Qantas Increases Legroom Charges; Changes to Row 4 selection on most 737 flights

[Ade]

rare on routes like SYD-MEL

complimentary domestic upgrades

On my recent CBR-MEL-CBR, A220, barring 1, all other J seats were free/empty/unoccupied. I guess CBR-MEL is considered elite-heavy? I did not put in a request for upgrade. I was flying QF CR X.

 

[exceladdict]

Here’s a question to consider - What even is the benefit you receive as a Platinum when on a plane, doing the actual flying - you know, the whole point?

Personally, I’ve flown 21 sectors in the past 3 months - a third QF, a third OW, and a third *A. I’ve just started a fresh membership year, my 11th year in a row as WP - might be time to pull the plug while I’ve got 0SC and no real pull to ensure I retain.

Sometimes you get a nice greeting from the csm? On international, anyway

No problems, I’ll just direct more of my Domestic Y flying to VA and save quite a bit of money, with more YX seats to choose from (for free!!)

Could be good timing for VA to run a status match.

This same logic also follows through to the complimentary domestic upgrades being handed out to P1/platinum currently. They're processed 6 hours out and is very much route dependent - rare on routes like SYD-MEL but easy on say BNE-MKY where most platinums will be upgraded to J.

Would love for this to happen!

 

[MonteCristo]

Goodbye old friend Row 4 .

 

[p--and--t]

There are no changes to the timing of what rows are visible and when. It will still be T-80h when row 4 would potentially but not always become visible to a platinum/gold/etc.

The mix of status pax and their PCV scores on the flight will continue to determine what rows are visible, eg. on a elite-lite flight, row 4 will likely be visible to most if not all pax, whereas on a elite-heavy flight, row 4 may only be visible to P1 or a high PCV platinum.

The key change for non-P1/CL/CLP1 pax is that instead of row 4 being free to select at T-80h, it is now chargeable.





As per above, yes, row 4 will remain blocked to platinums and below until T-80h.



QF - yes (only P1 get them free)
BA - no (emerald and above get them free for long haul, sapphire and above get them free for short haul)
AA - no if you're a JL/QR/BA/AA/IB/AS/AY elite (sapphire and above get them free), yes otherwise
JL - no (ruby and above get them free)
CX - no (sapphire and above get them free)
MH - yes (only MH platinum gets them free at OLCI)
AY - no (emerald and above get them free)
QR - no (sapphire and above get them free)
UL - yes (no one gets them free)
AS - yes (only AS/AA elites get them free)
IB - no (sapphire and above get them free)
AT - no (ruby and above get them free)
RJ - yes (no one gets them free)



That is my expectation of what will happen, although it won't be a free for all. It will still be gated by the status/PCV-based seat blocking depending on how elite-heavy the flight is.

Given that the status/PCV-based seat blocking is already in play at T-80h anyway, I'm not expecting a huge shift in row 4 availability. The timing will simply move from T-80h to T-24h.



Correct.



This won't happen - see the start of this post.



There's no other changes to T-80h other than the fact row 4 will be chargeable between T-80h and T-24h. This period will still be subject to status/PCV-based blocking controls.

How dare you ruin a whole wad of conspiracy theories and doom and gloom posts with facts. Unacceptable on AFF

 

[DC3]

How dare you ruin a whole wad of conspiracy theories and doom and gloom posts with facts. Unacceptable on AFF

Yes. Definitely messing with the doom and gloom upthread

 

[serfty]

Yes. Definitely messing with the doom and gloom upthread

Well sort of ..

At T-80 move to row 5 where avalable, at T-24, maybe move to row 4.

 

[clifford]

I haven't read much of the above thread (!), but from my perspective QF is the odd one out (by a huge margin).

I'm an elite with VA, UA, BA, AZ, and possibly a few others, and none charges it's elites (at least me) for extra legroom seats.

Pure Qantas! Not something that will make me want to spend more cash with this airline.

In fact, I now prefer to fly JQ (if I'm paying cash), where I can get a decent bulkhead seat for only a few dollars.

And, dare I say it, I actually find JQ service in Y to be generally better than QF, where most pax (IMO) are treated as if they just descended from outer space (or somewhere worse or had rather a bad smell).

 

[jakeseven7]

On my recent CBR-MEL-CBR, A220, barring 1, all other J seats were free/empty/unoccupied. I guess CBR-MEL is considered elite-heavy?

Super elite heavy thanks to public servants

 

[Ade]

Super elite heavy thanks to public servants

Agree. Although my travel was on the Saturday after Good Friday and Monday after Easter Sunday … the plane was empty-ish … very light loads .. J was practically empty with only one pax …

 

[Traveller X]

Just booked my flights with Royal Air Maroc.

Thanks to my Qantas platnium status, I have got a a free seat:
1)at the first row of Economy class
2)with extra leg room
3)on a narrow body aircraft
4)on an international flight

But with Qantas, I have to pay for the extract same seat.

And they say they are listening??

 

[mviy]

Just picked a row 4 seat for free. Possibly the last time for me before T-24

 

[Lynda2475]

I guess I am in the minority that id prefer to sit in row 5 or 6 than 4. Since becoming WP I've had 90% success rate with a shadow in row 6 (and about 50% when gold), whereas someone always seems to choose the middle seat in row 4.

I avoid exit rows as I like to have my handbag accessible under the seat in front. And I rarely change my seat at T-80 or T-24 unless unable to get a single window/aisle seat in J at the time of booking.

So this change doesn't impact me. IN a rare event I want a guaranteed extra leg room, I would pay.

 

[elanshin]

Not 737 or row 4 but if this a220 is anything to go by, i think QF is actually onto something.

