Banned from QF (for a few months)

[juddles]

Dang! I travel and stay off AFF for a mere 24 hrs and all this happens!

I am tired, so just skim-read the thread, but it was, if nothing else, a dose of spice. Actually red-hot chilli peppers, which I do enjoy. I have laughed very hard - many excellent posts, both by the OP and the rest!

Before anything else, the one thing that dismays me is that we have not learnt the technicalities / details of the suspension. Despite a lifetime of travel and many years on this forum, I have not had the opportunity to witness nor understand these said details.

I am on my own path of finding Zen in this travelling world, and in such spirit I offer the following: (to the OP - Hmmmmmm)

International travel is not natural. It takes an enormous toll on our bodies and minds. To "go ballistic" can be triggered by a minor thing - it does not require one to be pissed or similar. So even the best person, the most calmest, can reach a point that the camel's back is broken. The rusty wire which holds the cork that keeps the anger in finally lets go. I am sensing you reached this point. When that happens to you, one can find oneself lashing out even at the innocent. This does not speak evil about YOU, it is the system that broke you.

There is no easy fix to this. I personally find withdrawal a good option - time to gather and order one's thoughts, and to let the rest of the world get carried away with some other focus. I advise this, right now.

 

[love_the_life]

Dang! I travel and stay off AFF for a mere 24 hrs and all this happens!

I am tired, so just skim-read the thread, but it was, if nothing else, a dose of spice. Actually red-hot chilli peppers, which I do enjoy. I have laughed very hard - many excellent posts, both by the OP and the rest!

Before anything else, the one thing that dismays me is that we have not learnt the technicalities / details of the suspension. Despite a lifetime of travel and many years on this forum, I have not had the opportunity to witness nor understand these said details.

I am on my own path of finding Zen in this travelling world, and in such spirit I offer the following: (to the OP - Hmmmmmm)

International travel is not natural. It takes an enormous toll on our bodies and minds. To "go ballistic" can be triggered by a minor thing - it does not require one to be pissed or similar. So even the best person, the most calmest, can reach a point that the camel's back is broken. The rusty wire which holds the cork that keeps the anger in finally lets go. I am sensing you reached this point. When that happens to you, one can find oneself lashing out even at the innocent. This does not speak evil about YOU, it is the system that broke you.

There is no easy fix to this. I personally find withdrawal a good option - time to gather and order one's thoughts, and to let the rest of the world get carried away with some other focus. I advise this, right now.

Boy, Juddles, you weren't joking when you said you'd gone all Zen!

 

[ozjuice]

Well after reading this thread with a completely impartial viewpoint I have to say I think the OP has had a rather hard time for expressing their opinion and sharing their experiences. whether those are shared or agreed with it has been a bit of a bashing. Surely we can use a forum to express ourselves without gang mentallity rearing it's ugly head. My 2 cents....I'll run now!

 

[Pushka]

Well after reading this thread with a completely impartial viewpoint I have to say I think the OP has had a rather hard time for expressing their opinion and sharing their experiences. whether those are shared or agreed with it has been a bit of a bashing. Surely we can use a forum to express ourselves without gang mentallity rearing it's ugly head. My 2 cents....I'll run now!

It’s kind of funny when I read your post because maybe the OP has received in a similar vein the same kind of treatment he served up to the Qantas people in Singapore. But additionally OP threw plenty back at the comments of the AFF’ers.

 

[ozjuice]

It’s kind of funny when I read your post because maybe the OP has received in a similar vein the same kind of treatment he served up to the Qantas people in Singapore. But additionally OP threw plenty back at the comments of the AFF’ers.

Haha...well not quite the same thing but I get your point.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

I am on my own path of finding Zen in this travelling world, and in such spirit I offer the following: (to the OP - Hmmmmmm)

"finding Zen" and "spirit" in the same sentence. Coincidence?

 

[GoldCanyon340]

One thing's for sure with this thread: the allegation of recording the safety demo sure got less important very quickly.

 

[PJF]

One thing's for sure with this thread: the allegation of recording the safety demo sure got less important very quickly.

One things for sure if you post a thread like this with AFFers then a tune up is coming your way.

