JQ Check-in Seat Allocation

[robd]

That's good news. So what JQ told me yesterday, that an update had been applied to the mobile site, was simply wrong.....again.

As at 2:35pm today, it worked.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Both Jnr's #1 and #2 are heading up to MCY on Saturday, but the flights were booked separately, so 2 PNR's. OLCI opened, so #1 wanted to try to select seats together with #2, however the website was requesting additional payment. Jnr#1 phones me :-

#1: "Bloody hell, I'm trying to check-in online with Jetstar and sit with #2, but it says I have to pay!"

Me: "Try the mobile site".

#1: "But if that doesn't work, do you reckon if I phone Jetstar, they will seat us together without charging me?"

Me: "Just try the mobile site first".

A couple of minutes later, I get an email from #1 - "It worked! sneaky sneaky!".

My reply email - "AFF strikes again "

How old are Jnrs #1 & #2?

As JQ don't accept unaccompanied minors, kids have to be attending secondary school and have photo ID or a letter from the school supporting that.

If one is 15 or over then that person is deemed responsible enough to care for a child who doesn't meet the above criteria.

 

[robd]

How old are Jnrs #1 & #2?

As JQ don't accept unaccompanied minors, kids have to be attending secondary school and have photo ID or a letter from the school supporting that.

If one is 15 or over then that person is deemed responsible enough to care for a child who doesn't meet the above criteria.

Doesn't apply. 24 & 21 yo (but they'll always be my babies )

 

[reesy84]

Hey everyone,

I am currently flying every week with Jetstar.
You will not be able to change your seat using the website anymore without paying extra.
Another thing is that as others have said, if you have not selected a seat during booking, you will automatically be assigned a middle seat from now on, which i think is a move to try get people to buy seats at booking from now on.

However as a few other people are saying, you can login to the mobile site either on your desktop or mobile device and still have access to seat changes.

The only issue i have found is that, i choose to print my boarding pass, so when changing the seat via the mobile site, i find that the confirmation boarding pass is never sent to my email address, to overcome this just go back to the normal site and go to online check-in, type in your reference number and email address and it will say that you have already checked in and then just click re-print boarding pass.

Not sure how long this will keep working for, but hope it helps.

 

[N860CR]

Automatically allocating middle seats seems almost vindictive... And forcing a $5 charge seems desperate.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Automatically allocating middle seats seems almost vindictive... And forcing a $5 charge seems desperate.

I think it defaults to the most forward available seat so if that happens to be a middle seat at the time you checkin then that's what you get.

So for people who purchase a plus bundle, make sure you allocate your seat during the booking process - don't skip the process.

For those people who either elect not to purchase a bundle or have done a price match (& thereby ineligible to add a bundle) do mobile checkin from your mobile or by accessing the JQ mobile site from your pc or tablet.

 

[Awesom Andy]

I don't think it automatically assigns a middle seat. There are only 60 of those, out of a total of 180 available. I have a booking for 2 pax in a month's time, let's see what they give me.

 

[moa999]

Query if they are allocating middle seats, or just that those are the only ones left

 

[reesy84]

I don't think it automatically assigns a middle seat. There are only 60 of those, out of a total of 180 available. I have a booking for 2 pax in a month's time, let's see what they give me.

My last 4 check ins over past 2 weeks have all been assigned middle seat. Only happened since changed check in procedures so take that as coincidence or not but has never happened before, and i fly 70-80 times a year.

 

[gizzard]

My last 4 check ins over past 2 weeks have all been assigned middle seat. Only happened since changed check in procedures so take that as coincidence or not but has never happened before, and i fly 70-80 times a year.

I was assigned middle seats for both of my last 2 flights too.

 

[eastwest101]

Looking for JQ mobile experts or people familliar with JQ mobile for an opinion about this one.

Just as a data point - I currently have a basic fare without Plus bundle booking generated by a corporate travel agent for a domestic JQ flight. I have a PNR (I know because its on Tripcase), my own Surname and email addresses of pax and of agent who generated the booking. Flight not until 2 weeks time.

First I tried the JQ Mobile site and went to mobile "My Bookings" - was prompted for a PNR and an email address. Tried many different email addresses and not able to continue, so unable to manage my booking. So no dice there.

Second course of action is go to the JQ mobile "Checkin" so once there I entered the PNR and was prompted for a surname of passenger. This also dosen't work as per example screen shot below:



I assume this is because its too early for check-in - correct?

And - as I am unable to manage my booking or pay the $5 fee I can therefore expect a garanteed middle seat, correct? 28E here I come!

Will retry mobile checkin closer to flight, if that fails may see what is allocated to me at the airport kiosk or the JQ counter.

 

[dajop]

I was assigned middle seats for both of my last 2 flights too.

Same here. Travelling alone.

I expect for those travelling in pairs it will still allocate a middle and aisle or middle and window. Not two middle seats.

It's encouraging people to pay for seats. I'm willing to pay for longer flights. For flights of around 2 hours or less I'll survive.

 

[knasty]

Just checked the family (of 6) in for Saturday. Had to search here when the process was different, as per quote below. I love how they use an exclamation mark - We're going to screw you more!! So yes Ryanair here we come.

Thankfully we were allocated A-F. Actually if I was randomly selected to sit at the other end of the plane from my kids....have flights booked for Christmas day where my dream may come true.

