Middle seat selectors... Why do you do it?

[Kangol]

My theory is a lot of the time 4B and 4E are filled manually. I have come to that conclusion from talking with people who end up in these seats. The next gen check in system seems to do a good job of keeping them free. However check in and service desk staff rightly or wrongly seem to be quite happy to fill them even when there are window or aisle seats available near the front. This mainly seems to be passengers on international connections, passengers on connections that orginated from small airports without self check in, passengers who missed a flight/connection or asked to be moved on to an earlier flight.

You are probably right, but in saying that I have been on lots of flights where rows 4-7 or so have the middle seat blocked and when going to use the rear toilets I see that in the last 10 or so rows the middle seat is mostly occupied.

 

[Simo]

Maybe the PS just wants to sit next to a WP1.

I prefer 9C as generally always have a spare seat next to me.

 

[bigjobs]

I choose the middle seat in row 4 just to **** with you OP

 

[TonyHancock]

Having pretty much given up on QF domestically I did use an existing credit to fly with them MEL-ADL recently and was pleasantly surprised by the onboard experience. (Premium boarding failed...of course)

See if you can guess where I was seated from the image below:



To get back on topic in my worst case scenario I would go for middle seats in the front row on short haul.

 

[Katie]

On my last flight back from the US (LAX-SYD-BNE, as left on a Weds night), SYD arrivals was chockers, and QF asked me when I arrived at the Dom transfer area if I wanted to go an earlier flight. It was obvious a number of Int to Dom transfer pax would be missing connections.
I hadn't slept well (in 11B! The heresy, and it wasn't because I was quaffing champers!!), and was keen to just get home, so was happy to go on an earlier flights and relinqush 4C or whatever I'd managed to snag on checking in.
At the transfer desk, they put me onto the next BNE flight, and I was presented with a BP for something like 6B or 10B, I guess as far front as possible. I looked at it, asked if it was an aisle seat, and the agent assigned me what I presume was the closest aisle seat to the front, something like 12 or 16C.

I'm WP, not PS, but there could be an issue like that where QF is needing to move pax between flights, esp ex-SYD. I can't remember whether I could see any WP/WP+ shadows in rows 4-7ish. We had horrid turbulence, and I was just glad I was in an aisle seat in case I had to disobey the seat belt sign.

 

[muppet]

If you are dead set wanting the middle seat free, why don't you buy yourself a comfort seat?

ummmm.... cos we're cheap. Haven't you seen the WPs in the J Lounge going flat out for cheap and cheap gross wine and festering food under the heat lamps?

 

[Reggie]

Due to people wanting / asking receiving the middle seats in row 4 or 5 (or 1 and 2 on a B717) I always choose a seat 2 rows further back, as there is more chance of a vacant middle seat. I also do this as that way I will have a free overhead locker. I find the front rows taken by staff, emergency items or already full. So I rarely take the front seats anymore.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Due to people wanting / asking receiving the middle seats in row 4 or 5 (or 1 and 2 on a B717) I always choose a seat 2 rows further back, as there is more chance of a vacant middle seat. I also do this as that way I will have a free overhead locker. I find the front rows taken by staff, emergency items or already full. So I rarely take the front seats anymore.

Bingo

There seems to be an 'obsession' with QF WP's and row 4.
Seriously, WTF ?????....does row 5, 6, 7 or even 8 'really' make that much of a difference? What, 10 seconds more to disembark??? LOL. If your life is timed that much, good on ya and l recommend a meditation camp or some sort of de-stress clinic.
To me, it doesn't (even up to row ~15).

If going back a few rows improves my chance of a 'shadow' in the middle seat and overhead luggage available, l'd rather go for that.

 

[opusman]

does row 5, 6, 7 or even 8 'really' make that much of a difference?

If you value leg room, yes. Nothing to do with getting off quicker.

 

[opusman]

Haven't you seen the WPs in the J Lounge going flat out for cheap and cheap gross wine and festering food under the heat lamps?

There's no heat lamps in the J lounge, I call shenanigans!

 

[Oneworldplus2]

If you value leg room, yes. Nothing to do with getting off quicker.

And shadow?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

My theory is a lot of the time 4B and 4E are filled manually. I have come to that conclusion from talking with people who end up in these seats. The next gen check in system seems to do a good job of keeping them free. However check in and service desk staff rightly or wrongly seem to be quite happy to fill them even when there are window or aisle seats available near the front. This mainly seems to be passengers on international connections, passengers on connections that orginated from small airports without self check in, passengers who missed a flight/connection or asked to be moved on to an earlier flight.

Whilst pax may end up in 4B or 4E as a result of manual intervention I don't think it's a deliberate act by staff to fill middle seats in row 4 but a side effect of when staff use the 'force transfer' function to flow pax forward from other flights.

Force transfer overrides any theoretical seating protocols eg if an NB is moved from a later flight to an earlier flight they will often end up in row 4 as the system appears to allocate the most forward seat it can. There's nothing to stop staff from then moving the NB back further but if it's busy at the time they may not always have time to do this.

 

[burrco]

I know if I was ever offered the chance to sit next to a real life wp1, I would take it. I mean how often does one get to spot one of these magnificent creatures roaming free - let alone in their natural habitat of row 4.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I know if I was ever offered the chance to sit next to a real life wp1, I would take it. I mean how often does one get to spot one of these magnificent creatures roaming free - let alone in their natural habitat of row 4.

Lol, you've made my coughpy day a lot better!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using AustFreqFly

 

[TonyHancock]

I know if I was ever offered the chance to sit next to a real life wp1, I would take it. I mean how often does one get to spot one of these magnificent creatures roaming free - let alone in their natural habitat of row 4.

They are a rare breed indeed!!

A real LOL post if ever I saw one!

 

[simongr]

[step forward]

My name is simongr and I have chosen a middle seat in the front row of whY. It was just this one time... But after that it led onto more things, cutting into the PB lane, taking the last four pies at the QP, sneaking a fourth bottle of wine on MEL-SYD trip to drink in the car on the way home*

[/step forward]

It is true that I took a middle seat out of choice - and it was a bad choice. I moved to an earlier flight with barely a day's notice and 4E was the furthest forward seat so I grabbed it. Yes the leg room was great and yes I got out faster than the pax in 5A but would I do it again? Not in a million miles of flying. 4D and 4F seemed to believe that 4E was less worthy than them and I felt guilty intruding on their space (4D was Cl/P1 but 4F was a NB).

I won't be doing that again...

*Not all of these statements are true