ozstamps

USA flights in recent weeks have been loaded to the eyeballs it seems. Carriers must be making a ton.

We were flying SYD-LAX on UA July 2 that UA cancelled, and got the very last 2 seats given boarding passes on Delta who were also madly oversold.

Virgin and QF were oversold, as was the UA SFO flight due to holidays.

Flew back LAX-SYD 2 days back to a UA plane load showing 0 inventory from F downwards and they were calling for volunteers at gate.

Himeno

o.o They are looking quite full...

Departing 17/7
LAX-SYD
UA839 F0 J2 C2 Y0 B0 M0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 A0 D1 Z0 E0
VA2 J0 C0 D0 I0 W4 S4 R3 O0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 G0 E0 N0 V0 Q0 T0
QF12 F3 A3 P0 J1 C0 D0 I0 U0 W0 R0 T0 Z0 Y1 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0 X0 E0
DL17 J0 C0 D0 I0 S0 Y0 B0 M0 H0 Q0 K0 L0 U0 T0 E0
QF 108 F1 A1 P0 J4 C3 D0 I0 U0 W2 R1 T1 Z0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0 X0 E0

SFO-SYD
UA863 F0 J4 C4 Y0 B0 M0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 A0 D4 Z0 E0

LAX-MEL
VA12 J0 C0 D0 I0 W6 S6 R6 O0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 G0 E0 N0 V0 Q0 T0
QF94 F3 A3 P0 J2 C3 D2 I2 U0 W1 R0 T0 Z0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0 X0 E0

LAX-BNE
QF16 J2 C0 D0 I0 U0 W6 R0 T0 Z0 Y2 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0 X0 E0



I had MEL-LAX and LAX-SYD flights at the end of May, they were also quite full.
I've also just gotten some LAX-MEL-LAX flights booked for late August, availability was quite hard to find for most days.

og

Don't forget AC SYD-YVR. This is more open than others and the YVR-SYD run has great timings to optimise sleep in the front cabin (ie 08:10 arrival is more body-clock friendly than 06:00 arrvals of QF and UA).

TrojanHorse

and I don't mean the kind where I didn't get us seated together

I'm referring to the example above where the F Seats were downgraded to J seats (the 4A-4K example above)

I'm in 1A/2A/1K both ways on award tix with my kids.

I'm hoping that they don't move us around. that said and done, I know seat selection maps are not reliable but thats all i have to go by; it appears that the outbound is still half open in the F seats and J is pretty open as well (~45% available for selection)and their shouldn't be a ton of concern on my part, the return though in a few weeks is a bit dicier where only one F seat remains open for selection but J seems wide open regarding seat selection.

anyone know why or probably more importantly how they are selecting who gets what seats

if it makes a difference, I'm AA EXP, kids are no status

thx

Ewing

I know my upcoming flight on QF7 SYD-DFW is looking very full in PE/Economy. PE sold out weeks ago.

Three weeks out:
J9 C9 D9 I0 W0 R0 T0 Y5 B1 H0 K0 M0 L0 G0 E0

Strangely enough though my flight back on QF8 a week later is wide open in all classes.

I've flown to the US at this time of the year three years in a row though, and each flight has been chockers. It might be just a busy time of year - I know it's the time of the year when I travel the most.

number_6

Any WP requesting seating in zone A will bump you out, and most likely all pax on your PNR will be moved together. Allocating the middle 3 seats would look attractive to most agents, if you are a party of 3. Reasonably good chance of getting the seats changed before flight time, as any staff travel would also bump you out, and some SGs could too. Checking in early at DFW would probably be beneficial to protecting the seats (though I've have mine changed for the worse -- as a WP -- after check-in and BP reissued at the gate). QF and BA change seats far more often than AA.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

4 A and K are bassinet seats.

It is possible people are moved out of those, even at last minute, to accommodate a family with a baby.

TrojanHorse

thanks for the breakdown of how it may happen as its much better to know it may happen up front than to get there and find out

Staff.. seriously??? wow

I'll be checking in real early at IAD as I'll be driving down in the a.m. to check in and check bags, then go home and take the bus to the airport (with carry on only) so I'll have my BP's roughly 12-13 hours before DFW departure time. lets say we do keep zone A from DFW-BNE, would we get bumped on the BNE-DFW if someone with status or staff comes on board at BNE?

that early check in won't be an option on the return out of SYD where it seems to be more of an issue with one open seat in F left.

