Originally Posted by
SWBKCB
Welcome to the world of low cost airlines, this is how it works. Suck them in with the low headline fare and make your money on the 'extra's'
It's not that simple. There are limited seats and anything could have happened here, the husband might have been running late and checked in separately or they may have checked in late when there wasn't three seats available together. If it's the latter, then it's really not JQ's fault if they check in at the last minute or arrive later in the check in process. In the likes of QF and NZ there are systems and processes within departure control to ameliorate this happening but sometimes it's unavoidable. When a check in entry is done for two or three people in the same entry, any system will in the first instance attempt to seat them together.
Fault in my view is that the check in agent should have noted it and seen if there was something they could have done to fix this before the passenger got on the aeroplane.
Many years ago in QF, being a full service carrier, there were seats held back that were used for this purpose and if at the end of a flight a couple were split seated, there was a procedure to pick someone with a vacant seat next to them, upgrade that person to the next class of travel and seat the couple together. If there wasn't, the couple were upgraded to the next class even if split seating prevailed because at least they were being given something in compensation.
Everybody thinks it's a simply equation but it isn't. Pre-seat most of the flight to try and avoid split seating and you run the risk of causing it because seats get held until the end for the people pre-seated, causing split seating. It's a balancing act to get the best result, usually depending on load, the percentage dictates what size groups get pre-seated, e.g. down to groups of three if the flight is 70% full, down to two if 80%, etc. etc. Believe me, people, very smart people, have looked at this problem for decades and there's no one-size-fits-all solution.