T-80 - Discussion and Questions

[HTG2016]

I was able to grab 3 seat 5a b c for syd mel flight this morning at T-80 ( bronze member ) . As economy start from row 4 . Isnt those seat reserve for higher status member ?

 

[mviy]

Row 4 can start to open up at T-80 even for Bronze on some routes if you're on a more expensive economy fare. For e.g. WP it may open up at T-80 even on the discount economy fares. This is of course assuming the seats haven't already been selected/blocked.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Two questions:
1/ Has QF changed their seat selection policy for WP recently? I've recently booked 7x (full fare) DOM J as a WP and all flights had all but row 3 totally blocked. They are all CNS-BNE (or VV) in the summer (not Christmas holidays), half mid week and the others on Saturdays so it seems unlikely they are all sold, I'd have thought.
2/ I have 3 seats booked BNE-POM (short haul Int) for myself and 2 x NB's. I have to cancel my tix so is there much use me holding out until T-80 (or something else) to attempt to gain WP (hopefully better) seats for my +1's? If not, what is the best time to secure the best seats for NB's?

 

[mviy]

1) QF has been making it harder for WP to get the most prized seats recently giving extended priority access to P1. If you look at the free seat map on ExpertFlyer you should see some indication. I think row 1 is P1 only this far out and row 2 seats may have already been selected by other passengers.
2) Seats will start opening up at T-80 still but you may find that the most desirable seats open up close to T-24 than previously (if not selected by others in the meantime). Start checking at T-80, select the best you can and keep checking every little while for better seats. If you booked Y you could find some good seats open up as upgrades are processed for passengers who applied for upgrades to J. So checking around T-60, T-30 etc. would be advisable.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Many thanks mviy for the detailed reply! So T-xx does apply to short haul int, not just when check in opens?

 

[mviy]

I would think so, though I haven’t flown short haul international on QF. It doesn’t take long to check for seating availability and around the times when upgrades are usually processed for international would be good times to check for improved seating in Y.

 

[Buzzard]

On a QF Dom I just selected 4A at T80

 

[Berlin]

My better half, who is usually the typical “Couldn’t care less about your airplane talk but please upgrade me to Business class” type of partner just totally stunned me by asking:

“Why the heck is it T-80? 3 days plus eight hours, why did they come up with that?”

Truth be told, I have no idea. But on here someone might know- why 80 hours before a flight for Qantas to open up the seat map? Some historic reason? Operational somehow? Or rather IT-related? I’m now curious myself.

 

[TheInsider]

Simply it's when the 'flight' gets loaded into the check-in system. In terms of seating, because it's now loaded in a 'check-in system', it now has access to algorithms rather than hard rules.

 

[oz_mark]

It's not so much that they decided to open it up at T-80 - it is more of a side effect of it moving from the reservation system (with it blocks) into airports control, and the check-in system (which is used by OLCI).

It really has to move from the block system to the OLCI system at some point.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

It really has to move from the block system to the OLCI system at some point.

Qantas would respectfully disagree with you here. Especially when we are talking about things like ghost flights!

 

[Berlin]

Thanks for these insights guys!

But it still doesn’t really explain why 80 hours- why does the booking move from Qantas’ reservation system to the airport’s system at 3 days and 8 hours for all things? Why not just “3 days”?

 

[SYD]

Thanks for these insights guys!

But it still doesn’t really explain why 80 hours- why does the booking move from Qantas’ reservation system to the airport’s system at 3 days and 8 hours for all things? Why not just “3 days”?

There is probably some historical reason (maybe involving punch card readers?) that was hard coded into the replacement system….

Qantas would respectfully disagree with you here. Especially when we are talking about things like ghost flights!

 

[TheInsider]

Qantas would respectfully disagree with you here. Especially when we are talking about things like ghost flights!

Cool... But otherwise -80 has nothing to do with that.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

But it still doesn’t really explain why 80 hours- why does the booking move from Qantas’ reservation system to the airport’s system at 3 days and 8 hours for all things? Why not just “3 days”?

Well we know check-in for most flights on most major airlines opens up far before the 24 hour mark. To give you one such example, suppose you are flying LAX > PER on Qantas (connecting in Sydney). Check-in for LAX to SYD will open for that trip 24 hours prior to the start of the trip. But when you check-in for that trip you will also check-in for any connecting flights too (i.e. SYD > PER) meaning you could potentially check-in as much as 48 hours prior to departure for the SYD > PER leg. I also suspect it is possible to get that number up even higher, especially if you are connecting through multiple airports. For instance, when I flew FRA > SYD (via HEL, SIN) check-in opened on September 29th at 7:25 PM Frankfurt time (i.e. 24 hours prior to my first flight to HEL) but once checked-in, I was checked in to the end (including my QF flight scheduled to depart at 2:30 PM Frankfurt time on October 1). We also know that there are limitations on tickets in terms of how long you can layover at a connection point (IATA states it is less than 24 hours on a international flight), and the number of sectors for a given part of an itinerary (I believe that is capped to 6?).

So Qantas has to choose a number to transfer things over to airport control. It needs to be a number large enough that even with someone on the craziest of itineraries can still check-in but small enough that they minimize the time spent in airport control (since that has its own consequences). It would seem to me that 80 hours strikes a right balance.

-RooFlyer88

 

[I love to travel]

Slightly OT but does T-80 apply for international routes? Currently in 6A and would like to move further upfront if I can

 

[encryptededdy]

Slightly OT but does T-80 apply for international routes? Currently in 6A and would like to move further upfront if I can

It should, but remember you will have to pay for row 4 unless you do it after check-in (T-24h).

 

[I love to travel]

It should, but remember you will have to pay for row 4 unless you do it after check-in (T-24h).

Sorry not clear. I meant on international routes in J cabin.

 

[I love to travel]

Simply it's when the 'flight' gets loaded into the check-in system. In terms of seating, because it's now loaded in a 'check-in system', it now has access to algorithms rather than hard rules.

Does this apply for international flights see my post above

 

[SYD]

Does this apply for international flights see my post above

Yes, T-80 applies to international routes.