Qantas Platinum One experiences?

[aus_flyer]

To all the newly-minted Platinum One frequent flyers out there... I'm curious to hear... what's been your experience so far?

Anything different?

Free upgrades?

... or all hype?

 

[nutwood]

I don't think CL membership should be discussed in conjunction with frequent flyer status levels - it is entirely a different area of QF strategy.

As for DSC and attaining P1, I think we need to really consider what it costs QF extra to have a member at P1 rather than just WP. (I don't think any P1 would fail to attain WP without DSC).

WP's have the same access to lounges, same luggage, etc etc. Apart from the yearly bottle of champas, is there any other true and direct extra cost to QF?

I have long held the belief that the principal service that P1 gets you is the SST - and if you are not travelling enough to gain P1 without DSC, then you are also probably not much of a burden on the SST.

It is a massive leap in qualifying SC to get from WP to P1. Especially due to the earn-on-QF requirement. I suspect the masses of people who make the big jump from SG to WP based on DSC offers and status runs on other airlines are a far bigger concern for QF. And even those capers are not worrying them - hence they remain available.

I would have to agree. It's a simple matter of doing the sums. DSC's are not going to help someone leap from WP to P1, unless they are well on the way already. The gap is too big. The next step down is a totally different matter. 600 SC's to retain SG, 1400 to attain WP? Depending on the predictability of future travel, not such a difficult gulf to cross with the help of DSC's and perhaps a status run.

 

[RichardMEL]

I would have to agree. It's a simple matter of doing the sums. DSC's are not going to help someone leap from WP to P1, unless they are well on the way already. The gap is too big. The next step down is a totally different matter. 600 SC's to retain SG, 1400 to attain WP? Depending on the predictability of future travel, not such a difficult gulf to cross with the help of DSC's and perhaps a status run.

Don't be so sure.

I'm looking at a situation where I could make P1 yet, ironically, only barely making 2000 QF/JQ SC's (ie the 4th loyalty bonus) .....

 

[kermatu]

Unequivocally one of my P1 years was only because of DSCs and additional bookings to take advantage. I suspect one other year benefited significantly from DSCs - I don't track SCs too closely any more and have stopped the chasing game.

 

[Rikster71]

Well i'm sitting at 3,100 SCs and have until June 30, so i think I might be safe this year, but cant really see the point in chasing even if I wasn't, I would be more than happy to enjoy the benefits of lifetime gold and fly very little as opposed to chasing WP or P1. Family time v Plane time = easy choice.

 

[nutwood]

Don't be so sure.

I'm looking at a situation where I could make P1 yet, ironically, only barely making 2000 QF/JQ SC's (ie the 4th loyalty bonus) .....

I would say that, compared with the SG/WP leap, your position would be unusual and represents some quite adroit use of DSC's. Depending how they were earned, 2000 SC's is still a lot of flying. If it were mainly domestic, you'd have to be defined as a solid Qantas customer.

 

[RooFlyer]

, 2000 SC's is still a lot of flying

.... or a judiciously planned DONE4 with DSCs for the outbound and inbound QF legs.

 

[RichardMEL]

I would say that, compared with the SG/WP leap, your position would be unusual and represents some quite adroit use of DSC's. Depending how they were earned, 2000 SC's is still a lot of flying. If it were mainly domestic, you'd have to be defined as a solid Qantas customer.

it it was mostly domestic it would be a heck of a lot of paid J I would imagine.

While I do a bit of dom, the majority is from sale J, and this year one sale F fare. Yes, DSC's def help.

The irony is I may well do an AY sale fare which may earn another 600-800ish SC's which I actually won't need (obviously very few of those on QF metal, but still there is that 900 SC "other airline SC" earn part for P1). I'd almost prefer that trip to be on Star partners to earn over there! However the AY sales are usually too good to turn back, specially going through HKG oN CX

 

[juddles]

Hi all, just wanting to share today's experience that is, on the balance, quite negative.

Three months ago I booked flights for my family from BNE to CBR. In business. This is to accompany my eldest child in her move to Canberra to go to uni. I wanted to make the trip the best possible, hence the excess of a domestic leg in J I secured all of row 1 - perfect for a party of 4, and an excellent special "surprise" or whatever for my family to make this trip the best. I had checked that seat selection had stuck, many many times. Right through to online checkin.

But after an hour in the J lounge, enjoying, there were no calls, but the screens showed everything perfect, so we went down to the gate. Upon getting there I saw that no physical aircraft was present, and noticed people starting to gather at the gate desk. I joined the queue, and sure enough discovered that the flight had been cancelled. No reason ever given. But they had boarding passes ready for everyone on the next flight.

In the realms of travel this was not as bad as it could have been - effectively meant we got swapped to a flight an hour or two later. But this still buggerred many plans. We lost our row 1. We got split up between all three J rows. My youngest was placed by herself, something she was very unkeen on. As I boarded I said to the staff that I wanted at least my daughters together. They were not, at that point, exactly "helpful".

