Jetstar to Hawaii seating

[Jenht]

We are flying to Hawaii with Jetstar in 2 weeks time. We are travelling with our 18 month old and I spoke to Jetstar but the bassinet rows are booked

I did allocate us seats at the back of the plane where it goes to 3 in the middle instead of 4 hoping no one would put themselves next to us. Unfortunately someone now is in that 3rd seat (won't be a fun trip for them!)

There are still rows of 4 free should I move our seats to one of those rows and hope to get a free seat that way?

What will be the best way to increase the chances of getting a spare seat, besides paying for one!

 

[Deleted member]

We are flying to Hawaii with Jetstar in 2 weeks time. We are travelling with our 18 month old and I spoke to Jetstar but the bassinet rows are booked

I did allocate us seats at the back of the plane where it goes to 3 in the middle instead of 4 hoping no one would put themselves next to us. Unfortunately someone now is in that 3rd seat (won't be a fun trip for them!)

There are still rows of 4 free should I move our seats to one of those rows and hope to get a free seat that way?

What will be the best way to increase the chances of getting a spare seat, besides paying for one!

I suspect that once the person sitting next to you sees the baby, and if here are empty seats still, they will probably make a hasty exit once airborne.

 

[opusman]

You could try for an upgrade to business at the airport; just get there early!

 

[eric2011]

Sometimes airlines will block a seat next to you when there are light loads on a flight. When you spoke to the customer service agent they may have done that for you

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Sometimes airlines will block a seat next to you when there are light loads on a flight. When you spoke to the customer service agent they may have done that for you

I doubt that seat blocking would happen via an airline's reservations department as most staff in the call centre would not have access to the check-in system used by airport staff.

Usually it would be airport staff that would be able to block off any seats but that would not usually be done until about 24-48 hours prior to departure once the pax names cutover from reservations to the checkin system.

When you are allocating your seats are you allocated both the aisle seats & leaving the middle one 'vacant'? This would probably reduce the likelihood of somebody pre reserved a middle seat as they'd probably opt to select a vacant aisle or window seat elsewhere on the seatmap.

Remember that not all passengers will pre-allocate their seats prior to the day of travel so won't be given their seat allocation until they arrive at the airport which often gives people false hope thinking that there are all these empty seats or that the flight is lightly loaded when in fact the flight could be fully booked.

As there are usually more bassinet requests/pax travelling with infants than there are actual bassinets on the aircraft airlines will often allocate them according to the age of the infant eg infants up to 6 months or slightly over.

A bassinet seat would probably be better suited to those families travelling with young babies who would actually fit into a bassinet as your 18 month old would be a toddler by now.

I would arrive at the airport 3 hours prior to departure when JQ checkin opens to give yourselves the best possible chance of obtaining a spare seat but keep in mind that you should always expect the worse case scenario which is to have to nurse your toddler on your lap for the entire flight.