Qantas "Comfort" Seating [EXST]

[fresherbill]

Last night I booked SIN-xMEL-BNE-xMEL-SIN before the QF ex-SIN sale ended. Got the whole thing for SGD 562, which I was pretty chuffed about. I also snagged 36J on the upper deck of QF35. 36K is also available and out of curiosity I called up right away to see if I could book it as a comfort seat. The operator quoted SGD 329 plus a change fee of SGD 100. That'd secure a comfort seat on both sectors from BNE to SIN, apparently the only way to do it. I've never booked a comfort seat before so had no idea what to expect, but this came as a shock. Is it only me, or does this seem excessive?

That sector priced up at SGD 298 during booking, so in my naivety I expected it to be this less taxes. I also checked and there were still seats selling at this price when I called up.

 

[serfty]

The cost of the comfort seat should be the base fare. If booking a return then the comfort seat needs to be booked a a return.

What is the fare/+++ breakdown of your SGD562 booking?

 

[oz_mark]

Have you only got a comfort seat in one direction? It may be some one way pricing going on.

 

[fresherbill]

The cost of the comfort seat should be the base fare. If booking a return then the comfort seat needs to be booked a a return.

What is the fate/+++ breakdown of your SGD562 booking?

Ah that makes sense. The Singapore site doesn't seem to present you with a fare breakdown, but from what I can work out on matrix the taxes are SGD 168.90 and so the base fare was SGD 392.50. Seems like I'd have been better off just getting comfort seats for the whole booking.

Have you only got a comfort seat in one direction? It may be some one way pricing going on.

That pretty much explains it. I was only after the comfort seat on the return leg. Still a bit perplexed about the $100 change fee... would this be levied even if I'd booked comfort seats for all sectors? Seems a bit odd if so, given you can't book these online.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ah that makes sense. The Singapore site doesn't seem to present you with a fare breakdown, but from what I can work out on matrix the taxes are SGD 168.90 and so the base fare was SGD 392.50. Seems like I'd have been better off just getting comfort seats for the whole booking.



That pretty much explains it. I was only after the comfort seat on the return leg. Still a bit perplexed about the $100 change fee... would this be levied even if I'd booked comfort seats for all sectors? Seems a bit odd if so, given you can't book these online.

Dunno if the $100 change fee is for your booking as a whole rather than for the comfort seat itself? Comfort seats should be booked at the time of your initial reservation and you do this by calling reservations and the whole thing is handled at the one time.

You are now essentially making a change to your original booking (by adding the extra seat). Which may be where the change fee is coming.

Comfort seats would usually be booked for the round-trip in circumstances where you add them at the time of your original booking.

 

[fresherbill]

Ok that all makes sense now, thanks for your input everyone. It never occurred to me that this was something that needed to be done when making the booking. So for future reference, if I want to book comfort seats I should identify the flights I want, get the fare breakdown to establish what the base fare is and that'll be the cost of the extra seats. Then I should call up Qantas and get them to book the whole thing, including the comfort seats.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Yes, you have to phone up to make comfort seat bookings.
I have done it with QF TT, and they had to cancel my original, and I had to pay 1.75 time the one adult return fare, less international taxes.
The refund of my first booking, ie, the 1 person came back about 10 days later.
I had paid by polipay, so they couldn't put it back to my visa debit I had used.
They said if I had used visa debit from the start, the refund would have been near instant.
But your thinking is right, ideally to book the whole comfort seat request as one.
No way to book it yourself (comfort seat request) online.
Thanks to the tips on here quite a while back, that it can be done only by phone.
When QF brings more of their 787s onto service. you and I could probably book premY online, more space without having to do a phone up.

 

[cmon0005]

Could still book online then call before midnight to add comfort seat there should be no change fee in that case.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Could still book online then call before midnight to add comfort seat there should be no change fee in that case.

My first comfort seat request for that TT fight was after midnight, and was before QF allowed it that if you changed your mind prior to midnight, you can "avoid" the change fee.
Re: change fees, I think that sometimes, as per mentioned on here, it does depend on the CSA that handles your call.

 

[eminere]

Could still book online then call before midnight to add comfort seat there should be no change fee in that case.

