Qantas adds ‘Neighbour Free’ seating to international flights

I hate to sound cynical but this is just Qantas monetising something and really giving nothing in return.  There is no guarantee at all about what you are buying but it means Qantas will earn revenue on a seat that will otherwise fly empty and earn them nothing.  As a shareholder it is a brilliant piece of revenue optimisation but, as a customer, I'm non-plussed at best.

Are you paying to keep seat vacant or for extra sleep space (assuming armrests lift)?

Might be awkward in a row of three where passenger in aisle buys extra seat and then has to explain to passenger in window seat that middle seat is his alone to expand into. Conversely, if you find yourself next to vacant middle seat, will it be de rigeur to ask third seat occupant if he has bought it?

This is the sort of rubbish I hope ends under new leadership at QF. They need to return to focussing on customers and being an airline, rather than money and being a financial services firm. Not only do I think the offer is not worth considering, it is another tick in the cons column for me.

“ this spare seat is not guaranteed until departure; if it’s actually sold to a passenger at the last minute, you’ll receive a refund of your Neighbour Free payment.”

With this kind of condition, who will be stupid enough to pay for this? When the plane departs and no one is sitting on those seats next to you, why should anyone pay for something that had already happened?

For sure they will have a condition that says if they really need that seat you can apply for a refund .

Another complicated money making program by Qantas.

And, why does the FF in the pic have carry-on on the seat?

At least with Air New Zealand's neighbour-free proposition, you're actually guaranteed to get what you paid for. No ifs. No buts. No last minute nerves. I paid for this option for many years on numerous AKL-HNL flights when travelling economy, and was never disappointed.

If I cant keep my hand luggage or laptop there, what can I do with the seat? Of course cant do it during take off and landing.

I suppose I am like many people and always hope that I can get an early flight if I finish my day earlier than expected.  Flights seen to fill up quickly and to be honest I haven't been on many Qantas or Virgin flights this year that haven't been close to full. I wonder how long a refund would take. I'm not sold on this

Good luck getting a refund if someone is moved to the spare seat by the cabin crew (for operational reasons) and therefore there is no official record of the seat having been assigned. In this scenario, I wouldn't be surprised if obtaining a refund is so difficult that most people just give up. Even with Qantas platinum status I've found that any minor issue (eg, missing points, problems with gift vouchers, glitches with bookings) can often take hours on the phone and multiple attempts to resolve.

What good idea  I certainly would buy on long flights 

Armrest all go up in economy 

Not all of us can afford  Business Class 

So now when I check in they don't say we will block the seat in the middle they say give us money and we will block the seat in the middle. Reminds me of hotels that give you an upgrade for the cost of an upgrade.

Surely nobody will be naive enough to pay for this? That is, paying for something you would have got for free…

Or is there something I’m not understanding?

Yet another reason not to bother retaining platinum. One of the few benefits that WPs got on a semi-regular basis was a spare seat next to them towards the front of the aircraft (if available). Now we can add this to the long list of non-benefits that plats used to get: priority security, priority boarding, points upgrades, a half-decent lounge experience in Sydney etc etc etc.

@bullswood, completely agree on all your points!

Especially the one about “does the armrest lift”. I had 3 seats to myself on one of QF’s refurbished A380s recently, and the damn design sees armrests only fold up 50 degrees or so…just such an oversight in what could otherwise be such a no-cost, value-add design element in economy seating.

Yet another downgrade to real frequent flyers, Qantas just keeps downgrading what is a frequent flyer scheme to be a big spender non-flyer money making scheme. Wait for the onboard fights to start over who has the rights to the spare seat, or do they just want consumers to pay for the seat so it is spare so they can allocate it to transport their standby staff?

So they give you a seat at extra cost, but it's not really yours. If that neighbour-free seat is sold close to departure you don't have it any more. You can get a refund of course if that happens, but knowing how things work a refund will take an eternity. Another QF ploy to gouge an extra dollar or two out of the travelling public, for whom they have barely-concealed contempt.

You can just imagine the Qantas brain's trust in Sydney "workshopping" this move. It's a cynical money-making exercise that typifies how little Qantas values its passengers.

News flash for the people doing the usual knee-jerk complaining about this: Qantas is a business, and businesses are supposed to make money.  Maybe some people here don't run their own business and so the concept of finding smart low-impact ways to decrease losses and increase revenue is lost of them.

‘Neighbour Free’ seating is a simply way to monetise the fact that there are almost always a some economy seats left unsold on any flight, and those are counted as 'perishable inventory', as soon as the plane takes off the seats have zero recoverable value.

So instead of just leaving a few empty seats scattered around the plane this program lets Qantas sell them to a passenger who wants an empty seat next to them and is willing to pay for it. This takes the 'random' out of the equation. Nobody loses out from this, and the passenger who values an empty seat next to them gets it because they are prepared to pay for it. What's so hard to understand about this?

I note the reference to the payment being 'automatically' refunded within two weeks if there is a last minute change. Given QF's past history with refunds I will reserve my judgement.  This new scheme sounds more like a means of QF getting interest free loans with the prospect of actually being able to retain the money at a later if the seat remains empty.

I'm Gold status, a recent flight QF2 LHR-SIN, A380 I selected window and aisle for my wife and I in a 3 seat config 5 rows from the back, 2 months out from the flight. The middle seat remained empty. Its a punt, I know, but got lucky for once

It was noisy at the back and bounced around, but better than rubbing shoulders, thighs and knees with a stranger. Would I pay? On any leg more than 4 hours? probably.

p.s. LHR Business lounge was surprisingly good, but very crowded.

Hmmm... many comments seem to be asking "why pay for a seat which is going to be free anyway". I don't think it works like that.

If there are, say, 30 free seats on a plane and 10 have been paid for as "Neighbour Free Seats" if there is last minute demand, the 20 which are not flagged as Neighbour Free will be assigned first rather than a random assignment which may include your neighbour seat.

Couple of things are not made clear. Do you get exclusive use of just not have someone sit next to you. What are your rights if the neighbour encroaches and can both pay for the same middle seat? Seems this policy might create more problems. How does the neighbour know you paid to have the seat empty? 

What if I want to block the seat in front of me so they don't recline in my lap?