Why do we hold unreal expectations of Qantas??

[MEL_Traveller]

I think that Qantas actually still does have a strong customer focus, but they have quite rightly decided to make that focus on those pax that actually pay their way, literally and figuratively.

They are not a charity.

This is where we disagree. The non-status pax in premium economy and business class... who are far more profitable that an economy class pax on a red e-deal, get the complete raw prawn.

Economy class passengers flying on $100 red e-deals get first class lounge access, preferential seating, a shadow. A full-fare paying business class passenger gets relegated to the economy class lounge, in row 17 (international), with no choice left for the meal, and a two hour call centre wait time.

 

[levelnine]

I haven't been following this thread, but it is quite striking how poor the reputation of Qantas is.

See, for example, this thread on Twitter with hundreds of complaints from ordinary members of the public:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1181412290622410752

 

[RooFlyer]

They are not a charity.

Oh, I dunno. Pretty charitable to their CEO ... Charity begins at home?

 

[harvyk]

Economy class passengers flying on $100 red e-deals get first class lounge access, preferential seating, a shadow.

If a Y pax on a $100 red-e-deal has FLounge, one can guarantee that they have flown an awful lot or that you'd normally find them a little closer to the pointy end. (Or they got real lucky)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If a Y pax on a $100 red-e-deal has FLounge, one can guarantee that they have flown an awful lot or that you'd normally find them a little closer to the pointy end. (Or they got real lucky)

Not with all the double status credit promos going around... it’s a return trip once every couple of weeks. The profit on a red e-deal must be fairly slim... by the time you consider the catering, baggage handling and, importantly, free lounge membership.

 

[amaroo]

This is where we disagree. The non-status pax in premium economy and business class... who are far more profitable that an economy class pax on a red e-deal, get the complete raw prawn.

Economy class passengers flying on $100 red e-deals get first class lounge access, preferential seating, a shadow. A full-fare paying business class passenger gets relegated to the economy class lounge, in row 17 (international), with no choice left for the meal, and a two hour call centre wait time.

You better cross your fingers QF don't introduce the super-duper low bar of family pooling and only 800 SC for Platinum.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You better cross your fingers QF don't introduce the super-duper low bar of family pooling and only 800 SC for Platinum.

It doesn’t have to be a race to the bottom though? JAL gives PEY pax lounge access. If the QFi business class lounges were of a higher standard it wouldn’t be an issue. As it is, they have to cater for large numbers of potentially low revenue pax. That hurts the quality of the product offered, and discourages some pax from buying business class fares. I’ve mentioned before that I think business class pax should be entitled to F lounge access, which reflects the value of the ticket, especially TPAC.

 

[amaroo]

It doesn’t have to be a race to the bottom though? JAL gives PEY pax lounge access. If the QFi business class lounges were of a higher standard it wouldn’t be an issue. As it is, they have to cater for large numbers of potentially low revenue pax. That hurts the quality of the product offered, and discourages some pax from buying business class fares. I’ve mentioned before that I think business class pax should be entitled to F lounge access, which reflects the value of the ticket, especially TPAC.

QF's Holy Grail is the domestic business - everything is calibrated to feed that money making machine. The international business is only kept running so the executives can go on holidays

 

[bcworld]

Then you haven't had IRROPs in the US on AA.

My general experience with tickets issued by US carriers in the event of dealing with issues is that:

1. I can speak to someone within a reasonable timeframe
2. That someone is generally pretty knowledgeable / understands their own rules and T&Cs
3. They or their supervisor is empowered to provide solutions
4. They are receptive to solutions you put forward to fix issues

QF fails on all these fronts.

Granted, my situation is not IRROPS at the airport. The closest I've come is when QF delayed (28 hours), cancelled & ultimately downgraded me (J > Y) in SFO last year, provided zero assitance and then made me beg for the refund owed, partial reimbursent of expenses and a completely useless letter for travel insurance.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

QF's Holy Grail is the domestic business - everything is calibrated to feed that money making machine. The international business is only kept running so the executives can go on holidays

i’ll accept that

i guess i had unreasonable expectations. As per the title of the thread.

 

[harvyk]

Not with all the double status credit promos going around... it’s a return trip once every couple of weeks. The profit on a red e-deal must be fairly slim... by the time you consider the catering, baggage handling and, importantly, free lounge membership.

