Strange booking situation when buying extra seats
Mar 11, 2024, 11:14 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: San Francisco (ex Sydney)
Programs: Qantas WP, United Platinum
Posts: 98
Strange booking situation when buying extra seats
Really strange situation happened recently when I called up Qantas to book out extra seats for my family.
We are a family of 4 that will be traveling in economy from SFO -> SYD. Due to the 3 seat layout on the 787 and for the sake of my kids sanity (really mine), I decided to book two extra spare seats and take up two rows.
Called up Qantas post booking and it's obvious they really aren't setup to handle these requests efficiently. Aside from take 55 mins to purchase the extra seats and make the change, what came as a result of this was puzzling:
- Wife and I were kept on the original booking ref
- My two young kids (10 & 6) and the extra seats were split out into their own booking ref number.
This can't be normal, right?
Do I risk my sanity in calling back to Qantas to get them to combine the booking ref numbers? I'm afraid this seemingly simple request will get %^&*ed up somehow.
We are a family of 4 that will be traveling in economy from SFO -> SYD. Due to the 3 seat layout on the 787 and for the sake of my kids sanity (really mine), I decided to book two extra spare seats and take up two rows.
Called up Qantas post booking and it's obvious they really aren't setup to handle these requests efficiently. Aside from take 55 mins to purchase the extra seats and make the change, what came as a result of this was puzzling:
- Wife and I were kept on the original booking ref
- My two young kids (10 & 6) and the extra seats were split out into their own booking ref number.
This can't be normal, right?
Do I risk my sanity in calling back to Qantas to get them to combine the booking ref numbers? I'm afraid this seemingly simple request will get %^&*ed up somehow.
Mar 11, 2024, 6:50 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: San Francisco (ex Sydney)
Programs: Qantas WP, United Platinum
Posts: 98
Thanks Dave,
a follow up question, if I transfer one of these seats to my booking, can I claim SC credit for it?
Getting close to hitting my number and every credit counts! 🤣
a follow up question, if I transfer one of these seats to my booking, can I claim SC credit for it?
Getting close to hitting my number and every credit counts! 🤣
Mar 18, 2024, 4:58 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Melbourne
Programs: ►QFWP/LTG►VA WP►HyattExpl.►HiltonGold►ALL Silver
Posts: 22,002
Extra Seat (EXST) for Personal Comfort | Qantas.com
- Qantas Frequent Flyers can earn Qantas Points and status credits for each seat purchased.
Mar 22, 2024, 5:58 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,409
Adding extra seats after ticketing is difficult. It should ideally be done at the same time, via the call centre.
2 pax plus one extra seat per booking, then you could have ensured you got the correct seating allocation to include the XSTs.
At the moment it would be possible for the kids to be sitting on the aisles, with a spare in the middle and a stranger on the other side… with you and your wife sitting side by side with one of you in a middle seat! And asking the stranger to move and give up an empty seat could be problematic.
While you may get it sorted out for now, ops on the day of departure might still move you around.
Booking all at the one time prevents that.
Yes, you will earn SCs for any extra seat that is assigned in your booking, to you.
2 pax plus one extra seat per booking, then you could have ensured you got the correct seating allocation to include the XSTs.
At the moment it would be possible for the kids to be sitting on the aisles, with a spare in the middle and a stranger on the other side… with you and your wife sitting side by side with one of you in a middle seat! And asking the stranger to move and give up an empty seat could be problematic.
While you may get it sorted out for now, ops on the day of departure might still move you around.
Booking all at the one time prevents that.
Yes, you will earn SCs for any extra seat that is assigned in your booking, to you.
