GalaxyChris

Maybe the "enhancement" revenge from the good old QR customers ?

Inzaghi22

I have a question that is not exactly, but pretty related to the topic here.

Was on QR834 in Y (777) on the 31 of May and on QR833 in J (A380) on the 3rd of June. I checked the load on expertflyer, especially for QR834 (as it was a flight in Y) every day, last time prior to my departure to Doha. No matter what day I checked the load of "my" QR834, the plane was nearly empty, load approximately 20% - the seatmap showed a huge amount of blocked seats, not so many available seats and just a few were taken. When I landed in Doha, I was escorted by Al Maha Service to the Business Class lounge. "Ms. Al Maha" said we should check my seat at the lounge reception, because the plane is nearly full. I could not really believe it as I checked myself just hours ago. However, long story short, flight was really nearly full, I guess 90 to 95 percent!

I have several questions concerning this now - just because I'm interested in it. Maybe somebody knows that:

1. A blocked seat in expertflyer should basically be an available seat, right?
2. If 1 is correct, then I don't understand where all the people came from within just 6 hours?!? I would have understood if a flight to BKK had been cancelled, but did not happen.
3. Why does Qatar (or anybody else) block such a huge amount of seats? Is that because of the aircraft balance?

btw: Flight back in the A380 was wonderful as always, J half full.

celtic_warrior

Could it be due to a high % of people not choosing their seat when they purchase their ticket? many wait until airport check in

Matt4

I aknowledge to flew both some very lightly and almost fully loaded QR flights in the past few months, but the seat map is not a reliable indicator of the flight load if you look at it before the flight. As many people don't choose a seat in advance there are many available/blocked seats which will be occupied after passengers checked-in at the airport.
Look at the seat map just a few minutes before the flight takes off and you'll get the real load factor.

Matt4

1. Yes, but by "available" you should understand "unselected". And many people don't bother to select a seat in advance, especially when travelling on a tour.
2. ExpertFlyer map shows almost all QR seats blocked 72 hours prior to the flight. It seems like to be a QR IT process to block a seat per booked passenger and to keep usually blocked seats (exit rows, ...) until airport check-in, albeit blocked seat on ExpertFlyer map might be selected by passengers when doing online check-in.
3. No idea but that can give you a better idea of the flight load 72 hours prior to fly.

lost_in_translation

In Y, absolutely. In J and F on QR, especially to a leisure destination like BKK not so much.

IAN-UK

The expert flyer seat maps can give an indication of loads, though they can also be very misleading in that respect.

I'm not sure why a route carrying predominantly leisure traffic should be in any different.

Alfredbali

I m pretty sure QR is already loosing a significant amount of business following their crazy QRPC devaluation and the way they insulted their most valued clients.
I m looking forward to flying empty J cabins and drink a lot of Champagne as a revenge, as all my flights are booked until 02/2019 (I had a bad feeling after the "We are moving everything online" decision).
After february 2019 and until QR comes to their senses I ll fly TG, VN, EVA and the likes.

NoY

All of my forward revenue bookings for this year have been made on CX J, & EK J & F, so expect at least one more empty seat on QR on various routes in S.E. Asia & Africa ^
Before the last 12 months worth of changes, I would have actively sought to book QR J/F.

QR’s loss

Traveller999

If possible, please send all your tickets (of course with shortened or deleted ticketnumbers / reservation codes) as attachment to a complaint to QRPC and the "tell Us mail adress". Maybe QR starts to understand then....
I did that as well and will continue to do so.

NoY

Yeah, I will do that - its multi-thousands of dollars worth, not to mention my wife’s bookings. I strongly suspect that it will make not one jot of difference but why not poke them in the eye ^

escape4

These are disastrous numbers. There is no positive way to spin it.

I just flew YUL-IST-BKK on TK instead of beloved QR for the same route YUL-BKK. As disgusting as the QRPC changes are, I have to admit that during my transfer in IST, I missed QR. TK is not that far behind QR onboard in J, but in terms of IST experience, I would take DOH in a heartbeat.

Perhaps the suggestion to send a complaint to QR and show a J ticket with another carrier is a good idea.

kt74

But seat maps don't account for (paid) upgrades at check in - I literally saw people getting their credit cards out on two segments I've flown in the last two weeks. Not sure what the deal is for Y passengers, but QR definitely tries to sell upgrades, and they do make a difference to loads - e.g. the seat map was showing 5/24 on my last HKT-BKK, but two couples upgraded within 3 hours of departure - which almost doubled the load! I would guess that's more appealing on leisure routes, but what do I know...

lost_in_translation

To clarify on a few posts that have followed mine:

- I'm not suggesting what I've posted above is in any way definitive as to how the seat maps will stay for all of the flights, clearly most / all will go out quite a bit more full than the above in the end
- The reason I point to BKK being a leisure route is that you don't get much last minute demand at high fares in J and F the same as you do on business routes such as LHR and CDG (the F seat map for my BKK flight has remained exactly how it was a week before on the last few flights I've taken, i.e. empty, whereas to CDG and LHR the seat map a week before is often totally unrepresentative of how the eventual F cabin will look due to last minute purchases, many paid upgrades and the need to opup)
- Even if the eventual load is 2-3 times what I've posted above and all premium cabin passengers are actually paying to be in a premium cabin, most of the above flights would probably still be loss making for QR at those load factors
- There were almost no blocked seats showing in J on any of those flights (and none at all in F)
- Paid upgrades are definitely helpful for profitability, but QR seems to be only offering them at fairly unattractive prices lately unless they need to opup passengers anyway and would like to monetise this