 

[RichardMEL]

For me personally I have absolute empathy with the frustration of having an unrequested/wanted seat change and a passing of the buck mentality amongst apparent partners leading to a situation in SIN of probably feeling out of control of the situation and at one's wits end after 20 hours (or whatever) of travel from europe. Absolutely. Specially when you get given the "We didn't do it... seat is taken.. sorry nothing we can do" type message from the staff.... I think many of us have been in similar situations.. be it about seats, or bags, or cancellations/delays or whathaveyou that we've all experienced at one time or another (and probably multiple times).

I think we can all relate and support that.

I feel though where we as individuals will "jump on" is when something's obviously out of whack. Whatever the OP did/said/manner used with the staff it MUST have been pretty strong to be denied boarding. Most reasonable folks would not get to this point over a seat. Yes, I know the OP's defence is that it was the straw that broke the camels back and all..

we've all seen the entitled types throwing tantriums in check in lines/lounges/gates and I can't speak for anyone else but I get annoyed and think it's stupid and won't HELP resolve the situation (as the OP found out the hard way it seems). For me I don't have a lot of time for people behaving like this. Yes, travel is stressful.. moreso after 20 hours from Europe, landing in SIN and being told nope by staff.. but as a well known Melbourne sports journo liked to say a few years back "Don't shoot the messenger" ... and it sounds like the OP put on quite the performance. Being petulant and stamping one's foot more or less and saying "I don't wanna.." isn't going to go down too well with most people.

I'm not a fan of jumping on the bandwagon or anything like that.. just calling it as I read it.

 

[Buzzard]

Gee, talk about an entertaining thread.

 

[JohnK]

There is a time and a way to pick a fight that doesn't involve being denied carriage, and generally involves diplomacy/flattery etc. Some are better at it than others. I have been in the same situation as the OP to find that seats have been moved, and lied to about it. Was I able to get the change reversed without being offloaded, yes indeed I was.

When is the right to fight?

When I choose 2 aisles on 2 separate bookings for myself and wife and daughter and some helpful person thinks we really need to sit next to each other. Lounge reception looks at me and shrugs shoulders.

"Who did it?". "Don't know".
"Why would they do it without asking my permission?". "Don't know".
"Can you please put us back in the 2 aisles?". "Can't do that as someone has been allocated that seat".
"What just like it I allocated that seat weeks ago? Thanks for nothing".

No point sending email to get standard response "Sorry we didn't meet your expectations this time".

Or what about the time check-in moved me from 4D to 28-something when j had daughter with me. That's the best seat you can give me? Lounge managed to improve back up front somewhere but the damage was already done.

When should I fight?

 

[Pushka]

When is the right to fight?

When I choose 2 aisles on 2 separate bookings for myself and wife and daughter and some helpful person thinks we really need to sit next to each other. Lounge reception looks at me and shrugs shoulders.

"Who did it?". "Don't know".
"Why would they do it without asking my permission?". "Don't know".
"Can you please put us back in the 2 aisles?". "Can't do that as someone has been allocated that seat".
"What just like it I allocated that seat weeks ago? Thanks for nothing".

No point sending email to get standard response "Sorry we didn't meet your expectations this time".

Or what about the time check-in moved me from 4D to 28-something when j had daughter with me. That's the best seat you can give me? Lounge managed to improve back up front somewhere but the damage was already done.

When should I fight?

We were queried many times why we weren’t seated together last trip. I really don’t like the middle two seats and J is such an indulgence that I select the solo window seat wherever possible. Yet on the flight that was cancelled and rebooked into the 380 we were put at opposite sides and end of the plane and no one queried it.

Sometimes they use the excuse ‘seat you together’ but when I checked our new seats we were on opposite sides of the plane and bulkhead which I hate. Got that sorted quick smart. Seats had been selected months earlier.

 

[drron]

Thing is it happens on QF more than other airlines we fly.And always the answer is sorry but that seat is now allocated to someone else.Even JQ has your seating choice sticking more frequently than QF.

 

[RichardMEL]

When should I fight?

As noted earlier... there's a way to do it. Fight is strong and emotive words.. Be assertive by all means, but also being civil and polite to the people whoose job it is is to try and help you. Note I am not implying you (John) are not in any way anything but polite when dealing with staff more in the context of the OP's admitted petulence to the staff.

