QF changed my seat!

[Pushka]

Of course seat selection is subject to change. We accept that. What we don't understand so much is random changes.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Any seat selection is not inviolate. On any given day there will be a number of seats that are outright u/s, or that may be serviceable with limitations. A seat may be acceptable for a staff passenger but not a paying one (i.e. won't recline, etc).

Agree - but perhaps this is where a little communication can prevent a lot of angst. If a seat is taken out of service, a short note 'seat inop. no recline. staff only' can be relayed to the passenger at the time they are given their new boarding pass. Or something like 'seat change, family seating' (for families needing to be sat together).

Where it digs is changes that are not for operational reasons but commercial ones.

 

[Bilton]

If a seat is taken out of service, a short note 'seat inop. no recline. staff only' can be relayed to the passenger at the time they are given their new boarding pass. Or something like 'seat change, family seating...

Pragmatically, there is no substantive benefit for an airline in doing that. It would only open up an avenue for further complaint/argument by at least some passengers. :idea:

 

[JohnK]

I would not want to sit in between some staff on travel as I would treat them as a group and they will be talking over you and all of that.

Just join in the conversation. Ask if they think it's rude to talk over other people.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Pragmatically, there is no substantive benefit for an airline in doing that. It would only open up an avenue for further complaint/argument by at least some passengers. :idea:

of course, the airline doesn't really care... unless a chairman's lounge or P1. But it makes the passenger more likely to direct their business back to the airline in future.

times are are good at the moment. Some airlines feel they don't need to focus on customer service.

 

[Bilton]

of course, the airline doesn't really care.

Since all airlines clearly state that seat allocation is not guaranteed, that's a quite unrealistic expectation, no matter which way you look at it :shock:

But it makes the passenger more likely to direct their business back to the airline in future.

Since any other airline will act in exactly the same way, that would be a quite silly rationale for directing business.

Some airlines feel they don't need to focus on customer service.

See above re unrealistic expectations :!:

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Since all airlines clearly state that seat allocation is not guaranteed, that's a quite unrealistic expectation, no matter which way you look at it :shock:

That is true as far as it goes, however airlines also offer access to better seats, earlier access to seats and other related perks as part of frequent flyer status.
There is a tension between that and the statement that seat allocation is not guaranteed, which contributes to the expectations.

To save time and dozens of off-point replies, I am well aware that they are not directly contradictory, that isn't my point.

 

[OzEire]

Since all airlines clearly state that seat allocation is not guaranteed, that's a quite unrealistic expectation, no matter which way you look at it :shock:


Since any other airline will act in exactly the same way, that would be a quite silly rationale for directing business.


See above re unrealistic expectations :!:

While I tend to agree with your points and think that airline/pax expectations are often misaligned, as consumers we shouldn't just shrug and accept it - doing so has allowed airlines to get away with doing less and people just accept it.

The more pax who challenge such arbitrary moves the more airline managers will hear from their staff that pax are complaining about it and policies may be changed toward better customer service.

Alas Australian consumers are not very good at demanding good service. We get what we deserve in this respect.

 

[Bilton]

There is a tension between that and the statement that seat allocation is not guaranteed, which contributes to the expectations.

If you look at the underlying contract of carriage, Airlines generally don't even guarantee you a specific flight..... there is a tension in that too :shock:

The simple fact is that the world is not perfect and operational necessity has to be accommodated somewhere in the everyday miracle of an overall flight system for it to be workable at all. From a customer service point of view there is an unavoidable issue in that some flights can't/don't operate at all, for various operational reasons which may be beyond the airlines direct control. That is the primary reasons that seats can't be guaranteed.

From an airline's point of view on big picture customer service, sometimes the lack of a guaranteed seat ends up in the relatively minor inconvenience to a small number of customers (who at least are still on their expected flight), but it also underpins the ability to minimise major inconvenience to larger numbers of customers on those occasions when wholesale reallocation of passengers to alternative flights is a fact of life :idea:

The only individual customer friendly things an airline can do is in their sometime-after-the-event response, and that clearly does vary between carriers, however, that is another topic altogether.

 

[BenSQ380]

I accept nothing is guaranteed and have come out a winner once or twice with equipment/route changes and scored a few op-ups as well. Overall we're in front.

I had an experience earlier this year where we were bumped from paid Y exit row. The reason given was that there weren't as many exit row seats on the operating aircraft cf the original. That was incorrect (all QF A330-200s had the same number at the time) so we queried and got our exit row seats back.

It would have been nice to know what the initial problem was so that we can be wiser for next time. No other pax gave us grief for being in 'their' seats so my best guess is that it may have been a quirky glitch on a new route for QF (SYD-PEK).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Since any other airline will act in exactly the same way, that would be a quite silly rationale for directing business.

Except they're not. Some airlines will not only give the reason for a seat swap, but be apologetic about it as well, even if out of their control.

 

[Bilton]

Some airlines will not only give the reason for a seat swap, but be apologetic about it as well, even if out of their control.

Which airlines?

 

[RichardMEL]

In hundreds of QF flights I've had exactly 1 seat change made on me. I think it was 1A or 2A changed to 1K in an A380 F cabin. Why? The seat was u/s. Pretty reasonable reason to me!!!

Sure it happens and there can be reasons from mechanical (as above) to security (ie: air marshals-they still exist ) or other reasons. It would be disappointing if you'd preselected a seat and were moved for a higher pax or some other reason that isn't an operational requirement (such as an u/s seat, or an air marshal) but at the end of the day they can move you wherever in your paid cabin and you don't have a lot of recourse IMHO.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Which airlines?

Japan Airlines. Cathay Pacific.

Which proves it can be done. If the airline wants to.