Qantas’ major flight change means you may never have to sit next to someone on a plane again
- Qantas fliers can ‘block’ seats next to them
- The fee to keep the seat free starts at $30
- The offer is only valid on selected routes
Solo flying could become the norm for Qantas economy passengers willing to pay extra for more elbow room, but there are a few catches.
The airline offers fliers on selected routes the option to pay a small “neighbor-free” charge to keep the seat next to them empty.
Frequent flyers of top class Qantas have had the option to buy an empty seat next to them for some time now, but the airline is extending this to economy passengers.
Passengers can only buy a seat next to them 48 hours before departure.
If the plane is empty enough, emails will be sent with the offer.
Once purchased, a free seat will appear on the plane map and also on the boarding passes.
However, sitting alone is not guaranteed until boarding begins.
Until then, an ’empty’ seat can be sold to another customer, but the person who purchased it as ‘neighbor-free’ will be refunded the full amount.
Qantas offers economy passengers the chance to experience the space of first class flying by purchasing adjacent seats (stock image pictured)
Reserve seats are available on the Sydney-Gold Coast and Adelaide-Melbourne routes for $30.
For Adelaide-Sydney fliers, an empty adjacent seat costs $45.
On flights Adelaide-Darwin, Adelaide-Perth, Brisbane-Darwin, Melbourne-Gold Coast, Perth-Darwin, Perth-Melbourne, Perth-Sydney, Adelaide-Brisbane, Brisbane-Perth, Darwin-Sydney and Darwin-Melbourne it costs $65 to be more isolated.
‘Neighbor Free’ seats cannot be used for extra hand luggage or for a child under two years old.
Qantas said it could expand the trial to more domestic routes, but has no plans to make a neighbor-free option available on international flights.
After a dismal Covid pandemic period, which saw it largely grounded and suffered three years of eye-watering losses, Qantas reported interim underlying profit before tax of $1.43 billion earlier this year.
The new Qantas no-neighbor seat offer is only available on flights that have the capacity to manage it (stock image pictured)
An uptick in air traffic helped Qantas to post revenues of $9.9 billion in February, more than triple the same period a year ago.
Qantas reported that domestic flight levels averaged 94 percent of pre-pandemic levels, while international capacity also doubled to 60 percent.
The company expected travel demand to remain strong this year and into 2024.
International capacity is expected to reach 81 percent of 2019 levels in the second half of this year.