Where is the warm welcome ? Qantas Domestic Lounge.

[Max Samuels]

You interrupted their casual gossip session... god forbid they actually have to do their jobs....
In my experience, the very worst lounge agents in the whole world have been QF ones.... sure, they have plenty of great ones too, but the worst of the worst - the ones that actually make me want to leave the lounge and sit in a corona-infected public bar, all come from Qantas...

 

[ALH]

Be friendly, have a chat every now and then with them and soon enough you’ll walk straight in without needing BP or card.

Totally agree. The lovely Katrina at BNE Domestic has a big smile and time for a chat. We always get a great welcome.

 

[Max Samuels]

Qantas also like to extend the rude service to their flights, even in business class.

Shhhhhhhhhh.... you will upset the die-hard fanboys (and girls?).
Speaking ill of QF on this forum, it seems to me , is on par with drawing a likeness of the prophet-that-cannot-be-named... QF can commit a litany sins and the apologists will have an excuse....

Bad customer service? "The main job is safety - leave them alone"!

 

[drron]

MEL though has a problem.travelling with my BA gold I would often be shown the QP when entering the J lounge.Better now that they only have the OWE symbol on the BP.
So are Victorians the masters of the try on?

 

[Kangol]

Been there done that.

They see a parade of people "trying it on".

I first had lounge access in 1994 and have seen it all, including been treated like the OP on a couple of occasions.

I learned within a few years it simply smoothed things to make it easier for all.

So with the situation of multiple BP I make a points of putting the lounge access eligible BPs in top.

Agreed, it makes no sense to choose to put an ineligible boarding pass on top.
Intention is irrelevant, it does not change the outcome.
You may as well have handed them a used tissue.
At least the OP knows not to make the same mistake again.

 

[RichardMEL]

Frankly IMO the OP made it so much more difficult for themselves by putting the Silver BP on top. I am sure that was hardly thought of or done on purpose of course but if that is what the agent sees first they will query it. We the entitled are very used to walking in and it's not an issue... but we're not there for hours watching people trying it on, or just honestly confused or not sure. Not defending QF per se because yes some of the staff can be difficult at times, but if the Gold BP was presented first I am sure that would not have been any kind of issue.

A mate of mine sometimes works the MEL entry and I was chatting with him once and saw a few trying it on. Just sayiin'

I also echo the positive comments about the BNE lounges staff.. I've been lucky enough to experience every BNE domestic lounge from the QP to the CL (!) and all of them have been so welcoming and lovely. The staff often go above and beyond.

 

[muppet]

I take it from many of the comments, as a customer, as long as you make one minor error (wrong boarding pass on top) you deserve to be treated rudely .... wow.

What if underneath was a CL about to renegotiate her company’s contract with Qantas ... good work lounge staff.

 

[RichardMEL]

I take it from many of the comments, as a customer, as long as you make one minor error (wrong boarding pass on top) you deserve to be treated rudely .... wow.

Hold on. None of us were there. We have the OP's commentary about being asked "who the member was" - which is absolutely reasonable in the situation. People's tones, and the way they can be taken is very subjective and based on any number of things. Were they being rude? Possibly. The OP obviously thinks so, because she felt afronted.

There's other context that we are not aware of - how busy was it for example.

If it had been me and I saw I'd done that I would have gotten it and not taken it so personally.

And by the way it is not like they were refused access. The question was asked which is reasonable. It probably could have been rephrased no doubt but goodness me.. seems a bit of a storm in a teacup to me.

What if underneath was a CL about to renegotiate her company’s contract with Qantas ... good work lounge staff.

Not entirely sure how relevant this is as a) CL's have their own entrance (specially at MEL and SYD) and many of the CL staff know their people but even at somewhere like BNE Premium Entry, the CL on the BP (if their face was not known anyway) would not cause any issue.

 

[muppet]

...Not entirely sure how relevant this is as a) CL's have their own entrance (specially at MEL and SYD) and many of the CL staff know their people but even at somewhere like BNE Premium Entry, the CL on the BP (if their face was not known anyway) would not cause any issue.

My point was only that you don’t know the outcomes of being rude to someone you think doesn’t matter.

 

[FrustratedQP]

When your core responsibility is to establish whether access is permitted or otherwise, how hard is it to examine all boarding passes presented before making comment? Let’s face it, that’s their job. I’m sure there’s an expectation by their employer that they do their job with a certain focus on customer service. Taking the OP’s post on face value, this example is just not good enough.

 

[justinbrett]

To be honest, I take no offensive at all being carded to a lounge. You know what, I think I prefer it. If you get waved through (and not know the person), that says to me they just let anybody through and all the effort I go to maintaining status doesn't really matter.

