Qantas

[battymum]

I was checking my booking the other day and notice that I can choose our seats for a fee of $20.

Although this doesnt sound much, when you multiply x 5 and add a return trip, equals $200.

Being the tightwad I am, I am reluctant to pay this, but I want to know what will happen if I dont. Will my family be seperated into leftover seats?

I realise as a party of five there has to be separation, but will at least be 2 - 3, and in adjacent rows. We pretty much dont care where we sit (although we would prefer 3 in the window row and 2 in aisle row - cant choose PE and exit rows are $160) as long as it is together.

We are flying SYD-DFW on September 16.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I was checking my booking the other day and notice that I can choose our seats for a fee of $20.

Although this doesnt sound much, when you multiply x 5 and add a return trip, equals $200.

Being the tightwad I am, I am reluctant to pay this, but I want to know what will happen if I dont. Will my family be seperated into leftover seats?

I realise as a party of five there has to be separation, but will at least be 2 - 3, and in adjacent rows. We pretty much dont care where we sit (although we would prefer 3 in the window row and 2 in aisle row - cant choose PE and exit rows are $160) as long as it is together.

We are flying SYD-DFW on September 16.

Our seats were selected at the time of booking and it didn't cost us any extra are you a QFF member?
We took the last row of 3 and 2 lots of 2 at the back of plane so we had more window seats on the way back we have 3 lots of 2.

 

[kylieh]

We had exactly the same question, 5 people. I rang Qantas and they told me they wouldn't break a family up and you remained "blocked together." I'd still place a call just in case, but you should be ok.

ETA: Have you all got your frequent flyers added? If you're not a member get the Woolworths card each first and register each one so you can join for free.

 

[Travel Mum]

Oh what a shame you didn't do it at the time you booked because it's just a new policy they just introduced. Another way to make money as well as upping the fuel surcharges yet again

 

[Jade+3]

I was reading about this the other day, but did not realise it had already been introduced. It would cost us and extra $200 too, which I don't think I would be willing to pay either. Such a pity you were not able to do it when you booked. Have you tried calling and pleading that as you booked before the charge, that it should be waived? No harm in asking.

 

[queenie82]

Yet Another reason not to fly Qantas

If you look at the seat map and find some good seats I would pay it. (as in well forward in the plane where you get food sooner and better service generally. Also Generally slightly better seating arrangements as the aircraft might narrow towards the back. And of course....you don't trudge all the way to the back and then all the way back to the front to get on and off.)

Remember to check seatguru.com to get an idea of what you might be getting yourself in for.
I don't agree with everything - I don't agree that bulkheads are good - but they can be a useful site to tell you where really bad things are.

 

[battymum]

I'm pretty sure it wasnt an option when we booked.

And yes, I have signed everyone up for QFF but didnt add the memberships to the booking until afterwards. I can pay for the seat choice with 25000 points but I only have about 4000- need to do a lot of shopping at Woolworths to earn some more.

I should suck it up and pay, we did get those flights cheap, if I do, I can choose seats on the connecting flight pretty close to the front. (there is no charge for those)

So Queenie are you saying the seats near the galley are good. I have never flown long haul before, (9hours doesnt seem so long now) I thought it might be noisy there.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Yet Another reason not to fly Qantas

If you look at the seat map and find some good seats I would pay it. (as in well forward in the plane where you get food sooner and better service generally. Also Generally slightly better seating arrangements as the aircraft might narrow towards the back. And of course....you don't trudge all the way to the back and then all the way back to the front to get on and off.)

Remember to check seatguru.com to get an idea of what you might be getting yourself in for.
I don't agree with everything - I don't agree that bulkheads are good - but they can be a useful site to tell you where really bad things are.

I used seat guru and it had the seats of 2 at the back of the plane as Good seats so that's why we booked them.

 

[queenie82]

So Queenie are you saying the seats near the galley are good. I have never flown long haul before, (9hours doesnt seem so long now) I thought it might be noisy there.

Not opposite. But a few rows back.
It's always hard...we generally go with the rows a couple back from the divide between Business and Economy. This is usually where a Galley is found.

Light will be coming from where a galley is...so you just balance near the front of the aircraft and not in the gathering or light emitting zones

I avoid exit rows and near the toilets as thats were people crowd around no matter how much they tell you not to.

