying an extra $58 per person per round trip for this. Most people place far more importance on price than on comfort - hence the massive success of (literally) no frills airlines in the US and EU.

As a WP, I would be very happy if VA never sells a single YX seat moving forward....

Also, as the cost of implementation for YX has been very low (the biggest cost is the new headrest covers) and it will have no effect on the cost of operations, I do not think that VA cares that much either. If they make a few extra dollars from selling YX, fine. If not, also fine.

I see the introduction of YX mainly as an improvement to the WP experience more than a direct money earner. The hope would be to help retain WP and to capture more of the travel from SG and below. YX also adds to the 'much requested' separation between WP and SG.

How YX works in practice will be revealed on Sunday. Hopefully YX will be restricted to WP and paying passengers only to maximise the opportunity, but I doubt this will be the case.

 

[Jack_OC]

How YX works in practice will be revealed on Sunday. Hopefully YX will be restricted to WP and paying passengers only to maximise the opportunity, but I doubt this will be the case.

I certainly can't see them fully restricting it to WP/paying pax, as that would limit their ability to fill flights - unless they start forcing people to pay for YX once a certain load is reached. However, I would hope they only open up the YX seats if no other Y seats can be assigned. At least that would mean plenty of shadows on less busy flights. Based on their track record though, it will be a free for all close to departure.

 

[Pleb Status]

I certainly can't see them fully restricting it to WP/paying pax, as that would limit their ability to fill flights - unless they start forcing people to pay for YX once a certain load is reached. However, I would hope they only open up the YX seats if no other Y seats can be assigned. At least that would mean plenty of shadows on less busy flights. Based on their track record though, it will be a free for all close to departure.

Obviously, if no other Y seats are available, the remaining YX seats would then become available to others...

 

[Jet L]

It would be good as a ranking system so if it is required it opens for SG then eventually PS and then NR then non-members

 

[Jack_OC]

Obviously, if no other Y seats are available, the remaining YX seats would then become available to others...

Yeah, I assume so, but not necessarily obvious how or when.

It would be good as a ranking system so if it is required it opens for SG then eventually PS and then NR then non-members

That would be difficult to implement in practice though. The VA website states that Economy X seats will continue to be available for purchase after OLCI opens (T-48), which makes sense, as they will try to convince people to pay for those seats for as long as possible before giving them away for free.

I have prior experience of a similar system with JetBlue, where the flight had reached a point where no standard Y seats were available for selection. When that happened, it was no longer possible to select a free seat, but paid Y+ seats were available for purchase, and there was a message saying "no standard seats are available for selection at this time, but one will be allocated to you at the airport" or words to that effect. This was presumably designed to "encourage" people to pay for a seat, as that was the only way you could be assured that you're not getting the middle seat in the back row (bear in mind that anyone else currently in a standard Y seat could choose to upgrade at any time, freeing up a less desirable seat for those who choose not to pay!). Additionally, with no seat assigned you could not complete OLCI so a visit to the desk was necessary, which of course is an extra hassle.

If VA do the same and only start assigning YX seats for free ~3 hours before the flight, then realistically there would not be enough time to have staggered windows for Gold>Silver>No status. I guess they could automatically reassign Golds from Y to YX, but people might not necessarily be happy with that (e.g. someone might prefer Row 7 aisle to Row 5 middle), so I doubt if they would do that either.

 

[serfty]

It is what it is - and in the mean time gives WP's the greater likelihood of shadows on slightly less than full flights.

 

[Cryptarcadian]

It seems like selecting an Economy X seat during booking then stops you from being able to change your seat selection online, with an error message saying you need to call the guest contact centre.

At first I thought it was because it was because I upgraded on one of the sectors, but I've since upgraded to J on the remaining sectors on the itinerary so I no longer have any YX seats selected, and I can once again do seat selection myself online!

That's kind of disappointing, as it suggests that for all future simple domestic itineraries (where WP will undoubtedly select a YX seat) will require a call to change seats prior to check-in.

 

[kevrosmith]

Row 3



And row 4, on an older refurbished B737.



Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to get a photo in normal economy row for comparison.

I was very surprised that row 3 did not feel like it had changed leg room at all. So I'm not sure where they got the extra room for row 4 and 5. There were signs up in the overhead locker with Economy X on them as well.

