Experiences on Qantas staff travel

[MEL_Traveller]

OP did say late father so probably a bit hard to chat to them

Two different people! Dr Smithson joined this thread just recently (late father).

The most recently reply was to a post much earlier in the year!

 

[Peasant]

Qantas does not allow any* staff travel ticket into their lounges. You can be OWE with any airline even Qantas and they will still not allow you to enter if on a staff ticket.
Some airlines do though, don't know which ones.
*I should say though, there are very few exceptions to the above.

I have a couple of (senior level) friends at QF who have lounge access. I think it's for Executive Managers and above. I imagine the GMC uses the CL.

SQ gives lounge access. I've sat next to the CEO on more than a couple of occasions in the T3 F SKL as we both favour sitting in the same area.

 

[TheInsider]

This really isn’t the forum to be discussing staff travel. It is an employee privilege and you should be discussing it with your family member who has been kind enough to offer it to you.

Lol, yes it is, or is reddit better?
It isn't a secret nor a confidential perk of the job, especially if it can be given to literally anyone.

 

[SYD]

Lol, yes it is, or is reddit better?
It isn't a secret nor a confidential perk of the job, especially if it can be given to literally anyone.

Let us know if you know anyone looking for a new buddy! Asking for a friend.

 

[QF WP]

OP did say late father so probably a bit hard to chat to them

No, @michellekbray was quoting and responding to @cbreeze’s post from 2022 whose family member is alive.

 

[Lofwana]

This is not QF Staff Travel, but the story is similar to what I'm sure most other airline staff experience re discounted staff travel. I was stuck at LAX for 4 days once - mid-Winter and had just been skiing in Canada. So called staff bookings at UA and they listed me and said the flight was wide-open (airline terminology for not booked out). Unfortunately, staff reservations in Chicago didn't realise that the 747-400 aircraft to SYD/MEL were weight limited at that time of the year because of winds, so those empty seats weren't actually useable. Hence the problem at the airport - heaps of airline staff who'd been skiing saying goodbye to a half-empty aircraft night after night. Then we went back to our own (paid for) motels for another day. Re annual leave: I had a great boss at the time who was fine with me being late back to work: just took the extra time as annual leave. But as an airline employee using staff travel you are expected to manage your flights so you're back on time. For crew rostered, it's no excuse.
It did make me think twice: next time I just bought a cheap commercial ticket - the expense of the motels made the ID90 ticket not a good bargain at all. And remember, while QF allow a confirmed trip for annual leave, most tickets are subload aka subject to load aka standby with complex priority and upgrade codes. The CEO is M1F1 per IATA agreements ie. must ride, first class, confirmed on any airline in the world (who belongs to IATA). Crew on duty travel are always M (must ride) as they're usually positioning for duty - they were the codes at my airline but they're pretty standard - a code 'M' for must-ride, 'S' for subject to load (standby), then an upgrade priority into either J or F. S24/J36 was a pretty cough code, but at the end of the day, if there's a spare seat, you'll get it.
The benefit however though was I was in F for the UA trip, the staff reservations people at UA just assumed when they hear 'staff' that they are UA staff where space available F upgrades were the norm. And I also travelled from Jackson Hole to LAX with some UA crew employees who live in that beautiful part of the world and commute to LAX which is their actual base. I thought attempting it as the same day they were rostered to the MEL/SYD flights was a bit risky, but they said they'd rarely had problems, and I'm sure the airport staff 'bump them up' a bit over others knowing they need to work. The UA staff were universally really nice to other airline staff - not so to paying customers sometimes LOL.

 

[Dmac59]

This is not QF Staff Travel, but the story is similar to what I'm sure most other airline staff experience re discounted staff travel. I was stuck at LAX for 4 days once - mid-Winter and had just been skiing in Canada. So called staff bookings at UA and they listed me and said the flight was wide-open (airline terminology for not booked out). Unfortunately, staff reservations in Chicago didn't realise that the 747-400 aircraft to SYD/MEL were weight limited at that time of the year because of winds, so those empty seats weren't actually useable. Hence the problem at the airport - heaps of airline staff who'd been skiing saying goodbye to a half-empty aircraft night after night. Then we went back to our own (paid for) motels for another day. Re annual leave: I had a great boss at the time who was fine with me being late back to work: just took the extra time as annual leave. But as an airline employee using staff travel you are expected to manage your flights so you're back on time. For crew rostered, it's no excuse.
It did make me think twice: next time I just bought a cheap commercial ticket - the expense of the motels made the ID90 ticket not a good bargain at all. And remember, while QF allow a confirmed trip for annual leave, most tickets are subload aka subject to load aka standby with complex priority and upgrade codes. The CEO is M1F1 per IATA agreements ie. must ride, first class, confirmed on any airline in the world (who belongs to IATA). Crew on duty travel are always M (must ride) as they're usually positioning for duty - they were the codes at my airline but they're pretty standard - a code 'M' for must-ride, 'S' for subject to load (standby), then an upgrade priority into either J or F. S24/J36 was a pretty cough code, but at the end of the day, if there's a spare seat, you'll get it.
The benefit however though was I was in F for the UA trip, the staff reservations people at UA just assumed when they hear 'staff' that they are UA staff where space available F upgrades were the norm. And I also travelled from Jackson Hole to LAX with some UA crew employees who live in that beautiful part of the world and commute to LAX which is their actual base. I thought attempting it as the same day they were rostered to the MEL/SYD flights was a bit risky, but they said they'd rarely had problems, and I'm sure the airport staff 'bump them up' a bit over others knowing they need to work. The UA staff were universally really nice to other airline staff - not so to paying customers sometimes LOL.

