Qantas Bumping award bookings to lower Class QF12

[CaptainCurtis]

If you're SG or lower on the status ladder, have another try at T-80 when the forward few rows are unblocked to lower status pax. It might be that all the seats available to your status level are currently allocated.

As @chai_1022 mentioned at T-80 more seats should open up for selection. If not then you can checked every once in a while as the hours continue to count down towards departure.

Thanks for the reassurances. I am Silver, so don't have the front rows available to me.

What do you make of being able to select a seat on MMB through Malaysia (the award includes a couple of segments with MH)? What's strange is that this seat selection shows on the main page of QF MMB...



But then when I choose 'Change Seats', I get the 'seat selection isn't available for this flight' message...

 

[mviy]

This is what I see on Expert Flyer as a WP. So 2 seats blocked in Row 1 (have to be P1 to select row 1 this far out, I think) and one available for selection in row 3. It is pretty full.

Pretty sure a PS can't select row 3 on an A330 this far out. As you can't switch to a seat that is open for your status to select you can't change your seat at this point in time.

 

[djkelly69]

But then when I choose 'Change Seats', I get the 'seat selection isn't available for this flight' message...

Have you tried selecting seats through another OW carrier's Manage Booking page using your PNR and details (eg. RJ.com)? I had a QF flight in my OWA I wasn't able to select a seat for through QF, but was able to select on RJ.

 

[NM]

Thanks for the reassurances. I am Silver, so don't have the front rows available to me.

What do you make of being able to select a seat on MMB through Malaysia (the award includes a couple of segments with MH)? What's strange is that this seat selection shows on the main page of QF MMB...

My expectation is that the cabin is quite full and you have been assigned 6A, but there are no other empty seats in the cabin that are available to you (based on your FF status) to select. As others have suggested, if you want to move from 6A then check again at T-80. Otherwise, enjoy seat 6A on that flight.

 

[New to this]

Pretty upsetting, but if it helps, you haven’t missed much

Qantas F is not good at all. Business is very comparable.
No white tablecloth and you might have to queue for the dunnies, but that’s about it.

 

[RichardMEL]

I wouldn't be worried about the window/aisle thing. Happened to me on both F sectors recently (I already had decent seats so it was more a curiousity than anything). Nothing untoward happened - just very full.

Having just done the 12 in F last week (not bumped on a P booking) it really was not much to write home about on top of J. I mean the main reason is the bed which is, yes, superior imo (and I got some really good shuteye on that flight). but the "support" service as always is very paired down (I had extra in the F lounge because I knew this would b the case) and brekky was OK but hardly mind blowing. Service great and all but I agree that QF F is not like going from SQ J to SQ F.

Having said that I agree being bumped without any communication is poor. You have an expectation and booked accordingly. Now cough happens, but really they should communicate as best they can and of course do a points refund and all that. Possibly a good reason for the downgrade.. who knows. it's the lack of comms that is really part of the problem. I mean if a seat went U/S for example well that would have been a reason to move a pax out and you can kind of understand that vs conjecture about previous days pax or whatever. Without info one really doesn't know.

and btw on return I was downgraded into Y, initially a middle in row 7 (but I found a window) due to delay out of LAX. Now it was only SYD-MEL so I did not really care and was happier to get home than worry about a J seat on the short flight (and to QF's credit they had initially seemingly put me on SYD-CBR-MEL in J but then clearly decided an earlier direct in Y was the better option - and I agreed with that tbh - though if I was on a paid fare I may have preferred the extra SC's to go via CBR ). Anyway that happened. Very understandable reasons and.. I survived so all good.

 

[Mattg]

@Shane Jones did you request and/or receive any compensation from Qantas for the downgrade? At the very least, did you get the difference in points between an F and a J seat?

 

[Mattg]

FWIW, this is the commercial policy that applies to paid bookings (not Classic Rewards) affected by these aircraft changes:

https://www.qantas.com/agencyconnect/au/en/agency-news/agency-news-september-22/customers-affected-by-aircraft-change-between-sydney-melbourne-and-los-angeles.html

 

[NoName]

We (NoNames x3) are booked on classic awards in J on QF12 in late January. Reading this thread doesn’t fill me with a whole lot of confidence that we will end up in these seats.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

FWIW, this is the commercial policy that applies to paid bookings (not Classic Rewards) affected by these aircraft changes:

https://www.qantas.com/agencyconnect/au/en/agency-news/agency-news-september-22/customers-affected-by-aircraft-change-between-sydney-melbourne-and-los-angeles.html

Although it does say that classic awards can be rebooked. When read in conjunction with the conditions of carriage and QF’s other policies on schedule changes this should mean carriage on the next available service in the cabin, or in a lower cabin with refund of points.

With respect to classic awards this would also likely be something qantas directly handles, rather than an agency.

 

[RichardMEL]

We (NoNames x3) are booked on classic awards in J on QF12 in late January. Reading this thread doesn’t fill me with a whole lot of confidence that we will end up in these seats.

Understandable but I would worry less. It's not being bumped out of F and these instances of downgrades (yes, the infamously poor downgraded out of J situation) happens but it's pretty rare. Is there a possibility it could happen? yes. it is it a high one? nope.

High chances are you'll fly as expected - and imo you should expect this. I hope you all enjoy your trip to/from the US