QF737 domestic: Rows 4/5 often unavailable?

I’m QF Platinum yet often am unable to find seats in rows 4/5 on domestic flights. On a recent trip I was sitting there and saw that both of my seat neighbours were “mere” Gold - which makes me wonder how are they filling those seats and by what priority?

Generally they're locked for Chairmans Lounge and Platinum 1 members. The best I've had recently has been row 5 ,mostly its been 6+.

Seats open up T-80 hours. So you may set an alarm on your phone for this to secure rows 4/5. My partner is bronze and has sat in row 4 pretty much all the time.

Both MarkPK and Silentiger are correct. I'm platinum and am blocked until T-80 from the front row in economy or business. The interesting thing is that sometimes the seats are not released at all, or are released some time after T-80. I have checked that the seats are empty using Expert Flyer. So the reason they are blocked is not because someone is sitting there. I suspect the front rows may remain blocked on some flights after T-80 because the load is high or there are lots of high status passengers.

QF I know block r4\5 on high demand flights - basically the 6am-7am, Syd\Mel, Syd\Bris, etc, and vice versa same of the 5-6pm window daily...I know a lot of people on seat guru, etc setup alerts, as soon as they are released, but sometimes are still blocked - I'm P1, and when I book all 6 seats are normally available on just about all flights, even if I book 3 days out, not every flight has P1's, CL's, etc on them, so just they just sit empty until 80hours out

So what I'm reading is essentially what I've experienced so far: QF Platinum is a bloody label swindle with virtually no better perks than Gold, other than F lounge access which only makes a difference when flying international anyway. To get the real bennies like guaranteed up front seat, one needs P1 or CL. CL is by invitation only, and P1 you drop on order $80k a year on airfares. That's a huge gap from the already quite steep requirements to get to P. How many freakin P members are there!?

Quite a lot of P flyers out there now. I would suggest set the alarm at T-80 hours to guarantee rows 4/5.

It's actually 3600 SC to get P1. There are ways to get P1 spending a lot, lot less than 80K depending on your travel needs and whether you have the time to fly indirect and what offers may come your way. Take MEL-BNE-CNS return in J. Just 15 of these trips or 7.5 (if all on Double Status Credits) would get P1. That's looking at 30 something k on standard credits or about half that if doing most travel on Double Status Credits. There are some much cheaper ways still to rack up SCs and you could max out the amount of travel allowed on partner airlines towards P1 at very cheap rates per SC.

If QF didn't block seats for P1 and CL then those members would understandably complain about hardly ever being able to select the seats they want.

As a WP member myself it is sad that Platinum benefits have been eroded over time. I do think benefits such as arrivals lounge access to domestic QF lounges, express path even if flying economy, first class QF check-in even flying economy, extra checked luggage allowance (if you need it), priority over Gold for upgrades, upgrades confirmed up to 48 hours out (in practice I've got upgrades approved up to about 60 hours out and with Chauffeur Drive bookings closing at 48 hours out this means there's still the opportunity to book that if the upgrade is approved early enough), ability to select better seats at time of booking than Gold, unofficial ability to request classic reward seats be released... are benefits well worth having in addition to FLounge access. I will be a bit sad when I drop back from WP at some point in the future.

What's WP?

The +80h rule just worked for me this morning for the first time. Was able to book previously blocked row 23 on the A333 service SYD-PER.

Originally Posted by Doktor

Don't Platinums get domestic business lounge access as well?

...and international first lounge access***.

I am a “mere gold” and sit regularly in row 4 and jag myself the aisle seat too most times, I would like to know what sort of conversation is had to ascertain that the person sitting next to you is merely a gold, must be lots of other things in the world to talk about.