Qantas to charge passengers extra for exit row seats

[Evan]

I have registered my mail of complaint to QF. i am not especially happy about this, less incentive for me to fly QF when i could just as easily fly another OW carrier. Just means i wont worry so much how i get SIN-LHR for example, may as well take BA.

 

[Dave Noble]

I have registered my mail of complaint to QF. i am not especially happy about this, less incentive for me to fly QF when i could just as easily fly another OW carrier. Just means i wont worry so much how i get SIN-LHR for example, may as well take BA.

With the JSA, it is hardly going to worry QF very much whether you fly on BA or QF

Dave

 

[dajop]

IfTo illustrate a point that I do stick to what I say I would, I have not flown SIA since I had a very bad customer service (ground) experience, and I have stuck to that. I have not had a paid-for flight on DJ since too many poor experiences, and since I have used up my points, I will not be flying on them again.

And who do you think two of the biggest competitors of QF are? DJ and SQ.

I'm sorry - if someone is so annoyed by to the point that they will take some of their business elsewhere, and will write and complain (on here and to the airline) yet will not fly DJ or SQ even in in protest, then QF know they're not going to lose too much money out of this. Thee vast majority of Platinum's probably don't know about the benefit, and of those that do probably most don't care enough to move their business elsewhere. And even a smaller number of those that do move their business elsewhere will move all of their business elsewhere.

If you do the math on your $25,000. That's $160 x 156 Forgetting the premium seats on the A380s, and assuming there are 8 seats on the 747 that can be paid for like this, that's 19 747 flights to Europe/US/SA/Arg. Or about 1 days worth. Then there's the myriad A330 flights around Asia.

Not to say that I agree with or am in any way ambivalent about the changes. They suck. And I will register my compliant. But I just don't hold much hope for any improvement of the situation.

 

[pauly7]

I thought I would call Qantas myself to enquire about the recent changes.

The official stance is that we cannot request an exit row seat unless you want to pay for it. And it is first in first served with no priority for status. ....

John, almost correct but apparently it only applies for bookings originating in AUS. I'm in NZ atm and was able to pre-allocated a exit row back to AUS without payment. The qf rep said you can only pay to preallocate ex Aus...... not a huge benefit but a funny loophole.

 

[pauly7]

Thee vast majority of Platinum's probably don't know about the benefit,
.

I 100% agree with this, all the plats i know in the 'real world' have NO IDEA that they can do this. Not that it changes anything that people are feeling here but again the AFF rule applies - remember you are the minority!! A very special minority of course

 

[Evan]

With the JSA, it is hardly going to worry QF very much whether you fly on BA or QF

Dave

Thats mostly true but i don't like to worry about carrying noise canceling headphones for example and i always get them on QF, on BA not going to happen. So thats how it affects me for example.

As for it affecting QF, they will never notice.

 

[JohnK]

And who do you think two of the biggest competitors of QF are? DJ and SQ.

I'm sorry - if someone is so annoyed by to the point that they will take some of their business elsewhere, and will write and complain (on here and to the airline) yet will not fly DJ or SQ even in in protest, then QF know they're not going to lose too much money out of this.

Although I am disappointed with some of the recent decisions by QF this does in no way mean I will inconvenience myself. I will move business away from QF where I feel I can get a better deal like saving $300-$400 by flying Emirates or Singapore. From personal experience QF is cheaper than DJ most of the time and I am not that stubborn that I need to prove a point to QF by booking on DJ.

If you do the math on your $25,000. That's $160 x 156 Forgetting the premium seats on the A380s, and assuming there are 8 seats on the 747 that can be paid for like this, that's 19 747 flights to Europe/US/SA/Arg. Or about 1 days worth. Then there's the myriad A330 flights around Asia.

So if 1,000 Platinums move their business away from QF due to the decision to charge for exit rows QF has not really made any money out of selling exit rows. And that is assuming that QF will be able to sell all exit rows before the flight.

I would like to have a bet that at current pricing most exit rows will remain unsold. I find it totally ridiculous that QF has the hide to charge 10,000 QFF points for exit row to Asia and 20,000 QFF points for exit rows to the USA and Europe. What a joke.

John, almost correct but apparently it only applies for bookings originating in AUS. I'm in NZ atm and was able to pre-allocated a exit row back to AUS without payment. The qf rep said you can only pay to preallocate ex Aus...... not a huge benefit but a funny loophole.

Very interesting decision. So QF is again ripping off people who buy tickets in Australia. I feel no guilt what so ever about booking return airfares from SE Asia or even nesting airfares when QF continue to treat Australians like this.

Qantas you seriously need to learn the meaning of the word loyalty....

 

[pauly7]

So if 1,000 Platinums move their business away from QF due to the decision to charge for exit rows QF has not really made any money out of selling exit rows.

Doubt it will be anywhere near this number to be honest...

I would like to have a bet that at current pricing most exit rows will remain unsold. I find it totally ridiculous that QF has the hide to charge 10,000 QFF points for exit row to Asia and 20,000 QFF points for exit rows to the USA and Europe. What a joke.

PPL who have to fly Y for business I think would pay for this in a heartbeat (e.g. me on my NZ trip, was ready to pay because it gets bundled into fare, company won't blink at an extra $150 or so... as it happens although my booking was made in oz i could still pre-allocate the return flight FOC)

 

[Dave Noble]

John, almost correct but apparently it only applies for bookings originating in AUS. I'm in NZ atm and was able to pre-allocated a exit row back to AUS without payment. The qf rep said you can only pay to preallocate ex Aus...... not a huge benefit but a funny loophole.

