goblinfootballs

I booked a trans-Pacific flight via WestJet that it operated by Qantas. I called Qantas to receive the Qantas reservation code so I could manage my booking and select seats. When I got to my booking, seat selection was unavailable. Calls to Qantas customer service had the same result. Repeated email exchanges with Qantas customer service have been largely unfruitful. Qantas even claimed repeatedly that it was WestJet's responsibility to release their block of seats before I could make my seat selection, which makes no sense to me, and is contradicted by conversations with WestJet. Then, Qantas offered to try to add seats of my choice to the booking. My seat selection did appear in manage my booking for about a week, then disappeared. The latest explanation about the lack of seat selection for this flight is "there is a fault in advanced seat selection on flights with a WS flight number, operated by Qantas," and that it is a known issue without a timetable for a fix.

Is there anything to Qantas' claims regarding their inability to allow me to select my seats?

Mwenenzi

goblinfootballs Welcome to FT

What does "via WestJet" mean?
Does your reservation have a Westjet or QF flight number?
When is the flight? Class of travel?

Look here--->Blocked Seats on upcoming QF Flight

goblinfootballs

I booked the flight with WestJet, but it's operated by Qantas. WestJet & Qantas have a codeshare arrangement. So there's a WestJet flight number and a Qantas flight number. I'm able to do everything to manage the booking online through Qantas except select seats. Were I to book directly through Qantas, I'd be able to select seats online. For the week in which I had seats selected, those seats were unavailable to anyone who tried to book online through Qantas.

It's an economy ticket for December. The blocked seats issue is not the same as mine.

Mwenenzi

Does your reservation have a Westjet or QF flight number?
QF codeshare with many airlines

goblinfootballs

WestJet

nancypants

nzkarit

If you booked vai WestJet and have WestJet flight numbers and ticket numbers. WestJet is responsible for the booking, QF only take control of the ticket when the flight goes to airport control, hence QF saying it is WestJet's responsibility at the moment.

og

goblinfootballs

I mentioned this to WestJet and they said that wasn't the case.

goblinfootballs

It's possible in the process of purchasing a ticket directly through Qantas, elite status or not. Although one customer service agent told me over the phone that in that case it would tell me seat selection wasn't actually available were I to submit payment.

goblinfootballs

It seems absurd that an airline can't assign seats on its own flight. I've booked codeshares before and have never had trouble accessing the booking on the actual carrier's site and selecting seats.

Globaliser

Different codeshare agreements can have different arrangements for these. If the contract says that rows 19 and 20 (to take a hypothetical answer) are solely for the use of the marketing airline, then the operating airline can't use them. Nothing absurd about that.

madrooster

I can confirm that WS*QF bookings do not permit seat selection. WS has not fully implemented the seating function.

number_6

Codeshares often have glitches in some aspect compared to the operating airline, they can only be worse rather than better Hopefully the OP got some benefits from booking the WS code (such as FF earn) and not just more profit for WS. I try to avoid booking codeshares as it has never seemed advantageous to me, only to the airline. For this seat situation all you can do is wait until QF has control which is the day of flight.

DownUnderFlyer

This is entirely possible. The QF/OZ codeshare between SYD and ICN is an example. Literally each airline had half of the plane (not sure if they still have). So if for whatever reason you were booked on the QF code and QF seat selection was unavailable you were not able to book seats via OZ because OZ had given the right half of the plane over to QF.