Qantas Corporate Travel Show: Brisbane 24 July 2013

[samh004]

Yes - was great to finally put some faces to avatars!

I should have brought my avatar along, but she's not a nationally recognised guide dog.

Was good to meet you.

 

[MarcB]

Oh - and for those interested, Peter Collyns announced that tomorrow QF and Emirates will reveal the details of their trans-tasman tie up.

 

[markis10]

Oh - and for those interested, Peter Collyns announced that tomorrow QF and Emirates will reveal the details of their trans-tasman tie up.

Cue Perth - NZ services

 

[MarcB]

Cue Perth - NZ services

Unfortunately no clues were given. Unless anyone managed to get something out of Peter on the sidelines?

 

[samh004]

Unfortunately no clues were given. Unless anyone managed to get something out of Peter on the sidelines?

On the sidelines I only discussed ASA's. Well, and LRE, the Lions, Ashes etc...

 

[ALH]

Just received a photo of my 5 year old granddaughter wearing my name tag, while I'm in the middle of a massive DSC Status run.

 

[Hvr]

So is there any word on when other cities (specifically MEL) will feel the love of a QF corporate travel show?

 

[samh004]

So is there any word on when other cities (specifically MEL) will feel the love of a QF corporate travel show?

Brisbane: Wednesday 24 July 2013
Adelaide: Tuesday 30 July 2013
Perth: Wednesday 14 August 2013
Canberra: Wednesday 28 - Thursday 29 August 2013

Turnstyles :: Event Management

 

[Hvr]

Brisbane: Wednesday 24 July 2013
Adelaide: Tuesday 30 July 2013
Perth: Wednesday 14 August 2013
Canberra: Wednesday 28 - Thursday 29 August 2013

Turnstyles :: Event Management

Thanks, wonder why MEL misses out?

 

[JohnK]

Won a lucky door prize, 2 nights at Airlie Beach.

And how does one get to Airlie Beach?

 

[Katie]

On the sidelines I only discussed ASA's. Well, and LRE, the Lions, Ashes etc...

I was very disappointed to see that QF/QFLink does not fly to our* shared birthplace any more. It seems the location of the museum and the first flight take precedence over whete it was conceptualised.

By "our",I mean me and QF. Not me and Sam.

 

[samh004]

And how does one get to Airlie Beach?

I asked them that, and they didn't know funnily enough. But the nearest airport appears to be PPP or HTI. From here, JQ routes. Lol.

 

[JohnK]

I asked them that, and they didn't know funnily enough. But the nearest airport appears to be PPP or HTI. From here, JQ routes. Lol.

That is hillarious.

Qantas Corporate Travel handing out prizes to JQ destinations!

 

[jetlagger]

Won a lucky door prize, 2 nights at Airlie Beach. Had a good lunch, few drinks. Picked up loads of swag: QFLink book, caps, pens, USB keys.

Well done.. :mrgreen:
You must have been 'targeted"

 

[samh004]

That is hillarious.

Qantas Corporate Travel handing out prizes to JQ destinations!

Not exactly.

The individual vendors were responsible for prizes. I received a ticket number at the door and was to match it with a number that could be at any vendor in the hall. It happened to be Hotel Network, and I'm probably on their Facebook page or website now, as a photo was taken. The staff member who presented the prize didn't know how to get there, but she did tell me about her business and I am very interested in using them for my hotel bookings now.

Edit to add photo:

I was very disappointed to see that QF/QFLink does not fly to our* shared birthplace any more. It seems the location of the museum and the first flight take precedence over whete it was conceptualised.

By "our",I mean me and QF. Not me and Sam.

Are you talking about Winton? That wasn't where the first flight was.

First flight was a mail/passenger milk run starting in Charleville, which QFLink flies to, and ending in Cloncurry, which QFLink also flies to.

Well done.. :mrgreen:
You must have been 'targeted"

To add fuel to any conspiracy theories, my mum is flying to Australia tonight and chose Qantas because it was cheaper in economy than Cathay Pacific. She's been upgraded to business class

 

[JohnK]

Not exactly.