Row 3 from a few weeks ago:


Only one YX row was completely full on a fairly full flight:

 

[Shano]

It seems like selecting an Economy X seat during booking then stops you from being able to change your seat selection online, with an error message saying you need to call the guest contact centre.

At first I thought it was because it was because I upgraded on one of the sectors, but I've since upgraded to J on the remaining sectors on the itinerary so I no longer have any YX seats selected, and I can once again do seat selection myself online!

That's kind of disappointing, as it suggests that for all future simple domestic itineraries (where WP will undoubtedly select a YX seat) will require a call to change seats prior to check-in.

We book through Serko (corporate Traveller) and I'm having trouble getting the Serko portal make YX seats stick during the booking process.

Just went into Velocity MMB and was able to select YX seats - it actually shows up as $0 payable (due to WP status).

Lets see if they are retained.....

 

[Muppet501st]

We book through Serko (corporate Traveller) and I'm having trouble getting the Serko portal make YX seats stick during the booking process.

Just went into Velocity MMB and was able to select YX seats - it actually shows up as $0 payable (due to WP status).

Lets see if they are retained.....

My work travel also uses Serko. I used to be able to select my own seats if there were only VA flights in my booking ( if there was a QF segment I'd have to call up VFF) but not anymore. When I spoke to VFF, they said it may have something to do with the YX seats being $$. I made some last minute bookings and was surprised that I could get them to select any seat in row 3. Thought I'd be stuck down the back.

 

[cdp88]

We book through Serko (corporate Traveller) and I'm having trouble getting the Serko portal make YX seats stick during the booking process.

Just went into Velocity MMB and was able to select YX seats - it actually shows up as $0 payable (due to WP status).

Lets see if they are retained.....

Does anyone know how to get economy x seats selected if your booking is made through Serko? My work also uses them and I was hoping to try it out on the flight next week.

 

[sausagefingers]

Does anyone know how to get economy x seats selected if your booking is made through Serko? My work also uses them and I was hoping to try it out on the flight next week.

I have always just called up the Plat line?

 

[bullerdude]

Does anyone know how to get economy x seats selected if your booking is made through Serko? My work also uses them and I was hoping to try it out on the flight next week.

Just made a booking and had the call the platinum line. For us, you can't select the frequent flyer reserved seats (including YX) through Serko and in this instance i also couldn't select a seat via the VA website.

Dogs breakfast really.

 

[cdp88]

Just made a booking and had the call the platinum line. For us, you can't select the frequent flyer reserved seats (including YX) through Serko and in this instance i also couldn't select a seat via the VA website.

Dogs breakfast really.

I did manage to get one leg allocated to economy x. Unfortunately I had put in a waitlisted business class points upgrade for the return leg before I did seat selection so I now have to call the contact centre to select any seat at all, let alone economy x. It seems that you do get a refund if your get upgraded and don't use economy x.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but Gold cannot get economy x seats even at the airport (unless the flight is full/someone is extra nice, I suppose). Exit rows are still fair game though, which makes sense.

 

[Pleb Status]

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but Gold cannot get economy x seats even at the airport (unless the flight is full/someone is extra nice, I suppose). Exit rows are still fair game though, which makes sense.

If consistently applied throughout the entire network, and that is a big if, that is excellent news. It will almost guarantee shadows for WP once the window and aisle seats in a row are assigned.

Looking forward to an empty 3E on Friday afternoon.....

 

[VOZ102]

Flew today - saw the branding - didn't see the fuss- didn't notice any more room. Every seat was full anyways.

 

[pauly7]

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but Gold cannot get economy x seats even at the airport (unless the flight is full/someone is extra nice, I suppose). Exit rows are still fair game though, which makes sense.

Do you mean in the future? Or now...?

 

[Must...Fly!]

Do you mean in the future? Or now...?

That was the info I got last night. I suspected as much as I couldn't select rows 3-5 on the kiosks as well as exit rows, so I asked in the lounge and got a run down of the new policy. Essentially reserved for paying guests + WP. Rows 3-5 unavailable otherwise, row 7 and back for SG. Exit rows can be allocated at the airport if requested, this makes sense. There is a CASA requirement to have 2 pax in each block on B738s when there is more than a certain number of passengers on board (IIRC its 144) but it is always better to fill them pro actively.