Qantas Frequent Flyer - Seat selection availability on 'select seat' tab on 'my bookings' page

Hi,

I am now taking the QF829 DRW-SYD redeye (dep 0145 73H) every couple of weeks. The name of the game for me is to try and get an aisle seat with a free seat next to me and I would like a bit of help as to what the sytem shows as available to whom and how to maximise my chances.

Up until yesterday I was a QF nobody. I book my trips in advance and all my seats are red-e-deal seats on special ($220 each way).

The seat selection even for the flights months and month is advance would only show seats in rows 23 to 29 or sometimes only 23-26). I have had pretty good success taking 26C (or if it shows as available 28C) and then hoping that another solo flyer takes 26/28A and if a couple plonk themselves in the window and aisle moving my seat selection in the day or so before departure to the aisle seat next to a solo traveller in a window seat.

No matter when and where I checkin, the system won't show as available anything further forward than row 23. I've tried online checkin at silly hour the day before, im the 2nd or 3rd person to checkin and I still dont get any different choices in seat than if I use the self-checkin machines at the airport around an hour before departure.

Now without wishing to seem like a snob, it seems pretty clear that most people on the flight don't have QF or OW status. In my confusion as to how the system allocates the seats, I have made an effort to scan boarding cards at the gate, onboard to see who has status printed there - and most seem to have not so much as even a FF number let alone status. From my observation it seems that there are plenty of very obviously irregular flyers in really good seats (exit rows, the first row of economy etc).

I clicked over to being a plebian Silver today and now my future flights universally show as available rows 17-29 (29ABC typically are the crew rest seats and 29DEF are the unaccompanied minors seats). Even the late October flight I have booked is all blocked out forward of row 17 with just me in 28C.

So after that lengthy introduction, my questions are these:

1) To whom does the system show the seats forward of row 17?
2) How are the non-status pax getting the good seats (I appreciate that the answer to this is that they are in a higher fare bucket than me - but I'm keen to hear).
3) Does the DIY system (online/machine) ever show the overwing exit rows to anyone? Or do you have to ask a real person to allocate you to one of these seats?
4) The few times I have checked luggage in I have asked the lady/gent behind the counter if there is a free seat next to me (usually knowing full well that there is having just used the DIY machines 10 meters away) and I have at times been told that the middle seat is 'blocked'. On those flights I have made a point of trying to see if I can see a status written on the window seat person's boarding card - each time there has been not so much as even a FF number. So why would the seat have been blocked.
5) If I were to continue to take a seat right down the back, will the Pleb Silver status help in keeping the seat next to me free?

Many thanks,
Luftaom

Why not purchase two seats? That guarantees an empty seat next to you (but I'm not sure how you actually do this process).

WP status has a blocked seat next to you- but there is no guarantee it stays empty. If a last minute pax wants a seat - and the blocked seat is still blocked and the flight otherwise full, that seat will be filled.

The other guaranteed way to extra space is to purchase an exit row seat or purchase a business class seat.

Try selecting your seat 80 hours before your departure time - this is when seats forward of row 17 open up to silver members; and your chances of getting a seat in rows 7 and below are usually quite high!

Rows 4-7 + 13-14 is where the elite members are usually seated on a 737-800; so if you have a gold/platinum member sitting in the aisle/window seat and you select a seat in their row on their side; the chances of the middle seat being blocked is very high if the flight isn't full!

+1, as a gold I also don't see any forward seats until exactly 80 hours ahead - set your alarm.

+1, as a gold I also don't see any forward seats until exactly 80 hours ahead - set your alarm.

Note the word EXACTLY 80 hrs before. I thought I once was in the running to get a great seat and found that 15 seconds after the 80 hours was 14 seconds too much of a delay!

I put my flight times into an Excel spreadsheet and '-80/24', then load that result into my Outlook calendar. Is there something wrong with me? :D

Also, remember what you see as a 'couple' sitting in window and middle seat may actually be a WP and a blocked seat. I very seldom sit by anyone as SG even on Dash 8s with no prior seat selection.

Note the word EXACTLY 80 hrs before. I thought I once was in the running to get a great seat and found that 15 seconds after the 80 hours was 14 seconds too much of a delay!

In my experience, it is NOT exactly 80 hours...on several occasions (particularly when T-80 occurs overnight) I have noticed that the enhanced seat availability (in my case for row 1 on domestic J) takes a few more hours after T-80 to appear.

As a QF nobody I find that using red-e-deals on BNE-DRW return I have never seen a seat forward of row 39 open up for us on 767's, either online or at the airport. Is there any time/place that we might be able to get more forward seats? Eg, on Saturday 16 Jun, only 35 of the 84 seats from rows 39 to 50 are taken, so I suspect the plane is lightly loaded and there might be lots of seats further forward.

As a QF nobody I find that using red-e-deals on BNE-DRW return I have never seen a seat forward of row 39 open up for us on 767's, either online or at the airport. Is there any time/place that we might be able to get more forward seats? Eg, on Saturday 16 Jun, only 35 of the 84 seats from rows 39 to 50 are taken, so I suspect the plane is lightly loaded and there might be lots of seats further forward.

For Bronze members, its a little harder to select seats further up online in my experience. Try asking the agent when you check-in whether there are seats further up - is the best solution I can come up with.

Just a quick follow up. The Tminus80 works an absolute treat. Snaring the exit row on the redeyes seems to be no problem and the couple of 7:40pm SYD-DRW flights where I have missed the 80 hour window, the 28C trick seems to work a treat.
Thanks.

I found on a Syd - Bkk flight, that at T-80 All unallocated seats became blocked except for the rear row. Pretty crap service when you have paid extra for advanced seat allocation (considering some other full service carriers give full and free seating allocation)

FWIW, on QF 73H's, before T-80, P1/CL can select from any row, WP can select as low as row 6 & SG up to around row 10 (seems to vary somewhat with the flight)

I found on a Syd - Bkk flight, that at T-80 All unallocated seats became blocked except for the rear row. Pretty crap service when you have paid extra for advanced seat allocation (considering some other full service carriers give full and free seating allocation)I've seen this happen on lightly-loaded flights, when they need to control the weight/balance. All sorts of empty seats become blocked for operational reasons. This is mainly important for the takeoff rotation, thus no problem with pax moving around the plane once airborne.