Status within a status

[v8Statesman]

I am hoping someone can tell me how this works.

I am a WP with QF. I called up reservations and reserved 1A on a “flight”. They said no problems and assigned me the seat. On check-in with quick-check, I was assigned 4A. I thought this was odd and asked if I could have 1A. They said I would have to request the change in the QP.

In the QP I asked for my 1A. They could see my request in the booking, but I had been moved due to another WP requesting the seat. (Side note, there was 5 WP’s (inc me) and 2 CL’s on the flight). When I said well move him and give me my seat back (nicely) I was told that the WP that requested it was of “higher status” then me and so he could not. 1F was not available either as a CL had his bum in it.

Is it related to how many SC’s you have in total, or how many you have for a year? I have a little over 2,100 SC’s for the year (Not sure how that rates compared to others).

 

[NM]

I wonder if Lifetime Gold status has an influence?

 

[Mal]

Maybe she/he was just yanking your chain and trying to justify why you lost your seat.

What flight was it that you could both Quickcheck and pre-allocate a seat on?

 

[v8Statesman]

Maybe she/he was just yanking your chain and trying to justify why you lost your seat.

What flight was it that you could both Quickcheck and pre-allocate a seat on?

Was a Domestic flight BNE-PER. I arranged for 1A there and Back. Got it on the way there. Not on the way back. He did say he could see my request, and in the history it was allocated and then taken away.

 

[thadocta]

Was a Domestic flight BNE-PER. I arranged for 1A there and Back. Got it on the way there. Not on the way back. He did say he could see my request, and in the history it was allocated and then taken away.

Qantas does not assign seats on domestic flights until the night before, no matter what you were told. What happened with you was merely a request, it was not an allocation.

Dave

 

[v8Statesman]

Qantas does not assign seats on domestic flights until the night before, no matter what you were told. What happened with you was merely a request, it was not an allocation.

Dave

But from the conversation with the QP staffer, it sounds to me like my request was granted, then taken away.

 

[oz_mark]

I have heard that there are sublevels within each of the tiers, but have not heard a lot of detail on how you end up in the different sub-levels.

 

[thadocta]

But from the conversation with the QP staffer, it sounds to me like my request was granted, then taken away.

Then the impression they gave you was incorrect. There is no facility (even in the deepest darkest secret areas of the QF systems) to ALLOCATE a seat on a domestic flight, the only way they can do it is to add an SSR (Supplementary Service Request) SEAT into your booking, which will then Q the booking across to a seperate section when the automatic seating is done.

My guess is that two of you requested 1A, and the other guy had higher status than you (like a coughload more SC's, or possibly CL).

Dave

 

[NM]

In addition to thadocta's comments, it would appear to me that the other person checked in first and asked for 1A. The check-in agent will have looked and seen it was pre-allocated to you (by the process described by thadocta), but since you had not yet checked in and the check-in agent would not have known that you had specifically requested that seat, it was given to the other FF member. Once they had checked in and been given the boarding pass, its too late and they will not change just because someone wants a different seat. Changes at that stage will only be due to equipment changes, faulty seat or similar.

This would be most unlikely to happen on an international flight where seat pre-allocated is normal practise. It is not an FF benefit for domestic flights so there is no recourse if you don't get a specific seat you want.

Next time check-in early. Using on-line check-in will help, as once you are checked in a change like this is not going to happen.

 

[serfty]

It can and does happen that a punter will be bumped out of their domestically preallocated seat (even after obtaining a BP).

Looking at v8Statesman's OP I would guess at the following sequentce of events:

1. v8Statesman was preallocated 1A 'overnight' as part of the normal Domestic preallocation process.
2. Before v8Statesman checked in a 'Higher Status' WP booked a seat on the flight.
3. When the booking was made the Qantas qgent made the move of v8Statesman preallocation to 4A and assigning new guy 1A.
4. v8Statesman went to check in and that's where the fun started.

Note this "Higher Status" WP could simply be one who is on first name terms with staff checking him in.

 

[aus_flyer]

I have had a domestic seat changed (involuntarily) after checkin.

Only found out that my seat had been changed when I got to the gate. Was very annoyed because at checkin I had specifically asked for a window for this particular flight, and was given one, only to be changed to an aisle.

 

[Yada Yada]

It's really no wonder that lowly SG's like me are always sitting at the back of the b*s. It seems that even at WP level you can be shafted. Great loyalty!

 

[SeatBackForward]

Go on, request a seat out on the wingtip. I'm sure a WP will want to out-elite you and bump you off it.