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Qatar Airways Complaint - BEWARE: Seating Shenanigans
Complaint
If you are travelling on QATAR from JFK, New York you should make sure that you check your boarding pass for the seat assigned to you. Many people choose a particular airline and a particular flight due to the availability of preferred seats, especially on long flights such as JFK to Doha, and may buy a more expense ticket only due to the availiability of preferred seats. QATAR check-in staff, however, changes your pre-selected seats at check-in without even informing you of the change. The Terms of Carriage do allow the airline to change seats for security, safety or operational reasons, however, you do not want to fall victim to QATAR staff's shenanigans to oblige friends and family members. Please inform the QATAR staff member checking you in that you pre-selected seats when buying the ticket and check your boarding pass once it has been issued. If your seat has been changed, ask for the reason. Once you are hoodwinked into sitting for 14 hours on a middle seat of row 42 rather than the aisle seat of row 14 you paid good money for, any good features of the airline, which are not exceptional anyway, are meaningless to you. QATAR is NOT the cheapest airline operating on the US-South Asia routes either. If you have to be extremely uncomfortable or be a victim to dishonest practices, you can do so for a few hundred dollars less.
Comments:
Posted by Anonymous on 2011-09-12:
Sad, given Qatar's excellent hard and soft product. Thousands of people everyday survive middle seats on long hauls, but its disappointing if you had anticipated an aisle.
I would caution you if you fly the sub-continent in Y, many are cheaper but few are as comfortable as Qatar or Kingfisher. Some run the B777 with unbearable 10 abreast seating; or very indifferent service (AI).
I would caution you if you fly the sub-continent in Y, many are cheaper but few are as comfortable as Qatar or Kingfisher. Some run the B777 with unbearable 10 abreast seating; or very indifferent service (AI).
Posted by Ben There on 2011-09-12:
I agree Bete. Airlines will get complaints if they don't seat a family with children together, and they will get complaints if they move single travel travelers so others can sit next to each other.
That said, I would have been very unhappy had I been moved from an aisle in the front to a middle in the very back. In fact, I probably would have considered changing my flight - I simply would prefer to be late and comfortable than spend that long feeling claustrophobic.
The last time I was moved so a group could sit together was on KLM, and they were a class act about it - they paged me over the intercom and explained the situation. They also moved me from a window to another window.
That said, I would have been very unhappy had I been moved from an aisle in the front to a middle in the very back. In fact, I probably would have considered changing my flight - I simply would prefer to be late and comfortable than spend that long feeling claustrophobic.
The last time I was moved so a group could sit together was on KLM, and they were a class act about it - they paged me over the intercom and explained the situation. They also moved me from a window to another window.
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