According to reports released this week, Qantas is set to trial a new program dubbed “neighbour free” whereby any passenger will be able to pay a bit extra to guarantee an empty seat next to them. As first revealed by Australian Frequent Flyer, the initiative, which has long been a perk enjoyed exclusively by top-tier Platinum and Platinum One-grade frequent flyers, will allow anyone to pay a little bit extra to designate the seat next to them a ‘shadow,’ guaranteeing that no one will be seated there for the duration of the flight.
As opposed to relying on plain dumb luck and holding your breath every time someone new walks past trying to find their seat, or trying to find a “seat selection strategy” that works, being able to just flick Qantas a few extra dollars for more comfort in Economy class is a nice play from Australia’s flagship carrier. It follows the recent ‘apology’ package the airline presented to Qantas Frequent Flyer members due to the past few months of logistics issues.
Qantas Neighbour Free prices should start from around $30 on short-range domestic flights and hover around $60 for longer coast-to-coast services. It doesn’t seem like this policy will be available for international flights.
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The program is currently being rolled out as a trial on select domestic flights for Qantas to test demand. Passengers flying Economy class may receive an “email invitation” to pay for a neighbouring shadow seat up to 48 hours before the flight, assuming it has enough seats remaining unsold to justify the offer.
After the invitation is received, the passenger has up until an hour before the scheduled flight departure to opt for a Qantas Neighbour Free seat. Again, this means that no one will be seated next to you, however Qantas states on its website that it’s not an 100% guarantee as seats “may need to be changed for operational, safety or security reasons, even after boarding the aircraft.”
In case you were thinking of blocking out the seat for extra storage, Qantas has already shut that down.
“Neighbour Free refers to the seat space only and cannot be used for infant seating or to place items such as carry-on baggage or musical instruments,” reads the policy.
