Seat allocation stolen

[Aeolus]

Happened to me a few weeks ago. My booked 4A turned into 8C the day before the flight. Mentioned it to a lounge angel that I know, they couldn’t figure out what happened there, anyway as a goodwill gesture blocked 8B which is nice considering the plane was pretty packed. 4A/C lost their shadow too which made me feel a little better.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Wow, Do they compensate you in anyway? I am wondering if thats what happened to me then again i was in a window seat closer to the back flying qantas back from manila to sydney. I got called up while i was at the gate, and said i have been moved and i can choose from a front row of a cabin aisle seat or another aisle seat (Front row of the rear cabin). I just thought maybe there was a problem with my old seat. Can this happen for any seat or only the seats right up the front of the plane?

Compensation is unlikely unless (a) you have paid to reserve the seat and (b) they can't accommodate you in a 'similar' seat. Important to note that (c) an airline's definition of 'similar' seat may be quite different to yours. Your bulkhead seat can be deemed 'similar' to any 'up front' seat.

Any seat can be bumped at anytime. Can be due to the seat being broken, weight and balance, needing to sit an adult and child together, providing a bassinet for an infant, because a passenger isn't eligible for a seat (for example at an exit), or even if an airline is required to carry a prisoner or deportee (and they get given specific seats). In the USA you can also be bumped for an air marshall (and they won't tell you the reason why if this is the case).

The terms and condtions say seats aren't guaranteed and you can be moved for 'operational' reasons. All the above are good examples of 'operational' reasons.

Moving you because a platinum wants your seat I consider a 'commercial' reason, and therefore outside the contract.

 

[RooFlyer]

Wow, Do they compensate you in anyway? I am wondering if thats what happened to me then again i was in a window seat closer to the back flying qantas back from manila to sydney. I got called up while i was at the gate, and said i have been moved and i can choose from a front row of a cabin aisle seat or another aisle seat (Front row of the rear cabin). I just thought maybe there was a problem with my old seat. Can this happen for any seat or only the seats right up the front of the plane?

No compo. Its a ticket to get from A to B is the story (I think it stinks, but that's where it ends up). Reasons to move you can include:

* Seat broken (any seat)
* IFE broken (any seat) - very unusual ... But that doesn't seem a reason to take a seat out of service. Oh! IFE not working! That's a surprise! (Not).
* Family has requested to sit together (any seat)
* High status pax wants your seat (good seats)
* Airline thinks high status pax would want your seat (good seats)
* cough up (any seat)

You CAN argue back if, for instance, it happens at check-in. You might or might not not be successful.

 

[Matt_01]

Happened to me a few weeks ago. My booked 4A turned into 8C the day before the flight. Mentioned it to a lounge angel that I know, they couldn’t figure out what happened there, anyway as a goodwill gesture blocked 8B which is nice considering the plane was pretty packed. 4A/C lost their shadow too which made me feel a little better.

If it was only a few weeks ago it was not me, I have been flying VA since late May . Now moving forward if we are on the same flight and you are in 4A, I will most likely be in 4C and whoever thinks they will pitch my shadow in 4B may be sent back to 8B.

 

[doubleplatinum]

Wow, Do they compensate you in anyway? I am wondering if thats what happened to me then again i was in a window seat closer to the back flying qantas back from manila to sydney. I got called up while i was at the gate, and said i have been moved and i can choose from a front row of a cabin aisle seat or another aisle seat (Front row of the rear cabin). I just thought maybe there was a problem with my old seat. Can this happen for any seat or only the seats right up the front of the plane?

Compensation for a seat change, seriously?

 

[redbatz]

My seats have been changed before. Especially when I book and aisle seat (so dont annoy anyone when I go to loo etc) and get swapped for a window seat. Thats annoying too.

 

[Quickstatus]

First in, best dressed

I think you are just salting the wounds

 

[Quickstatus]

Moving you because a platinum wants your seat I consider a 'commercial' reason, and therefore outside the contract.

Try arguing that with the agent

 

[Quickstatus]

Wow, Do they compensate you in anyway?

The only compo will be Karma

 

[Pleb Status]

Back when I was a P1, I only recall requesting someone to be 'booted' on one occasion. That occasion was to get my preallocated seat back after I was booted from that seat minutes earlier.

In J (and even F), I was booted from my preallocated seat on numerous (>10) occasions as a P1. So it can happen to anyone when flying QF....

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Back when I was a P1, I only recall requesting someone to be 'booted' on one occasion. That occasion was to get my preallocated seat back after I was booted from that seat minutes earlier.

In J (and even F), I was booted from my preallocated seat on numerous (>10) occasions as a P1. So it can happen to anyone when flying QF....

Doesn't happen on SQ or CX.

 

[nutwood]

If it was only a few weeks ago it was not me, I have been flying VA since late May . Now moving forward if we are on the same flight and you are in 4A, I will most likely be in 4C and whoever thinks they will pitch my shadow in 4B may be sent back to 8B.

As a P1, do you find your 4B shadow to be a durable creature? I've had mixed experiences with mine recently. Definitely fickle.

 

[opusman]

Here's what really annoyed me about the whole thing. OK, my seat can be stolen by a superior being such as a P1, I accept that. But I'm still WP dammit. I have "Aisle" in my profile. I had 4D allocated. They stole that, you'd think maybe they'd put me in 5D or 6D or even 12D. How hard would that have been? But nope, I had *no* seat assigned at all. 8D was available so when I checked in I grabbed that but would it have killed them to preallocate it to me as part of the whole seat theft thing? Apparently yes, it would have.

 

[dfcatch]

P1s aren't seat stealers - it's a CL

 

[madrooster]

The unwritten rule at QF is that if a CL requests a specific seat, they get it no questions asked as long as it's not already a CL in that seat.

 

[jase05]

The unwritten rule at QF is that if a CL requests a specific seat, they get it no questions asked as long as it's not already a CL in that seat.

And TBH I have no issue with that

 

[GoldCanyon340]

The whole seat allocation business can get pretty annoying. We tend to book a long way ahead, and one advantage of this is that we can get a good chance of choosing our favorite seats, especially on the A380.
But from time to time we are forced to change our flights because Qantas have some operational problem. Next week we are having to travel to London a day earlier due to one of these Qantas problems; as a consequence we have lost our upper cabin QF1 seats, and although I have called the service centre, they say there is nothing they can do!

Sounds like you've been unlucky. I'm almost at my 650th QF flight and aside from upgrades never had my seat allocation changed.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

...as long as it's not already a CL in that seat.

They should do that though. Bring back the CL biff

 

[Pleb Status]

And TBH I have no issue with that

I do. CL are not gods (far from it, some are borderiine criminals) and this is why most CEO and politicians quickly lose touch with the rest of humanity.

Yet another positive of travelling with the 'unwashed' on the other side...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I do. They are not gods (far from it, some are borderiine criminals) and this is why most CEO and politicians quickly lose touch with the rest of humanity....

To be fair, there may be a safety or security issue requiring a CL (VIP) to be seated in a particular seat. But I think most CLs not within that category would be horrified if they knew a simple seat request resulted in booting someone else out! It would be considered vulgar (I suspect most of them aren't told?)