Well that is OK then.

Enjoy getting there with Virgin....

 

[samh004]

Well that is OK then.

Enjoy getting there with Virgin....

Wouldn't dream of it. Value points and lounge access too much to book them.

 

[Deleted member]

I won a night in Port Stephens .
Plus a few little things.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

The show was great! It was wonderful to meet many of you for the first time - always great to put faces to forum handles. MissBurrill (or was it Emma ), it was lovely to see you again, and I'm glad that you were able to come!

I also had a chat with Peter Collyns (who was kind enough to stay back after the show to deal with our questions and banter ), and was introduced to Tim ? (no, not Clark haha), who works for Emirates at a similar level. They referred to each other as colleagues, which I thought was incredibly nice. It's great to see that the partnership goes beyond what we see from a passenger perspective, and is a sign of a continued strong alliance.

Before I go any further, YES, ASA-gate was briefly discussed. QF have a desire to make their website more functional across a range of devices (as the new website is apparently more iPad/tablet friendly). I conveyed that while the changes are certainly a step forward in terms of commercial bookings, I would be more than happy to use the 'outdated' ASA engine until such time as they are integrated into the newer system (or, in the worst case, removed)... mentioning the obvious call centre time savings. Our comments were noted, though it wasn't the focus of our conversation.

Anyway, to the show! I was fortunate enough to win a free night (incl. breakfast for two) at the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins. I was given a choice of Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne, so hopefully I made the right choice! The prize was well-presented:



I stopped by the QF stand and collected a great amount of information. If anyone would like a close-up of any of the pages (QF A380, int'l J & F, BNE route and connection information, etc etc), I would be happy to share them. I also snuck EK, Brindabella and QFLink pens into the photo Oddly, the QF desk had a number of Q Bag Tags on display, but were only there for display purposes.



EK also had a prime location near the stage, and were pleased to hear that I'll take my first EK flight soon (BNE-SIN QF codeshare). We'll see how they compare! I collected booklets on their Y, J and F products, along with a destination map.



If you're curious to see inside, I have opened them all to what I consider the best page. Top row - Y, F. Bottom row - J.



Oh, and then we found the AA stand! Rather fitting, as we all had drinks in hand before reaching the first exhibitor!



Yes, those are bag tags (with the classic livery - one for me, one for a friend)! I would have grabbed more for the AFF community, but there only seemed to be a few left, and thought it would be best to leave them for attendees.

I chatted to many hotel chain reps, including Accor, Starwood, Quest, Metro, Mantra, and a few others. I asked the Accor rep if anything was in the pipeline to improve Accor Le Club Platinum recognition, and mentioned that while I'm an Accor WP, I mostly book with Hilton these days - as I know that breakfast, internet and bottled water (great in Asia) are guaranteed over a multitide of properties (as well as upgrades where available). While she mentioned that no major changes were in the pipeline, she suggested that if I *really* wanted these inclusions (and a 5-10% discount across the group), I could book >50 nights/yr for myself (experiencing only the vanilla benefits), and then after completing all of these stays, I could then negotiate with Accor for chain-wide benefits and discounts (including guaranteed breakfast and internet). While it's good to know, I'm not sure it's worth spending 50 nights with them *before* seeing benefit improvements - as I'm currently HH Gold and GHA Platinum, and already have access to these benefits at similarly-priced properties.

Anyway, it was a great show (much more interesting than some have made the past events sound). It was also fantastic to see that other AFFers were amongst the prize winners (there were perhaps ~20 lucky door prizes for the few hundred attendees).

Thanks go to the QF sales team for the invitation - it was greatly appreciated.

 

[Katie]

Are you talking about Winton? That wasn't where the first flight was.

First flight was a mail/passenger milk run starting in Charleville, which QFLink flies to, and ending in Cloncurry, which QFLink also flies to.

I know. But Winton is the birthplace of Qantas, or perhaps its conception location.
LRE had the first office IIRC, so I must be confusing that with first flight.