Originally Posted by
NYkiwi
I'm flying QF8 DFW/SYD later in September. Expert flyer shows the plane as pretty empty and Ive read that they run it low on Y to keep the weight down?
I had already paid for an upstairs exit row before reading that. A month later I notice I still havent been charged for the exit row. Do you think thats just an error or something to do with running the flight light?
Meanwhile it shows the upstairs having having 8 seats booked and the rest blocked. Would they really run upstairs Y with only 8 people?
On the SYD/LAX flight over I was upstairs with one seat empty next to me - but then swapped into the last row of three as they were empty and the FA said first in first served. Mini stretch out provided a nice little sleep.
Seat maps are no indication of loadings on a flight - well at least not until right before departure.
As qantas charges just about anyone without status to reserve a seat, many people will forego this and wait until check-in opens.
As for the upper deck economy/coach, that will be blocked for high status passengers. Those already reserved in there will have sufficient status to lock them in now.
Not actually being charged for an exit row seems to be quite common... although the charge could theoretically come in at any time.
Qantas usually does a pretty good job of filling their planes. There may even be last minute quick sales which will fill seats.
When the QF7/8 was being operated by a 747 there were weight limitations, with a good bulk of seats blocked off from sale. However - once on board it really wasn't a case of rows and rows of empty seats. The crew would proactively move people around to give everyone room to stretch out, and by the time of takeoff, only maybe one or two seats in each row might have been empty (and only one or two passengers were lucky enough to have three seats to themselves for a mini bed).
I'm not sure of the exact weight limitation for the A380 in terms of numbers, but I suspect it will be the same as the 747... a scattering of spare seats (if any), rather than whole rows.