This has ticked past t-80 and all those extra leg room seats are suddenly now all sold (they're not free yet).

Pre t-80 i think they're not visible to other flyers.

Unless of course we have potential US travellers connecting who are checked in. Timing right now is about t-40.

 

[anat0l]

Could you please explain to me when in reasonably recent times, has a SG and below been guaranteed access to row 4, let alone a platinum?

PCV has always come into play with seating on all QF flights at T-80h which is when a flight moves to departure control.

I have some pax on a PER-SYD this weekend for example, and at T-80h, I looked as a no FF number pax (yes, not even bronze) and I could select all of row 4. I know for fact that this flight in question is fairly elite lite, there's 1-2 platinums in Y and maybe a handful of golds/their oneworld equivalents. For an elite lite flight, this is fairly common behaviour.

In contrast if you look at peak hour golden triangle routes, I've seen on plenty of occasions where a lower-PCV platinum cannot see row 4 even though it's available. Similarly I've seen two platinums travelling together on separate PNRs see different available seats because of the fact the departure control system shows the available seats based on their PCV score.

If you are not travelling on a elite heavy route and not at a peak date/time, as a platinum you probably have a pretty good chance of seeing row 4 these days.

The dynamics have shifted some since COVID as I find there's less very elite heavy flights on the golden triangle now. Before covid on a Monday morning, it was normal to find a B738 with 50 platinums on it. The higher PCV platinums in that group would see row 4, the lower ones would not.

You have to remember each and every flight has a different elite make up and the dynamics have also changed since COVID. The elite travel patterns we saw before COVID do not exist in the same manner now.

Moral of the story: if you are a WP and can't see row 4 on a flight, then there's a good chance you're a chump change WP in the QF system, viz. there's a heck of a lot more people on board that are more valuable than you, so know your place.

Unless there just happen to be many P1s in Y on the same flight. Well, you're still chump change

A lot of platinums are often already in business, or already selected a seat in row 6 or further back at the time of booking, then they don't go and move their seat again. The system sees that these pax have a seat assignment already and effectively ignores them for determining what to make available to everyone else.

A weird corollary of this might be that, as a WP, it might pay not to select a seat too soon before a flight, instead leaving the seat unassigned and waiting closer to departure. That way the algorithm will think, "Hey, there's a WP here without a seat - best to keep an option open for them if they want it". If not for this latest change where at T-80 WP will have to run the risk someone else who can see the seats will not pay for it.

I truly wonder what goes in the mind of elites who aren't AFFers, because surely if theoretically there were 50 WPs (set aside P1s for the moment and assume all of us have similar PCV) who are AFFers in Y on a flight, every single one of them would of course say, "I want to sit in row 4".

For the non-AFFers, what are they thinking? Do they just take any seat given to them, so long as it isn't a middle seat?

For me, irrespective of status, I will, in preference order, shoot for:

• Row 4 A/C/D/F
• Row 6-12 (i.e. front half of cabin) A/C/D/F
• Emergency exit rows A/C/D/F
• Row 5 A/C/D/F
• ...then almost anything else

 

[Seat0B]

I guess I am in the minority that id prefer to sit in row 5 or 6 than 4. Since becoming WP I've had 90% success rate with a shadow in row 6 (and about 50% when gold), whereas someone always seems to choose the middle seat in row 4.

I avoid exit rows as I like to have my handbag accessible under the seat in front. And I rarely change my seat at T-80 or T-24 unless unable to get a single window/aisle seat in J at the time of booking.

So this change doesn't impact me. IN a rare event I want a guaranteed extra leg room, I would pay.

I tend to agree with you about Row 4 but as my recent post about free seating availability CBR-MEL shows, they now want WP to pay for access to much more than just Row 4.

 

[Captain Halliday]

For me, irrespective of status, I will, in preference order, shoot for:

• Row 4 A/C/D/F
• Row 6-12 (i.e. front half of cabin) A/C/D/F
• Emergency exit rows A/C/D/F
• Row 5 A/C/D/F
• ...then almost anything else

Why rows 6-12 rather than row 5?

 

[anat0l]

Why rows 6-12 rather than row 5?

I seem to recall, unless some things have changed, row 5 has slightly less legroom than those other rows (comparable to the legroom of rows behind the emergency exit rows).

Come to think of it, there's every possibility it may have changed, particularly with the newer 738s.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Not 737 or row 4 but if this a220 is anything to go by, i think QF is actually onto something.

This has ticked past t-80 and all those extra leg room seats are suddenly now all sold (they're not free yet).

Pre t-80 i think they're not visible to other flyers.

Unless of course we have potential US travellers connecting who are checked in. Timing right now is about t-40.

Incorrect.
Anyone can buy row 4 at time of booking on an A220.
Free of charge to P1.
My screenshot is view when not logged in. No pax info entered

 

[1022]

I truly wonder what goes in the mind of elites who aren't AFFers, because surely if theoretically there were 50 WPs (set aside P1s for the moment and assume all of us have similar PCV) who are AFFers in Y on a flight, every single one of them would of course say, "I want to sit in row 4".

My former boss was WP a case in point. Always shook his head if we were on the same flight and I was in row 4 (as SG) and he was back in 7 or 8. He also thought wine was a good way to spend his copious points. Horses for courses….

I guess in future I won’t be sitting smug in row 4. I might shoot for WP on VA instead which is actually not much harder to to attain and keep as SG on QF. VA offers their Economy X seats to WPs….

 

[elanshin]

Incorrect.
Anyone can buy row 4 at time of booking on an A220.
Free of charge to P1.
My screenshot is view when not logged in. No pax info entered

View attachment 377800

The problem isn't row 4 here. Its row 5,6,7 on A/C side which are also extra leg room paid seats.