Programs: Gulf Air Gold for Life; Qantas Platinum; One World Emerald. Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 885
767 domestic 1st row Y Class
Happy New year all!
Why can I never get this row even as platinum? Twice I have been able to eyeball boarding passes of pax in those seats and both times showed non status pax seated here with a sequence number way after mine?
Recently did syd-mel-syd and couldnt get row 23 (1st row in Y on 76). On line check in wasnt operating but I checked in pretty early for each flight only to be told "seats in row one are gone"
Is there yet another QF rule I don't know about?
CJ
__________________ Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof
I think the issue is not using online checkin. I often get assigned a seat a row or two back when I go to online checkin but I'm always able to change to 1st row. I do wonder if what is happening is that you get assigned a seat a couple of rows back based on your preferences then at check in on a full flight there are some upgrades to J and people checking in at the airport are ending up with the seat they vacated. You'll also see non status pax in the middle seat or the bassinet quite often, in particulary with a family flying with a baby this will result in a number of non status pax up in the front row.
With the new system I do try to check in 20-24 hours out and then have another look before heading to the airport (or when I'm attached to a printer) to see how things are shaking out, this seems to work pretty well for me.
Programs: Gulf Air Gold for Life; Qantas Platinum; One World Emerald. Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 885
Quote:
Originally Posted by IMOA
I think the issue is not using online checkin. I often get assigned a seat a row or two back when I go to online checkin but I'm always able to change to 1st row. I do wonder if what is happening is that you get assigned a seat a couple of rows back based on your preferences then at check in on a full flight there are some upgrades to J and people checking in at the airport are ending up with the seat they vacated. You'll also see non status pax in the middle seat or the bassinet quite often, in particulary with a family flying with a baby this will result in a number of non status pax up in the front row.
With the new system I do try to check in 20-24 hours out and then have another look before heading to the airport (or when I'm attached to a printer) to see how things are shaking out, this seems to work pretty well for me.
Hi Thanks for the reply
None of these pax in row one were travelling with kids needing to use bassinet post. All seperate travellers from what I could gather.
Ah well its a trivial thing as I have always been offered 2nd row in Y. Nothing worse than waiting for a 767 to unload seated down back!
CJ
__________________ Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof
A couple of seats in the first row of Y is blocked for last minute changes for Plats and CL members. I have been pre-allocated row 23 on probably 75% of my 767 flights and the same for row 4 of 738 flights. Keep in mind PAX are now ranked by the system and seated accordingly. Rank appears to be status (but not fare class) based. I am wondering if it is using total $ spend or lifetime status credits to rank PAX as I can be on a red e-fare and still get row 23 on a early morning (full) MEL-SYD flight.
If a blocked seat becomes available or someone assigned to row 23 changes seats then the seat becomes available to anyone.
A couple of seats in the first row of Y is blocked for last minute changes for Plats and CL members. I have been pre-allocated row 23 on probably 75% of my 767 flights and the same for row 4 of 738 flights. Keep in mind PAX are now ranked by the system and seated accordingly. Rank appears to be status (but not fare class) based. I am wondering if it is using total $ spend or lifetime status credits to rank PAX as I can be on a red e-fare and still get row 23 on a early morning (full) MEL-SYD flight.
Same here a lot of the time. However, I suspect it's not the lifetime status credit because I don't have that many.
Programs: Gulf Air Gold for Life; Qantas Platinum; One World Emerald. Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 885
I'm full fare Y 99% of the time and have been each time I couldn't get 1st row.
I'm still baffled. Unless there are always CL's ahead of me. How many CL's are there in the system anyhow?..I think someone kindly gave figures of member numbers in each tier..any update on that?
On same note I have been upgraded a few times on full flights to J so I think QF is treating me quite fairly.
1st few rows in Y is OK I guess.
