BrockF
Intern
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2013
- Posts
- 61
A recent experience on yesterdays QF 2 from Singapore - Sydney. Upon boarding someone was in my seat 32J (second row, aisle in PE). They had a bag of their stuff piled up in 32K so I asked if they were in the right seat. They moved over the the window and as soon as I had my headphones in and entertainment started informed me that they would need to move to my seat as they were going to need to go to the bathroom a lot during the flight. My response of “why didn’t you book an aisle seat” probably didn’t go down well, as I deliberately also book an aisle seat for just this reason. I did end up changing seats with them thinking perhaps there is a medical reason for this and maybe they originally had an aisle seat and got an upgrade or a seat change. Just after the meal was served the passenger disappeared for quite a long time and I thought this is a little strange. A few hours later, upon awaking from a snooze, they were still not in their seat. I thought this is really strange. 45 minutes before landing I notice a very sheepish person come back with business PJ‘s on and remove their crew bags from the overhead and take them all forward just before the landing announcement. The look on their face when they realised everybody was watching them was priceless.
It was obvious this person was QF crew from their luggage. They were not in uniform, so I assume not on duty travel and also with a W boarding pass. I was under the impression that people moving seats and/or upgrading themselves mid-flight was a big No No. If they were on staff travel I feel it is a big impost to ask full revenue fares to give up their assigned seat. If there was a spare J seat I am surprised that there wasn’t an upgrade at the gate assigned. I know of one WP, sitting in 32J, that had an upgrade request in place! If they knew they could just move up to a bigger seat, then why did they insist on taking someone else’s seat at the start of the flight. In my mind this is just the level of disrespect for customers surfacing again within Qantas stuff culture, but am curious as to others feelings. I am mostly basing this off my neighbor, who is an A380 pilot, telling me that it was a significant workplace offence, for both the staff involved and the CSM if people upgrade themselves after the door has closed!
It was obvious this person was QF crew from their luggage. They were not in uniform, so I assume not on duty travel and also with a W boarding pass. I was under the impression that people moving seats and/or upgrading themselves mid-flight was a big No No. If they were on staff travel I feel it is a big impost to ask full revenue fares to give up their assigned seat. If there was a spare J seat I am surprised that there wasn’t an upgrade at the gate assigned. I know of one WP, sitting in 32J, that had an upgrade request in place! If they knew they could just move up to a bigger seat, then why did they insist on taking someone else’s seat at the start of the flight. In my mind this is just the level of disrespect for customers surfacing again within Qantas stuff culture, but am curious as to others feelings. I am mostly basing this off my neighbor, who is an A380 pilot, telling me that it was a significant workplace offence, for both the staff involved and the CSM if people upgrade themselves after the door has closed!
As family this meant instant upgrade and the person you were sitting next to most likely thought 'bonus, no one sitting next to me'. My sister also mentioned sometimes the crew would go back and apologise the other PAX for the inconvenience caused 
