wickedkhalsa

hi folks, like the title says, has anybody flown this sector recently. .. How are the loads? especially the front section.

I have chosen seat 31A, with everything going on would you rather be in the front?

i will be flying with a kn95 mask and face shield, snakes and wipes. any other suggestions

thank you

ISTFlyer

If you're flying on an A350, seat 17C has extra legroom so I would have gone for that rather than 31A which is a regular Economy seat.
However at seat 17C, the seat width could be reduced because of the tray table and the personal IFE monitor stowed at the armrest.

If it's on a 777-300ER, it's a straightforward aisle vs window decision that you would be making.

By the way, if you are able to provide the date and the flight number, we could check the current loads for you.

wickedkhalsa

Oopsie, its a a350-1000 , also im flying out on dec9th qr702

on seat chart 31A looks like its behind the exit row and has a seat missing in front of it ... so i asked.

thanks

ISTFlyer

You are correct, in the -1000 variant of the A350, seat 31A doesn't have a seat in front of it. In the -900 variant, seat 30A is just in front of 31A. Nice to know this as I have never paid attention to it as I generally prefer seats 16A or 16K when there is no bassinet occupying those seats.

So for your case, then it's a window vs aisle selection.
I personally prefer a window so I'll go with 31A but I don't know your personal preference.

By the way, the flight doesn't look that empty in Economy but it's not that full either.
The Business Class cabin is almost empty so you might receive a generous upgrade offer if you wish to upgrade.

wickedkhalsa

Thanks. Wow almost full ... surprising.. are you checking expertflyer?

I might want to sit in the front if the flight is almost full ... or wait for that offer.

i do have qcredits to burn, but was thinking on using them on the way back ..

crossing my fingers for an op up ..

ISTFlyer

Yes, I performed my checks on Expertflyer.
Btw, the flight isn’t almost full. The seat map shows %30-40 of the seats occupied, however, there would be passengers who haven’t chose their seats in advance.

Assuming that you are QRPC Gold or Platinum, the seat next to you would most likely be blocked if there is availability. ( I came up with this as you mentioned Qcredits )

Also, you could check MMB, if you have an upgrade offer. Sometimes even when you don’t receive an e-mail, you might see an offer when viewing your reservation on the QR website or QR mobile app.

GF2B

Flew DOH-JFK right before Thanksgiving, returning a few days later. J was very lightly loaded in both directions. 701 looked busier in Y than 704 on the way back, but that's just my assessment from the gate area, didn't peek behind the curtain.

IAN-UK

Yes, but that's an important caveat. Expertflyer generally gives useful indicators, but seats marked empty or blocked can disappear on the day the flight operates. This seems a particular phenomenon on QR flights I take .

ISTFlyer

Indeed, this is also valid for Business Class as the majority of Business Class bookings during these days are Business Classic "R" fare buckets and on both of my QR Business Class flights I took after COVID, the majority of the passengers were one-time flyers or infrequent flyers rather than status passengers. Similar situation for my Economy Class flights. I had occasions where I was the only status passenger in Economy Class.

fotographer

not your routing, but flew LAX DOH a few weeks back.. Y had only 17 passengers.. J had around 9

wickedkhalsa

thanks all for the replies..

for the folks who flew recently, how was the face shield provided by QR ... is it bearable for to wear for long haul in terms of quality. or should i bring my own face shield.

and is it a normal meal service?

DeepUnderground

The face shield is a typical cheap one. I didn't have to wear it as I was in business, but I might bring my own if I had to.

ISTFlyer

In Economy Class, the face shield rule is not enforced 100%. However, it's enforced during boarding, deboarding, etc...
I never had a fully booked QR flight and mostly I had the whole row to myself on the majority of my flights so it might be the case which the crew didn't care that much ( however, people removing their masks except for eating/drinking were warned ).

Plus, I also tried to sleep with the face shield and it's not that uncomfortable, I was able to have a good sleep for a decent amount onboard a QR flight with a face shield.

Also, the meal services would be the regular service with small modifications. On JFK-DOH, you would receive dinner after takeoff, brunch before arrival, and a hot sandwich midflight.

arxxxx

In fact, the reason why some seats can disappear on the day the flight operates can be either QR want to group all pax together in a same cabin due to low loading, or pax didn't show up on the flight, or even that pax moved him/herself to a more comfortable seat.

I believe they are still blocking middle seats nowadays on most flights, unless there are multi pax in the same booking.

I flew HKG-LHR in October. In my experience, I started monitoring the loading once I confirmed that trip on August. Only 6 people are selected seats on HKG-DOH and 20 of them are on DOH-LHR. Same pax number until 72 hours prior departure, although some pax move to different seats. My seat was 17H on both flights, HKG-DOH indicated all seats are occupied by the time boarding started, and DOH-LHR indicated block seat in 17J and occupied seat in 17K.

The final result: I had 3 seats in HKG-DOH and 1.5 seats in DOH-LHR. Loading is around 40% on HKG-DOH and 60% in DOH-LHR.

I would say, if you fly frequently, you may have a feeling expertflyer is not always provide everything in terms of loading. However, it may indicates how many status pax/expensive fare class on that flight, as they usually selected seats once they purchased the ticket.

wickedkhalsa

[QUOTE=ISTFlyer;32865554]Yes, I performed my checks on Expertflyer.


hi, could you please see the loads for the flight, its tonight qr702

thanks again