CJ
__________________ Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof
As I said, I don't think fare class is used for ranking, I am basing this on the fact that I have done a number of reward J flights since the new system came in (6 I think) with my wife and each time we have been pre-allocated row 1. I also find it hard to believe fare class could be used when I can book N,O,Q and still get row 4 or 23 on a peak hour flight if fare class was being used.
While it could be that CL's are ahead of you I think it is that WP and CL's are ahead of you or the seats are being held back for changes and either who ever was pre-allocated the seat has moved (seat or aircraft) and then someone without status has secured them. For example if I am pre-allocated 23A or 23K and I ODU (providing I am not on NOQ) then anyone can OLCI or quickcheck and take my old seat.
I guess the challenge is for someone to find out how the ranking system actually works.
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Getting seats is a mysterious thing.
In the "good old days" before the complex allocation algorithm, even as a NB I could get my hands on some reasonable seats. Of course when I was a NB I hardly knew what it meant to be sitting at the front of the cabin, so that doesn't really count.
I've had more luck being given a front row seat as a PS compared to being an SG; in both cases this was under the new complex allocation algorithm regime. Seems that's just how the cookie crumbled.
Of course, if I really wanted a front row seat, I could always take a middle seat, but that's just crazy talk.
I can always get my hands on a front row seat pretty much if I keep trying on OLCI, e.g. whilst at work I'll check every hour to see if a seat becomes free. Tedious, but it works most of the time. Of course, with OLCI sometimes being as fickle as MEL weather at times, this sometimes becomes unfeasible.
If the loading on a plane not fully loaded, then as a WP I would assume there should be absolutely no excuse as to why you could not get your hands on a front row Y, unless the plane was so lightly loaded that they need the distribution for weight balancing purposes.
Programs: QF Platinum (OW Emerald), PC Platinum, HH Gold
Posts: 449
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cedar Jet
Recently did syd-mel-syd and couldnt get row 23 (1st row in Y on 76). On line check in wasnt operating but I checked in pretty early for each flight only to be told "seats in row one are gone"
Is there yet another QF rule I don't know about?
I think QF has changed some of the rules regarding seat allocations and I am almost certain that they are not aware that it has changed.
I have noticed some weird changes to seating allocations since the new system was introduced back in July 2008. Unlike you I travel on the cheapest tickets and have noticed that I am moving further back in the cabin, albeit a few rows behind the first row in WHY, and I notice that more and more people with little or no status are sitting in the forward seats.
On Friday evening I was allocated 23J for the BNE-SYD flight and on Sunday evening I was allocated 27J, no one in 27K, on the SYD-BNE flight with seq #188. I do get a lot of Platinums on my flights biut when I boarded Sundays flight I noticed that there was 7 out of 14 spare seats, with 4 aisle seats available, in the mini cabin in front of WHY. I was told that this was due to load balancing, or trim, on the 767. I did not think the 767 required load balancing. Anyway I moved up to 23G as soon as the seat belt sign went off.
I have given up using OLCI and prefer to find out my allocated seat at the airport. At least I have had 3 op-ups in the past 6 months....
Programs: QF Gold (woo hoo!)&QClub, Hilton Silver, UA member, Marriott nothing, KLM member
Posts: 155
Well maybe I'm just lucky but I was able to get row 23 in the 767 for this afternoon's SYD-BNE flight. Although I did have to change my seat at OLCI as my profile says aisle and the only seat was on the window (but for an hour..i think i can survive!)
Dunno how the whole status element plays in with Qantas's game but I'm a simple Silver (nearly gold...) so its certainly out there if you can OLCI early enough I assume!
A colleague checked in last night for BNE-SYD on a 734 tonight with no FF number on his profile, it's a lightly loaded flight but he could see all middle seats (including rows 4 and 5) so I'd say the qantas allocation magic rates these seats very low which will result in low status pax in these seats.
I was SG with ~1250 SC when the new system came in and under the old system I tended to be row 27-30 on a 767 while under the new system I was 23-25. I mostly travel on cheapie fares
767 domestic 1st row Y Class
