Seat Blocking

[Eugah]

I have been told that if you are Platinum and in economy you can request a seat next to you be blocked(subject to availablity), is there any truth in this as I have just made Platinum.

 

[medhead]

You can ask for anything. The hard bit is getting it. Generally, I find that I'll get an empty seat if it is possible and therefore see little point in asking for such.


Sent from the Throne (80% chance) using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[gogo419]

I too have wondered this? As i recently obtained SG. I had a 9.30am SYD-MEL weekday. Flight had 3 empty seats in Y and they were in the first couple of rows one of which i got. Then a Saturday night MEL-PER i was first row of Y it was 3-3 seating and the middle seat on both sides was empty in first row of Y. Rest of the plane was full. I must say it is very nice! and hopefully i get more of these in coming trips.

Hopefully someone can confirm that QANTAS does try to do this and that it wasn't pure luck to get two flights in a row!?

thanks gogo

 

[richie9x]

Are you asking about Qantas or Virgin?

Qantas has shadows for platinums (also P1s and CLs). It seems to result more often than not in the seat next to the platinum being one of the last to be allocated when seating is done automatically. It seems that the platinum shadow does not apply (or can be overridden) for seat assignments done manually by staff. Search for 'platinum shadow' and you'll find a lot of threads on the subject. Also it is possible to purchase the seat next to you, that as far as I know is the only way to guarantee a seat block.

Virgin seem to have a similar concept as platinum shadow. There have also been reports of staff from the virgin lounge manually blocking adjacent seats for some platinums.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

On lightly loaded flights load control will often block forward rows for weight & balance however this would most likely be done several hours or possibly the day prior. Most of the time it would not impact status pax who did their seat allocation at the time of booking (via QF MMB portal eg 14 days prior) as the LOCO would just block off seats around them.

It would impact eg a WP pax who did not phycially allocate themselves a seat as when they did actually checkin the Altea system would allocate them their seats preference of aisle or window as forward as it was able which would exclude seats blocked off by load control.

It's always better to allocate a seat if possible as there are too many variables that come into play than can affect a WP getting the seat they want eg you might have a WP & spouse in 4AB with 4C theoretically reserved for another WP. The 4AB couple checkin first with their child who is booked separately as they were on an award ticket so of course the couple say "we'lre travelling with our son little Johnny who's on a separate booking".

When the checkin agent selects all three pax to checkin it will automatically link all three & seat them together if possible. As 4C was 'free' ie not physically allocated to the solo WP, little Johnny trumps that pax.

Can get frustrating for the other WP who was theoretically earmarked for 4C as all that may be left is 11E or something equally unexciting.

It's not a case of the system not working, it is in fact doing exactly as it's supposed to however you can't appease one lot of pax without detriment (unintentionally) to others.

Always allocate a seat if you can or if "I'm too busy to do that" ask your PA or SWMBO nicely if they can & will probably do it whilst similtaneously doing several other things at once.

 

[travellerqff]

I'm flying with QF on PER-HKG and SYD-NRT in the coming months. I called up just now to ask if I could block the seats next to me, as 1) I'm Platinum, and 2) I may have my partner traveling with me. I hate this "linked booking" monkey business.

Qantas claims they have not heard of such a thing! I'm sick of sitting next to someone when there is an empty row in-front or behind me.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I'm flying with QF on PER-HKG and SYD-NRT in the coming months. I called up just now to ask if I could block the seats next to me, as 1) I'm Platinum, and 2) I may have my partner traveling with me. I hate this "linked booking" monkey business.

Qantas claims they have not heard of such a thing! I'm sick of sitting next to someone when there is an empty row in-front or behind me.

Seat blocking is not a function that can by done by reservations in Amadeus as it's done in Altea (checkin mode) & the seat maps, pax lists only cut across from res to checkin approx T-80 (80 hours prior to flight departure).

I don't imagine any airline would want seat blocking to happen that far out from departure because if it's a full flight they'd have to unblock it then people would squeal "but reservations told me that seat was blocked" etc etc.

It's bad enough when someone reserves a seat & there's a change of equipment eg 767 to a 737 or a 30/222 config. 767 to a 25/204 config. Despite people being told something is requested only, passengers take it as being set in stone.

If your partner is travelling with you I would call the premium desk at T-80 & tell them you're in separate bookings & ask if they can call through to the airport (or someone with access to Altea) & link both your pnrs in the checkin system. They would also be able to allocate you seats together which saves you leaving it until T-24 when you OLCI. You will only be able to seat yourself via MMB (prior to OLCI opening) or when doing OLCI if both pnrs are linked in Altea otherwise unless your partner is WP also, they won't be able to view your same seat map.

Otherwise if your partner books a couple of weeks before, call up the Premium Desk & I would think they have the ability to override the seat map in Amadeus & seat your partner next to you.

