The WP shadow

[danny09]

Hope so as its pretty nice to have that extra room especially when 4b is also blocked

 

[touki]

Love the shadow, I find on most domestic flights, the seat next to me will be one of the last to go.

I do SYD-SIN on Qantas regularly now and it is rare that there are spare seats in J, but again, if there are I will usually get them next to me.

 

[Per_Travels]

Over the last couple of weeks I've flown on QF, AA, AC and UA and the only time I got a shadow was on the UA flight. I found myself in an aisle seat on the very back row of Y and had a spare middle seat next to me (the only spare seat on the plane). I did, however, gallantly swap seats with the lady in the aisle seat opposite so that the infant on her knee could have a seat to itself.

 

[JohnK]

Blocked seats, shadows all depend on luck.

Last night's flight in mini cabin on 747 43C was vacant meaning 43AB had spare seat, 44B was vacant, 44E vacant, 43EG vacant but I think that had more to do with person in 43F requiring care from 43D. On the other side 43HJK and 44HJK were full with me in 43H and another Platinum in 43K and a young lady still in uni who has not flown very often in 43J.

Looking back through the cabin and there were 2 and 3 seats vacant throughout so you can see why I call the "Platinum shadow" a myth.

 

[samh004]

Given 1B for tomorrow's regional flight, barring jetlagger or penegal getting cheeky in the lounge, I'll be interested to see if 1A remains my shadow.

 

[Simo]

Most flight if just me travelling n a seperate ticket i get a shadow at app 75% but if travelling with other people on same ticket I will always be sitting next to someone.

 

[samh004]

Thought I'd leave a note of my experience tonight too. Flew a 717 home from ROK, had an 'extra seat', as I do, but was given 10E (could care less about the row, just the fact it was a middle seat). I knew either the window or aisle was also mine, but not sure which. In the end, both were as one was a shadow.

 

[Jobu]

It is hit and miss because anyone can change their seat at the check-in counter or gate (I know I do it)

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Here is how shadows should, but don't work:-

You're a platinum and select 4A on a 737. 4B should automatically turn into a blocked seat.

No other passenger or staff member should be able to put anyone into 4B unless:-

- every other nobody/silver/bronze member on the aircraft has lost their shadow from seats filling up.

- someone of equal or higher status chooses the seat.

So let's say you're a silver member selecting a seat, you should not be able to choose a seat next to a gold,plat,plat1 or CL at any stage. If every other seat is taken, then you can only choose those next to golds. Once those are gone you can only choose ones next to platinums and so on.

As Jobu has said it's too easy to gain better seats by asking for them. Airport staff can simply override the shadow. This happens to me probably on 50% of my flights.
Here is a seat map from one of my recent flights and you can see me in 2E with a shadow. This seat map was accurate once onboard except that there was a non-status person next to me on board and all thee other seats which were available before flight still vacant on departure. The person was not disabled.

What this means is the shadow system is fundamentally flawed and actually works makes the flight worse because it means lower status passengers can get better seats than those with status if some correctly.

Deep breath!

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Long post on iPhone fail lol

 

[amaroo]

50/50 today.......exit row 35A on 767. Either a shadow or simply the no-show that required the bag to be off-loaded - who knows?

Anyway - it's always a pleasure when it occurs!

 

[amaroo]

50/50 today.......exit row 35A on 767. Either a shadow or simply the no-show that required the bag to be off-loaded - who knows?

Anyway - it's always a pleasure when it occurs!

Another 6 flights since the ^ post.......5 with free seat/Shadow - all exit row Two more next week....

 

[boomy]

From my last 2 years experience as P1 I can say that row 4 on 737's & row 24 on 767's are the most likely to be blocked on semi-full flights (on full flights all bets are off) and exit row seats are the first to be unblocked due to last minute bookings/flexi changes.

 

[amaroo]

From my last 2 years experience as P1 I can say that row 4 on 737's & row 24 on 767's are the most likely to be blocked on semi-full flights (on full flights all bets are off) and exit row seats are the first to be unblocked due to last minute bookings/flexi changes.

I've seen enough to say this is correct.

What I can't get my head around is the insatiable desire to secure the first few rows It's not J, it's not extra, it's NFS.

IMHO legroom seems to be a no brainer!

 

[medhead]

I enjoyed my CL shadow last night. If only I could get that CL to sit on the other side of the shadow every week.

 

[sjd]

Had WP shadow on a Q400 today. I was in seat 1B, lots of space and legroom. Best seat on that air craft IMHO.

 

[amaroo]

Had WP shadow on a Q400 today. I was in seat 1B, lots of space and legroom. Best seat on that air craft IMHO.

I agree. The only First Row worth talking about (Dom) is the one in J.....the other one is fools gold.

 

[boomy]

I agree. The only First Row worth talking about (Dom) is the one in J.....the other one is fools gold.

For some tall people (myself included) securing the first row or the emergency exit in Y makes the flight much more comfortable and on long hauls its a very big deal and if the middle seat is empty, then it's double comfort

 

[JohnK]

What I can't get my head around is the insatiable desire to secure the first few rows It's not J, it's not extra, it's NFS.

IMHO legroom seems to be a no brainer!

Getting off the aircraft quicker.

Sometimes 5 minutes can make the world of difference. e.g most of my upcoming SYD-BNE flights are scheduled to arrive into BNE at ~17:35 and the last T-Bus to DFO is at 6:00pm sharp. So I need to be off that aircraft ASAP and down to collect luggage and head down towards Virgin terminal for the T-Bus.

I have found difference between row 4 and row 8 can be ~5 minutes depending on the amount of carry-on and where it is located and who is retrieving it and the difference between row 4 and row 12-13 can be up to 10 minutes which is not really good enough for me although the luggage should be on the carousel by then.

And I am expecting I will have a lot more delays than usual.

 

[amaroo]

Getting off the aircraft quicker.

And I am expecting I will have a lot more delays than usual.

I can see your point.

As a HLO commuter the extra few minutes waiting from the exit row is negligible for me. I also have the luxury of flying outside of peak hour/chock a block flights - so the disembarking time is pretty fast.

The race to secure the first few rows is a rat race compared to selecting an exit row.....same with the o/h locker. IMO Exit row legroom, ease of allocation and pretty good ratio for shadow is simply unbeatable.