Our members have discovered a handy Qantas seat selection trick that lets you choose almost any seat on the plane. This includes front row seats that are normally only accessible to Platinum One frequent flyers and Chairman’s Lounge members!
The trick is to select your seats on the Sri Lankan Airlines website. Here’s what you need to do:
- Enter your 6-digit Qantas booking reference (PNR) into “Manage My Booking” on the Sri Lankan Airlines website.
- When your booking details appear, scroll down and click on “Additional services”.
- Click on “Seat”.
- Choose from all available seats in your class of travel, then click “Confirm and close”.
- Click “Continue”.
Your selection may not stick if you choose a seat that’s already occupied by another passenger, rather than one that’s just blocked for selection by Qantas. To ensure you choose a vacant seat, use a website like Expert Flyer to first check the seat map for your flight. Expert Flyer distinguishes between “blocked” and “occupied” seats. If you don’t have access to Expert Flyer, you may place a request in our Seating Availability Help Desk thread.
This Qantas seat selection trick was accidentally discovered by VeniVidiVici while selecting seats for an upcoming trip to Sri Lanka.
We (3 pax) are flying to the Sri Lanka in 10 days and I have previously reserved our seats through Qantas on a 737 domestic then the 330 to Singapore with the next flight on Sri Lankan.
I went to the SL’s website to do that seat reservation and by accident chose seats that were open – 4A, B and C – on the first Qantas domestic leg thinking it was the flight from Singapore to Colombo. It looks like the Sri Lankan website allows you to do the Qantas seat selections also.
To my surprise the seats on the QF website were now confirmed as row 4 which were obviously always blocked for me as a Silver QC.
One member warns that the seat selections may not hold if there is an aircraft change, and there is a possibility of being moved by someone with higher status.
I think the seats will hold but if QF do a sub or some sort of change the seats may get reassigned by the QF system but probably if it’s there it will stick. nice (accidental) find.
There is one more Qantas seat selection trick that can gain you access to the front row seats normally reserved for top-tier frequent flyers – even if you only have Bronze or Silver status. Qantas routinely opens up the remaining “up front” seats for selection by all passengers around 80 hours before the flight’s scheduled departure time. So, logging onto the Qantas website at the time that’s become known on AFF as “T-80” may also help you to score the best seat on the plane.
Join the discussion HERE.
