Why QF and LATAM have seat selection issues on their codeshares

[Kiwi_Flyer]

Somewhat related to the thread topic so i'll put it here.

Current experience of a friend. They have 3 separate bookings on a QF codeshare on LATAM in December (there are reasons for the three separate bookings, but not relevant here). All paid for, etc. Some Y, some J.

They have all been moved from the codeshare direct LATAM flight MEL-SCL LA804 to the pure Qantas direct flight SYD-SCL QF27, same day.

The LATAM flight is still flying, same B787, but the QF5027 codeshare does not appear as bookable from 15 December to 18 December.

Anyone like to hazard a guess as to why this would be the case?

Are the J seats on the old B747 Qantas uses SYD-SCL flat bed or inclined?

Presumably LA bookings are high for those days. Perhaps there is a large group booking or event causing this (could be at either end)?

 

[juddles]

Somewhat related to the thread topic so i'll put it here.

Current experience of a friend. They have 3 separate bookings on a QF codeshare on LATAM in December (there are reasons for the three separate bookings, but not relevant here). All paid for, etc. Some Y, some J.

They have all been moved from the codeshare direct LATAM flight MEL-SCL LA804 to the pure Qantas direct flight SYD-SCL QF27, same day.

The LATAM flight is still flying, same B787, but the QF5027 codeshare does not appear as bookable from 15 December to 18 December.

Anyone like to hazard a guess as to why this would be the case?

Are the J seats on the old B747 Qantas uses SYD-SCL flat bed or inclined?

Interesting - let me think about this one and get back

Regarding the J seats, I think they are inclined, but am unsure as I always get the front cabin which has the old F seats already refurbished to a new version for when the plane starts doing charters. I do recollect the J seats are cough. And for example, on the old bird there are 24 J seats on top deck vs 18 on all the others. In any case there shouldn't be very many flights left on that old jumbo - will look for a retirement date too....

 

[RooFlyer]

Regarding the J seats, I think they are inclined, but am unsure as I always get the front cabin which has the old F seats already refurbished to a new version for when the plane starts doing charters.

Thats what I thought; I've recommended they try for the first couple of rows - still open on EF.

Its their first long haul J, so hopefully if they get inclined beds it wont be too much of a horror!

 

[RooFlyer]

Presumably LA bookings are high for those days. Perhaps there is a large group booking or event causing this (could be at either end)?

Its for 3 or 4 days that there is no QF code-share available on the LATAM flight. Something has happened - my friends were all booked on it (J and Y), now all moved. I thought it might be a LATAM aircraft sub, but its still billed as the B787.

 

[juddles]

Thats what I thought; I've recommended they try for the first couple of rows - still open on EF.

Its their first long haul J, so hopefully if they get inclined beds it wont be too much of a horror!

Are you sure their new flight is on VH-OEB? As per my opening post, the seat map being shown may not be the correct one. And if that is the case any seat selections done in J will not stick. If it is in fact a QF ticket and looking at the QF27 seatmap then it should be fine.

Edit: I have just looked at OEB - so far this year it has only done 6 (of the total 40) trips to SCL, and the last of those was 4 weeks ago. I also checked the next months programmed flights and none appear to be OEB for that route.

Am wondering what is happening with it? This year it also has done 9 trips to Tokyo, 7 to Honolulu, 4 to Johannesburg, 2 to San Francisco, and 1 each to Noumea and Hong Kong.

 

[RooFlyer]

Are you sure their new flight is on VH-OEB?

No idea about the rego - I just went with EF and advised them to avoid the (open) row of the upper deck and to try to get the (open) exit row seat upstairs of the first 2 rows of the lower deck.

 

[justinbrett]

That's a massive gamble to get one specific aircraft nine months in advance... Every chance it could be swapped at some point.

For all you know they could put a 787 on the route if they need extra capacity on an LAX route for Christmas.

 

[JohnM]

Hi, hoping someone can help and this thread seems pretty pertinent. I am looking to organise flights to South America from Perth and am tossing up between booking directly with QF or LATAM. On the QF site the flights to/ from SYD to SCL are given a QF code but are listed as being operated by LATAM. I would have thought this leg would be a QF one. How will this work for seat allocation - will I be able to pay (they are sale seats) for advance selection via QF in the normal way, or will I have to log onto LATAM? Do LATAM charge for seat selection, I find their website confusing. Anything I should be aware of in general? Any help gratefully accepted!

You can also get to SCL from PER on EK and QR. It's now my preferred routing, especially for the much greater availability of award seats on EK using QF FF points.

@juddles is going his way to SCL leaving on 20 March; funnily enough I'm in EK J on points PER-DXB-SCL also departing on 20 March . Stopping for one night in DXB.

Spending a couple of weeks with @juddles before heading across to Uruguay and Argentina for four weeks. Coming home EZE-xDOH-PER on points in QR J.

 

[RooFlyer]

That's a massive gamble to get one specific aircraft nine months in advance... Every chance it could be swapped at some point.

For all you know they could put a 787 on the route if they need extra capacity on an LAX route for Christmas.

