The WP shadow

[Happy Trails]

Forty-four vacant seats today and none of them next to me.
I was one of the half-dozen or so pax lucky enough to have a seat-mate, albeit a particularly malodorous one.

 

[Ansett]

For those interested in the loss of the shadow as mentioned before you need to contact the P1 team and advise them of your flight details and request a shadow. Here is an email for a flight to LHR next Thursday 30th October after requesting the shadow.

Good afternoon Mr Ansett,

I will be able to request a blocked seat for these flights 3-days prior to departure. I have set a reminder in the system to do so for both outbound and return flights. Please let me know if there is a change of travel date so that I can update the system.
Kind regards.

So wish they would get this sorted

 

[danny09]

For those interested in the loss of the shadow as mentioned before you need to contact the P1 team and advise them of your flight details and request a shadow. Here is an email for a flight to LHR next Thursday 30th October after requesting the shadow.

Good afternoon Mr Ansett,

I will be able to request a blocked seat for these flights 3-days prior to departure. I have set a reminder in the system to do so for both outbound and return flights. Please let me know if there is a change of travel date so that I can update the system.
Kind regards.

So wish they would get this sorted

Conflicting info from the SST as I have posted different correspondence from them, I also think if they are "proactively" looking at our flights they should put the "shadows" in automatically.

Hopefuly whatever happens it happens soon and gets fixed.

 

[Ansett]

Conflicting info from the SST as I have posted different correspondence from them, I also think if they are "proactively" looking at our flights they should put the "shadows" in automatically.

Hopefuly whatever happens it happens soon and gets fixed.

Hi Danny I agree they are supposed to be being proactive and monitoring our flights and obviously this isn't happening UNLESS there is a major flight delay. It seems to depend who you talk to at QF as to what the issue is as per the norm.

According to one member of the SST it was never a benefit.

 

[medhead]

Perhaps they mean never a published benefit. Which ever way they've definitely screwed something up.

View attachment 36616

 

[Happy Trails]

For those interested in the loss of the shadow as mentioned before you need to contact the P1 team and advise them of your flight details and request a shadow. Here is an email for a flight to LHR next Thursday 30th October after requesting the shadow.

I've been doing this for some time and more often than not it makes bugger all difference, my flight yesterday (post 341) being a case in point.

Edit: I should add that this was forgiven and (almost) forgotten with the op-up on my next flight. Don't know if my snot-o-gram to P1SST had any bearing on that.

 

[Ansett]

I've been doing this for some time and more often than not it makes bugger all difference, my flight yesterday (post 341) being a case in point.

I agree with you re the bugger all difference, seems QF isn't interested in keeping High Status Passengers happy these days

 

[serfty]

... Don't know if my snot-o-gram to P1SST had any bearing on that.

I had to read that twice

 

[kermatu]

When I was P1 I did this too and could see on EF when the Plat 1 team entered the request. But only one in maybe 8 stuck. Usually there were plenty of empty seats and my shadow appeared to be taken by a gold or lower (from conversation or boarding pass) or by a QF staffer or trainee (again from conversation or by inference, so can't guarantee that).

if there is actually a system I'm hoping it is fixed and that my luck improves now I am a humble WP.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I can't believe the amount of status pax who complain about not getting their preferred seat yet don't take advantage of actually pre-allocating a seat for themselves or people in their booking. Is it really that hard to take 30 seconds of your time to do?.

Some people spend longer whinging about it than would've taken to pre-allocate the seat in the first place. "Normally my PA does that all for me", "I didn't do the booking", "we've got this new sheila (travel co-ordinator) at work". Time to step up to the plate & be pro-active about it rather than expect to be spoon fed.

A shadow is a luxury, today I checked in for BNE-SYD and have been allocated 27B on a 738. Wow, really charming the WPs lately... No window preference and the third last row of the plane.

I was pre-allocated 4A. Upon checkin that evaporated.

The excuse was that my partner was on a separate booking (linked however) and they were the only seats together.

Frankly they could have moved some pleb from row 4 considering it's now open to anyone.

So just to clarify matters your 4A didn't "evaporate into 27B on checkin" but you moved there voluntarily. You pre-allocated 4A for yourself but didn't pre-allocate a seat for your wife. You asked a CSA to seat you together and he/she moved you & your wife into 27AB as they were the only two seats together.

You then expect the airline to turf someone else out of row 4 that had taken time to pre-allocate their seat to accommodate you because you elected to not do the same. Now imagine for just a moment if you were asked to move down the back to accommodate someone in the same situation. You'd be on this thread without delay complaining about it. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Last week from MOV to BNE at T-24 I check in as normal and I usually have a choice of seat keeping in mind I am a mere SG, however on this occasion I can only select from row 7 and back. As it turns out the aircraft is full. No big deal.

Returning from BNE to MOV this morning the same deal, except there are only approx 30 pax on board (Q400), only 8 of whom occupy the entire first 6 rows.

