JQ- bassinet without bassinet seats?

[EmmaW]

Hi all,

I'm new on here and also new to travelling with a baby, but I booked some intl flights with JQ last week for our first family holiday.

I called JQ to check that bassinet seats were available on our chosen flights and confirmed my online booking whilst on the phone, so I could give the staff member my PNR and get these seats confirmed straight away. The guy put me on hold whilst he booked the seats in, and then confirmed with me that this had been done.

Last night i called JQ re another issue and doubled checked on the bassinet seats, as these weren't showing in my reservation online. I was advised that I didn't have bassinet seats confirmed, only a bassinet was confirmed and the seats next to the bassinets were all taken. The guy I spoke to was quite rude and said I should've selected these seats when I booked online. I didn't realise I could do this, hence the reason I called in the first place.

I was advised that the best thing I could do is to select seats as close to the bassinets as possible, but I would have to be several rows away from my baby, who would be in a bassinet next to some strangers. Surely this can't be right? Who would do this? And who would want to sit in the bassinet row with a strangers baby in front of them? Does anyone have any experience with this? I don't understand how they can give the bassinet seats to people without babies (especially as I tried to do the right thing and was told I had these seats confirmed in my booking).

 

[Boris spatsky]

They legally have to allocate the seats to a baby and parents if they are on board. They cannot put other people there, at least in Australia. I suggest you talk to them at check in, then if no luck, get the CSM or purser to deal with it as soon as you get onboard. I know it is stressful for you, but you should be ok from my experience travelling with my children .

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hi all,

I'm new on here and also new to travelling with a baby, but I booked some intl flights with JQ last week for our first family holiday.

I called JQ to check that bassinet seats were available on our chosen flights and confirmed my online booking whilst on the phone, so I could give the staff member my PNR and get these seats confirmed straight away. The guy put me on hold whilst he booked the seats in, and then confirmed with me that this had been done.

Last night i called JQ re another issue and doubled checked on the bassinet seats, as these weren't showing in my reservation online. I was advised that I didn't have bassinet seats confirmed, only a bassinet was confirmed and the seats next to the bassinets were all taken. The guy I spoke to was quite rude and said I should've selected these seats when I booked online. I didn't realise I could do this, hence the reason I called in the first place.

I was advised that the best thing I could do is to select seats as close to the bassinets as possible, but I would have to be several rows away from my baby, who would be in a bassinet next to some strangers. Surely this can't be right? Who would do this? And who would want to sit in the bassinet row with a strangers baby in front of them? Does anyone have any experience with this? I don't understand how they can give the bassinet seats to people without babies (especially as I tried to do the right thing and was told I had these seats confirmed in my booking).

That is really annoying as it sounds like they entered an SSR (special service request) code for a bassinet but didn't allocate the seats in front of it. Did they actually confirm actual seat numbers to you at any stage? It obviously didn't occur to the the rude guy you got in res that if a bassinet had been booked by their staff then the seats in front of it should have too.

I would forget doing anything via phone reservations the people that are in the best position to sort it out are the staff at the airport checkin counters. I don't know how far away from the airport you live however if it wasn't that far it might be worth going out to the airport the day before & speaking to JQ staff to see if they can move the pax seated infront of the bassinet & reseat them so you can be rightfully put in those seats.

You can tell them they can check the history of the pnr which will have the date the bassinet was requested so they can see for themselves it's obviously someone in reservations stuffed up as why on earth would you add an SSR for a bassinet then not book the seats in front of it.

If you live too far away from the airport to do this I would arrive at the airport to checkin a bit before opening time 3 hours prior to departure & ask to speak to the PSM (Passenger Services Manager) who is a supervisor & explain to them what happened. Hopefully they will be able to sort it out for you.

I would definitely not wait until onboard the aircraft as the passengers in the seats you want may not want to swap & things can get awkward especially as a lot of the cabin crew are quite young & not as experienced as some other airlines with handling these kinds of situations.

Assuming everything works out okay I would still board the aircraft the minute boarding starts & maybe give a heads up to the Cabin Supervisor in case the other people make waves about being bumped out of the bassinet into other seats.

 

[EmmaW]

Thank you for the replies.

My husband called again yesterday and spoke to someone else about the bassinet situation. He was told that the bassinet seats aren't allocated to anyone, because they are for the crew to sit in. He said we should just ask airport staff on the day to sort out our seats.

This is all so ridiculous. The call centre staff seem to think their role is just to palm you off as quickly as possible, without attempting to help at all. So many times I have called them now about various issues and i'm always given explanations that I know are wrong.

 

[TheInsider]

This is all so ridiculous. The call centre staff seem to think their role is just to palm you off as quickly as possible, without attempting to help at all. So many times I have called them now about various issues and i'm always given explanations that I know are wrong.

Well that's true, their role is sales, not customer service. And remember LCC!
Where was the flight to and from anyway?

 

[EmmaW]

Where was the flight to and from anyway?

Melbourne to Honolulu. Not a quick flight!