This is my first trip flying QF and this seat bumping thing is quite a surprise to me in that 1. they do this at all just to give elite and staff the seats once already assigned, 2. as mentioned earlier, that they would do this for staff which to me is the big headshaker here and 3. OW Emerald doesn't mean anything as far as getting bumped from your seat.

If we were to be bumped and didn't want the three center seats, what would be the best option to get 2 & 1 with the one being an aisle behind/front of the two. We would want a window seat basically.

on another topic, when this bird stops at BNE, can I/we use the BNE QF lounge there? I know time is short but how about if there are delays in taking off from BNE?

So they kept one of you in Zone A; is that correct?

og

No - the eastbound flight only operates SYD-DFW without stopping in BNE (unless things have recently changed).

River in Sight

TrojanHorse: Not sure how often this happens, but when we checked in at DCA AA was not able to check us in or issue our boarding passes for DFW-(BNE-)SYD. As a result, we were not able to check in until around 2 hours prior to departure at the gate... perhaps that was part of the problem with losing our seat assignments. Hopefully the check-in will work better for you.

Yes, you can; once we landed, we were through transit security and in the lounge in about 5 minutes. The international concourse is pretty small, so it's quick to move around. The lounge had some breakfast items out as well as showers; if you really hurried, I think you'd have time to shower although we did not do this. We boarded the BNE-SYD leg around 90 minutes late but ultimately disembarked once the Captain learned the repair would take more than a couple of hours. We returned to the club at this point (were also given $15 food vouchers, though we didn't use them) along with the rest of the J cabin, and the club got very crowded but we were able to find a seat. Around 1030AM lunch-type food started coming out (warm sandwiches, etc.).

For the outbound (DFW-BNE-SYD), we both got kicked out of Zone A and into separate seats behind Zone A. For the return, right now we appear to have one seat in Zone A and one seat in the Zone behind. The agent in the BNE club said that she didn't know what had happened to the seat assignments on the way back, but that there was no way that she could put us together at this point (2 weeks out) as the flight is completely full. Ah well.

Blackcloud

TrojanHorse there is a Qantas First Lounge in BNE, nothing like the lounges in SYD or MEL but it should be a little quieter than the Qantas Club.

jkm024 I do not think QF will assing all the seats yet. They will leave a portion unallocated to rectify seating issues, this may be what the agent came up against and that is why you could not have the seats changed.
Try closer to the date of travel.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Worth noting that if you are connecting and do not have a boarding pass for the QF flight that check-in opens a 6pm.

you have to exit the airport and go to departures, then re-clear security. but may give you a crack at better seats rather than waiting for gate check-in.

TrojanHorse

Now I'm confused, if what happened to jkm024 happens to us and I can't check in at IAD say in the late morning for my afternoon departure to DFW; will I be forced to go outside of security, get my bags, re-check in with (who?? AA or QF which is what I would guess) my bags and then re-clear security. This seems like a royal PITA. Even if I check in at IAD say 2 hours prior to the IAD-DFW departure, this will still be four or five hours before the DFW 6 p.m. QF opening of their ticket counter. Or will AA just tell me to pick up my BP from QF at the gate?

Does the QF lounge issue BP's? I take it the DFW Ad Club could not help either regarding the issuance of BP's ??

I do realize that you are saying, I could go outside of security to get a crack at better seats. But before I do that, should I just look online to see what QF has us listed at before schleping outside of security? Of course if we have been moved and do not like our assignments, then yeah it would be worth the trip outside to get a crack at better seat.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

No no! It's all very simple

your checked bags are tagged all the way through to your final destination.

On arrival at DFW - head to the AC if you are eligible. Showing a print out of the e-ticket was fine for me to get entry without a boarding pass.

At 6pm - when check-in for Qantas opens (it is staffed by QF), leave your cabin luggage in the AC, exit the secure area to arrivals and then go to QF check-in.

Then head back through security to the lounge of your choice.

Coming back through security without luggage was easy.

I only gave this advice because if flights are full and you don't check-in until late then you might find seats have been moved as reported by another poster. So to give you the best change at keeping your seats - there was the alternative to check-in from 6pm rather than wait for the gate staff to arrive.

I hope that explains it - if not feel free to seek clarification

BD1959

You should not have to recheck your bags - but will have to associate the bag tag numbers with the QF BP. Happens quite often (I've had QF unable to issue a BA BP ex-SYD) despite the benefits of an alliance!

BD