Now the majority of pax being miners or contractors or big miner employees of some description on these flights, no different to the past few years. So why is it that the first rows are now 'occupied' or 'shadowed'?

Could it be that the mines are pre booking seats or has my SG been devalued in some way?

Any ideas?

It's not uncommon for Qlink flights to not only have the exit row blocked but a lot of seats in the first few rows eg 2A, 3B, 4A, 5B etc which I understand is for trim purposes.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You then expect the airline to turf someone else out of row 4 that had taken time to pre-allocate their seat...

I assumed that comment (wanting to move another passenger) was in jest. In a practical (revenue) sense, the other passenger in row 4 could be an HON Circle for all QF knows. Not a good idea to start moving people around.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

So just to clarify matters your 4A didn't "evaporate into 27B on checkin" but you moved there voluntarily. You pre-allocated 4A for yourself but didn't pre-allocate a seat for your wife. You asked a CSA to seat you together and he/she moved you & your wife into 27AB as they were the only two seats together.

Actually our bookings were linked, we were pre-allocated 6AB, then upon checkin I was in 4A and she was somewhere down the back.

You then expect the airline to turf someone else out of row 4 that had taken time to pre-allocate their seat to accommodate you because you elected to not do the same. Now imagine for just a moment if you were asked to move down the back to accommodate someone in the same situation. You'd be on this thread without delay complaining about it. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

As a WP (and considering an NB can select row 4 at the moment), yes, that's exactly what I expect them to do. Or put us back in 6AB where we were pre-allocated.

If QF think they can treat a WP with a linked booking and pre-allocation to row 27, they need to learn a little about customer loyalty.

It might be worth having the facts before passing judgement on others.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

In addition to the above, I have in fact been turfed out of 6 months prior pre-allocated 1A to 6C on a QF 333 LAX-JFK, so pre-allocation is not the panacea you propose.

QF ground staff and/or Altea will do whatever they/it wants, caring little for seating preferences or status.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Do linked bookings actually really mean anything in a practical sense? I thought I read somewhere the linking is only in a notes section... something you'd not expect an agent to read for all 200 passengers on the plane before they make a change.

 

[Heleigh]

Actually our bookings were linked, we were pre-allocated 6AB, then upon checkin I was in 4A and she was somewhere down the back.

It might be worth having the facts before passing judgement on others.

This first time you've stated "we were pre-allocated 6AB" and far as I've read it was "I was pre-allocated 4A. Upon checkin that evaporated."

I think you passed judgement without giving all the facts from the first post on the stated flight.

Happy to be corrected if it was stated earlier

 

[opusman]

Does Qantas even do automatic seat pre-allocation? Unless I go to MMB and specifically pick a seat my bookings always just show my preference (Aisle, etc). I don't think I've ever had a specific seat allocated to me automatically before check-in.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Does Qantas even do automatic seat pre-allocation? Unless I go to MMB and specifically pick a seat my bookings always just show my preference (Aisle, etc). I don't think I've ever had a specific seat allocated to me automatically before check-in.

When the bookings were linked over the phone months prior, 6AB were allocated. When I checked in, I was put in 4A.

A linked booking *when done correctly* should cross reference the two PNRs in the system - this is a bit more than just a note.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

When the bookings were linked over the phone months prior, 6AB were allocated. When I checked in, I was put in 4A.

A linked booking *when done correctly* should cross reference the two PNRs in the system - this is a bit more than just a note.

But how does it actually work (the linking)? When you retrieve one PNR does it automatically bring up the other?

It sounds like they reviewed the flight, saw a platinum and moved them to the best seat available.

 

[serfty]

I would suggest a CSA agent somewhere was being lazy and did not check for linked bookings (or TCP).

FWIW, over the years it had become apparent that for TCP to generally be successful, it had to be done from the aspect of each booking to each other booking in the "party".

e.g. With the linking of two bookings (A & B), A needed a TCP entry to B and B needed a separate TCP entry to A; with 3 bookings being linked (i, j & k), i needed to be linked to j & k, j to i & k and k to i & j.

If not done that way, say, B linked to A only, then bringing up booking B would show a TCP to A but bringing up booking A would not show a TCP to B.

This may have changed in recent years ...

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

I would suggest a CSA agent somewhere was being lazy and did not check for linked bookings (or TCP).

FWIW, over the years it had become apparent that for TCP to generally be successful, it had to be done from the aspect of each booking to each other booking in the "party".

e.g. With the linking of two bookings (A & B), A needed a TCP entry to B and B needed a separate TCP entry to A; with 3 bookings being linked (i, j & k), i needed to be linked to j & k, j to i & k and k to i & j.

If not done that way, say, B linked to A only, then bringing up booking B would show a TCP to A but bringing up booking A would not show a TCP to B.

This may have changed in recent years ...

I think you are spot on. When done correctly you will actually see the two pax at check in both online and presumably in Altea.

My experience is that even on the premium desk they cut corners on this procedure.