In the instances you cite there can be numbers of reasons for the changes.. and when you appear to the staff in a lounge or check in, who almost certainly were not involved personally in whatever occured to make the change (be it a/c swap messing up the seat alllocations, or a "helpful" person thinking families might like to sit together - which isn't unreasonable I would think - even if unappreciated) it's all about understanding this thing has happened you don't like and working to resolve it to at least some form of satisfaction.

By the way I absolutely agree that in the case of possibly being moved from selected seats because someone may have thought you should all be together I feel yes, should have been asked.. if one selected those seats it would have been for a specific reason and absolutely to ask first. Of course, the reallocation may have also happened in the context of a family who *did* want to sit together or something and trying to make everyone happy.. who knows. So yes I agree with your comments and that the damage being done by the changes, weather via manual intevention, or system one (say a change from a 737 to a 330 might change 4D to 28F or whatever) sometimes these things aren't always practical...

and again, there's being assertive, which is fine, when done politely and respectfully and being agressive.. and one can only assume the OP, who admitted to being fed up, probably quite tired after CPH-LHR-SIN, likely was agressive, specially when saying they would refuse to fly in the seat.

I don't think anyone would be saying you should not try and get issues resolved on the spot.. it's all about how one goes about it.

 

[mannej]

When is the right to fight?

That isn't the argument - it is the manner in which you approach the issue which is the vital issue.

 

[RichardMEL]

Thing is it happens on QF more than other airlines we fly.And always the answer is sorry but that seat is now allocated to someone else.Even JQ has your seating choice sticking more frequently than QF.

Honestly I can't recall the last time I have had a seat allocation change for any reason with QF (or any other major airline really). Oh, I think the last time on QF was a 1A changed to 1K because 1A had a mechanical issue.. can't have an issue with that. Earlier this year SQ were polite enough to ask me if I would move from the seat I had selected so a couple could have the double bed suite (my evil plan to try and snag it for me did not work out lol). That's the way it should be handled, and SQ were lovely about it (as you'd hope for an F pax).

Maybe it's because I fly solo 99.9% of the time I just don't experience these things. I accept it happens obviously but I just can't say I'e experienced it much, if at all, myself.

 

[mrsterryn]

.
I made my displeasure absolutely clear, and to cut a long story short, I was deemed unfit for travel, and then temporarily banned by QF SECURITY, whilst they investigated my ‘behaviour’ in the lounge.

Having worked for many years (now retired) for a much loathed federal government department I have had quite significant experience with annoyed customers either as a staff member or on behalf of my staff.

Many of these customers have 'reached the end of their tether ' and have taken their frustrations out on the frontline staff. However staff need to feel safe in their working environment. So a responsible employer, depending on severity of the situation, must act .

Perhaps even if you OP didn't feel it was all that bad it appears to have presented like that to those staff.
For my staff to request a ban was major issue . It was not an lightly taken situation. I would doubt it is easily taken at an international lounge either.
Another issue is that once perception is so anti a particular organisation , whether justified or not , it is likely all subsequent actions by that organisation will be tainted whether they be good, bad or indifferent.

It sounds like a positive move for you to leave Qantas. As you say you still have LTG which means many benefits are yours with One world members

 

[ozjuice]

Did i miss the part where the OP attacked anyone? I tried to re-read the thread but all i see is an angry reaction. Maybe too angry..i wasn't there. Neither were the rest of you. But the posts have turned as is you were all there getting a jolly good beating. What did i miss?

 

[Pushka]

Honestly I can't recall the last time I have had a seat allocation change for any reason with QF (or any other major airline really). Oh, I think the last time on QF was a 1A changed to 1K because 1A had a mechanical issue.. can't have an issue with that. Earlier this year SQ were polite enough to ask me if I would move from the seat I had selected so a couple could have the double bed suite (my evil plan to try and snag it for me did not work out lol). That's the way it should be handled, and SQ were lovely about it (as you'd hope for an F pax).

Maybe it's because I fly solo 99.9% of the time I just don't experience these things. I accept it happens obviously but I just can't say I'e experienced it much, if at all, myself.

It’s happened a few times with us.

 

[JohnK]

That isn't the argument - it is the manner in which you approach the issue which is the vital issue.

Not all of us are experts in how to deal with issues. Assertive is fine but if that gets you nowhere does one give up and walk away?

I generally get my way but don't push too much unless I know I will be uncomfortable which thankfully doesn't happen very often.