I used seat guru and it had the seats of 2 at the back of the plane as Good seats so that's why we booked them.

I just don't like hauling things all the way to the back and then repeating get off the plane It's why I don't always agree with seat guru...but it can help you work out where there might be a problem. Things like misaligned windows (which I love...but others hate) Entertainment boxes taking up legroom (although I found them wrong with the boxes usually under the middle seat rather than window)

It is just another batch of info for you to process and choose what is important to YOU.

_________________________
As a general note...you're dammed if you do and dammed if you don't. But near the front and not near 'noisier' areas I would probably pay for if my hand was forced with things like this.
If they do keep you as a block they MIGHT push you further back to keep you together???
Obviously not an issue here...but my concern if I was on my own would be being put in a middle seat

I'd be interested in the fine print with this paying to choose. Can you change your mind after you choose? Or you pay and choose and then you're done...
My concern would be if they change aircraft on you. This isn't done as much with long haul but it will happen with domestics from time to time.

 

[battymum]

Obviously not an issue here...but my concern if I was on my own would be being put in a middle seat

TE]


Actually I would consider choosing a window and aisle seat, leaving the middle free and hoping that we would end up with a spare If we did end up with a stranger in the middle then obviously we would offer to swap.

 

[gippaloo]

I’m flying Qantas this May from LAX to Sydney and back, and I just called customer service and asked them if I could allocate seats before hand, as I would prefer an aisle seat so I can easily get up and walk around if I need to...She said no problem and assigned me seats with no charge...have you tried just calling customer service to see if they can do that?

 

[chocolate_monsta]

The "pay extra to choose your seat" is new - and more inline with the budget airlines sadly... Up until now this was something that was free and one of the good things about the full service flights...

Anyway - as a group - you *shouldn't* be seperated... If you booked all 5 people at the same time, in the same booking, then you will be kept together as you all have the same booking number... If however you made the bookings at different times - make sure you call QF (Qantas) and have them link up the two booking numbers so when they do seat planning they know to put you togehter.


Now dependant on what plane you are on - you could be together all in a row, or you could have a few in front and a few behind - but still in a group.

*SOMETIMES* an airline may have to seperate you - but this would normally be with adults first - not families with children... If the do, the *should* ask you first, and offer some sort of compensation....

FYI - Airlines always book up to 10% over capacity - as they count on a certian ammount of late cancellations and no shows... It's when this doesn't happen that people get upgrades, groups get seperated etc.... It's very difficult to get an upgrade these days - especially if you are not a long standing silver or gold frequent flyer/qantas club member.... Being tall (so the tall people don't sue them when they get blood clots from bring cramped) and dressed in business attire also matters...

Lastly - I would not choose a 3 row seat, and choose one on either side leaving the middle free, if it would even let you do that. If you get someone who is stubborn, they may refuse to move.... Also, you might find the airline will move you anyway....

I had it happen to me - I didn't link my ticket up with my friends, assuming it was not going to be a busy flight, we'd sort it at the airport. Well the flight was fully booked, we were seperated, and even though I was offering the indian man a better seat - an aisle seat in a better location - he refused to swap..... Don't take the chance!

Cheers!

 

[battymum]

Yes I will call them, but will have to wait until after the holidays.

 

[Travel Mum]

Anyway - as a group - you *shouldn't* be seperated... If you booked all 5 people at the same time, in the same booking, then you will be kept together as you all have the same booking number... If however you made the bookings at different times - make sure you call QF (Qantas) and have them link up the two booking numbers so when they do seat planning they know to put you togehter.

Cheers!

I too always believed that, if you were all booked in the same booking, the airline would always sit you together or at least break a family of five into a 2 and a 3 and be a row apart or something. That is certainly the way it should happen. However, I got such a shock when we were checking in at Singapore Airport a couple of years ago for a flight back to Christchurch. We are a family of five and were all booked on the same booking (I know because I made the booking!). In those days, you could not pre-seat on SQ so , when I was leaning over the counter to try and see what row we were in, I got a surprise when I saw the first boarding card was in row 30 something and the second was in row 50 something - different economy cabins! I started pointing it out to the agent and when they had all printed out, they had seated my two youngest daughters (then aged 4 and 8) in the first cabin of economy and DH, me and our 11 year old in the back! Well you can imagine my reaction! Of course we could have put an adult in each group of seats but we should not have to do that and what moron (or computer program) did that seating for a family booked on the same booking?!! Unfortunately it was a full flight so the agent could not do anything and told us to check back at the gate. Luckily they must have managed to move some people and we did all end up near each other in the back but I just thought I'd give an example of when that theory goes wrong.