One daughter was in 1F, window seat in the front row. The other was in 2F. So when Mr 2D boarded I asked him if he would mind swapping and change to 1F. He agreed, but wanted for staff to allow this. As the flight closed the CSM (cabin manager as they seem to refer to themselves) eventually came back and approached Mr 2D and the swap was agreed to.

During the rest of the flight the CSM was extremely nice to us. Very different to the initial feeling. She even addressed me by first name constantly, which is a request I had put into the P1 team some years ago. Maybe they do actually keep that info, if someone bothers to read it

All in all, it was a win/fail experience. My original flight was cancelled, our seat selections disappeared, and my family was split up. And not a word, not an email/call/message form the SST. For the record, I am P1, my wife WP, my eldest WP also, and the youngest Bronze.

I cannot help but perceive the flight cancellation as simply a planned economic manouvre to blend two under-full flights.

No intervention or communication from the SST.

 

[calmelb]

Hi all, just wanting to share today's experience that is, on the balance, quite negative.

Three months ago I booked flights for my family from BNE to CBR. In business. This is to accompany my eldest child in her move to Canberra to go to uni. I wanted to make the trip the best possible, hence the excess of a domestic leg in J I secured all of row 1 - perfect for a party of 4, and an excellent special "surprise" or whatever for my family to make this trip the best. I had checked that seat selection had stuck, many many times. Right through to online checkin.

But after an hour in the J lounge, enjoying, there were no calls, but the screens showed everything perfect, so we went down to the gate. Upon getting there I saw that no physical aircraft was present, and noticed people starting to gather at the gate desk. I joined the queue, and sure enough discovered that the flight had been cancelled. No reason ever given. But they had boarding passes ready for everyone on the next flight.

In the realms of travel this was not as bad as it could have been - effectively meant we got swapped to a flight an hour or two later. But this still buggerred many plans. We lost our row 1. We got split up between all three J rows. My youngest was placed by herself, something she was very unkeen on. As I boarded I said to the staff that I wanted at least my daughters together. They were not, at that point, exactly "helpful".

One daughter was in 1F, window seat in the front row. The other was in 2F. So when Mr 2D boarded I asked him if he would mind swapping and change to 1F. He agreed, but wanted for staff to allow this. As the flight closed the CSM (cabin manager as they seem to refer to themselves) eventually came back and approached Mr 2D and the swap was agreed to.

During the rest of the flight the CSM was extremely nice to us. Very different to the initial feeling. She even addressed me by first name constantly, which is a request I had put into the P1 team some years ago. Maybe they do actually keep that info, if someone bothers to read it

All in all, it was a win/fail experience. My original flight was cancelled, our seat selections disappeared, and my family was split up. And not a word, not an email/call/message form the SST. For the record, I am P1, my wife WP, my eldest WP also, and the youngest Bronze.

I cannot help but perceive the flight cancellation as simply a planned economic manouvre to blend two under-full flights.

No intervention or communication from the SST.

That is a shame to hear about that. Glad that the CSM was good. I was told when I first got P1 that they don’t look at domestic flights and only look at your international flights. Plus QF and VA love to reduce all the flights into Canberra massively so.

On a side note I hope the move for your daughter went well!

 

[RichardMEL]

Disappointing no notification from either QF via text, APP or SST.

Also glad the pax in 2D was happy to swap. If it had been me I would have without question and further wouldn't have waited for the CSM. I would have just said at some point, when it was obvious that I wasn't "Miss/Mrs X" on the manifest "Oh I swapped with the young lady so she could sit with her sister". no issue. Each to their own though.

I'm glad it worked out, kind of, in the end.

 

[nutwood]

Hi all, just wanting to share today's experience that is, on the balance, quite negative.

Three months ago I booked flights for my family from BNE to CBR. In business. This is to accompany my eldest child in her move to Canberra to go to uni. I wanted to make the trip the best possible, hence the excess of a domestic leg in J I secured all of row 1 - perfect for a party of 4, and an excellent special "surprise" or whatever for my family to make this trip the best. I had checked that seat selection had stuck, many many times. Right through to online checkin.

But after an hour in the J lounge, enjoying, there were no calls, but the screens showed everything perfect, so we went down to the gate. Upon getting there I saw that no physical aircraft was present, and noticed people starting to gather at the gate desk. I joined the queue, and sure enough discovered that the flight had been cancelled. No reason ever given. But they had boarding passes ready for everyone on the next flight.

In the realms of travel this was not as bad as it could have been - effectively meant we got swapped to a flight an hour or two later. But this still buggerred many plans. We lost our row 1. We got split up between all three J rows. My youngest was placed by herself, something she was very unkeen on. As I boarded I said to the staff that I wanted at least my daughters together. They were not, at that point, exactly "helpful".

One daughter was in 1F, window seat in the front row. The other was in 2F. So when Mr 2D boarded I asked him if he would mind swapping and change to 1F. He agreed, but wanted for staff to allow this. As the flight closed the CSM (cabin manager as they seem to refer to themselves) eventually came back and approached Mr 2D and the swap was agreed to.