Interesting read and first post @Lofwana
Welcome to AFF.

 

[brett-au]

The UA staff were universally really nice to other airline staff - not so to paying customers sometimes LOL.

I always assumed that operating staff consciously or subconsciously look after other staff travelers because there is a chance that in a disaster they are trained to help. (Not all staff travelers are operational staff, but lets assume at least 10% are)

I was in an exit row on JQ with a pilot flying in uniform. Happy to see them given an exit row ahead of a paying passenger as they probably are well trained in how and when to operate the exit.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Welcome to AFF and thanks for your informative first post @Lofwana

 

[Lofwana]

Welcome to AFF and thanks for your informative first post @Lofwana

Thanks @Flyfrequently! Sorry if this post is a bit long, but hopefully someone finds the stories interesting!

Happy to answer any other questions on the arcane world of staff travel, it really is a world: airline staff can regale each other with hundreds of stories about this complex benefit which sometimes sounds better than it is. Particularly the QF Buddy system: so often it's not worth the hassle given the discount, and forget about it on busy flights ie. probably the time you want to fly to MCY or OOL etc. during school holidays. The whole thing only really works if you're not in a rush, travel off-peak, and happy to be routed all over the country to get there! I used to go to CNS a bit, and sometimes ended up on 3 flights to get there: including via ASP/AYQ and ISA. I always took my hat off to the service desk staff and their innovative ways to get you where you wanted to go, all done under real time pressure as flights closed, and LMC (last minute change) restrictions became relevant (or new loadsheets required!) etc. etc.



Hong Kong staff and sub-load pax

The guys in HKG getting staff off to LHR each night was always a sight to behold as they just put everyone on any airline and flight and class they could, F/J or Y, all 20 minutes pre-departure. At that point (T-20) they ignored all your staff travel ticket restrictions (for example: valid only on VS, CX) or 'non-upgradeable.' If there was a seat, in any class on any airline they'd put you on (although they might warn you: "you're in J, but no J meal for you tonight, just have the economy one"). I never witnessed anyone making a fuss about this stuff (you lose your right to complain on a non-rev ticket!), but if it did, it would be taken very seriously by the staff (and your boss).

As they were non-rev (non-revenue) tickets, it wasn't costing the airline any more to add you as long as they didn't hit the LMC limits (which they never would - it would mean a delay as the loadsheets and manifests etc. would need re-doing, and the airline would probably lose its slot - so that meant not going).

The European LHR flights out of HKG had an evening bank at midnight, about 6 took off to LHR (BA/CX/VS) in 15 minutes. They all left at the same time roughly (midnight) so you had plenty of capacity to choose from. But, alas, a full flight is a full flight, and HKG is not an inexpensive city to suddenly need to stay in. Consequently it was critical to watch the loads in the lead-up days, calling staff travel, or better still - asking someone who worked for the airline at the airport how staff went the last few nights.

The airport staff were the best guide if you were lucky enough to know someone. They could tell you all the stuff like 'weight-limited due freight', 'bad weather over xyz', or even 'avoiding xyz airspace due trouble'. Culminating in either: "But don't worry, everyone's been getting out" or "Worry! They're leaving behind 20 people each night at the moment"!!!

Staff standby baggage

People often wonder "but what about staff bags on standby?". The bags had to travel with the person, so what they'd do is keep all the standby subload (subject to load) staff bags together in a 'standby' section of the baggage make-up hall, then they'd get a radio call from the customer service staff upstairs saying "John Smith is onloaded: CX101, J class" etc. The staff would also 'on-load' you into a seat. The loaders would then attach a 'STANDBY' tag with a seat number, take the on-loaded standby bags to the bulk hold area of the aircraft at the rear (it was usually too late to add the bag to a container: they were already finished with and locked up). You often see those little cars driving up the bulk hold hatch at the rear of the aircraft just before departure, dropping off the onloaded bags.

If you failed to get a seat from standby, the aircraft would depart and the loaders would retrieve all the staff standby bags, scan the tags again and insert them ('inject' is the airline term) into the baggage system for return to the arriving baggage hall. A forlorn site as all the staff would commiserate after being left behind (possibly for another day!).