For our flights from Auckland to L.A., we are on a plane that has economy seating 2-4-2. I really like an aisle seat myself but know window seats are so valuable when travelling with children as they can lean against them to sleep. So we have seats in the first economy cabin and they are two sets of 2 on the side one behind each other and a single window seat so something like 38A, 39AB, 40AB. DH will start off in the single seat (next to the stranger) but we'll offer it to DD13 when she wants to sleep. DD6 and DD10 will have the other two windows. Of course the airlines always reserves the right to change us so really hope they don't!!

 

[queenie82]

Lastly - I would not choose a 3 row seat, and choose one on either side leaving the middle free, if it would even let you do that. If you get someone who is stubborn, they may refuse to move.... Also, you might find the airline will move you anyway....

I had it happen to me - I didn't link my ticket up with my friends, assuming it was not going to be a busy flight, we'd sort it at the airport. Well the flight was fully booked, we were seperated, and even though I was offering the indian man a better seat - an aisle seat in a better location - he refused to swap..... Don't take the chance!

Cheers!

We've done the aisle and window lots of times. It works really well. Because we're adults it doesn't matter if we get someone in the middle as neither of us want the middle seat anyway...
If you having the middle seat is crucial then MAYBE don't try it...
But I've never seen someone refuse to move from a middle seat.

And of course it has paid off with us getting NOONE in that middle seat

A reminder on bulkhead seats...the arms DO NOT MOVE...
So don't bother doing this if you are in that row...if you don't get someone in the middle you won't be able to take advantage of that middle seat

 

[platypus67]

If you can afford the extra $ and definately want to sit together I would do it.

I've always been a loyal Qantas customer but after my last seating experience I'm not so sure anymore.
On the way home in January our family got split up. I booked my flights in March and seat selection was done shortly after when I had to call re a flight change.
We checked in for our first AA flight at 6am New York time which was approx 21 hours prior to our LAX-BNE flight. When I was handed our boarding passes we had the booked AA seats but not the QF seats. I asked why and was told they couldn't access our seat selection at that time but check in again in LA.
We did this at the Qantas desk when it eventually opened and we were told sorry flight is full leave it with us and we will see what we can do. I questioned this as it was at this time something like 11 hours before flight time and I was pretty sure it was unlikely that everyone had already checked in.
Anyway next attempt was at the boarding desk as directed by the staff earlier. What did they tell me-"Well you've left it a bit late you should have checked in when you arrived" The staff member looked at me like I had two heads when I informed her I had done that.
I thought about it a minute and went back to the desk-(different staff member) and asked if I could at least change to the other end of the row (I already had an aisle seat) I was at this time informed that the family in the row with me were very important frequent flyers-platinum and I was only bronze so they couldn't possibly ask them to swap seats.
Needless to say not impressed. In the end the inflight staff were great. I got switched to the other side of the plane so I was atleast on the same side of the plane as my DD and DH.
I sent a letter to QF detailing my experience and what was their response. Here's a $100 flight voucher to encourage you to fly with us again, but wait you will have to book directly with Qantas holidays and that will cost an extra $60.00 so here's $40.00.
My response-thanks but no thanks I'll fly V next time. Well worth the 60 cent stamp to send their voucher back to them.
This by the way was the second time the AA staff that Qantas uses in LA have split us up. First time was when my DD was really little. That was an interesting flight to say the least.

 

[chocolate_monsta]

yes.. hence the reason I said *shouldn't*....... they shouldn't - but it can happen.

My last flight MEL-LAX-JFK was held up in Melbourne for 6 hours due to weather - so naturally - the connect LAX-JFK flight connection was missed (and I had purposely paid a little extra to get the connection with the SYD-LAX-JFK flight so that I was on the QF flight LAX-JFK).

