UD A380 Y Seat Selection
Dec 9, 2014, 3:12 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: London/Doha
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 239
UD A380 Y Seat Selection
Does anyone know QR's criteria for passengers trying to reserve a seat on the upper deck of the A380 in economy?
Do you have to have QR status? Or oneworld equivalent ok? Phone them or online manage booking?
Thanks
Do you have to have QR status? Or oneworld equivalent ok? Phone them or online manage booking?
Thanks
Dec 9, 2014, 6:23 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: ATH
Programs: A3,BA
Posts: 157
Dec 10, 2014, 4:36 am
#3
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Abu Dhabi
Programs: IHG Platinum Ambassador, Etihad Silver
Posts: 132
I managed to get some by walking into a Qatar Airways office and telling the agent which seat numbers I wanted reserving. He didn't seem to realise that it was an A380, nor did he notice my lack of status.
Dec 28, 2014, 12:43 pm
#4
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 398
I can offer some recent info having flown LHR-DOH on 1st Dec and back on 17th Dec, on QR4/QR3.
We booked the flights back in the Summer and I selected seats on the Economy upper desk at that time for our party of 5 via the Qatar web-site.
When I tried to OLCI for the outbound flight, it had moved us to the rear of the lower deck. I called Qatar call centre, who advised our original seats could be restored at airport check in.
Airport check in advised the original seats had now gone, but to try again at the gate! The gate were the first to advise that the upper deck is for Qatar status holders only (in fact I still can't see this information definitively on Qatar web-site!!) They also tried to argue that they couldn't move all 5 of us back to the upper deck due to trim (really, on an A380?!
) but they would be prepared to move just myself as "a favour" - which I accepted. Annoyingly got upstairs to find the whole of the rest of my row empty and the whole row behind empty as well!
Whilst away, I e-mailed a complaint to Qatar about not honouring the original seat selection and on the return journey there were no problems at airport check-in, all 5 of us seated on the upper deck in our originally-selected seats.
I don't have a problem at all with Qatar only allocating these seats to their status customers, but a) this should be explicitly stated somewhere on their web-site and b) their systems shouldn't allow non-status customers to select these seats in the first place.
UD experience was great, with so few cusomers in the cabin speed of service was the best I have ever experienced in long haul Y. Disembarking at DOH was very organised, we simply had to wait for J cabin in front to empty (<5-10mins) and were then allowed to follow them out off the upper deck.
The return at LHR was a bit of a shambles though, not allowed to exit through J cabin, even once empty, and had to wait for the whole lower deck to empty before exiting via the stairs at the back - last off the plane and took ages! (Although still not a massive problem compared to passport queues and baggage reclaim wait!)
We booked the flights back in the Summer and I selected seats on the Economy upper desk at that time for our party of 5 via the Qatar web-site.
When I tried to OLCI for the outbound flight, it had moved us to the rear of the lower deck. I called Qatar call centre, who advised our original seats could be restored at airport check in.
Airport check in advised the original seats had now gone, but to try again at the gate! The gate were the first to advise that the upper deck is for Qatar status holders only (in fact I still can't see this information definitively on Qatar web-site!!) They also tried to argue that they couldn't move all 5 of us back to the upper deck due to trim (really, on an A380?!
) but they would be prepared to move just myself as "a favour" - which I accepted. Annoyingly got upstairs to find the whole of the rest of my row empty and the whole row behind empty as well!Whilst away, I e-mailed a complaint to Qatar about not honouring the original seat selection and on the return journey there were no problems at airport check-in, all 5 of us seated on the upper deck in our originally-selected seats.
I don't have a problem at all with Qatar only allocating these seats to their status customers, but a) this should be explicitly stated somewhere on their web-site and b) their systems shouldn't allow non-status customers to select these seats in the first place.
UD experience was great, with so few cusomers in the cabin speed of service was the best I have ever experienced in long haul Y. Disembarking at DOH was very organised, we simply had to wait for J cabin in front to empty (<5-10mins) and were then allowed to follow them out off the upper deck.
The return at LHR was a bit of a shambles though, not allowed to exit through J cabin, even once empty, and had to wait for the whole lower deck to empty before exiting via the stairs at the back - last off the plane and took ages! (Although still not a massive problem compared to passport queues and baggage reclaim wait!)
