Fantastic QF experience today and other interesting Qantas facts

Status
Not open for further replies.

RedSMS

Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2018
Posts
250
Hey guys,

Probably better things to talk about , and especially seeing that much of the content and comments towards QF are mostly neutral or slightly negative. I had a fantastic experience with Qantas today. I was heading back from a few days in Tweed Heads visiting family and had to return to MEL by this evening at the latest.


Arrived at OOL at 1330 for the 1445 QF865 to SYD (note I did this purposely to add an extra 10 SC's to the tally as fare was same price.) I'm not super high tiered at the moment (Qantas Club/Silver QFF/OW Ruby) so I don't understand the special treatment... Anyway, checked in at the J counter, which the lovely Debbie had no problems with although I was flying on a Y sale fare, she ensured my checked luggage went straight through to MEL and followed up with "do you know where our lounge is?". I noticed that every holiday maker and their dogs were fleeing the bluebottle laden waters of Brisvegas and surrounding holiday hotspots and the security line was dauntingly long. It's interesting to take note of how far you can get (on rare occasions when you are kind, respectful and patient.) I was the last passenger to complete the bag drop, Debbie's colleague Kylie at one of the economy counters was clearly closing off her position to head for the waiting aircraft and she offered to take me through priority security screening. We went straight to the front of the line and zipped through security, we then went our different ways, but not before she told me that she looked forward to welcoming me onboard. I found myself in the Qantas lounge almost instantaneously. About 40 minutes later I rejoined them onboard the aircraft. On Arrival at the gate in SYD, I wanted to ask one of the pilots wether we landed on RWY 34R or L (it seemed like R to me, I was seated in 6D (right of the aisle) and didn't get the best view out the window. 1 minute later as I walked past Deb she invited me into the coughpit and before I knew it I was sitting in the Captains seat. (I am a life long aviation/QF travel nut, a hardcore Simmer and possess a tertiary level Aviation degree and worked for some time as an aviation consultant. I sat in the coughpit for about 10 minutes talking to both El Capitan (a very easy going middle aged woman and her much younger male F/O about a range of flight related topics. I thought that it was a strict policy not to let pax into the flight deck, even once at the gate.


Transitioned quickly into the QF SYD domestic lounge to have something to eat, look over a few emails and ready myself for the QF465 at 1900 to MEL. Had a quick check to see if could move myself closer to the pointy end and to my surprise I found that 4F* was vacant. *Row 4 on QF 737-800's (I have noticed) inherently act as unofficial extra legroom seats as row 4 is the first row of Economy, just behind the partition of J class.


Here comes a very interesting fact for all the questions I've seen about the period of time it takes for your QF points and Status Credits to hit your account.


This is how I made the discovery...


I accidentally forgot to switch my phone to flight mode (which I know for a fact due to my education poses no danger to the aircraft,) and the last app I had running before I put my phone in my pocket was the QF app. I realised on descent into MEL that I had not switched it to flight mode, and as we came in on our approach I unlocked my phone and selected the account history feature. Literally, about 5 seconds before the plane smoothly touched down on the tarmac, I reloaded the screen and bang... the points and SC's had been credited to my account!


Whilst waiting for the baggage carousel to spew out my suitcase, I focused on the Q bag tags and the proportion of people who had them attached and what tiers they were etc. I found that the overwhelming majority of people's luggage didn't have the Q bag tags, and the ones that did looked as though they had been discretely flipped over so that one couldn't see the colour of the tag. (i'm not sure if this is done purposely or not, knowing how time sensitive baggage handling is I highly doubt Qantas would do this... but who knows?)


One last thing, and this is more of an opinion rather than part of a good or bad experience....


The Food options on offer inside the domestic Qantas lounges/Qantas clubs never seem to be all that tasty. In fact, I would describe it as a bit on the bland side. It would be great if the busy lounges such as MEL and SYD had a speedy "a la carte" style option, like in the Qantas London Lounge for example (although this is an international lounge hence higher expectations.) By the time you get back to the spot you have chosen to occupy the food isn't really all that warm, and I have noticed that you end up carrying a lot of items back and forth like your smallish plate with whatever you have chosen at the buffet, the napkins and eating utensils, plus your beverage. Maybe it was the lack of variety? For example when I left MEL on Saturday they had the same penne amatriciana as they did tonight in Sydney. Just an observation...


Anyway, a fantastic performance today by Qantas. The common saying that goes along the lines of "when they're good, they're really good!" is totally true. In case any QF staff are on this forum I would like to thank you for a wonderful day.


Some snaps of the day --> Great service from Qantas
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

I thought that it was a strict policy not to let pax into the flight deck, even once at the gate.

The issue is generally the turn around times of the aircraft I think. I have a flight logbook I send up every flight to be signed and I am quite often invited to visit on landing.

Here comes a very interesting fact for all the questions I've seen about the period of time it takes for your QF points and Status Credits to hit your account.

This has been happening for a little bit now. I have quite often seen my points/SC post before we’ve even left the tarmac at origin, domestically at least.

I found that the overwhelming majority of people's luggage didn't have the Q bag tags, and the ones that did looked as though they had been discretely flipped over so that one couldn't see the colour of the tag.

If you have good eyesight, the back of the tags will show no oneworld logo if they’re qantas club tags, a ruby if silver, a sapphire if gold and an emerald if platinum or above.

It would be great if the busy lounges such as MEL and SYD had a speedy "a la carte" style option, like in the Qantas London Lounge for example (although this is an international lounge hence higher expectations.)

Also worth mentioning that the London lounge is a combined J/F lounge that is meant to offer a little bit of the higher service. The domestic business lounges would offer slightly better food, but the options might still seldom switch.

Finally, you are able to upload photos to a post here if you like, maximum of 10 per post with each image not exceeding 8MB. There’s no limit per account.
 
Seems you had a pretty exceptional trip. Thanks for posting.
 
Not me personally but I witnessed the Lounge Angel at the QP in PER yesterday alert the elderly lady in front of me of her entitlement to use the J lounge, and escorted her down. I thought the gesture was nice and I may alert QF as she didn’t have to escort the lady to the J-Lounge.
 
Not me personally but I witnessed the Lounge Angel at the QP in PER yesterday alert the elderly lady in front of me of her entitlement to use the J lounge, and escorted her down. I thought the gesture was nice and I may alert QF as she didn’t have to escort the lady to the J-Lounge.
I've found QF staff in PER to be among the best in Oz. They do go above and beyond.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top