crub

We had this experience flying MEL-PER last weekend.

I had 1K my wife had 2F which are directly across the aisle from each other on the A330.

With 30 mins before boarding I noticed in the qantas app that my wife was now sitting in 1F. She went and spoke to the lady at the lounge service desk who moved her back into 2F, and reissued boarding pass.

When trying to board my wife's boarding pass flashed red and she was issued a new boarding pass for 1F at the gate. We asked why she was moved again and if she could be moved back. The gate agent then asked my wife if she was qantas staff, which was very strange. When she said no, we were told she was moved so she would be sitting over the aisle from me. I got into a short argument about how we would prefer 2F/1K because they are actually over the aisle despite what "the computer says" and she got moved back.

I am guessing we were just lucky that we boarded before the other couple now sitting in 2E/1F.

I have been moved before to accommodate bassinet which is understandable but have always been paged in the lounge when this happens.

I was wondering if it is common to be moved from your seat without being asked to accommodate other passengers who want to sit next to each other? Also I think it would be easier if they just renamed 1A/K to 2A/K on that configuration to avoid confusion.

serfty

Hmmm ... did youfind out who did the moving? Was it the staff at the gate.

Also, there's a bit of a interesting thing there with "if she was qantas staff" - the implication being more (unofficially) to it than "meets the eye".

Platy

I was travelling BNE-CNS on QF J class as a WP and had snared two sets together in row 2 for myself and friend (non status). I checked the seating the night before at around 1030pm in anticipation of the 7am flight the next morning in case row 1 had opened up.

Upon checkin in at the BNE J lounge I noticed the boarding passes showed seats apart. QF had changed the seating allocation and separated us. I very politely asked the lounge dragon why the seats had been changed and was told it must have been done by whoever booked the flights. Politely, no, that would be me who booked the flights and I had checked the seating the night before in case row 1 opened up.

I (very politely) asked whether it was still possible for the two of us to sit together and the dragon very grumpily re-issued the boarding passes per our original seating.

So 5 minutes later, having just sat down with a round of QF- issued wholemeal toast (or whatever) the dragon does a PA for my friend to go back to the desk. So I go too (I am the booking agent and this fellow is my guest as an infrequent traveller and hadn't even been in a QF lounge before).

The dragon looks at me and basically tells me go away - I don't need to be there - my flight hasn't been called - she doesn't want to talk to me, only my friend. I have never been spoken to so rudely and disrespectfully by a QF employee in decades of travel with the airline.

Obviously, I stick around and again very politely point out that I am the booking agent, this fellow is here as my guest, etc, so I have interest in their conversation. She then proceeds to demand his boarding pass back (clearly to try to separate us all over again). She had attempted a divide and conquer by trying too get him back to the desk on his own.

He realised what was going on and politely asked why she needed the boarding pass before handing it over.

The dragon then started some interrogation along the lines of "do you really really want a window seat - wouldn't you be happier with an aisle...etc". My friend politely said he was very happy with the assigned seat next to me.

So eventually the dragon gave up and we left her absolutely fuming!

By this time the two of us were somewhat unsettled by the rudeness and approach and took a very long walk back and forth to the farthest reaches of the VA end of the terminal.

I checked with my friend whether he thought there was anything in my own manner or approach or anything I said which could have caused the dragon to be so rude - in his opinion I had been respectful and appropriate throughout the exchanges with the dragon.

Now, clearly, if the dragon had simply said "unfortunately, on this occasion, QF need to re-allocate seating for operational reasons" we would have had to acquiesce entirely to the situation. But that was never said or suggested.

Curiously, once on board, there were several empty seats (IIRC at least 3 or maybe 4) within the J cabin so it never became apparent why the dragon had been so determined to mess with our seating allocation.

Whether or not relevant on this particular occasion, I have seen too many occasions with QF when staff get priority in terms of access to J inventory and J seats (I know it is not supposed to happen, but it does). IMHO QF's handling of staff travelling in J (and F) is very intrusive on the customer.

Anyway, now in CNS I rang QF and asked to speak to the acting manager at BNE J lounge (in preference to a lengthy and "on the record" written complaint).

The manager (good on him) rang back a few hours later having interviewed the dragon and offered profuse apologies and agreed that the conduct of the dragon had been entirely inappropriate.

This event put me off using the QF BNE J lounge for many months. Thankfully, the cabin crew were excellent on the BNE-CNS (as is almost always the case).

og

Couple of years ago in the 380 F cabin, I'd selected 2A and 3A. On check-in BPs for row 5 centre seats were presented to us - "so we could be together". I politely made it clear that I wanted the previously assigned seats. We got them back with a half smile.

Seemed that the people now occupying the centre back row seats were QF staff given the wonderful time they had in chatting with the uniformed crew (including flight deck crew) for most of the flight. Their wheelie bags with the QF logo also made it clear who they were.

Platy

IMHO there is no way that QF should be using the F cabin to indulge staff members! I've seen it too on F flights to LHR - 3 or 4 F seats taken up by staff: even seen one or two of the same staff faces on different occasions...

And Og's experience reinforces my perception that QF has no problem allowing staff to take precedence over actual customers in premium cabins!

Moving customer around in the F cabin (or J cabin for that matter) to give staff members their preferred seats is inexcusable.

crub

We don't know who changed the seating allocation. It wouldn't even have occurred to me that it was for QF staff if the agent at the gate hadn't of asked if my wife was. The other couple didn't seem like staff to me, they didn't get preferential treatment which is what I've seen in the past when crew are flying.

I just assumed it was a check in agent trying to help out by putting couples "together". Even though 2E/F is horrible for a couple anyway because of the storage between the seats in the middle and 1F/K being in different rows. I am not even sure if she was moved once and the lounge dragon did nothing or moved again after it was fixed.

I lost a bit of interest in following this up with Qantas after we ended up getting the seats we wanted anyway. We are both WP and this was the last leg of paid F return to LAX it would have been unbelievable to me if they split us up.

Anyway I was just curious because I have never been reassigned seats before without being notified.

m0hamed

The A330 Business Suites continue to cause issues because Altea considers all seats as single and none together. Perhaps that has been updated, but it's more likely that a staff member is moving couples together.

We've sat in 1A and 1E when 1F was broken and one could argue these are better seats for a couple.

serfty

But that would have likely been on a 333. On a 332, they are out of alignment by a metre.

http://www.qantas.com/infodetail/fly...32-28J243Y.pdf

http://www.qantas.com/infodetail/fly...33-28J269Y.pdf

m0hamed

You're right.

I expect QF ground staff have had to deal with many complaints from pax traveling together, so perhaps they are overcompensating. This is pure speculation, though.