Dec 28, 2014, 4:01 pm
#5
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Doha, Qatar
Programs: QR Gold
Posts: 772
I can offer some recent info having flown LHR-DOH on 1st Dec and back on 17th Dec, on QR4/QR3.
We booked the flights back in the Summer and I selected seats on the Economy upper desk at that time for our party of 5 via the Qatar web-site.
When I tried to OLCI for the outbound flight, it had moved us to the rear of the lower deck. I called Qatar call centre, who advised our original seats could be restored at airport check in.
Airport check in advised the original seats had now gone, but to try again at the gate! The gate were the first to advise that the upper deck is for Qatar status holders only (in fact I still can't see this information definitively on Qatar web-site!!) They also tried to argue that they couldn't move all 5 of us back to the upper deck due to trim (really, on an A380?!) but they would be prepared to move just myself as "a favour" - which I accepted. Annoyingly got upstairs to find the whole of the rest of my row empty and the whole row behind empty as well!
Whilst away, I e-mailed a complaint to Qatar about not honouring the original seat selection and on the return journey there were no problems at airport check-in, all 5 of us seated on the upper deck in our originally-selected seats.
I don't have a problem at all with Qatar only allocating these seats to their status customers, but a) this should be explicitly stated somewhere on their web-site and b) their systems shouldn't allow non-status customers to select these seats in the first place.
UD experience was great, with so few cusomers in the cabin speed of service was the best I have ever experienced in long haul Y. Disembarking at DOH was very organised, we simply had to wait for J cabin in front to empty (<5-10mins) and were then allowed to follow them out off the upper deck.
The return at LHR was a bit of a shambles though, not allowed to exit through J cabin, even once empty, and had to wait for the whole lower deck to empty before exiting via the stairs at the back - last off the plane and took ages! (Although still not a massive problem compared to passport queues and baggage reclaim wait!)
We booked the flights back in the Summer and I selected seats on the Economy upper desk at that time for our party of 5 via the Qatar web-site.
When I tried to OLCI for the outbound flight, it had moved us to the rear of the lower deck. I called Qatar call centre, who advised our original seats could be restored at airport check in.
Airport check in advised the original seats had now gone, but to try again at the gate! The gate were the first to advise that the upper deck is for Qatar status holders only (in fact I still can't see this information definitively on Qatar web-site!!) They also tried to argue that they couldn't move all 5 of us back to the upper deck due to trim (really, on an A380?!
) but they would be prepared to move just myself as "a favour" - which I accepted. Annoyingly got upstairs to find the whole of the rest of my row empty and the whole row behind empty as well!Whilst away, I e-mailed a complaint to Qatar about not honouring the original seat selection and on the return journey there were no problems at airport check-in, all 5 of us seated on the upper deck in our originally-selected seats.
I don't have a problem at all with Qatar only allocating these seats to their status customers, but a) this should be explicitly stated somewhere on their web-site and b) their systems shouldn't allow non-status customers to select these seats in the first place.
UD experience was great, with so few cusomers in the cabin speed of service was the best I have ever experienced in long haul Y. Disembarking at DOH was very organised, we simply had to wait for J cabin in front to empty (<5-10mins) and were then allowed to follow them out off the upper deck.
The return at LHR was a bit of a shambles though, not allowed to exit through J cabin, even once empty, and had to wait for the whole lower deck to empty before exiting via the stairs at the back - last off the plane and took ages! (Although still not a massive problem compared to passport queues and baggage reclaim wait!)
Qatars website states:
Quote: The upper deck also features a spacious inflight lounge offering Premium passengers an escape from the typical airplane environment, which is unique to the A380.
http://www.qatarairways.com/global/e...iid=ALL3120650
Dec 28, 2014, 5:59 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 9,307
That's talking about the bar, not the Y cabin in the upper deck, which seems to be what the previous poster is referring to.
Dec 29, 2014, 4:36 am
#7
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 6
You're right - the website never really makes this abundantly clear. When I last flew on the A380 (Y class) the travel agent advised that he was unable to do seat allocation, and that this had to be done at the airport at check in if I wanted to sit upstairs.
