Pre-allocated exit row but then expected to pay

[Smackbum]

Haven't heard of this before, but when I was doing some advance seat selection on an upcoming SYD/SIN trip I got a nice surprise - they had allocated me an exit row seat on the way back (QF6).

That's noice, thinks I, but then when I clicked <Next> it invited me to pay for the seat that I had allegedly selected. Cheeky buggers!

I asked a colleague if this had ever happened to him, and funnily enough it had. In fact it has happened 3 times. I asked what he did about it, and he said nothing. The first 2 times he got the exit row seat for nothing, and the third time they asked if he wanted to pay for it. He said no and then was allocated a seat further down the back.

So should I :-

1. Pay the $80 and try to sneak it through my expenses.
2. Ignore the "please pay now" instruction and cross my fingers that they give it to me anyway.
3. Pick another seat now rather than risk getting a shoddy seat later.

BTW - QF6 is a red-eye flight that arrives at 06:25 so the exit row is more useful than normal.

 

[oz_mark]

My experience with this (having been down this path) is:

1) you will find yourself somewhere else in the plane when you check-in, and be expected to pay if you want to stay put.
2) they will leave you there and say nothing.

The problem I had was that I couldn't allocate domestic sectors without paying for the exit row seat, which I declined. Depends if you want to take a punt on which way it will go I guess.

 

[Smackbum]

Well I needed (wanted) to swap to a day flight so I paid the $100 and changed the return to QF32. That will sort out the exit row seat conundrum, I assumed. But I was wrong - the exit seat allocation followed me as did the "Please pay $80 for the seat you have selected" page.

I think I will play exit-row-lotto and just get to check-in early. That way if I am bumped I should still be able to get a half-decent seat.

 

[bkv]

Me and the wife were allocated exit row seats for our October trip SYD – DFW and DFW-BNE. I thought Qantas was rewarding me because I am Gold FF. Alas not the case! When I called to confirm I was advised that if somebody else paid for them I would be bumped. I am 6”3, I figure no point in taking a risk so I bought them using the points (80,000).

 

[Sprucegoose]

Well I needed (wanted) to swap to a day flight so I paid the $100 and changed the return to QF32. That will sort out the exit row seat conundrum, I assumed. But I was wrong - the exit seat allocation followed me as did the "Please pay $80 for the seat you have selected" page.

I think I will play exit-row-lotto and just get to check-in early. That way if I am bumped I should still be able to get a half-decent seat.

What ended up happening here Smack?

 

[serfty]

I guess it'll a lottery.

Currently I have been preallocated row 36 (PE) seats on a economy DFW flight booking in October. (Each way!) As experience posted here indicates I cannot select any seats on the domestic connections without either forking over $160 each for the exit seats or selecting other (non exit) seats.

This is a little more complicated as I can move to a non exit PE seat at no charge, but won't be able to move back (without paying $160 each).

A PE seat in the hand? Is it worth two in the Bush (at the risk of being reallocated down the back :-|)?

 

[Sprucegoose]

I guess it'll a lottery.

Currently I have been preallocated row 36 (PE) seats on a economy DFW flight booking in October. (Each way!) As posted experience here indicates I cannot select any seats on the domestic connections without either forking over $160 each for the exit seats or selecting another seat.

This is a little more complicated as I can move to a non exit PE seat at no charge, but won;t be able to move back (without paying $160 each).

A PE seat in the hand? Is it worth two in the Bush (at the risk of being reallocated down the back :-|)

You must leave it then and hope for a J UG !

 

[serfty]

You must leave it then and hope for a J UG !

O class, and with the current loadings (X9), not likely.

 

[Sprucegoose]

O class, and with the current loadings (X9), not likely.

Hey we are 7 months away from wheels up!

 

[Smackbum]

Sorry - I thought I had updated this thread.

In the end I fronted up at Singapore and when checking in the rep commented "So you are in an exit row?". I feigned innocence to this fact and after a slight pause he presented my boarding pass without further comment.

