I just want to have a little vent. I am flying a party of 5 in business class with Qatar. Booked more than 6 months ahead to ensure we could sit together.
A couple of months ago I read that Qatar were bringing to the Q suite to Adelaide, so I logged into my booking and found that our aircraft had been changed and obviously the seating layout was different. Worse than that our group of 5 had been spread all around the cabin!
I managed to move 4 of us together but 1 passenger remained 7 rows away.
Then yesterday I logged back in to see if a seat had opened up near our group only to find the aircraft had reverted back to the original seating layout, but we were now once again scattered around the cabin.
There was no notification from the airline that this had happened, and it could have come as a very nasty suprise if I had assumed my original selection was still in place when we checked in at the airport.
It's extremely annoying. I tried phoning them, but they can't move people who have chosen their seat (even though no passenger would have chosen their seat once the seat map changed), I also tried their twitter but again same response. with the advise to try and get it changed when we check in.
It happened with a Qatar booking a few years back, leaving my then 5 year old Daughter seated 6 rows away from the family next to an unknown male passenger on a 14 hour flight.
I know they say seat selection is not guaranteed seating but it's so frustrating.
When we have tried to get it sorted at the airport, the reponse is "we can't move passengers who have checked in" and with online check in every passenger has checked in.
So I call upon the combined knwledge base of the AusBT readership - is there anything that can be done about this, or do we need to rely on the goodwill of other travellers when we board to ask to swap seats?
Qatar is notoriously known for constantly changing their aircraft type. The best advice (which you are already doing) is regularly checking your seat selection. Also, I believe that if you were all on the same booking, they would try and seat all 5 together. The worst case scenario is asking fellow passengers to swap. As long as you aren't giving them a middle seat, they should have no problem.
So, just to update, when we got to ADL to check in, all of our seats had been moved again. I had checked 24 hours earlier to ensure we were sat together, on the same side of the plane, but on check in apparently “the system” decided we should be a little more spread out. It’s such a frustration, especially when I booked 8 months ago!
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on
aircraft changes and seat disruption
Dr Al
Dr Al
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 07 Mar 2017
Total posts 34
Hi Aus BT readership
djtech
djtech
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 02 Sep 2018
Total posts 375
Qatar is notoriously known for constantly changing their aircraft type. The best advice (which you are already doing) is regularly checking your seat selection. Also, I believe that if you were all on the same booking, they would try and seat all 5 together. The worst case scenario is asking fellow passengers to swap. As long as you aren't giving them a middle seat, they should have no problem.
Stuart Jackson
Stuart Jackson
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 15 Mar 2015
Total posts 84
This sort of thing is par for the course at QR
AlexKutler
AlexKutler
Etihad - Etihad Guest
Member since 23 May 2019
Total posts 1
It is usefull information.
Dr Al
Dr Al
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 07 Mar 2017
Total posts 34
So, just to update, when we got to ADL to check in, all of our seats had been moved again. I had checked 24 hours earlier to ensure we were sat together, on the same side of the plane, but on check in apparently “the system” decided we should be a little more spread out. It’s such a frustration, especially when I booked 8 months ago!