I'm hoping for a bit of advice for my very first world problem. I suspect that this will be a sympathetic audience ...
The facts
I'm flying with my mum (QF Silver) MEL-DXB-BHX in whY. We're on QF9 on 16/2. Currently allocated 33J&K.
QF9 looks very lightly sold at this stage.
F8 A5 P0 J9 C9 D7 I0 U0 W9 R9 T6 Z0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 G0 X9 E0
The seat map on the main deck is a sea of unallocated seats. Just 25 allocated at this stage.
Upstairs in the small economy cabin it's about 50% full.
Now I'm 6ft and have really packed on the pounds lately - so 3 seats for the 2 of us would be sensational for the long slog to DXB and would certainly be much better than the 33J&K we currently have. But giving up 33J&K to share a 3 seat bank with someone else would be terrible result.
The question
I've got about 2.5 hours DOM>INT connection time at MEL before QF 9. My first stop past security in the MEL international terminal will be the EK lounge to see if I can get exit row seats on the connecting DXB-BHX flight so by the time I get to the F lounge it should be about 90 minutes before departure (assuming all goes well) and checkin should have closed. Do you think if I were to keep an eye on expert flyer and then ask nicely in the F lounge somewhere between 70 and 80 minutes before departure if there were an unallocated bank of 3 on the lower deck they would move my mother and I into it and block the middle seat (and keep it blocked)? Or am I better off waiting until a bit closer to departure time to lower the risk of winding up with a seat mate (but probably lower the chance of finding a free bank of 3).
Any thoughts?
The facts
I'm flying with my mum (QF Silver) MEL-DXB-BHX in whY. We're on QF9 on 16/2. Currently allocated 33J&K.
QF9 looks very lightly sold at this stage.
F8 A5 P0 J9 C9 D7 I0 U0 W9 R9 T6 Z0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 G0 X9 E0
The seat map on the main deck is a sea of unallocated seats. Just 25 allocated at this stage.
Upstairs in the small economy cabin it's about 50% full.
Now I'm 6ft and have really packed on the pounds lately - so 3 seats for the 2 of us would be sensational for the long slog to DXB and would certainly be much better than the 33J&K we currently have. But giving up 33J&K to share a 3 seat bank with someone else would be terrible result.
The question
I've got about 2.5 hours DOM>INT connection time at MEL before QF 9. My first stop past security in the MEL international terminal will be the EK lounge to see if I can get exit row seats on the connecting DXB-BHX flight so by the time I get to the F lounge it should be about 90 minutes before departure (assuming all goes well) and checkin should have closed. Do you think if I were to keep an eye on expert flyer and then ask nicely in the F lounge somewhere between 70 and 80 minutes before departure if there were an unallocated bank of 3 on the lower deck they would move my mother and I into it and block the middle seat (and keep it blocked)? Or am I better off waiting until a bit closer to departure time to lower the risk of winding up with a seat mate (but probably lower the chance of finding a free bank of 3).
Any thoughts?
