shootingstar

Hi,
Can anyone tell me what type of J class seats to expect on my upcoming flights to Auckland.

I am on QF26 BNE-AKL on Sun May 8, and then QF25 AKL-BNE on Wed May 11.

I have had conflicting opinions from QF staff, and changes in my seat allocation from QF staff (originally assigned 14a, but then changed to 11a - I assumed because 14a doesn't exist on sky bed flights).

Also, what would the chances of 3 class plane being substituted on this flight?

Thanks for your help.

NM

Row 14 does not exist in the Skybed config. That is a good way to tell what type of aircraft you are on. But I suggest considering a seat in rows 1-4 as they are sometimes using 3-class aircraft for these flights and you may get an F seat. Check to see if 1B exists on the flight, if not then it is a 3-class operated as 2-class.

jchen

What is the point of having a three class aircraft for two class if the tickets are only sold as two class?

serfty

Methinks that should be QF25 BNE-AKL and QF26 AKL-BNE.

Given the above I did a quick check of seatmaps using Expert Flyer for those dates:

• The QF25 on the 8th is showing Y starting in row 26. This indicates a 2 class 744 with skybeds. (also, as per NM's post, seat 1B does exist and there is no row 14).
• For QF26 on the 11th, Y is starting from row 25. This is a 2 class 744 with 'dreamtime' seats. (1B & row 14 both exist)

As an example, I am travelling on QF25 to AKL in June and for that flight, Y class starts from row 34; this is a 3 Class 744 with the Skybeds and First class seats (rows 1-4) being used for 2 class Business/Economy.

swissbignose

I would imagine that it's all about "inventory management". For whatever reason, it's not always possible to supply a two-class aircraft. Alternatively, it might be a positioning flight that the aircraft might fly a three-class route at its next leg.

The worst scenario, I'd imagine, would be having a three-class flight being serviced by a two-class aircraft!

NM

It happens from time to time as different aircraft are in for maintenance. Last year it happened for a period as the 2-class aircraft were being reconfigured. So when a 2-class is out of action for a few weeks under maintenance, they substitute a 3-class aircraft but still sell as 2-class. Now, when that was done last year they sold the F seat and the upper deck as business class, and sold the rest of the lower deck (including the J seats) as economy.

Now the 2-class aircraft are being cycled through the maintenance facility at AVV to have and having their skybed upgrades. So that means they are one 2-class aircraft down, so we again see some subs happening. And since they have advertised the QF25/26 route as the first to get Skybeds, that is where they will sub the 3-class since they all have skybeds already.

I am not aware of that ever happening in an unplanned manner. They have used 2-Class on routes that would normally be 3-Class, but this was known well in advance and they didn't sell any F on those flights. The example I can remember was one of the USA flights (QF11/12 I think) back in November last year for just a few days.

It seems they have only just enough 2-Class aircraft for their 2-Class routes. This means any spare aircraft (yeah, right, like they have 744's sitting around doing nothing) are likely to be 3-class. But when an aircraft goes US at short notice, I am sure all options and implications are considered before decising on a course of action. And its always worse when this happens at a foreign port. Luckily most 3-class flights are to ports with multiple daily flights (LHR, LAX) so that may offer some more flexibility for getting passengers to where they are supposed to be.