Does adding a comfort seat fall under one of the "mistake categories" covered by the Same Day No Mistake policy?

 

[fresherbill]

Could still book online then call before midnight to add comfort seat there should be no change fee in that case.

Does adding a comfort seat fall under one of the "mistake categories" covered by the Same Day No Mistake policy?

In my case, I made my booking at about 10PM Singapore time last night and was on the phone to reservations about 10 minutes later. He was adamant about the fee.

Re: change fees, I think that sometimes, as per mentioned on here, it does depend on the CSA that handles your call.

HUACA seems to be a regular refrain here so I did just that. Today's agent had very different information:

1. Comfort seats must be added to all sectors or none.
2. My booking would have to be cancelled and rebooked because a certain amount of time had elapsed since the booking was made, but because I called within 24 hours they would waive any cancellation fees.
3. The new ticket price would be SGD 750.40, including comfort seats on all sectors. The breakdown is $581 base fare and $169.40 in taxes.

At $189 for the space and 90 extra SCs I was not going to walk away from that, so it's all booked. From a very poor proposition it's turned into an exceedingly good one! My concern now is that it's too good to be true...

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Don't worry.
The double Qpoints and double QFF SC will post to your QFF account.
They did in my case.

 

[samh004]

My concern now is that it's too good to be true

It isn't, but unless things have changed since I flew them, there is very little you can manage within the booking when there is a comfort seat attached. This includes selecting seats. You will likely have to phone up to get anything allocated.

I recall when I previously flew a lot of regional flights I would often get row 1/2 on a Q400 without a comfort seat, but with a comfort seat I never sat further forward than row 6. I had two seats though so I didn't care too much.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

This includes selecting seats. You will likely have to phone up to get anything allocated.

For a long haul the OP may wish to have seat allocated at the very rear of the cabin (recline into the bulkhead). Means you can recline both seats at any time without worrying about the comfort of the people behind (especially during meals, you don't have to wait an hour for them to finish and have the trays collected).

 

[fresherbill]

For a long haul the OP may wish to have seat allocated at the very rear of the cabin (recline into the bulkhead). Means you can recline both seats at any time without worrying about the comfort of the people behind (especially during meals, you don't have to wait an hour for them to finish and have the trays collected).

Great minds... that's exactly what I've done Particularly happy with 36J/K on the A380 - private cubby with storage bins and the privacy of the upstairs mini-cabin. Guilt-free recline features highly on my list of seating criteria.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Great minds... that's exactly what I've done Particularly happy with 36J/K on the A380 - private cubby with storage bins and the privacy of the upstairs mini-cabin. Guilt-free recline features highly on my list of seating criteria.

Ah. yes I noticed you had 36JK, just didn't know where they were in the cabin! (sounded forward!!)

 

[brucebrad]

I've purchased an additional 'comfort seat' on QF11. I'm traveling with my wife, so the plan is to get 3 economy seats by the window on both the 380 and 747. However, Qantas say they can't allocate me these seats. All they can do is put in a seat request, and I need to check in at the airport early to ask them to fix it up. (I'm a silver FF). Will they be able to do better if I contact them (phone or chat) at either T-80 or T-24?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I've purchased an additional 'comfort seat' on QF11. I'm traveling with my wife, so the plan is to get 3 economy seats by the window on both the 380 and 747. However, Qantas say they can't allocate me these seats. All they can do is put in a seat request, and I need to check in at the airport early to ask them to fix it up. (I'm a silver FF). Will they be able to do better if I contact them (phone or chat) at either T-80 or T-24?

You should be fine with the seat request being processed. Friends of mine did the same thing and got the same story... can't allocate in advance etc etc. However they were allocated the block of 3 by the window and this was well in advance of them heading to the airport (they certainly had it when they did on-line check-in). They had no status.

I would follow up with reservations at the T-80 as an added reminder.

 

[serfty]

I suspect you are QF11 or QF12 between SYD and JFK ... with SYD/LAX on A380 and LAX/JFK on 744.

Seat selection can be very problematic if so booked.

What dates are you travelling?

 

[brucebrad]

I'm on QF11 on 27 January. (Not coming back until July).