Are you replying to my posts? If so please read post #20 again - it's about a completely different issue.

 

[justinbrett]

Are you replying to my posts? If so please read post #20 again - it's about a completely different issue.

I’m just saying if you’re trying to work out whether the 747 is the one with the old F seats, it’s quite likely to change before December.

I get you were moved from LA to QF.

Just saying asking about which J seats they use depends on the aircraft that ends up operating your flight.

 

[RooFlyer]

I get you were moved from LA to QF.

Just saying asking about which J seats they use depends on the aircraft that ends up operating your flight.

Not looking for an argument but it was my friends who were moved not me and I was suggesting to my friends seats to try to get at the moment.

 

[justinbrett]

Not looking for an argument but it was my friends who were moved not me and I was suggesting to my friends seats to try to get at the moment.

Alright... I feel like I’m being slightly flamed, sorry for mixing up the semantics of who is flying but my point remains that seat configurations for aircraft, especially when they are only installed on one specific airframe, are highly subject to change.

Since you clearly don’t want my advice I will cease posting in this thread.

 

[RooFlyer]

Since you clearly don’t want my advice I will cease posting in this thread.

No sweat ... its not that I didn't want your advice, its just that you seemed to have totally misconstrued the point of the post. Sure, planes can be subbed tomorrow, let alone 9 months out. If you could offer a suggestion as to why the QF codeshare were being withdrawn, after ticket sales, for 4 specific days in December we'd all be the wiser.

 

[juddles]

People. it seems to me that two things were innocently mixed - I think Rooflyer's scenario didn't have dates? And as justinbrett says, plane changes are almost a given.

 

[juddles]

I have had a bit of a look at these QF/LATAM flights. Week by week for the rest of the year. It has become apparent to me that QF are going to reduce their SYD-SCL metal from the usual 4 times / week to 3 per week from May till Sept, then back to 4/week. This does not answer rooflyer's specific question, but I suspect there is a lot of "behind the scenes" capacity management going on with both airlines.

I have no idea why someone booking via QF on the LATAM MEL-SCL flights would get swapped to SYD-SCL, but a suspicion is sheer economics - ie the cost to QF to get pax on the original flight. Rooflyer's friend's situation is almost unique as it involves multiple pax and multiple tickets, so could show a higher level management. I know personally that MEL is a favorite destination of many south american flyers, so maybe LATAM is getting good bookings on this route so they are upping the codeshare price to QF? Sheer conjecture on my part.

 

[juddles]

No idea about the rego - I just went with EF and advised them to avoid the (open) row of the upper deck and to try to get the (open) exit row seat upstairs of the first 2 rows of the lower deck.

But did you search EF with the Qantas or Latam flight number? And are seats in row 5 (indicator of all the newer planes) present?

 

[juddles]

You can also get to SCL from PER on EK and QR. It's now my preferred routing, especially for the much greater availability of award seats on EK using QF FF points.

@juddles is going his way to SCL leaving on 20 March; funnily enough I'm in EK J on points PER-DXB-SCL also departing on 20 March . Stopping for one night in DXB.

Spending a couple of weeks with @juddles before heading across to Uruguay and Argentina for four weeks. Coming home EZE-xDOH-PER on points in QR J.

I think the "direct" route via LATAM or Qantas would be appealing to anyone buying a cash ticket. Going the "long" way may put people off due to the extra time and miles, but I can assure anyone that it is not really different - the time zone change from SYD to SCL is shocking enough.

As for our identical departure dates, that is, as MELtraveller would say, not comparing apples with apples. I am departing from the civilized side of Australia, on an efficient and sane route. You are escaping from under Australia's smelly tail, and doing this by subvertive means.

I think it is time the TR for this one is born.....

 

[RooFlyer]

I think Rooflyer's scenario didn't have dates?

Given in my OP as December. My friends were booked & paid for a flight in mid December, and now on that day, and the day before & two days later, the codeshare doesn't exist.

maybe LATAM is getting good bookings on this route so they are upping the codeshare price to QF?

Possibly, but the QF tickets were already bought and paid for (presumably also by Qantas to LATAM). Something has caused LATAM to say Whoa! We need ALL the seats on those fights, so we are kicking Qantas off the plane for those 4 days.

Is the Chilean soccer team playing a match here?

Bringing it back towards the theme of this thread, maybe it reinforces that this codeshare is not your run-of-the-mill one. Certainly I've taken enough international codeshare flights and have never had an issue with seats nor have heard of entire flights being withdrawn from the codeshare agreement within the booking window.

 

[juddles]

I am very dubious that the last "relic" 747 will be flying this route in December.

 

[p--and--t]

Slightly off topic, but when I travelled that way in 2012 (paying for flights - not points), there was a good reason to book via LATAM for the transpac sectors even if I wanted to travel on QF metal.

I wanted to wander around South America extensively visiting 6 countries and flew 16 sectors.

I was told by the TA - if you book via QF for QF metal, a LAN South America Pass for within-continent flights were double the cost of booking the other way round - book via LA on a code share for QF metal over the pacific.