Exit Row Seat disappears due to aircraft substitution

[sinophile888]

I sent this email to Qantas this morning.

I rang Qantas and spoke to a consultant at approximately 10:15am Perth time on 14/07/2011. His name may have been J***s. I was enquiring about booking number ******. My husband's booking number is ******. I had requested exit row seats for us on both the PER -> MEL and MEL -> PER legs. Upon checking my booking I found that the seat chosen for the return flight is now no longer an exit row seat. When I hover my mouse above the seat number it indicates that the seat is an exit row seat but the seat map shows otherwise. A different configuration for this same aircraft type has my chosen seat as an exit row seat. The consultant treated me like I was an idiot and was very dismissive of my enquiry. I travel frequently both domestically and internationally and am always very careful to book exit row seats whenever possible as I hate being reclined into. I am extremely disappointed in being treated this way by a Qantas consultant. Is there any way in which this situation can be sorted? sinophile888


Our flights are PER -> MEL on 18/07/2011 and MEL -> PER on 22/07/2011.
Is this an acceptable/frequent practice?
Can I expect a reply from Qantas?
What would others on this forum suggest?
Should I ring again and try another consultant?

 

[harvyk]

Call again,
They should either be able to confirm that you're in an exit row seat or move you so you are...
Of course as always a last minute plane change can throw that out...

 

[ausi ski bum]

You could try another consultant or get to the airport early.

Thing is changes happen, I was on a Frontier Airline flight from DC to LAX recently via somewhere in the middle of the US, I had an exit row both flights but the second leg turned out not to be even though I had paid the extra. At this point you have two choices, stress about it and spoil the day or figure sometimes its just not meant to be.

I think we get to hung up sometimes, I learnt a long time ago, to just go with the flow and have a nice day. As we all learn what are the best seats etc, its gone from being nice to have an exit to a right of passage, there are only a few of them so it s getting harder to actually get one.

I personally dislike the exit on some aircraft, it can be very cold in the window seat and some of the doors have the slide in a box that gets in your leg space anyway. On many aircraft there is no seat in front so the table is in the arm of your seat making it narrower.

Read a nice book or have a snooze, the flight is just how you get there.

Have a nice flight.

On a side note, Frontier really are an excellet airline.

 

[mannej]

Were these exit rows paid for?


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[oz_mark]

I assume you are referring to the moving targets that are 767's. They can and do change a little bit.

What config are you referring to, and which seats are reserved?

I am guessing you can't move into the new exit rows?

 

[sinophile888]

I requested the exit row seats immediately after Qantas announced that it was now possible to do so as soon as the booking was made, either March or April. There has been no charge yet.

I had reserved 43J and 43K, which are exit row seats on the 767-300, version 2 on seat guru. The aircraft now appears to be a 767-300 version 1 on seat guru. The location for these seats with the new configuration is pretty ordinary.

 

[mannej]

I don't think that there are any guarantees on exit rows. As I believe it is domestic, there are no fees?

If the exit rows are taken by other pax, I do not think that QF are obliged to remedy the situation, as annoying as it can be.

If there is any consolation is the fact that you have moved off a ZX 767 onto an OG 767. However, Row 43 on a ZX 767 is a lot better than row 34/35 on the OG's.

 

[JohnM]

I requested the exit row seats immediately after Qantas announced that it was now possible to do so as soon as the booking was made, either March or April. There has been no charge yet.

I had reserved 43J and 43K, which are exit row seats on the 767-300, version 2 on seat guru. The aircraft now appears to be a 767-300 version 1 on seat guru. The location for these seats with the new configuration is pretty ordinary.

The reality is that nothing is guaranteed. The mish-mash of seating configurations on seemingly similar aircraft doesn't help but I'm afraid that the bottom line is refer to sentence one.

 

[ozmille]

can you give your flight numbers then some of us can have a look at the seat maps?

 

[sinophile888]

Our first flight is PER -> MEL on QF772 on 18/07/2011. Our seats still look OK. That aircraft is an A330 and we are booked into 45A and B.

The problem is with MEL -> PER on QF475 on 22/07/2011.

I rang Qantas again last night and spoke to a more helpful consultant. But she said there is nothing we can do at this stage; they cannot take the exit row seats from the passengers who have now booked them. She suggested that we move to a better? location now and also told me that there are 63 unsold seats at this stage.

She also suggested that I should keep an eye on the internet and to arrive early at the airport next Friday.

What is the point of having this facility to prebook exit row seats if the seats can suddenly become nonexit row without any warning? Surely it is obvious that it is the exit row I wanted, not the particular seat number.