Well - apparently there were no available flights to JFK from LAX that day - we were all put in hotels (hilton airport), given a food voucher that didn't cover the cost of food there and given a new flight for the next day. I was NOT IMPRESSED when my flight was changed from the QF plane to the AA plane... There is absolutely NO COMPARISON to a full service international airbus - as oppsed to a crapola old bunky AA plane, with the extent of your service being a free soft drink and shared tv bus style..... That and the seat being twice as upright and half the size... Grrr...

I fought with QF to get FF points credited for that leg of the flight - I paid for a QF flight and deserved the points for it.... I couldn't be bothered fighting for compensation for my interrupted travel, loss of hotel and activities in NYC, nor the downgrade in airline, had I have booked the AA connection my ticket would have been $200 cheaper...

Needless to say - this upcoming trip we are flying with V Australia.... Just hope the iron out their problems between now and then! They have been having a lot of delays and missed connections too.

Will report V Australia when I fly them. Used to be a travel agent, then worked in international animal travel. Have seen the planes when they first arrived, but yet to fly V Australia....

 

[battymum]

Guess I will make a call on Wednesday, and cough up the cash if I have to, but everytime I think about it, I think it could be another couple of meals or shoes or anything. NOT HAPPY JAN!!!

We will probably select three seats on the window section and 2 in the centre row. That way we dont have to climb over anyone else when we get up and noone else has to climb over us. Its probably easier to talk to someone accross the aisle than in the next row.

We had an incident a couple of years back we flew to Cairns and had two rows of three on the window side, one with a spare seat. My son and daughter who were 8 and 10 at the time sat down and DH instead of sitting with them sat next to me and DS.

We thought this would be OK but my son was, and is, one of those kids that fidgets with everything, (seriously even at 13 I dont let him sit in the front seat of the car) midway through the flight, after he had asked the hostess for a beer, we hear this almighty bang, he had found the life vest under the seat and pulled the tag, that said "pull here", the thing exploded and inflated .

I think there were a few heart attacks on that flight!!

Needless to say there have been many lectures about inflight ettiquite.

 

[Jade+3]

LOL, battymum! Your DS sounds like a delight to travel with. I should not laugh as my 4yo is showing signs of being the same. We also prefer to take the 3 window seats and 2 across the aisle.

I recall reading on here somewhere (??) that Qantas will not be operating the Dallas flights at full capacity, in which case you should be ok.

I would play dumb, say you weren't told when booking that there would be a fee, and ask to speak with a supervisor (ex airline call centre employee here!). Just be nice (as I am sure you will be!). The call centre should be open over Easter.

 

[heidispidi]

For anyone who hasn't booked yet, I just say don't fly Qantas! I haven't heard many (any?) bad stories about V-Aust, but Qantas - I will never fly long-haul with them again, and perhaps not at all, after our experiences in January. Being bumped from our flight b/c we'd actually put contact details on our booking, being told we'd have to fly via Brisbane to LAX (thank you the one person working for Qantas who eventually got us on the direct flight, even if it was a day early ), them running out of booked kids meals... flying on the oldest 747 ever, them telling my sister she couldn't have another pillow when hers went missing b/c they had no spares, but later she saw a whole cupboard full of them, finding out when I got home that the same plane we flew on (or was it the one my sister flew home on?) had an engine blow up a week later... FFS, too much drama for me!

That and I had to pay for 2 extra bags when flying on AA flights through Qantas, even though my booking said that my daughter and I could each take 2 bags from LAX to Honolulu... I never did bother to fight them for the 2 x $25 US fees for those, I know I should have but it seemed to difficult once I got home.

ANYWAY, Battymum, I really hope you can get the seats you want for FREE. Let us know how you go. And just hope you don't get bumped off the flight regardless 3 days before your flight!

For the record, the best seats we had on our 7 flights in January were on a plane where the config was 2-3-2. We had the 2 most left seats, right in front of a toilet. It didn't smell, we had nobody kicking the back of our seats (bliss!), and my girl and I could get up without bothering anyone. On our flight to LAX, b/c we got bumped then put on another flight, all we could get were 3 seats in a group of 4 in the middle of the plane. I was seated next to a guy who slept (or pretended to) the whole trip, which made my trip very uncomfortable!