If I got waved through and then couldn't find a seat, I'm sure I'd think to myself "how many people don't belong here?".

I'm a bit concerned how many people here say they get waved through - I'm hoping that's because they're recognised.

If the quote of the OP was word for word, I wouldn't consider that rude.

 

[DC3]

I take it from many of the comments, as a customer, as long as you make one minor error (wrong boarding pass on top) you deserve to be treated rudely ....

Waiting for RooFlyer to enter the room ...

 

[Tropic]

Not waiting, I'm gone....

 

[Aeolus]

On the reverse, I’ve witnessed someone rudely waving their BP at the lounge staff and in a loud argumentative tone, insisted to be let into the dom J lounge in Melbourne because she just made WP from the flight she just transited from (BP clearly stated Gold). I feel for the lounge staff who had to deal with such people day in day out. It’s really a no win situation. Too nice and lenient and they get in trouble with their supervisors for not doing their jobs well. Too stern and they risk receiving written complaints about them.

 

[auspal]

I can assure everyone who thinks that I " may " have been rude, it was far from the opposite. We are a retired couple who had been visiting our new grandchild in Melbourne. We were happy and delighted at having the privilege to access the lounge. I handed over both boarding passes as I was under the false assumption that they needed to be scanned. It wasn't busy and the two ladies were standing at the door chatting.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

The QF staff can treat you how they want...it's not like you're going to turn around in a huff and use one of the many other lounge options!

Being the preferred domestic carrier in a duopoly is a drag don't you know?

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Some of the hyperbole on this thread borders on the hilarious.

One interaction lasting a few seconds elicits statements to the effect that anyone reading this would think QF has the worst customer service of any/most airline(s). I am not attempting to retcon OP's experience in any way but what seems to have occurred is an unexpected, possibly unprofessional, conversation arose from one BP placed over another in the incorrect order. This has morphed to QF having the worst agents in the world, which is palpably false.

QF has hundreds of thousands of front-line customer touchpoints every DAY. To expect any company with that volume of interaction to have a 100 per cent success rate is nonsensical; something slightly off, whether real or perceived, is going to happen and it's a pity when it happens to you but that is LIFE. Move on.

The QF FB group is full of the tin foil hat brigade denouncing the company as Satan because they got a muffin for a 50-minute flight or they booked last moment and couldn't be seated with their partner on the 'long' Sydney to Adelaide sector.

 

[Max Samuels]

QF has hundreds of thousands of front-line customer touchpoints every DAY. To expect any company with that volume of interaction to have a 100 per cent success rate is nonsensical; something slightly off, whether real or perceived, is going to happen and it's a pity when it happens to you but that is LIFE. Move on.

You call being "polite and courteous" a measure of success? Lol
If this was an isolated incident people would probably brush it off, but this forum is FULL of stories about how dreadful QF customer service can be. And I think many people are just tired of apologists making excuses for them? I can't speak to my customers, my colleagues, in the tone that was suggested in the OP's post - can you? Sure I wasn't there, but I have experienced similar... the number of times I have wondered "how do you even have a job"? after some rude remake made to myself or another passenger within earshot...

 

[GoldCanyon340]

You call being "polite and courteous" a measure of success? Lol

I did not use either of the words "polite" or "courteous". Consequently I did not attach those words to the financial performance of the company.

If this was an isolated incident people would probably brush it off, but this forum is FULL of stories about how dreadful QF customer service can be. And I think many people are just tired of apologists making excuses for them?

I'm not an apologist but simply making an attempt to put things into perspective. It is also *probably* likely that the percentage of people reporting bad things outweigh the percentage of people reporting when things go well.

I can't speak to my customers, my colleagues, in the tone that was suggested in the OP's post - can you?

This is a strawman argument.

Sure I wasn't there, but I have experienced similar... the number of times I have wondered "how do you even have a job"? after some rude remake made to myself or another passenger within earshot...

Your experience of QF is very different to mine. I am past 650 QF flights and have hardly ever encountered that.

 

[Max Samuels]

Let’s face it, that’s their job. I’m sure there’s an expectation by their employer that they do their job with a certain focus on customer service....

This, my friend, is where normal people like us run afoul of the flying kangaroo....
It is a law until itself...

Customer service? wtf is that? I have had many friends that worked for QF over the years, and although I love them to death, they basically embodied everything bad about QF - because the system let them get away with it - encouraged them, actually. Tired old cabin crew are the worst - but can we be surprised? In a system that basically tells them the longer you stick around, the less you have to work, and the more we pay you! As far as QF are concerned, pax are just a nuisance to deal with - their "job" is something else (I don't know what it is though)