Originally Posted by
Norscio
Yes, in looking closer, it seems they block off the last 10 rows until the better seats start to fill up well and then release those back rows for sale, which would seem to benefit both sides. Thanks much for your assistance and advice!
Hi Norscio,
A recent data point from me, having also bought super saver seats. I had 4 sectors, UK - HKG - Australia and back. Last time I'd bought a super saver seat 3 years ago, we were allocated seats automatically at purchase. It would show in the booking and on sites like Check My Trip.
This time however it's as you found, a limited selection of seats available for purchase. All my flights were on the A350 and I wanted seats in the forward economy cabin, but all I was seeing were the first 10 or so rows in the second cabin. I did a few dummy bookings selecting the full Y fare during the 9 months or so from booking my flight and there you can see what seats they have available. Most of the cabin was available even up until a few days before.
At check in (T-48hrs) in Feb, I was on the PC refreshing until it opened and quickly grabbed the seats I wanted. The cabin had started to fill up, but not manically. I checked back a few times before take off to see if I could spot that magical empty row, but no such luck. I did notice lots of window/aisle combos with middle seat free. However the flights were full and I did see were couples had hoped to have the middle seat free out out luck!
Checking in for the return in March, I was out and was trying to do so on my mobile using the app. I got my seats in the forward cabin, but then started getting error messages. I think the seat had been taken at the same time by someone else. It looked like I'd been allocated seats randomly away from my partner too so I started the process again and got seats at the back of the plane. It was still a pair we wanted, the only downside at the back is the longer wait for meals. I checked a couple of times and these flights seemed to fill up faster than my outbound. Maybe there were more savvy travellers from Oz, or those returning had realised their mistake on the outbound!!
The thing that I found interesting was that lack of allocated seats before T-48. That would mean that not alot of people have bought the more expensive Y fares or hadn't bothered with choosing a seat. Wonder if this in hope of an upgrade!
Be interesting to hear your experience when you fly! I don't think you'd have any problem getting an aisle at T-48. Good Luck!
Be interesting to hear your experience.