Empty Seats but no FF seats offered

[realestate]

Having tried for months to get a FF seat in business(Bronze member only) on Syd/Lax on May 25th May,I eventually gave in and purchased a seat 2 weeks prior (Ouch!) Bought return as it was cheaper than one way.
Then I find there were at least 10 empty seats in business on the flight over:evil:.
Is this normal? I had a seat alert on Expert flyer and never heard from them so assume seats did not become available at the last moment.
A bit frustrating considering the very considerable cost versus 96Kpoints required.

 

[markis10]

There may have been seats available for SG and WP members, the availability of awards is quite an eye opener when you have access to two different status log ins!

 

[nlagalle]

Having tried for months to get a FF seat in business(Bronze member only) on Syd/Lax on May 25th May,I eventually gave in and purchased a seat 2 weeks prior (Ouch!) Bought return as it was cheaper than one way.
Then I find there were at least 10 empty seats in business on the flight over:evil:.
Is this normal? I had a seat alert on Expert flyer and never heard from them so assume seats did not become available at the last moment.
A bit frustrating considering the very considerable cost versus 96Kpoints required.

Hi Realestate and welcome to AFF!

The reason could have been this:

There are number of seat buckets in each class. This is also what determines the ticket pricing. For award flights (bucket U for business) there is always a limited number available. So if they all are taken, it is not uncommon to see empty seats on the flight.

Cheers,

Nick

 

[anat0l]

FF redemption seats are limited and reward inventory is a subset of the total seats in a class. It is not a simple case of "if there is a seat free, you can have it as a FF redemption". Your FF status also has an effect on this (Platinums can see more FF reward seats than Golds, and so on). The effect is magnified in the premium classes (Business and First), where few seats are available for reward redemption.

Your best chance at getting a reward seat is to check as soon as the seats are released for redemptions, which is 353 days out (someone may correct me on this).

The exception to all of the above is to use an Any Seat Award instead of a Classic Award. Any Seat Awards can let you pick any free seat and you can purchase using points or points+cash, but the cost of an Any Seat Award can be very variable and in some cases almost prohibitive, especially for the premium classes.

 

[HardieBoys]

Qantas' policy in this matter is in sharp contrast to Cathay's, which permits upgrades at the point of departure, and a policy to fill premium seats with upgrades.