I have just booked Qantas codeshare China Southern - Perth to Guangzhou.
I am platinum, flying fully flexible economy.
I now find I am not able to make seat bookings.
Qantas was helpful but says it can't see the seating plan. China Southern was also helpful but said it needed the China Southern not Qantas booking reference to access the seating plan. Qantas says it does not have the China Southern booking reference.
Have you tried to select seats by entering the ticket number instead? (081-xxxx). Not sure about CZ but that works on China Eastern (sometimes). What you’ll find is that you pretty much can’t manage anything on mainland Chinese carriers’ (frustratingly useless) websites unless the booking was made directly with them, until check in.
I don't think there's any go-round. The arrangement between Qanats and CS is hopeless from a customer perspective. I have found no way to get seats allocated because of the reasons that you also have experienced. But it gets worse - much worse! I used to travel from Canberra to Guangzhou via Sydney and whilst the arrangement allows you to drop off bags at Canberra, you still have to join the check-in line in Sydney to formally check-in again. It becomes very frustrating because, having no boarding pass, you can't get on the transfer bus between the domestic and international terminals (we eventually did but only because I stood my ground and explained our position, holding up the queue). Then, to my complete amazement, they wouldn't let us into the Qantas Club because it was on a China Southern flight. Note that I had paid extra to buy a Qantas ticket - so there I was, holding a Qantas ticket, with a Qantas flight number and I'm a lifetime Gold member (previously platinum) and they said that I couldn't go into the Qantas club. Again, I stood my ground and was eventually let in but only after the manager came down and "condescendingly" let me in. I have found a solution - don't book Qantas but book directly with China Southern. Their customer service, I have found, is far better than Qantas. They usually answer the phone within 30 seconds (and I have absolutely no frequent flyer status with them) and, of course, one can immediately select seats. I realised that I had been paying extra for the Qantas tickets but the overall service was far better just sticking with CS. That's what I do now.
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Qantas codeshare China Southern - booking a seat
XM
XM
Member since 04 Sep 2017
Total posts 5
I have just booked Qantas codeshare China Southern - Perth to Guangzhou.
alansu
alansu
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 22 Jan 2015
Total posts 88
Have you tried to select seats by entering the ticket number instead? (081-xxxx). Not sure about CZ but that works on China Eastern (sometimes). What you’ll find is that you pretty much can’t manage anything on mainland Chinese carriers’ (frustratingly useless) websites unless the booking was made directly with them, until check in.
RoyB
RoyB
Etihad - Etihad Guest
Member since 23 May 2019
Total posts 1
I don't think there's any go-round. The arrangement between Qanats and CS is hopeless from a customer perspective. I have found no way to get seats allocated because of the reasons that you also have experienced. But it gets worse - much worse! I used to travel from Canberra to Guangzhou via Sydney and whilst the arrangement allows you to drop off bags at Canberra, you still have to join the check-in line in Sydney to formally check-in again. It becomes very frustrating because, having no boarding pass, you can't get on the transfer bus between the domestic and international terminals (we eventually did but only because I stood my ground and explained our position, holding up the queue). Then, to my complete amazement, they wouldn't let us into the Qantas Club because it was on a China Southern flight. Note that I had paid extra to buy a Qantas ticket - so there I was, holding a Qantas ticket, with a Qantas flight number and I'm a lifetime Gold member (previously platinum) and they said that I couldn't go into the Qantas club. Again, I stood my ground and was eventually let in but only after the manager came down and "condescendingly" let me in. I have found a solution - don't book Qantas but book directly with China Southern. Their customer service, I have found, is far better than Qantas. They usually answer the phone within 30 seconds (and I have absolutely no frequent flyer status with them) and, of course, one can immediately select seats. I realised that I had been paying extra for the Qantas tickets but the overall service was far better just sticking with CS. That's what I do now.