During the rest of the flight the CSM was extremely nice to us. Very different to the initial feeling. She even addressed me by first name constantly, which is a request I had put into the P1 team some years ago. Maybe they do actually keep that info, if someone bothers to read it

All in all, it was a win/fail experience. My original flight was cancelled, our seat selections disappeared, and my family was split up. And not a word, not an email/call/message form the SST. For the record, I am P1, my wife WP, my eldest WP also, and the youngest Bronze.

I cannot help but perceive the flight cancellation as simply a planned economic manouvre to blend two under-full flights.

No intervention or communication from the SST.

I'd be wary of the assumption that cancellations have economic motivations. The nature of the business is that planes have to be at the right place at the right time. If passengers have their flights cancelled, there's costs. I was recently not on an evening Mel / Lst flight. 40 passengers at the Park Royal @ $200 ea. The corresponding flight from Launceston also cancelled. Whole bunch of people stuck in Launceston, some with international connections. I really can't see any economic motivation to cancel flights, unless you're a LCC who takes no responsibility. Qantas get it wrong sometimes but in my observations, they try their best for the pax stranded by cancellations, which in most cases would be more expensive than simply running the scheduled flights. Bearing in mind that cancelled flights, also strand the crew.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Hi all, just wanting to share today's experience that is, on the balance, quite negative.

Three months ago I booked flights for my family from BNE to CBR. In business..........<snip>

I cannot help but perceive the flight cancellation as simply a planned economic manouvre to blend two under-full flights.

No intervention or communication from the SST.

Really sad to read your story. It may seem like a small thing..... and that's exactly why it matters the most.

From an IT perspective - assuming the same aircraft type was used on your new flight; why couldn't the seat map be replicated on the new flight? Or, was it, and then folks asked to be moved and you were shifted around? Splitting up a family is a big red no-no IMO.

Putting on my airline hat - your FF status would mean virtually zero in the described case. The system does its thing to reallocate new seat assignments and yours came out as the mess you describe. Manual work to put it back to what it should have been.

Platinum One could be so much better. They have the ability to create a magical status tier, but, my guess is the team who originally created Platinum One is no longer in the same role/with Qantas. The strategic vision has likely been diluted down, and the knowledge-transfer internally like most airlines (virtually non-existent). With a focus on revenue-revenue-revenue, and Platinum Ones continuing to blindly fly Qantas - why bother to improve it?

At this point, the best way to have P1 improved is probably to stop flying Qantas.
Feedback is rarely effective, but a drop in spend sends clear signals.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

From an IT perspective - assuming the same aircraft type was used on your new flight; why couldn't the seat map be replicated on the new flight? Or, was it, and then folks asked to be moved and you were shifted around? Splitting up a family is a big red no-no IMO.

There would have been people booked in row one on the existing flight that juddles and family were moved to, and presumably no completely empty rows in J.

 

[amaroo]

I’d look on the bright side. It was fortunate there was sufficient available J seats in the 2nd tube... those already booked on that flight hold the upper hand IMO.

 

[kermatu]

And lucky that replacement flights to/from CBR even have a J cabin at all.
Many failures. I'm not surprised at the lack of SST intervention. But lack of announcement in the lounge and making everyone go to the gate and back (presumably) is quite pathetic.

 

[calmelb]

And lucky that replacement flights to/from CBR even have a J cabin at all.
Many failures. I'm not surprised at the lack of SST intervention. But lack of announcement in the lounge and making everyone go to the gate and back (presumably) is quite pathetic.

All the flights bar the dash 8’s (which are usually the first to be cancelled anyway) have a J cabin

 

[kermatu]

All the flights bar the dash 8’s (which are usually the first to be cancelled anyway) have a J cabin

I've been on all Y 717s out of CBR many times.

 

[calmelb]

I've been on all Y 717s out of CBR many times.

Hmm. I’ve personally never seen them, both in person and looking at flight loading. Wouldn’t be surprised if they have been moved

 

[kermatu]

Hmm. I’ve personally never seen them, both in person and looking at flight loading. Wouldn’t be surprised if they have been moved

I've had them to or from SYD, BNE and MEL. They are also often the 'replacement' flights in my experience in years past, when others are cancelled or gone tech. Also used to service a sudden spike in demand such as when a PM decides to have a major meeting in another city with two days' notice...

 

[juddles]

This is an experience I put down to just that - experience. It shows that nothing is guaranteed no matter how hard you try - and I tried hard!!

I rarely travel much domestic other than connections to an international departure point, solo. So this was a big learning experience for me. My concern on a flight to Canberra was that some CL bigwig would try to squeeze us out of row 1. As a family we have had the fortune to do some quality international travelling, much reduced lately, so just being in the whole front row meant a lot to me. So I monitored everything with QF and expertflyer. I never thought that the entire flight would be cancelled.

As I said, the delay to the new flight was not long, but when you travel heaps (as all P1's do) it is the small things that start to count. You suffer an expectation that is bigger.

If the SST only monitors international travel, I get that. They have finite resources, and travelling international is a whole different kettle of fish. The SST has saved me on international bloopers that made me love them.

And the staff aboard did a great job. It was a win/fail.

Besides the travel stuff, this is the first time I have been in canberra since a kid, and I actually am loving the experience!!