It also gave me the option of checking in for our return flight next Friday which i didn;t do just in case something changes with our plans, but if not I'll be sure to checkin 48 hours ahead to ensure the seat availability is still good.

Maybe we'll go Tiger next time.

Our check-in process has changed!
[h=4]Have you selected your seats?[/h]If you would like to review or change your seat selection please login to Manage Booking now. If you don't mind where you're seated we will assign one for you at random, at no extra cost. We will always do our best to seat you together but please be aware that depending on what's available you may be separated from your travelling companions.
Add a seat

 

[reesy84]

My last 3 check-ins with Jetstar have been good, i use the mobile site either on my phone or on my laptop and it is possible to change seat.
I have also noticed the last 3 check ins Jetstar have stopped assigning me with middle seats and i am back to randomly being issued with Aisle,centre or window.

 

[eastwest101]

Just as a data point, with my Corporate Travel Agent generated booking - I could eventually get into my booking on the Jetstar web site by providing a Booking Ref/PNR, First Name, Last Name, Place of Departure and place of Arrival (devil of a time getting there ) - for other people/masochists whom have JQ flights booked through external travel agents this may be useful info.

Its not T-48hrs yet so JQ Web Check-in isn't open yet.

Interesting to note that Standard Seat Selection is selectable available for $6.50 and seems to take you through to a shopping cart so a pretty desperate grab for ancilliary revenue! I didn't follow through to how it was all resolved but I would expect payment by credit card would be involved. Hilariously - the site also tried to upsell me a bundle for...wait for it.... $140 for a 2.5hr domestic flight in a standard A320 seat! Yes - including the pathetic 15SC earn plus the 800 odd QFF points.

Will see if I can select a standard seat once the T-48hr window opens tomorrow.

If I can't, it will be interesting to see what the JQ kiosks offer me in SYD before departure.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hilariously - the site also tried to upsell me a bundle for...wait for it.... $140 for a 2.5hr domestic flight in a standard A320 seat! Yes - including the pathetic 15SC earn plus the 800 odd QFF points.

Will see if I can select a standard seat once the T-48hr window opens tomorrow.

If I can't, it will be interesting to see what the JQ kiosks offer me in SYD before departure.

For a $140.00 bundle I hope they throw in fries with that - or at least a muffin or some Pringles!

 

[eastwest101]

Okay - so I was in the T-48hr window and attempted to go into JQ manage my booking to select a seat, at that point I did not have a seat allocated. Standard seat selection still costs $6.50 so didn't bother going any further there.

So I went into Online check-in and got the usual messages about not having a seat selected, here is the kicker, you can't select a standard seat and it takes you all the way through to printing a boarding pass before you can see what 'the system' has allocated you. I had a duplicate browser window open with the JQ seat map open (but not the $6.50 fee paid yet) to see where I would land up.

So being pretty early in the piece (sequence # 6 as it turns out) I found that I have got 15C - right next to 15A and 15B which are both occupied. Interesting to see that Rows 6 to 16 are pretty full, Rows 1 to 5 are almost entirely empty (so no-one prepared to pay the "up front" seating fee it seems) and rows 17 to 30 are almost entirely empty. Given that we don't yet know how full the flight is I can only assume that not paying the standard seat selection fee puts you close to the middle of the aircraft if doing online checkin early on JQ A320 flights, so essentially a weight and balance lottery.

So with JQ domestic if travelling HLO - if you can't/won't pay the standard seat selection fee then I think waiting until close to checkin and then going to the JQ desk may get you a decent seat near the back if thats what you want or possibly something even close to the front. Of course the dangers always are that if you prefer exit rows or seats up front then they may not be available at the airport. I wouldn't be surprised if the OP is correct and JQ have now removed the ability to select a standard seat free of charge at the JQ self serve kiosks, so this is starting to look like a petty/vindictive change of policy to squeeze more revenue out of pax.

Note also that in SYD domestic (thanks to the closure of the Qantas Club in T2) that QC or QF status customers can't easily go to the QC and get a boarding pass there.

So a word of warning to AFFers whom haven't flown JQ domestic in a while - stump up at least $6.50 for the seat selection fee or be prepared for some pretty bad seat allocations.

 

[Starinc]

I flew Sydney to Gold Coast over the weekend, i was on a separate booking to my family of 4. I used the mobile site to login to both the bookings, I was allocated 8B with 8A unable to be selected and the rest of row 8 free, The family had 14C,D,E,F. Using the mobile site i moved them all to row 8 free of charge.

When we boarded the plane there was no one in 8A.

Looking at the seat map i was allocated the most forward middle seat.

 

[eastwest101]

I flew Sydney to Gold Coast over the weekend, i was on a separate booking to my family of 4. I used the mobile site to login to both the bookings, I was allocated 8B with 8A unable to be selected and the rest of row 8 free, The family had 14C,D,E,F. Using the mobile site i moved them all to row 8 free of charge.

I knew I should have tried the mobile site first - will try again - hopefully there won't be a next time.

 

[gizzard]

The mobile site is the way to go until they update it and shut that option down. I was told that even if you go to the service desk at the airport and ask for your seat to be moved then you will be charged but I haven't tried it out. I've also not tried out the QP check-in option to see if they can allocate a seat.