AirAsia now offers 'upgrades' to a 3-row of seats

[aikman]

Interesting development...
Air Asia X introduce Empty Seat Option - Airline News - etravelblackboard.com

I'm thinking it might get annoying trying to ward off intruders eyeing the empty seats next to you who'd have no idea that you paid for them.

 

[serfty]

Many airlines put a [-]maccasan (sp?)[/-] antimacassar over the back of the spare seating to indicate it is reserved.

 

[Deleted member]

Many airlines put a maccasan (sp?) over the back of the spare seating to indicate it is reserved.

Maccasan refers I recall to the people that sailed from the Celebes to northern australia to harvest sea cucumber

The cloth on the head rest of the seat was / is referred to as an " antimacassar " originally to protect the ( railway ) seat from hair oil.
It became fashionable to use them in homes etc and they have been adapted in a variety of ways to do just as you say, as well as still protect the fabric from hair and such like as originally intended.

I hope this piece of ephemera is of some help.

 

[eastwest101]

Interesting idea - although I would suspect that for real "lie down" potential you would need to get a row of 4 seats to actually have any chance of sleeping.

 

[Dantine]

Not likely with Air Asia X operating a 3-3-3 config on it's 330's and 340's!

From a business perspective, it's a great way of converting spare seats into cash.

 

[acoolbreeze]

I thought about arguments breaking out as well soon after take off with people wanting the spare seats.
Maybe they issue you 3 boarding passess as well.

 

[jetlagger]

I thought about arguments breaking out as well soon after take off with people wanting the spare seats.
Maybe they issue you 3 boarding passess as well.

Yep.. Have witnessed this scenario numerous times all over Asia with LCCs' Great entertainment value.. Sit back watch the show, then casually show the reserved seat BP to the seat hogs! Marvelous !

 

[power71]

I am due to travel with AAX next Sunday from OOL-KUL and then onto LGW. I registered with Optiontown and paid my $14 and $16 respectively about 3 weeks ago. You don't actually find out if your request is successful anywhere between 24 to 4 hours before departure. Interestingly though, I check my original seat allocation which was 12B (purposely chose this seat as I thought no one would choose 12A or 12C and now 12A, B & C are all taken, yet the flight is very very empty with plenty of other seats nearby available. Looks promising?

 

[ontheaisle]

How'd you end up going power71? Did you get your upgrade? Or were you stuck between two strangers?

 

[moa999]

Had an Eso upgrade come through on KUL-PER on Sunday night (post F1). The Uto (business upgrade) didn't although Business had been sold out for weeks.

Received the Uto fail about five hours out, and the Eso success 2.5hrs out. I had called optiontown call centre 3.5hrs out who told me fail on Uto, then kept me on hold for 5min before the line went dead.
I then went to check-in 3hrs out made a comment about Empty Seat and agent said Yes and handed me a boarding pass for 40K (jus 1 seat and no notation from what I could tell about 3 seats)
After going back to the Plaza Premium lounge the Eso success email appeared.

On the plane I sat in 40J (just to prevent anyone deciding to take the aisle). There was another gent on the other side in row 40 who also had two spares, other than that there were very limited number of spare seats on a plane that probably had a 90%+ load factor.
Given it was a short overnight flight, the minute the seatbelt sign went off I was horizontal with my eyesmask and middle seatbelt on and blow up pillow.
Decent sleep and a very well spent MYR52 (A$16).

Optiontown has already refunded the Uto fee, so overall pretty impressed with service.

 

[UP4014]

Many airlines put a [-]maccasan (sp?)[/-] antimacassar over the back of the spare seating to indicate it is reserved.

I had to look that one up!

 

[clifford]

The way to go is to sit in the very last row. That way you can observe what's happening at the back of the plane, which is the last to be filled by their (dumb) computer. Then you just select your seat as the aircraft's doors are closing. Easy as pi.

And another issue with Air Asia. When they cancel routes (as they do quite frequently) they actually try very hard not to give you a refund. QZ recently cancelled my DRW-DPS-DRW flights and owe me about $400. Will they respond to my emails? What do you think? I have had to dispute the transactions with my bank (Commonwealth) so I will get my money back eventually. But shame on Air Asia.

 

[k_sheep]

Sorry to hear of your issues clifford. But thanks for your seating advice - I may just try that on my upcoming KUL-SYD flight! Have put in an upgrade request already ... just trying to decide if I put in for ESO too.

 

[pythonisman]

I'm flying SYD-KUL on Friday, and KUL-SYD on the 14th.
I've put in for an UTO on both legs and have all extremities firmly crossed, but I'm not counting on anything. Has anyone actually ever got one of these things?
I've looked at the seat maps for the flights I'm on, the flight out they're not selling economy seats any more (so I'm guessing the ESO is futile if it's 100% full). The flight back is the painful one (midnight - ~10am) and is actually looking pretty empty in economy (both premium cabins are half full it seems).
Should I wait until I'm rejected from UTO before signing up for ESO?

 

[get me outta here]

Hi, what is UTO plse?

 

[moa999]

get me outta here,
See http://www.optiontown.com
UTO = Upgrade Travel Option (basically Economy to Biz)
ESO = Empty Seat Option

pythonisman,
There was another thread around here were people have had very good success rates on UTO.
I would just put in for the ESO, I only got the UTO rejection 5 hrs out despite Business being booked out for weeks.

 

[k_sheep]

If you can't buy a seat, then I suspect you can't get ESO.

FWIW I was denied the UTO on thursday night, but granted ESO (and I only put in for ESO at T-5hrs when I saw there were no more premium seats available). They just hand wrote on the boarding pass I had 3 seats, but once I got to the preboarding area at LCCT they put a sticker on it. No problems with poachers because I immediately spread junk all over the seats

 

[dandandan]

You could also try this strategy based on my experience. Flew Air Asia Premium, OOL-KUL 1st April 12 with wife and infant, we paid for 2 seats. When everyone was boarded I moved to middle right isle premium seat in first row as both front middle were empty. They however announced once seatbelt sign went off that there was upgrades to their extra leg room hot seats for around 50 MYR can't remember their exact price as I didn't want one of them, but it was 600 MYR for the premium (around $180AUD). I quickly snapped that up so infant could sleep on own seat and the other seat next to me got taken as well, so I was pretty happy to score another premium seat for $180 considering we had not even bought a seat for the infant. I would suggest if UTO does not work keep an eye on premium section and if not full ask to pay upgrade, if you are happy with 600MYR ($180AUD) before they make the announcement.

I'm flying SYD-KUL on Friday, and KUL-SYD on the 14th.
I've put in for an UTO on both legs and have all extremities firmly crossed, but I'm not counting on anything. Has anyone actually ever got one of these things?
I've looked at the seat maps for the flights I'm on, the flight out they're not selling economy seats any more (so I'm guessing the ESO is futile if it's 100% full). The flight back is the painful one (midnight - ~10am) and is actually looking pretty empty in economy (both premium cabins are half full it seems).
Should I wait until I'm rejected from UTO before signing up for ESO?

 

[pythonisman]

Apologies again for the hijack, but I didn't need the ESo after all - successfully got the UTo in both directions!
Both directions the decision email came back almost dead on 8hrs prior to the flight. Couldn't be happier.

 

[mushypeas]

Apologies again for the hijack, but I didn't need the ESo after all - successfully got the UTo in both directions!
Both directions the decision email came back almost dead on 8hrs prior to the flight. Couldn't be happier.

im flying out next Friday... hope I get the upgrade too!!!