This Airline's Neighbor-Free Seating Policy Is Coming to the U.S.
Sign me up! Qantas is expanding its Neighbor-Free Seating policy to 19 international flights, seven of which are between the US and Australia. The airline allows passengers to reserve the seat next to them for an extra fee, a cheaper option than buying two seats together. The service, which costs $225 AUD (roughly $143 USD), is available on flights that are not at full capacity and can be offered for 48 hours before the flight. However, if the seat in the end gets filled due to a last-minute ticket purchase, Qantas will refund the customer. Some passengers are not eligible for the program, including travelers who bought extra-room seats, those traveling with an infant or unaccompanied minor.
Veröffentlicht : vor 2 Jahren durch Serena Tara in Travel
Anyone who has flown a few times before can probably relate to this feeling. After a long line at the gate, you've finally sat down on your seat, and you're waiting for boarding to complete. Suddenly, you notice that the seat next to you is still free—and so far, it doesn't look like anyone is taking it. With every person that walks by, you try and guess if they're about to stop at your row—and in the meantime, you're secretly hoping they just don't. Having an extra seat for yourself would just be so nice.
What if now you didn't have to sweat and hope for that to become true anymore? Qantas, the Australian airline, just announced it is bringing its neighbor-free concept to the US.
The concept allows passengers to reserve the seat next to them for an extra fee that is a much cheaper option than buying two seats together. Qantas is now introducing the concept on 19 international flights, and seven of these routes are between the US and Australia, The Points Guy reports.
The price point to have an extra seat all for yourself is quite appealing, and it costs $225 AUD (roughly $143 USD at the time of writing), each way to do so between the land down under and the US. For now, the flights on which the carrier is testing the new feature include the route between Dallas and Melbourne, Dallas and Sydney, Honolulu and Sydney, Los Angeles and Brisbane, Los Angeles and Melbourne, Los Angeles and Sydney, and San Francisco and Sydney.
While the airline has already tested the concept on some domestic flights, it is expecting a higher success rate on international flights with the US.
"The data shows it's most popular with customers on our longer flights between the east and west coasts," Catriona Larritt, Qantas' chief customer and digital officer, said in a statement. "So rolling it out to our international flights makes a lot of sense."
As The Street reports, the neighbor-free service began on select flights on Saturday, but the airline is planning to expand the program on other routes in the next months.
In terms of how it works, the process is pretty straightforward. For one, the feature is available on flights that are not at full capacity. When that happens, the airline emails passengers 48 hours before the flight to offer a neighbor-free solution for an extra fee. It is important to note, though, that neighbor-free seating isn't guaranteed until departure, and if the seat in the end gets filled because of a last-minute ticket purchase, the customer will receive a refund.
Some passengers, finally, are not eligible for the program. Those include travelers who bought extra-room seats, those who requested an upgrade, those traveling with an infant or unaccompanied minor, and group booking passengers.
For more information, you can visit Qantas' website.
Themen: Aviation, Airlines