Paying for empty QF seats

[Soundguy]

This has been mentioned here before - if I understand it you book and pay for 2 seats but only use 1, however you get the SC's and miles for both. And apparently you dont have to pay the taxes for the 2nd (empty) seat. I would like to do this and have a few questions:

1. Have others here sucessfully done this?
2. Does it have to be done via the call centre (which is a little more expensive) or can I do an internet booking then try to recover the taxes via a phone call?
3. I presume you still pay the fuel fines, so does the tax saving offset the extra call centre charge for eg a domestic discount economy flight? (Compared to an internet booking that is).
4. I presume you recieve two boarding passes, each having your name on it?

Thanks for any tips! If I can make it work this seems my best bet to get an extra 15 SC's next week (achieving gold) before I head OS again. I had it all sorted until QF cancelled my flights ADL to KSC. Now I have to wait up to 2 months to get a refund from AA. But that is an unusual situation, I will still use AA to book if it is cheaper, plus I need to recover what I lost out here with the cancelled service (would have been a nice short trip at $7.80 per SC).

Chris

 

[aus_flyer]

I have enquired over the phone, but never done it.

As far as I know...
* Yes, earn SC and points for both
* Must be booked over the phone
* You don't have to pay taxes or fuel fines (though I suspect I was given a wrong answer about fuel fines!)
* No idea about number of boarding passes

 

[Soundguy]

I have enquired over the phone, but never done it.

Thanks for that, I'll call QF in the morning. Not sure who to speak to but I'll try FF first, they can always put me through to res if necessary. Will report the outcome here.... I even asked them if they could give me the SC's from the cancelled flight and keep my $$ (now that's not a bad deal for QF) but they reckon they cant do it - you have to fly to get the credits.

 

[aus_flyer]

Have a look here:

http://qantas.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/...SZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PWV4dHJh&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

[Soundguy]

Hey, ta - that helps! Have to find out about the taxes.

Ha ha; an extra seat for 'personal comfort' and 'seat belt extensions available'.

Reminds me of a Herman cartoon - the FA says to a huge boombalati woman wedged into a window seat "the captain would like a little prior notice should you wish to move about during the flight madam".

 

[Soundguy]

OK, I just booked a phantom seat ADL to SYD for tomorrow. It took more than 30 minutes on the phone to Qantas to sort out and cost me about $146 for 15 SC'c and 1000 FFP.

I spoke to I think 4 different people with different answers from each. The first stated that it simply could not be done, then I pointed out the FAQ above which says it can. The next person said no FF points, again I referred to the FAQ. Back and forth, mass confusion. Seems it is a rare request!

The outcome is that:

1. Yes, it is possible & a potential way to earn reasonably economical SC's perhaps on some routes.
2. No, you do not pay the taxes, however this is somewhat offset by the extra charge for telephone sales.
3. They like you to do this over the phone from the start, it is a hassle to modify an existing booking. Problem is the phone charge is per person so it depends upon how many others are travelling with you.
4. It cannot be booked on the internet. If you make two internet bookings in your name it will cancel one out.
5. They can't tell me if I will have a 2nd boarding pass, will find out tomorrow.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Please do report how it goes. Finally a way to make the fuel surcharges work in your favour

 

[chrisb]

Please do report how it goes. Finally a way to make the fuel surcharges work in your favour

I'm curious too since the FAQ says FF points, not SC...

Chrisb.

 

[aus_flyer]

I'm curious too since the FAQ says FF points, not SC...

I would be surprised if they credit points and not SC.
After all, you are booking a fare class that allows for SC earn.

 

[FlyFirst]

Hi all

This is interesting news - I called QF last in December last year to ask about extra seats and was specifically told 'no FF points'... but the FAQs say it all.

That would mean around 80,000 FF points east coast to London for a Plat then (for around $4000 in off-peak season)?

Regards

FlyFirst

 

[Groundfeeder]

I understand it you book and pay for 2 seats but only use 1, however you get the SC's and miles for both.

Why???

I know its obvious, but if you pay for both seats in your name, and presumably aren't a giant or 3 seats wide across the a*se, you've doubled the cost. Why wouldn't you pay taxes/fines because these are levied per seat sold, not occupied (ie;nursed kiddies)

Don't look like good SC economics to me unless very short/cheap flight.

 

[cabbage74]

Hi all

This is interesting news - I called QF last in December last year to ask about extra seats and was specifically told 'no FF points'... but the FAQs say it all.

That would mean around 80,000 FF points east coast to London for a Plat then (for around $4000 in off-peak season)?

Regards

FlyFirst

$4000? Quantity vs Quality. Why not use that $4k to FlyFirst?

Mal.

 

[FlyFirst]

$4000? Quantity vs Quality. Why not use that $4k to FlyFirst?

Mal.

Looks like the fare for three seats (not much point in getting two) would be around $5200 - or $1600 or so more than World Traveller Plus (off peak). Much better for sleeping in and much less $ than First

Regards

FlyFirst

 

[Mal]

SoundGuy

How did you go with your points/sc allocations?

 

[Soundguy]

It does work - I got the points and the SC's for the spare seat, but not without a few hassles. It cost me $146 whilst upgrading to a higher class (to get the same SC's but no extra points) would have cost me $245. Plus you get extra space.

Major flight problems with that fog, got bags 1 1/2 days later.

No more time right now, give you all the dirt later.....

 

[NM]

Are you issued with two boarding passes - one for each of the paid seats? If not, you could end up with an argument if an adjacent pax decided they wanted to "share" the empty seat with you. Does the FA's manifest show that you have paid for the extra seat so at least the FA can inform any competing pax that the seats is all yours?

 

[Soundguy]

That is what I told them but, no - you only get 1 boarding pass....

 

[Soundguy]

I booked an extra seat for a flight last Saturday; it was quite a hassle sorting this out over the phone because it it rarely done it seems. But due to big problems with fog the day before I got shifted to a later flight, which also happened to be overbooked by 17 people. Thus Qantas couldn't give me the extra seat and offered a refund. I didn't really need the extra seat (just after the SC's) and it didn't seem reasonable to demand such when there were such disruptions going on. But I declined the refund anyway to see what would happen & if I didn't get my extra SC's I figured I could always ask for a refund later seeing as I never got the extra seat on that flight either.

I checked online after the flight and I had the FFP and SC's for my seat but not for the extra seat. I rang QFF and they sorted it out fairly quickly over the phone and the FFP and SC's appeared immediately as an 'adjustment'.

So it does work, but I wish there was a simpler way to book this if the need arose again. If you are travelling with a party it would be cheaper to book the others online and yours (with the extra seat) over the phone then have the two bookings linked - otherwise you pay the telephone sales surcharge on each person. I wonder if QF would ever consider adding this option to their website? I mean if they sell an extra seat occasionally it can't be a bad thing for them right?

 

[oz_mark]

So it does work, but I wish there was a simpler way to book this if the need arose again. If you are travelling with a party it would be cheaper to book the others online and yours (with the extra seat) over the phone then have the two bookings linked - otherwise you pay the telephone sales surcharge on each person. I wonder if QF would ever consider adding this option to their website? I mean if they sell an extra seat occasionally it can't be a bad thing for them right?

I am sure Qantas could consider it, but given that it seems to be a fairly infrequent sort of request, they probably have more high priority changes for the website.

 

[Soundguy]

If you were in somewhere like California, for example, I think the demand for an extra seat could be quite reasonable. If you have visited CA in recent years you will know what I mean....