The only time I've ever seen this rule formally mentioned was in an email sent out by Qatar Airways when they took delivery of the A380 - and privilege club platinum/gold/silver members would have exclusive access to this area of the economy part of the cabin, even going so far as to say:
* Upper Deck seating is exclusively available for only Platinum, Gold and Silver members and not for any accompanying passengers. Seats are limited. Available on first come first served basis.
But I can't actually find this mentioned anywhere on their website. As it was, on the LHR/DOH leg the cabin was empty. Annoyingly, although you get to board ahead of the economy passengers downstairs, on arrival you are made to wait for the lower cabin to empty first, and then you depart via the rear steps and then through the lower deck. So despite being treated as some sort of special guest in your 'exclusive' cabin upstairs you end up being the last off the plane.
The only time I've ever seen this rule formally mentioned was in an email sent out by Qatar Airways when they took delivery of the A380 - and privilege club platinum/gold/silver members would have exclusive access to this area of the economy part of the cabin, even going so far as to say:
* Upper Deck seating is exclusively available for only Platinum, Gold and Silver members and not for any accompanying passengers. Seats are limited. Available on first come first served basis.
But I can't actually find this mentioned anywhere on their website. As it was, on the LHR/DOH leg the cabin was empty. Annoyingly, although you get to board ahead of the economy passengers downstairs, on arrival you are made to wait for the lower cabin to empty first, and then you depart via the rear steps and then through the lower deck. So despite being treated as some sort of special guest in your 'exclusive' cabin upstairs you end up being the last off the plane.
Dec 31, 2014, 10:59 am
#8
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: UK
Programs: OneWorld Emerald/GHA Discovery Black
Posts: 552
I took QR4 from LHR to DOH yesterday and my original upper deck seat (28A, I think) was still available/assigned to me when I checked-in online and printed my boarding pass. However, I asked at check-in if a bulkhead or exit row seat was available on the upper deck and was given 25D (very first row of economy on the upper deck/right behind the bar).
I had an empty seat next to me and was really impressed with the whole QR A380 experience in economy - very comfortable seat, great AVOD screen and nice mood lighting. This was topped off with brilliant cabin crew. The disembarking at DOH was a bit of shambles but at least there was no need to reclear security.
I had an empty seat next to me and was really impressed with the whole QR A380 experience in economy - very comfortable seat, great AVOD screen and nice mood lighting. This was topped off with brilliant cabin crew. The disembarking at DOH was a bit of shambles but at least there was no need to reclear security.
Jan 1, 2015, 4:00 am
#9
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Abu Dhabi
Programs: IHG Platinum Ambassador, Etihad Silver
Posts: 132
We had similar problems with Y on the A380 earlier this month. As I have stated above, I thought I had managed to 'blag' upper deck seats by walking into a QR office, who locked them in for us (they were no longer changeable in MMB).
However, at OLCI, the adults in our party were assigned UD seats whereas the children (toddlers!) were assigned seats in the lower deck. It wouldn't let us choose seats and when we went into a QR office to try and sort it out, they couldn't do anything either.
We got to the airport early to try and sort it out, but because the flight was full they wouldn't budge on changing our seats. It took a big standoff and a conversation with a manager before they found us all seats together on the lower deck.
Moral of this story - don't try and blag your way onto the UD if you don't have rights to be there! It caused us an immense amount of hassle.
Had a pretty good flight, was impressed with the food for once and the IFE was excellent. We were sat right at the back though, and it was a surprisingly bumpy flight for such a big plane - final approach at LHR was frankly terrifying!
However, at OLCI, the adults in our party were assigned UD seats whereas the children (toddlers!) were assigned seats in the lower deck. It wouldn't let us choose seats and when we went into a QR office to try and sort it out, they couldn't do anything either.
We got to the airport early to try and sort it out, but because the flight was full they wouldn't budge on changing our seats. It took a big standoff and a conversation with a manager before they found us all seats together on the lower deck.
Moral of this story - don't try and blag your way onto the UD if you don't have rights to be there! It caused us an immense amount of hassle.
Had a pretty good flight, was impressed with the food for once and the IFE was excellent. We were sat right at the back though, and it was a surprisingly bumpy flight for such a big plane - final approach at LHR was frankly terrifying!