Qantas flight QF3 lands at JFK Airport in New York.
Qantas flight QF3 lands at JFK Airport in New York.
Not keen on sharing small talk or an armrest on your next transtasman flight? Qantas have the perfect passenger upgrade for misanthropes.
From this week, Qantas passengers flying into Wellington will be able to opt out of sitting next to another passenger, for a fee.
The ‘Neighbour-Free’ initiative is Qantas’ optional upgrade allowing passengers to pay to secure an empty second seat. Having introduced the scheme on domestic flights in May this year, its popularity among passengers who prize their personal space has seen the initiative expand.
So, what is that bit of extra personal space worth? Passengers flying between Australia and New Zealand can expect to pay a base rate of A$45 to banish passengers from the middle seat.
Longer legs among the 19 routes now offering the Neighbour-Free scheme cost up to A$225, with wiggle room on flights to America being the most costly.
“We’ve had a really positive reaction from customers who’ve opted to travel Neighbour-Free on our domestic network,” says Qantas’ chief of customer and digital Catriona Larritt.
New Economy seats planned for Qantas A350s.
Despite the additional cost of around A$65, the longer-distance Perth-to-East Coast routes have seen the most uptake on the domestic service. It makes sense to trial international routes.
“International bookings can be a little more complex,” says Laritt. “Which is why we’re starting with select routes and bookings without additional products to test our processes.”
New Zealand and the US seemed like good trial routes for the new service which, depending on updates, could be rolled out to other routes by the end of the year.
So, what’s the catch? As a trial period for the international scheme, you’ll only be able to reserve Neighbour-Free seats on certain flights departing Australia or NZ.
You have to be invited to apply for a Neighbour-Free seat during the online check-in process - so it’s not available at the time of booking. This must be done within 48 hours ahead of the two-hour cut-off before international departures.
It’s a good way to improve the odds of a bit more elbow room on your return flight from Aussie. However, Qantas says that the free seat is not guaranteed.
Importantly, in the terms of the Neighbour-Free initiative, it is specified that passengers are not buying or reserving the adjacent seat. If there is a last-minute booking, you may find you have company after all, but Qantas says the upgrade fee will be refunded if they are unable to accommodate the request.
Of course, you are only paying to keep the seat free, not for an additional fare. You won’t get any additional luggage allowance, and the spare seat “cannot be used for infant seating or to place items such as carry-on baggage or musical instruments”.
Earlier this month, a US traveller collected 350,000 signatures for a petition directed at the US FAA, saying that passengers of size should be offered free neighboring seats in order to travel in comfort.