BRS (Bag Reconciliation System)

The full bag-matching protocol (bag-rec or bag reconciliation) really took off after 9/11, prior to that event the airline could say "well if we (not the pax) chose the flight/airline for the bag, there's no problem as the pax and bag are travelling on different aircraft". This would happen during disruptions. Much stricter now: bag and pax must be on together, and the departure control systems have been upgraded to manage this aspect of things with tag-number identification on every bag and scanning/tracing during every aspect of the process (kind of like your package home delivery). This aspect of the system is called 'BRS' - 'Bag Reconciliation System' and means you always know where the bag is, down to the container (or sometimes in a section of a container). This is very useful for 'FTBs' (fail-to-boards) where bags must be removed given pax is not on board. The loaders at least know where to start looking! I think systems like Amadeus CM when used for departure control actually prevent you from closing the flight if there are any umatched bags loaded -i.e. an 'orphan' bag that is not associated with an on-board pax. The opposite is fine obviously: plenty of pax travel with no checked-in luggage.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Thanks @Lofwana
I'm not in Pilot nephew's top 10

 

[DAC1]

Thanks @Flyfrequently! Sorry if this post is a bit long, but hopefully someone finds the stories interesting!

Happy to answer any other questions on the arcane world of staff travel, it really is a world: airline staff can regale each other with hundreds of stories about this complex benefit which sometimes sounds better than it is. Particularly the QF Buddy system: so often it's not worth the hassle given the discount, and forget about it on busy flights ie. probably the time you want to fly to MCY or OOL etc. during school holidays. The whole thing only really works if you're not in a rush, travel off-peak, and happy to be routed all over the country to get there! I used to go to CNS a bit, and sometimes ended up on 3 flights to get there: including via ASP/AYQ and ISA. I always took my hat off to the service desk staff and their innovative ways to get you where you wanted to go, all done under real time pressure as flights closed, and LMC (last minute change) restrictions became relevant (or new loadsheets required!) etc. etc.

Hong Kong staff and sub-load pax

The guys in HKG getting staff off to LHR each night was always a sight to behold as they just put everyone on any airline and flight and class they could, F/J or Y, all 20 minutes pre-departure. At that point (T-20) they ignored all your staff travel ticket restrictions (for example: valid only on VS, CX) or 'non-upgradeable.' If there was a seat, in any class on any airline they'd put you on (although they might warn you: "you're in J, but no J meal for you tonight, just have the economy one"). I never witnessed anyone making a fuss about this stuff (you lose your right to complain on a non-rev ticket!), but if it did, it would be taken very seriously by the staff (and your boss).

As they were non-rev (non-revenue) tickets, it wasn't costing the airline any more to add you as long as they didn't hit the LMC limits (which they never would - it would mean a delay as the loadsheets and manifests etc. would need re-doing, and the airline would probably lose its slot - so that meant not going).

Staff standby baggage

Lastly, people often wonder "but what about staff bags on standby?". The bags had to travel with the person, so what they'd do is keep all the standby subload (subject to load) staff bags together in a 'standby' section of the baggage make-up hall, then they'd get a radio call from the customer service staff upstairs saying "John Smith is onloaded: CX101, J class" etc. The loaders would then (usually) attach a 'STANDBY' tag with seat number, take the bag to the bulk hold area of the aircraft at the rear (it was usually too late to add the bag to a container: they were already finished with and locked up). You often see those little cars driving up the bulk-load hatch at the rear of the aircraft just before departure, dropping off the onloaded bags.

The full bag-matching protocol really took off after 9/11, prior to that event the airline could say "well if we (not the pax) chose the flight/airline for the bag, there's no problem as the pax and bag are travelling on different aircraft". Much stricter now: bag and pax must be on together, and the departure control systems have been upgraded to manage this aspect of things with tag-number identification on every bag and tracing during every aspect of the process (kind of like your package home delivery).

The European LHR flights out of HKG had an evening bank at midnight, about 6 took off to LHR (BA/CX/VS) in 15 minutes. They all left at the same time roughly (midnight) so you had plenty of capacity to choose from. But, alas, a full flight is a full flight, and HKG is not an inexpensive city to suddenly need to stay in. Consequently it was critical to watch the loads in the lead-up days, calling staff travel, or better still - asking someone who worked for the airline at the airport how staff went the last few nights.
The airport staff were the best guide if you were lucky enough to know someone. They could tell you all the stuff like 'weight-limited due freight', 'bad weather over xyz', or even 'avoiding xyz airspace due trouble'. Culminating in either: "But don't worry, everyone's been getting out" or "Worry! They're leaving behind 20 people each night at the moment"!!!

Plenty of interesting stories from the good old days. Unfortunately these days a lot of those stories these days are less fun, particularly given some airlines (particularly QF) have actually invested a fair bit in automating the staff travel process.

Back when I was young, I remember flying standby from HNL-SYD with my family. All four of us ended up on separate flights home over the course of a week, two of us on separate AC flights and two of us on separate QF flights.

I got a QF flight, down the back on a 747. I would have been 11 or 12 at the time so I was flying as an unaccompanied minor. They gave me the last seat on the plane. However, there was some type of issue and I got told I had to be moved. I think they would have ordinarily offloaded me but my father would have long left the airport and did not have a mobile phone he could have been reached on.

In the end, the middle ground was that I got to sit in a a crew rest seat (there was a block of 6 Y seats blocked for crew rest), but had to move to sit in a jumpseat for the 4 hours where the seats needed to be used for crew rest. That was not comfortable, but I got home.