We have some international flights booked for September and October, but I assume those flights will run under a different system.

 

[medhead]

I just checked QF475 seat map. It is showing all row 35 seats as blocked. 34 A,B and J are taken. Rows 23 and 24 are all blocked. I'd suggest checking again at T-80.

 

[mannej]

Sino, there is a disclaimer that states that no seat is ever 100% safely yours.

TBH with you, the exit rows on the 767 you are on aren't that flash.

I think that is about the only good thing about the ZX 767's is row 43

 

[sinophile888]

Thanks to everyone for all your suggestions.

All I want from an exit row seat is an increased distance from my seat to the one in front. I get a bit claustrophobic when someone reclines into my “personal space”. Premium economy seats would suit me perfectly but alas are not available on flight in or out of Perth.

mannej, are you saying that of all 3 of the configurations for the QF 767s, the only good seat is the one I originally booked?

I am thinking of moving towards the back of the aircraft and trying for an aisle seat each in the middle bank, and hoping that with a flight that isn’t full, there may be no-one between us.

 

[mannej]

Thanks to everyone for all your suggestions.

All I want from an exit row seat is an increased distance from my seat to the one in front. I get a bit claustrophobic when someone reclines into my “personal space”. Premium economy seats would suit me perfectly but alas are not available on flight in or out of Perth.

mannej, are you saying that of all 3 of the configurations for the QF 767s, the only good seat is the one I originally booked?

I am thinking of moving towards the back of the aircraft and trying for an aisle seat each in the middle bank, and hoping that with a flight that isn’t full, there may be no-one between us.

Not entirely, but Row 43 does have more room then 34/35 on the OG 767's.

Have you got enough points to upgrade now, as you may be able to upgrade, even on a cheapie fare.

 

[sinophile888]

I do have enough points to upgrade, but I prefer to use my points for one-way flights around Asia to avoid the expensive one-way fares. We are flying four one-way flights later in the year on QF, MU, CA and CX, all on points. Otherwise, I prefer to upgrade longer legs. e.g. HKG -> PER

 

[sinophile888]

I was pleased to receive this reply from Qantas this morning:
(Telephone Consultant 01) - 16/07/2011 10.16 AM Dear Mrs sinophile

Thank you for your email.

We regret your dissatisfaction with and apologise for the service you recently received from a Qantas Telephone Sales consultant.

We have checked your booking an have referred this to our seating office for review. We have requested that the seating be re-allocated to an exit row and if this can be adjusted it will display in Manage Your Booking function on qantas.com

Regards

Rodney

QANTAS Airways

I have looked at Manage Your Booking; no change yet. I am not holding out all that much hope. Rather I am keen that the booking exit row seats arrangement works or is changed to work.

 

[sinophile888]

Just a quick follow-up after returning from Melbourne.

I checked Manage My Bookings daily but found no amendment to my return booking. Once at the airport on our way back, we printed out our boarding passes, still with seats in row 43. I approached the customer service desk with a copy of my email from Qantas and the gentleman on the desk said that 24E and F were free. So we changed seats. The seats must have been released quite close to the scheduled take-off time. We were very happy with the change.

The trip over to Melbourne was fine except for the fact that there was only one lunch offering on board, beef stir-fry. I am a vegetarian and had forgotten to order a special meal. I have only ever seen two choices with at least one not being mammalian in origin. The steward explained that it was because the catering was done from Perth. Sounds a bit random. I ended up with a bowl of lettuce.

 

[StuM]

Hi all, thought I'd dig this post up. I've now (in the past three weeks) had two a/c subs - from 734 to 738 (so shouldn't complain) but have been caught both times with having selected an exit, done as much as I can online, going thru the QP, collecting my BP (after being asked the usual...am I happy to help questions) and getting to the gate to find a 738 parked. Lucky I've been able to dash back to the QP and change to a more appropriate seat, however neither time has seen me back in an exit.

For me (at 6'4), SG's biggest benefit is being able to select exit at booking - it's frustrating to get to the gate to discovered the a/c change. Surely at the QP they would have an indication that I'm not in a exit row and when I mention - 'I'm in an exit can I collect my BP please'.

Aside from selecting an exit in the isle (rather than my window preference in an exit) so that I don't find myself stuck in a non-exit window upon a/c sub or checking my booking every hour - what more is there I can do???

 

[serfty]

...

Aside from selecting an exit in the isle (rather than my window preference in an exit) so that I don't find myself stuck in a non-exit window upon a/c sub or checking my booking every hour - what more is there I can do???

Really the best you can do is endeavor to keep a close eye on the scheduled operating aircraft, firstly online using Qantas.com and then at the airport.