Yes even with DSC's, you actually need to fly a decent amount to get FLounge on a Y ticket.

Outside this group very few ppl understand about SC's and even fewer understands about maximizing their earn via loopholes and creative routing, which is why QF can afford to have so many DSC promos. It encourages ppl to book there and then, but the odds of the pax actually getting any real benefit (and thus QF having to pay out) is slim.

 

[harvyk]

QF's Holy Grail is the domestic business - everything is calibrated to feed that money making machine. The international business is only kept running so the executives can go on holidays

Personally I believe that QFi only exists these days because it props up QFF.

"Free flight from Sydney to London*" looks better than "Free flight from Sydney to Melbourne" on promo material encouraging ppl to sign up to QFF despite the fact the first one will probably never ever happen for the average customer.

 

[levelnine]

Personally I believe that QFi only exists these days because it props up QFF.

"Free flight from Sydney to London*" looks better than "Free flight from Sydney to Melbourne" on promo material encouraging ppl to sign up to QFF despite the fact the first one will probably never ever happen for the average customer.

There's a huge amount of truth to this.

Look at the travel sections of Whirlpool, OzBargain, Facebook, Twitter, etc etc.

They are absolutely packed with posts/comments/threads of people trying to use their 200,000 QFF points, which they have saved up over the last 5 years, to fly from Sydney to London in the July school holidays. All of them end up bitterly disappointed because they can't find reward availability, but the marketing con has worked for Qantas. They con people into signing up for a Qantas-earning credit card and directing their infrequent flight spend to Qantas in the hope of obtaining that elusive goal. When the goal turns out to be chimerical, they resign themselves to redeeming their points for a toaster, another win for Qantas.

 

[drron]

One of the problems is we all have different experiences.Mine with QF have seen me ditch QFF as my main program in 2007.We have not used QFi apart from NZ flights in 3 years.

Now QF used to do things well when their staff were able to make decisions.The best handling I have had with IRROPs was on Anzac day about 5 years ago.I was to fly home-DPO-MCY. however rain resulted in all DPO flights being cancelled.I got a call from QF who had booked me on a flight out of LST later that day.Now that got me to MEL.Problem was it was delayed and I missed the JQ flight to MCY.Went to the JQ and of course they were as useful as mammary glands on bulls.There was a woman there in tears who had missed her connection to BNE and was offered a flight 2 days later meaning she would miss her grandmother's funeral.So I asked her to come with me to the QF desk and see what we could do.
The QF agent was fantastic.Got us both on the last QF flight into BNE.Accepted our JQ tickets as full payment.Could not have been handled better.

Also my experience with AA on IRROPS has been great.Proactively re booked on alternative flights.US airways on the other hand was abysmal-fortunately no need for that service since Parker took over at AA.his standards are now AA standards.

Now many on here are down on BA.For the last 2-3 years we have been flying F with them and although they are no where near the best in the air my experiences have been positive.Only 1 FA I had difficulties with but that was because she couldn't understand my accent and I couldn't understand hers.

So although giving up on QFi domestically QF is fine apart from how much they want to charge for a J seat.

 

[mrsterryn]

Are many people on this thread leisure only travellers?
I just wonder if that makes a difference

On staff ,
Syd to HND usually get unenthused staff
(Business /premium economy)
SYD to LHR half and half of getting enthused staff , however when enthused just really really nice
(Business/first )
SYD to Hawaii , lovely staff (note on this flight I travel economy with a comfort ) up for a chat and a pleasure to travel
We have had delays up to 24 hours (that was a couple of years ago from New York to Sydney)
I think maybe I just ignore cranky staff nowadays ...perhaps
I have done the "important " flights for example first first class with husband ,amazing staff both at the airport and onboard , first first with son , again wonderful .
So as someone who is unlikely to have date critical flights those types of issues don't impact as much as people who do have date critical
My benchmark for a late issue was
Train to Budapest 4 hours late
Had to get off at 10 pm to a tiny little town to do next connection
Staff member on duty didn't speak English , another passenger and his wife also had to alight . He spoke French and the local language, his wife spoke French and English . Now that was difficult lol
Had to find accommodation and be back at the town station for 4 am . No booked sleeper and still about six hours to go
Also absolutely bucketing down with snow
No I don't have shares lol

 

[Limewood]

I really do like Qantas, travelled in every class past decade in J/F, found both of latter and PE twice seats comfortable and along with food and service no complaints, what has been bugging me for decades is the non existent J award seat availability past few years since dropping below Gold, yet spending many thousands PA on goods and services to get points, well finally this is being addressed, seeing more award seats internationally appear 6 months out, be it with more points, I do hope this continues. Another issue is speaking with customer service on phone one waits 20/30mins, come on Qantas you can do better.

