That is correct. Crew are near doors/over wing on all other aircraft

Thanks, as ever, for the info.

So what happens if the flight has only 1 passenger (who is unsuitable for emex)?

We are not talking Garuda here.

They could simply put the pax on a different flight, or if there is more cabin crew members than the regulatory minimum to sit by all other doors, put the 'spare' crew there?

I sent feedback a few days ago. No response from QF other than the standard reply but then again I did not expect anyone to call me.

I book the cheapest airfares most times but I am not going to be very happy if I cannot get my usual complimentary exit row pre-allocated. I am not even interested in the suggestion made by some people that they would be happy to pay the charge as long as QF acknowledged some sort of pecking order for exit rows.

Pre-allocating exit rows was a benefit, although unwritten, of being Platinum and if QF are taking this away then there is no point in me flying with QF and sitting behind Golds and Silvers who have booked their trip months in advance. I may as well end up flying with whatever full service carrier is offering the cheapest airfare.

QF appears to be slowly bleeding away the Platinum benefits which in my opinion is not a wise move in this economic climate. They should be offering more benefits to Platinums not taking them away....

It does seem like they are taking away rather a lot of WP benefits. Maybe they could raise the qualifying threshold* but offer more benefits? It seems very easy to qualify for WP with Qantas.

*I guess I could say that sort of things this year because I'm expecting to get around 3000-5000 SCs this year though. I may feel differently if I were 'only just qualifying'.

Actually not quite true. For people travelling at the back of the bus, QF has with BA the most difficult programme to qualify for status. It's only at the front of the cabin where you really start to earn. From what I can see, AA CX/KA, JL and AY all have easier programmes when it comes to earning status and flying in Y. I have to however admit that I don't know enough about LA, RJ & MA's programmes to really comment about them.

Maybe I find it easy because I didn't feel like I did a lot of flying when I first qualified - it was just a weekly domestic commute - approx 4 hours a week spent flying, so averaging 18 hours a month. Also that flying pattern would not have even earned me BAEC Silver and I tend to compare programs to BAEC.

BAEC is an odd one to compare against due to its oddity on eligable fares. Comparing an SC earning fare vs non TP earning fare, then it is bound to be easier to attain QF status than a BA one

Also, it is skewed on domestic travel since SC earning on domestic is different than international

If comparing short domestic QF eligable vs BA eligable then it is pretty similar

20SCs vs 20 TPs in economy or 40 SCs vs 40 TPs

Both require 700 to attain Sapphire status normally, however those with a European address to use can drop this down to 400

On longer flights < 2000 miles then QF starts getting ahead but on something like SYD-PER ( > 2000 miles )

would earn 50SCs vs 60 TPs in economy and 100SCs vs 120TPs in business

On international journeys, the effect can be more pronounced. Travelling LHR-SIN-SYD ( for example ) on an H class fare

This would earn discount SCs , so would earn 65SCs vs 120TPs.

Qf is not necessarily easier than BA, it does depend on the type of travel

The key differentiators are that QF does give SCs on all fares whilst BA normally only gives them on H and above plus with BA, to attain gold status you have to attain silver and then start again for gold.. that however doesn't make QF easier per se in general since from attaining silver a new starts and then there is 12 months to attain gold.

Getting 1200 TPs to attain BA Gold ( using a Europe address ) can be quite a bit easier than attaining 1400 SCs for QF Platinum using international economy travel in classes B & H which are oft used by corporate deals

Dave

Wouldn't this flying pattern largely depend on the fare class purchased?

For QF WP you could (just) qualify commuting weekly on discount economy, For BA Gold you could qualify in less time using flexible economy.

Eg MEL-BNE and LHR-FCO are similar distances - and approx 4hrs flying rtn.

On QF you could qualify on 47 return journeys travelling in Discount Economy tickets (30 SCs rtn for the 859 mile journey) - with WP qualifying at 1400 SCs, gee you wouldn't be taking many holidays on that weekly commute!

On BA you could qualify on 37 return journeys travelling in Flexible Economy (40TPs rtn on the 898 mile journey, Euro discount economy fares do not earn TPs on BA) - with BA Gold qualifying at 1500 TPs.

So yes, it is easier to earn SCs, on QF at the back of the bus if flying on discount.

BD

The plane still flies (at least once). I was on a 737 CBR-SYD. I was in row 1, and there was one other pax in row 8. Just the two of us on the plane. No one sat in the exit rows IIRC.

I am pretty sure this is not correct. I have been moved into the emergency exit rows on LCCs that charge for the seats by FA who have told me it is a requirement that those seats are occupied.

Exit rows on United can only be booked by elites until day of departure. They are part of Economy + product and if available can be purchased on day of departure. Regular Economy + seats can be purchased ahead of time.

Yes. I forgot to add 'in discount economy' to my sentence

I agree, but if you are commuting weekly, in economy class and on a fixed schedule, would you pay for flexible economy? It would have cost me $60,000 a year in flights alone. With BA, if I flew discount economy, I would have had stayed Blue.

It's just my perspective that I do not even feel like I'd flown that much (4 hours a week is really nothing) when I first qualified as a WP - almost all in discount economy. So it seemed really easy. It must seem even easier for people who do not pay for their own flights.