But in future I think I will avoid these seats. There was no one in A or B (though A is possibly the worst seat in the house) but the ability to stretch out the legs had to be tempered with the number of wally's that mill around the toilets like teenagers in a shopping mall. There was no way I could remove my shoes without putting my toes in peril, and trying to watch a movie with people doing aerobics in the background is very distracting.

If I need to stretch my legs on a plane I always head up the back where you can flex your muscles and look out the porthole without disturbing other passengers. Am I just weird thinking this way? Do people deliberately behave in this fashion as petty revenge for the times the passenger in the exit row reclined their seat fully as soon as the light went off (hence causing a 20-row domino effect)?

Nope - it's the bulkhead or forward aisle for me in the future.

 

[serfty]

For me, I'm in B aisle seats (since it's a PE seat).

...
But in future I think I will avoid these seats. ... the ability to stretch out the legs had to be tempered with the number of wally's that mill around the toilets like teenagers in a shopping mall. There was no way I could remove my shoes without putting my toes in peril, and trying to watch a movie with people doing aerobics in the background is very distracting.
...

Nope - it's the bulkhead or forward aisle for me in the future.

Do a search here and on FT for og's patented "white socks".

I never looked back ... although I have not sat in a 744 exit seat for over two years since Qantas started charging for them.

Sitting in 1C on Air NZ one class international 320's, white runners do the trick.

 

[serfty]

I guess it'll a lottery.

Currently I have been preallocated row 36 (PE) seats on a economy DFW flight booking in October. (Each way!) As experience posted here indicates I cannot select any seats on the domestic connections without either forking over $160 each for the exit seats or selecting other (non exit) seats.

This is a little more complicated as I can move to a non exit PE seat at no charge, but won't be able to move back (without paying $160 each).

A PE seat in the hand? Is it worth two in the Bush (at the risk of being reallocated down the back :-|)?

No longer a lottery.

With the new changes¹ , I have revisited this booking and have been able to select seats for the domestic segments as well as retain the exit seats without forking over $320.

¹http://www.australianfrequentflyer....tic-most-international-routes-seat-29126.html

 

[Smackbum]

No longer a lottery.

With the new changes¹ , I have revisited this booking and have been able to select seats for the domestic segments as well as retain the exit seats without forking over $320.

¹http://www.australianfrequentflyer....tic-most-international-routes-seat-29126.html

My take on this is that people are balking at paying the exit row fee, and all they achieved was to annoy the WPs who thought exit rows were their birthright. This is a PR disaster when you consider that in the end a lot of people value these seats (though not me) and creating a system whereby they were often empty took real genius.

So it looks like they are introducing a hybrid model where high-status pax get some opportunities to nab them for nothing, whilst retaining the option for the plebs to pay for it if they want. I would categorize this as one step back then two steps forward - much like the Anytime Access policy - though that is very subjective. It would be nice if Qantas could get these changes right the first time and I think they should sack whoever is running their focus groups.

 

[serfty]

Not quite correct.

As a WP, If I select an exit row seat SYD-LAX; before confirming I am asked to pay $160 for the privilege.

This thread is about the issue you had (along with myself and others) that if one gets automatically pre-allocated an exit seat, you can't select other seats in the booking without forking over the $$$ or losing the exit seat.

This seems to have been rectified.

 

[Moody]

Not quite correct.

As a WP, If I select an exit row seat SYD-LAX; before confirming I am asked to pay $160 for the privilege.

This thread is about the issue you had (along with myself and others) that if one gets automatically pre-allocated an exit seat, you can't select other seats in the booking without forking over the $$$ or losing the exit seat.

This seems to have been rectified.

I believe the same change in the approach to exit row seats is implicated in both threads.

 

[serfty]

I believe the same change in the approach to exit row seats is implicated in both threads.

In the other thread there is an early post indicating a member was able to select an exit row seat on-line. It was not directly noted at the time that the member was booked in J.

This thread was about making a booking and finding yourself already pre-allocated in an exit row seat.

This caused two main concerns:

1. Not being able to select/change seats for other flights in the same booking due to the web site being programmed to attempt to charge one for having an exit seat pre-allocated in the first place.
2. Sometimes having the exit seat revoked on check-in (unless payment be made).

#1 appears to have been rectified.