The charging for exit rows does not apply to trans tasman flights

Dave

 

[oz_mark]

Well there you go. I'll just take my chances at check-in, I think!

I wonder what happens if you pay for it, then an upgrade to PE or J comes through?

Decided to find out. You forfeit the exit row seat and no refund if an upgrade request issuccessful.

 

[Alanslegal]

I would like to have a bet that at current pricing most exit rows will remain unsold. I find it totally ridiculous that QF has the hide to charge 10,000 QFF points for exit row to Asia and 20,000 QFF points for exit rows to the USA and Europe. What a joke.

JohnK, I'm game! What's the wager?

 

[JohnK]

Decided to find out. You forfeit the exit row seat and no refund if an upgrade request issuccessful.

So Qantas could actually double dip and op-up all the people who have paid for exit rows and then offer the exit row seats for sale again .

JohnK, I'm game! What's the wager?

An invite into SYD/MEL F lounge. Have I misjudged the number of people willing to pay for exit row seats?

 

[Commuter]

So Qantas could actually double dip and op-up all the people who have paid for exit rows and then offer the exit row seats for sale again .

It might be a round-about way of increasing your chance of an op-up (or even points upgrade). They might as well upgrade someone in a seat that can create them extra revenue

 

[Commuter]

I'm sorry - if someone is so annoyed by to the point that they will take some of their business elsewhere, and will write and complain (on here and to the airline) yet will not fly DJ or SQ even in in protest, then QF know they're not going to lose too much money out of this.

SQ is not the only competitor on the route, as you would be well aware.

Regarding DJ, I am refusing to fly DJ in protest more than I would refuse to fly QF in protest.

It is merely the matter 'no point in having QF as a preferred carrier'.

If you do the math on your $25,000. That's $160 x 156 Forgetting the premium seats on the A380s, and assuming there are 8 seats on the 747 that can be paid for like this, that's 19 747 flights to Europe/US/SA/Arg. Or about 1 days worth. Then there's the myriad A330 flights around Asia.

It assumes that they will be mostly sold. I doubt they would, somehow, especially the middle ones.

Besides, you are forgetting the fact that I am not objecting to the fees. I think it's possibly a good idea (although I have seen a lot of pitfalls of 'selling exit row seat' in practice and it has to be managed properly), in fact. All I am objecting to is the removal of WP priority.

They could have double-dipped by giving WPs priority access prior to 7 days, and still got the fees AND kept my long haul business (I may even part with $160 to get the exit row in business class if I am likely to have a 'neighbour' so that I do not need to step over them in 'bed config').

So, in my case it would be about the 'straight lost revenue' - my objection is only about removing priority from WPs, and charging for exit row seat is not an issue as far as I am concerned, although I hope this is not the start of generalised LCC-esq behaviour from QF.

There may be a day when I do not wish to fly QF domestic as well, if things get worse - so far, I would like to avoid SQ and DJ more than I would like to avoid QF. It is not as if I am asking anyone to do the same so I am not sure why you find this objectionable.

I guess I'm in the minority here that the fees are not my issue - it's merely the erosion of WP privileges that I suspsect will continue.

 

[Dave Noble]

I guess I'm in the minority here that the fees are not my issue - it's merely the erosion of WP privileges that I suspsect will continue.

Here in lies the issue to me. QF have not removed any benefit which they have committed to providing to Platinum members. All they have done is cease to provide a facility which was above and beyond that which was agreed to be offered

I still believe that the number of members that were aware of this benefit was small and that of those, only a small number would decide to forgo the published benefits and travel on a non OW carrier.

Dave

 

[Commuter]

Here in lies the issue to me. QF have not removed any benefit which they have committed to providing to Platinum members. All they have done is cease to provide a facility which was above and beyond that which was agreed to be offered

I still believe that the number of members that were aware of this benefit was small and that of those, only a small number would decide to forgo the published benefits and travel on a non OW carrier.

I'm a bit surprised that many WPs are not aware of this benefit, but being 'unpublished', I can believe that.

I guess I am a bit unusual in that I have status with Star Alliance as well as OW but chose QF as my primary carrier (I have various reasons for doing so, not just the status issue) and I am fortunate in that I choose the carrier at my sole discretion as I pay for practically all of my flights myself.

It's also easy for me not to fly QF, while easily keeping WP, as I'm no longer living in Australia and having a wide range of carriers I can use (hence now having just a small amount of domestic QF spending).

 

[simongr]

I'm a bit surprised that many WPs are not aware of this benefit, but being 'unpublished', I can believe that.

I think a lot of WP's flying int'l will be flying in J and thus not aware of the emergency exit preallocation option given you get a decent amount of space anyway...

 

[JohnK]

So, in my case it would be about the 'straight lost revenue' - my objection is only about removing priority from WPs, and charging for exit row seat is not an issue as far as I am concerned, although I hope this is not the start of generalised LCC-esq behaviour from QF.

How about a charge for selecting your own seat at the time of the booking? Install a feature, get people hooked on it and then slug them....

 

[Commuter]

How about a charge for selecting your own seat at the time of the booking? Install a feature, get people hooked on it and then slug them....

I would suggest not giving them ideas, or they may do it.

 

[JohnK]

I am sure Qantas has thought about that idea already. Plus it would be the next logical step along with charging for checked luggage. Why stop at just charging for exit rows?