 

[travellerqff]

Thanks for the advice ozbeachbabe.

Ill follow through with some of that. But I feel like I've seen pics of the 'shadowed' seat and people requesting blocking etc..

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Thanks for the advice ozbeachbabe.

Ill follow through with some of that. But I feel like I've seen pics of the 'shadowed' seat and people requesting blocking etc..

The WP shadow is a feature of the system which some can see days or weeks out however the times when people here on AFF have asked for a seat to be physically blocked is when they're at the airport at either checkin or in the QP or JL etc.

 

[wingspan]

I remember even when I had no lounge access (so either a NB or PS) with QF, I would occasionally check-in for my flight, clear security, head to the service desk and ask if there was a spare seat next to me. More often than not they offered to block the seat (mind you I didn't bother during peak travel hours). Obviously this didn't work on fully loaded flights, but it was a nice touch that I appreciated at the time.

 

[kevrosmith]

As a Platinum on both QF and DJ, QF handle this area much better in their back-end systems. Using ExpertFlyer and comparing to MMB seat allocation, it's possible to get a good idea who is a Gold and Platinum pax on-board, especially in the last 2 hours of check-in. I often check ExpertFlyer just before I board to get an idea of what's happening with the seating: is it a full flight? has someone been allocated next to me? etc. I aim for 13C or D on the 737s these days, and so far, I've had no one next to me in the last 2 months.

I'm not as happy with DJs automatic allocation. Especially on an E190, they will move Gold and Platinums toward the front, seated next to each, even while empty rows are available a row or two back! I find this frustrating. (And for those who think I might be a WP in the true definition of the abbreviation, having flown so much lately, you really appreciate the small benefits of flying, like having a seat available next to you, especially if you've got work to do).

Virgin Lounge staff have sometimes offered to block a seat next to me when/if available, but this is often too late, as the other Gold member has already checked-in etc and can't be moved.

 

[kempvet]

You can tell the platinum fliers apart on long haul flights, they are the ones given the noise canceling head sets! when sitting in Y, no matter where they are sitting. Don't know if this happens with golds or silvers as I went direct bronze to platinum so couldn't test this theory.

 

[OPERACAT]

Any chance of having a Code explanation, what is WS, PS ,Platinum< and all the other abbreviations.
thanks

 

[kevrosmith]

Any chance of having a Code explanation, what is WS, PS ,Platinum< and all the other abbreviations.
thanks

Search for Abbreviations in the search box above for a list of the codes...

 

[OPERACAT]

Thank you for your help in this matter.

 

[bsb]

Well boys and girls, if you 'hate' people sitting next to you, fly J or buy the seat next to you. I don't understand why all us premium FF's think we are entitled to something like an empty seat. Now there's a controversial thread!

 

[harvyk]

Well boys and girls, if you 'hate' people sitting next to you, fly J or buy the seat next to you. I don't understand why all us premium FF's think we are entitled to something like an empty seat. Now there's a controversial thread!

Well, if the airline has a choice of having an empty seat next to a frequent flyer vs placing that spare seat next to a first time flyer, to me it make sense that the airline gives the perk (which it has to give anyway given it doesn't have a pax to place in the seat) to the person who flies frequently and has shown loyalty towards the airline. It doesn't cost the airline anything, and the "shadow" is not hard and fast, there has been a couple of times for me where the shadow ended up being taken due to the plane being full.

 

[UP4014]

Qantas claims they have not heard of such a thing! I'm sick of sitting next to someone when there is an empty row in-front or behind me.

It's terrible isn't it, having to sit next to someone on 'public' transport that anyone can buy a ticket on. Outrageous. :mrgreen:

Matt

 

[ozbeachbabe]

There are still lots of WP's & SG's who don't pre-allocate seats domestically or even internationally when they're able to immediately when they make the reservation which could be serveral months prior to travel. I think part of the problem is that they assume because they've got a 'request' in their booking they will automatically get that seat.

The system will endeavour to give them that seat at the time of checkin if there are still that particular seat type available however if there are only aisle seats left a window request isn't going to help. In the higher cabins of W/J/P anybody can reserve seats at the time of booking so you're really competing with all the other pax in that zone.

Part of the problem is that sometimes passengers assume their travel agent has done it (some agents don't or won't do this) or that a seat number is automatically allocated to them & it may be for top tier flyers but it certainly pays to check.

 

[JessicaTam]

I have been a PS for a few years, and occaisionally ask if I may have an empty seat next to me. I am 6" so the check in person understands the reason and most of the time I am successful. I have no trouble with asking, as I am not asking for an upgrade, just for discretion with the empty seat allocation.

In answer to another post, I have never been offered noise cancelling headphones in Y whilst I have been PS.

Oops, I meant 6'