Qantas Long Haul-Sit at the back of the bus?

[rmflinders]

I don't do much long haul flights and usually I'm on my own so I take an aisle seat near the front of economy. This next UK trip I have managed to score a award flight for my wife on the same ones I'm booked! (Actually booked her a year ahead then wrangled the trip at the same time!).
Anyhow I would welcome some advice on whether to request 70A & B on the 747. These are the two seats together. Does the extra privacy warrant the discomfort of the rear of the jumbo and lack of meal choice by the time they reach us?
Any comments most welcome. I'm flying QF9, BA12 & QF30 return.

 

[NM]

My concerns would include being amongst the last off the aircraft, which can mean you reach immigration to be met by a long queue (this can happen even of first off the flight depending on other arrivals) and if you want a shower in the lounge at the transit point, you may have queue behind all the F and J passengers that got to the lounge first.

The benefits of the 2-seat rear rows is most noticeable if the flight is full. Otherwise having a spare seat between you or adjacent to you can be better. But you need to guess how full the flight is going to be.

 

[Evan]

Recently the flights have been very full.
Tonight for example it seems about 4 free seats in Y and no J + only 1 F seet on QF9 SIN-LHR (well thats what EF is showing for sale on the weekend)

Free seats recently are few and far between on these busy routes.

Me, i would still pick up the front i think, i only ever go down the back if i can get a row or 3 or 4 to myself.

E

 

[rmflinders]

The benefits of the 2-seat rear rows is most noticeable if the flight is full. Otherwise having a spare seat between you or adjacent to you can be better. But you need to guess how full the flight is going to be.....

Thanks NM. My limited experience with Qantas long haul is that there are very few spare seats anytime so I expect it would be full. I'm in a dilemma really as the greater privacy is enticing but the lack of meal choice and rougher ride etc. are putting me off requesting these seats. If I had been travelling alone I probably would have flown Emirates or one of the other airlines as I don't like the off handservice and small seat pitch of Qantas but I have too many FF's to waste them!

 

[mikesnewcar]

It is like sitting at the back of the bus, during turbulence the tail end move much more than the front, so if you or your wife suffers from motion sickness, I do not suggest these sits.
Also, you have to be careful due to the bathroom near the back, sometime the queue can get very long.

 

[milehighclub]

Qantas meal services used to start from the back on both sides and either left or right from the front. However it's now reversed and they start from both sides from the front and either left or right from the back. Also, if meal preference is important, tell a small white lie, and you'll both get what you want.

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

The benefits of the 2-seat rear rows is most noticeable if the flight is full. Otherwise having a spare seat between you or adjacent to you can be better. But you need to guess how full the flight is going to be.....

Thanks NM. My limited experience with Qantas long haul is that there are very few spare seats anytime so I expect it would be full. I'm in a dilemma really as the greater privacy is enticing but the lack of meal choice and rougher ride etc. are putting me off requesting these seats. If I had been travelling alone I probably would have flown Emirates or one of the other airlines as I don't like the off handservice and small seat pitch of Qantas but I have too many FF's to waste them!

If there's two of you, I believe that the seats at the back (you don't have to get that close to the toilet) would be ideal.

OK, in the worst situation you might get a little more yaw (but, hey, it's the same plane!) and you mightn't have your preferred meal (geez, it's not as if they were that great anyway).

So, there you go... that's my 2 bob's worth.

 

[Mal]

As mentioned, the back of the plane tends to get more turbulence, can be closer to smelly toilets and everything that goes with them, closer to the back galley where staff tinker with trays, chat and gossip and make noise.

I'd be more concerned about last off the plane and last to immigration personally. As soon as my plane lands on the ground, I want to be through immigration and collect my bag ASAP.

Try and get a aisle and next to aisle seat in the middle of the plane. Probably the more comfy partner seats and no chance of a 3rd party wanting to climb all over you to exit. There is also the possibility that a single traveller ends up in the first seat and you have one spare seat to slightly stretch out on.

 

[kyle]

I always thought that you'd have a better chance of survival in an accident if you're at the back of the plane...

 

[Mal]

I always thought that you'd have a better chance of survival in an accident if you're at the back of the plane...

... and the chance of crashing is?

Driving on the road has a bigger risk of getting killed than flying. Even home renovators have a higher mortality rate than flyers!

 

[simongr]

So I drive, fly and rennovate - should I be writing my will now?

When I last flew long haul whY with mrssimongr on Gulf Air :shock: we took the two seats at the back and it worked well for us. We had no status so wouldnt have been able to snag a much better seat.

Not sure if it was the seat or the flight itself but there did seem to be alot of turbulence - I didnt notice it as I tend to sleep through turbulence - mrssimongr however did notice it, as evidenced by the finger shaped bruises on my arm by the end of the flight...

 

[docjames]

I'd definately try and go foreward - quieter, less turbulance, off plane sooner (and thus not waiting forever at customs).

THe two seats of the 4 centre is pretty good - you may get lucky as they wont fill the bentres unless they can help it (which sounds like most of the time currently). Alternatively, if you dont mind climbing over a stranger, go the window seat so you can lean against wall.

 

[Ev1dent]

Anyhow I would welcome some advice on whether to request 70A & B on the 747. These are the two seats together. Does the extra privacy warrant the discomfort of the rear of the jumbo and lack of meal choice by the time they reach us?

My wife and I travelled to Europe and back 2 years ago, with an exit aisle one way and the back row the other. As soon as we got back, we both changed our seating preferences to forward.

The toilets were the main issue, with queues of people passing each other and groups of people congregating in the area to stand up and talk, we were constantly being bumped or over-hearing less than discussions amoung our fellow passengers (including by a large group of trainee Gendarmes who were ogling the young female passengers and then coming back to discuss them).

Also, meals were cold, with no choice and the audio-visual system went down for the last two rows. Apparently the system works from the front to the back, so that if it becomes overloaded the back rows drop out first. We found a long-haul flight without any potential for either sleep or entertainment was too much.

Last year we flew to South America in the middle of the plane and while still cramped, it was much more bearable.

Hope this helps.

 

[rmflinders]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I phoned Qantas and pre-booked this afternoon. Because my wife has no status they couldn't seat us in 35, where I was prebooked so we got 40HJ on the outbound and 40DE on the return.
Now I need to try BA for the Singapore-London section. I think I can pre-book because I'm QF Gold but don't know about my wife. Anyone know the best way to prebook on BA?

 

[simongr]

I think you might be out of luck there - the "new" BA seating policy only allows people to pre-allocate if of certain status and certain types of tickets. I was lucky that we were in F for our separately booked awards - I was dreading trying to explain to her that we would be split up on an F award...

 

[mainly tailfirst]

The better half and I just did 70A&B from SFO to SYD and thought it was quite OK. The queues to the loo were never intrusive and we got fed quite early. My personal preference is to have 2 seats to ourselves than one of us be in a middle seat (and/or people climbing over us), so down the back it is.

As for queues in immigration, the US takes forever and in Australia I always beat the bags out, so having 300 people in front of me never seems to make a difference!

mt

 

[Evan]

Just did SIN-LHR in 67C , was ok.... nothing to get excited about, would not like to be the last couple of rows, 73-75 (3 class pacific config ?) since the toilet's would not be that great but otherwise its fine down the back, in my case the ABC-DE seats from the rear started food service same time as the front.

E