QF took our selected seats

[nanaof2]

We flew to Haneda from Sydney on QF25 in September booked and paid for 11 months prior to departure, J class747 upper deck 15A&B. When we did the online check-in 24 hours before departure, my husband and I noticed that our booked seats have been changed to 13B&K, not seating together or having a window seat any longer. This meant both of us seating next to strangers.
We arrived at the airport well in advance,5 hours, and requested to have our booked seats re-instated. The check in lady did not seem to care and kept repeating that the 2 seats are on either side of the aisle so she could not see the problem. After that statement my unhappy self come to the surface, at which point we were asked to show proof of the booked seats!.
Little did she know I carry everything and had the printed proof. Even after that she kept saying "you are together just with the aisle between you" no mention of the strangers on either side. Repeating that us sitting together was one of the reasons why we book early to ensure this, some phone calls were made and then we were moved downstairs to the large J cabin, together behind the toilets.
I believe we at least deserved an explanation instead of being asked for proof etc.

It was not a good start to our holidays! Cheers

 

[samh004]

The ability to select seats doesn't guarantee you will have them, they are subject to change based on a variety of reasons.

I can understand your frustrations, having been moved for others myself.

 

[MelUser]

This has happened to me as a QF Plat on more than one ocassion. I'm not sure of your status etc but there is very little you can do. Check in staff outside of Australia are not Qantas staff
and don't really care. Their KPIs are about how many checkins they can do per hour and who gets what seats!

Sorry to be clinical but thats the way it is.

To put it in perspective have a read about the posts where a paid business class passenger was downgraded ex LAX - it was 1-2 years ago and the discussion went on for ages!

 

[Mattg]

This has happened to me as a QF Plat on more than one ocassion. I'm not sure of your status etc but there is very little you can do. Check in staff outside of Australia are not Qantas staff
and don't really care. Their KPIs are about how many checkins they can do per hour and who gets what seats!

Sorry to be clinical but thats the way it is.

To put it in perspective have a read about the posts where a paid business class passenger was downgraded ex LAX - it was 1-2 years ago and the discussion went on for ages!

The OP checked-in in Sydney, so I would imagine it was a Qantas staff member.

 

[MelUser]

Of course - my error. I have also had seats changed when checking in in Australia. Last time was last year - SYD to BKK.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I think it's important to acknowledge that in some situations QF or any carrier may well be entitled to do something, but that doesn't mean it's something they should do, or something which affected PAX have no right to complain about.
It is well publicised that seat assignments cannot be guaranteed. However it is surely desirable that they be honoured whereever possible.
In this case the OP may have had no right to "insist" on their original seat assignment. However, I think it was entirely reasonable for them to complain about not being seated together.
Good customer service is not a question of recognising only legally enforceable rights or entitlements, it's about going beyond that to give PAX an enjoyable experience.

 

[medhead]

Being sent to the back sections downstairs is pretty pathetic as well. Of course, that does possibly allow the fastest exit for business class.

One pedantic point, Has this route really been on sale since October last year? I thought it was only introduced in the last few months?

 

[Mattg]

One pedantic point, Has this route really been on sale since October last year? I thought it was only introduced in the last few months?

The Haneda flights have been on sale since December last year. However it is entirely plausible that the OP bought a ticket to Narita last October and was moved to the new flight after the new route was announced.

 

[JohnPhelan]

I believe we at least deserved an explanation instead of being asked for proof etc.

The check-in agent would have no idea why the seat allocations were changed.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

It's hard to say when you seats changed as it could've happened when your flights changed from QF21 SYD/NRT to QF25 SYD/HND. Also if the a/c your flight was every changed to/from the 744 with the old 4 class config (VH-OEB or VH-OJM) could've affected your seating too.

We flew to Haneda from Sydney on QF25 in September booked and paid for 11 months prior to departure, J class747 upper deck 15A&B. When we did the online check-in 24 hours before departure, my husband and I noticed that our booked seats have been changed to 13B&K, not seating together or having a window seat any longer. This meant both of us seating next to strangers.

We arrived at the airport well in advance,5 hours, and requested to have our booked seats re-instated. The check in lady did not seem to care and kept repeating that the 2 seats are on either side of the aisle so she could not see the problem. After that statement my unhappy self come to the surface, at which point we were asked to show proof of the booked seats!.

