The Qantas seat hack you didn't know about
Scoring a good seat on a flight can be tricky – but flying in economy doesn’t have to be an unpleasant experience. If you’re travelling with Qantas, there is a way to get a seat of your preference using the 80-hour hack.
Most airlines will let you pick a seat during the booking process – however, the seats available for selection may change depending on the timing. With Qantas, the availability of the most coveted seats – including upfront seats and exit rows – will be limited to Frequent Flyer members with Gold or Platinum status, while everyone else is relegated to the back of the plane.
“The most sought-after seats at the front are reserved for platinum-level customers and above, while the next few rows are accessible to gold status holders and above,” David Goldman of travel company Goldman Group told Escape.
“Silver and Bronze members are only able to select seats further back.”
These premium seats are generally reserved until 80 hours before departure, when the restriction is lifted and the options are released for all frequent flyers, including those on silver and bronze levels.
At this point, you can review your seat allocation and pick from the choices that had been unavailable previously.
Virgin Australia also has a similar model, albeit with a slight difference in details. Most seats in the “preferred zone” are opened up to all Velocity frequent flyer members 48 hours before the scheduled departure time. If these seats are still unbooked until 12 hours before the flight, they will be released to all passengers.
So, next time you’re flying, it may be worthwhile to set a reminder to see if you can score a better seat!