[Batesy]

Hello folks. I am off to SFO on QF73 next year from Sydney. My wife is WP, can she still request exit rows in economy for both of us with QF? If so is there a time limit on when this can be done, as in how far out?

[NM]

Originally Posted by Batesy

Hello folks. I am off to SFO on QF73 next year from Sydney. My wife is WP, can she still request exit rows in economy for both of us with QF? If so is there a time limit on when this can be done, as in how far out?

Yes she can. Make sure the two passengers are on the same booking reference or at least that the two booking references are linked.

I do not believe there are any time restrictions for requesting exit row seats. She will need to call QF and hope she gets a Qantas Premium Agent (her FF number should route her to the Premium Desk) and ask politely to "request" an exit row for both passengers.

[Optics]

Originally Posted by NM

Yes she can. Make sure the two passengers are on the same booking reference or at least that the two booking references are linked.

I do not believe there are any time restrictions for requesting exit row seats. She will need to call QF and hope she gets a Qantas Premium Agent (her FF number should route her to the Premium Desk) and ask politely to "request" an exit row for both passengers.

Just a word of caution. Once the seating is allocated and shows on your booking, don't assume it is final. I always request seat 16A/k (upstairs exit row) for my flights and am almost always granted my request with the requested seats showing on my booking. However, on every occasion, at some stage between being granted the seats and the actual flight, the allocation gets changed for some reason and I lose the seats. Being aware of this I now monitor the booking periodically, and as soon as it changes I ring again, explain the situation and get the requested seats reallocated.

I have 2 international bookings for next month and got the requested seats allocated. One changed but I had the seats reallocated. Then a couple of days ago I found both flights had the seating allocations changed. I requested the reallocation yesterday, but they have not shown up yet.

They have no real explanation for why this happens. The last time they said the seating allocation program had just been upgraded and that may be the reason, but that does not explain the numerous previous instances. I just hope the new system will fix this bug, so once I get the allocation, I can rest easily.

[Batesy]

Thanks for the advice so far. Which exit row seats are the best to get? I know that the one next to the door is no good as its got the slide. Are we actually better off going further down the back and taking one the rows of two as the plane tapers?

[NM]

Originally Posted by Optics

They have no real explanation for why this happens. The last time they said the seating allocation program had just been upgraded and that may be the reason, but that does not explain the numerous previous instances. I just hope the new system will fix this bug, so once I get the allocation, I can rest easily.

It might be worth checking to see if your travel agent has some sort of seating preference noted on a customer profile of some sort. I have heard from some people that their seating allocated get reset by their TA when they check the reservation and it does not match their defined profile. Of course the TA is thinking that a "forward window" preference in the profile means that if you are in 16K and 12B is free that you obviously want to be changed!

[Optics]

Originally Posted by NM

It might be worth checking to see if your travel agent has some sort of seating preference noted on a customer profile of some sort. I have heard from some people that their seating allocated get reset by their TA when they check the reservation and it does not match their defined profile. Of course the TA is thinking that a "forward window" preference in the profile means that if you are in 16K and 12B is free that you obviously want to be changed!

Yes, this was mentioned by Qantas. I have checked with my TA and they assure me they do not do anything re seating. This seems correct, especially when I see some of the seating that does get allocated after I lose my treasured seat. It can range from 12B to 30K, so I don't think it is based on any preference I have put in anywhere.

[NM]

Originally Posted by Optics

Yes, this was mentioned by Qantas. I have checked with my TA and they assure me they do not do anything re seating. This seems correct, especially when I see some of the seating that does get allocated after I lose my treasured seat. It can range from 12B to 30K, so I don't think it is based on any preference I have put in anywhere.

All very strange ... and annoying .

[Optics]

Originally Posted by NM

All very strange ... and annoying .

Its annoying when I manage to pick it up and get the seats reallocated . Its a real pain the #$$ when I get to checkin and find I have lost my seat .

[serfty]

Happened to me for my trip this weekend. I had 46H on both QF93/QF94 and last Saturday I noticed thay had been altered to something like 36J and 35A.

I quick call to Qantas premium sorted it out (btw. Sat Morning 11:45am - Answered "Qantas Premium") . The agent seemed surprised as well - after checking the PNR notes she put me on hold. After about 3 minutes she came back to advise all fixed!

A wonder what is happening here? and what has changed?

As far as seats to avoid, on 3 class it's 46/58 A/K.

Note that (at least on VH-OEE) the row 58a/K seats have a little more space than the row 46 equivalents and also have a window - 46A/K have a blank wall.

[Commuter]

Originally Posted by Batesy

My wife is WP, can she still request exit rows in economy for both of us with QF?

Yes it can be done, and it has worked for us (my spouse being a Bronze, me WP).