Little did she know I carry everything and had the printed proof. Even after that she kept saying "you are together just with the aisle between you" no mention of the strangers on either side. Repeating that us sitting together was one of the reasons why we book early to ensure this, some phone calls were made and then we were moved downstairs to the large J cabin, together behind the toilets. I believe we at least deserved an explanation instead of being asked for proof etc.

Seat 13K is a window seat however I would've thought the simplest fix would be for the CSA to call either the supervisor of that flight or the person in the passenger control unit overseeing that particular flight to swap the pax in 13A (who was travelling solo) to 13K thus enabling you both to sit together in 13AB.

 

[dodgeyhack]

I believe we at least deserved an explanation

I suspect it was because of an aircraft change. Qantas run two configurations of 747, and one of them doesn't have a row 15.
It pays to regularly check seating allocation when flying on a 747. Or you can use expertflyer (paid) to notify you of an aircraft change.

 

[nanaof2]

I think it's important to acknowledge that in some situations QF or any carrier may well be entitled to do something, but that doesn't mean it's something they should do, or something which affected PAX have no right to complain about.
It is well publicised that seat assignments cannot be guaranteed. However it is surely desirable that they be honoured whereever possible.
In this case the OP may have had no right to "insist" on their original seat assignment. However, I think it was entirely reasonable for them to complain about not being seated together.
Good customer service is not a question of recognising only legally enforceable rights or entitlements, it's about going beyond that to give PAX an enjoyable experience.

I fully agree, my issue was the way we were spoken to, the lack of explanation and above all the fact of being separated. Very poor customer service on QF's part.

 

[nanaof2]

Being sent to the back sections downstairs is pretty pathetic as well. Of course, that does possibly allow the fastest exit for business class.

One pedantic point, Has this route really been on sale since October last year? I thought it was only introduced in the last few months?

Originally we were booked to Narita, same seats etc and it was changed to Haneda early February 2015. Different flight number, same seats, cheers

 

[straitman]

I'm sort of puzzled with the original post and a few subsequent comments.

I understand that the OP was moved without consultation however one of them still has/had a window seat (13K) and they were both still upstairs which is area of the a/c they originally wanted.

Was the person is 13J asked to swap to 13B? That looks like it would be all that was needed.

 

[nanaof2]

I suspect it was because of an aircraft change. Qantas run two configurations of 747, and one of them doesn't have a row 15.
It pays to regularly check seating allocation when flying on a 747. Or you can use expertflyer (paid) to notify you of an aircraft change.

I do use expert flyer and check our seat allocation often and specially close to departure. Our "my booking" never changed from AB, even today still shows AB. Who knows??

 

[nanaof2]

I'm sort of puzzled with the original post and a few comments.

I understand that the OP was moved without consultation however one of them still has/had a window seat (13K) and they were both still upstairs which is area of the a/c they originally wanted.

Was the person is 13J asked to swap to 13B? That looks like it would be all that was needed.

My mistake, it was 13J not K. We wanted to sort it out prior to boarding the aircraft cheers

 

[straitman]

My mistake, it was 13J not K. We wanted to sort it out prior to boarding the aircraft cheers

Thanks. Now I have a better understanding. This has happened to me once also on a LAX-MEL flight. Not ideal but we managed to survive sitting apart for the trip. Being married for 40+ years you learn to roll with the punches.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Why can't airlines write a simple function() that automatically notifies the customer via email when any changes to their seats occur.

It would be simple to include a note on seat changes, which may simple as 'Aircraft_change_seatmap_change.sh changed your seat from XX to XX', which instantly lets anyone looking at the reservation know what happened.

This also opens up new revenue opportunities for airlines and seems win-win to me.

 

[mannej]

I do use expert flyer and check our seat allocation often and specially close to departure. Our "my booking" never changed from AB, even today still shows AB. Who knows??

That to me suggests that the change was made at the airport, or whilst the flight was under airport control. That is probably why your MMB shows one allocation, yet you had different seats.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I do use expert flyer and check our seat allocation often and specially close to departure. Our "my booking" never changed from AB, even today still shows AB. Who knows??

That to me suggests that the change was made at the airport, or whilst the flight was under airport control. That is probably why your MMB shows one allocation, yet you had different seats.

Sounds like a late change ie within T-80 after names have migrated from res to checkin (Altea) as any changes in Altea are not reflected in the Amadeus res pnr.

It's quite likely that all the other AB & JK upper deck seat pairs would already have been taken as the seat allocations that existed on both 744 configs would have stuck eg 12AB.