 

[roomer]

What has stuck with me was how the crew reacted when my son developed a hitherto unknown pain coming home from an overseas trip. They were fantastic, getting assistance from a doctor passenger, right down to organising an ambulance , keeping tabs on our luggage and rescheduling our domestic flights home. I tell you, having a knowledgeable Aussie crew with a familiar accent was very reassuring in those conditions . When something like that happens it’s a real comfort to have people like that about! (And I’m sure if I was Chinese and had a similar problem, I would appreciate being able to have my fellow countrymen around supporting me, - in case I ruffled the feathers of the PC brigade). So yes I believe they do market themselves as
a caring Aussie airline because to us because they easily demonstrated that. ( and the same caringness was displayed when on another trip, our plane was rescheduled due to mech problems)

 

[lonewolf]

I used to be a big fan of Qantas, now not so much, I dont hate them or think they are the worst as my experience the North American airlines are terrible. The Asian and middle eastern Airlines are the best and Qantas / BA is somewhere in the middle. My issues with them is a lot of times in economy, i get to experience old cranky FAs, not always and recently i havent. I also dont like that they were one of the first of all the non budget airlines that i fly that introduced fees to select a seat and they were pricey fees at that.

I dont like how the CEO gets involved in commentary of politics / Professional athletes and due to him taking a personal offence at the aforementioned commentary then threatens to withhold Qantas sponsorship if actions arent taken against the athlete.

A few years ago when Qantas was in financial trouble, Qantas was compared to other Airlines of a similar size and stature and why were those other Airlines far more profitable or financially stable and the answer came down to how much the CEO and management in Qantas gets paid compared to all the other Airlines compared.

I find their food and entertainment systems are usually in the mid range area, not the best and not the worst. They are usually abit pricier than a lot of other airlines but i understand there are extra costs due to higher wages etc.

Those are some of the reasons why i am not as big a fan of qantas as i once was. I dont hate them and i still fly them or would try to fly them if fares were similar to other airlines etc but if i had to choose between them and a middle eastern or most asian airlines, i probably would pick the latter over the former.

 

[ozmille]

Yes even with DSC's, you actually need to fly a decent amount to get FLounge on a Y ticket.

Outside this group very few ppl understand about SC's and even fewer understands about maximizing their earn via loopholes and creative routing, which is why QF can afford to have so many DSC promos. It encourages ppl to book there and then, but the odds of the pax actually getting any real benefit (and thus QF having to pay out) is slim.

about 35 returns SYD MEL so still at least 7k spend and that is if you can find AUD200 returns which I find very hard, cheap weekend trips are usually about AUD350 return so that makes it a 12k spend with QF on DSC

 

[OATEK]

What has stuck with me was how the crew reacted when my son developed a hitherto unknown pain coming home from an overseas trip. They were fantastic, getting assistance from a doctor passenger, right down to organising an ambulance , keeping tabs on our luggage and rescheduling our domestic flights home. I tell you, having a knowledgeable Aussie crew with a familiar accent was very reassuring in those conditions . When something like that happens it’s a real comfort to have people like that about! (And I’m sure if I was Chinese and had a similar problem, I would appreciate being able to have my fellow countrymen around supporting me, - in case I ruffled the feathers of the PC brigade). So yes I believe they do market themselves as
a caring Aussie airline because to us because they easily demonstrated that. ( and the same caringness was displayed when on another trip, our plane was rescheduled due to mech problems)

That is a great story, and demonstrates that QF can get it very right at times, particularly in an emergency.

But others, including me, can tell stories about non-existent service in more straight-forward situations. Only enough meals for 2/3rds the pax in J on domestic flights, and the great search for a cheese platter as an alternative. Running out of the main options in upstairs J on QFi 747, and being totally un-interested in checking f something decent available downstairs.

If they can do the hard stuff well, why can;t they do the easier stuff half as well?