Do you discourage others from using QF?

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kyle

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As a non-QF fan, often when the subject of flying comes up amongst friends and colleagues, I would question why they would fly with them and discourage them from doing so and encourage them to try other airlines instead.

Any of you do the same?
 
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No but I make the following points to people:
  1. There isn’t a glut of choices domestically and if you vow ‘never to fly QF again’ you could be cutting off your nose to spite your face. QF have badly screwed over so many customers so by all means move over to VA. But sometimes QF simply has the better route/timings and they’re usually ok.
  2. Chasing status can be a fool’s errand - the money spent getting SCs on QF might be better on a few J/F fares on SQ/EK instead to go where you actually want.
  3. No airline is perfect and while you shouldn’t settle for or reward companies that treat customers badly, the grass isn’t always greener - use the info on AFF to guard against or recover from disasters and use the best parts of all airlines to your advantage.
 
None of my friends and family fly Qantas domestically as a point of habit ( and I don’t think any chase status) but I’ve certainly cautioned them against flying QF internationally ( mainly for reasons of cost) and have steered them towards my Travel Agent for the best option.
 
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When it comes to domestic flights, I've written before that my simple advice to people (when they have the choice) is this:

If you're paying for your flight, fly Virgin.
If someone else is paying for it, fly Qantas.
 
I usually encourage my friends to book best fare of the day, but I will warn people of flights that I personally perceive to have a high risk of disruptions (e.g. JQ 787s, QF 787/380s, QF late night flights into WLG).

If travelling with friends I generally avoid QFi but stick with OneWorld so we can enjoy the flounges, except if we're both on Award Tickets.

In fact, I have a trip with a friend to Japan early next year, and some JL schedule changes broke her award ticket. I told her to just give me the PNR and I'd call on her behalf to fix the ticket as a WP, since I'm pretty sure it'd be quite painful for her to fix it if reaching Fiji.

On my current trip to North America I'm flying QF awards solo, but if travelling with friends I would've likely flown a different carrier, there's just too many disruptions on QF transpac right now, and most of my friends don't travel often and so would probably find irrops quite stressful.
 
I don't actively discourage but I look at the individual situation and try to think about what would be best for the potential passenger for their routing, budget, timing and options etc.

And I try to be realistic regarding the QF experience (definitely understanding and making note that my experiences as a P1 differ to a fair degree in some regards to Josephine Average). So I take the experiences posted on forums on here, and from friends etc into account (eg: bad call centres, difficulty with rewards, extra fees for non status, etc) into account and give an honest opinion.

However I will recommend QF if it makes sense. For example earlier this year my sister wanted to fly to ADL from MEL. She's a QF Bronze but does have some points. It so happened for her dates that QF had a sale fare on of I think $109 and available for when she wanted. I also saw JQ had a $70 or something fare going, but I looked at the bag dees which was I think near $50 (! iirc) and so JQ would actually have cost her more than QF with included bag (and VA ad the times she wanted was more expensive still) so in that case I suggested she book QF in that instance.

OTOH a friend in PER needed t go to TSV for reasons, and QF was far more expensive than VA for her dates so suggested VA for her (JQ was also more expensive).

so these were instances of BFOD but also the benefit (as in for my sister the included bag sealed the deal).

By the same token for international I focus again on price, product and convenience.. things like FF loyalty (if there is one) is a factor, but one too should put a price on that. Sometimes it may make sense to suggest QF (though those are becoming less and less tbh) specially if there's a goal in sight.. but I'd probably suggest another carrier on price alone. It's all very individual for me based on the person's particular situation, needs/requests/requirements and working out what would make the best sense for them.

If people ask me about QF I'll be honest - specially over the past few years with all of the issues. I won't discourage per se, but try and be realistic and not let my relative good fortune due to status bias me too much.
 
It depends on different goals. I would recommend QF for Australian based travellers, certainly for domestic flights.

I almost exclusively fly QF for the premium experience. I don't like having my carry-on bag weighed each flight, no included food and beverages, no practical access to a lounge (different terminal) etc. that you get with Jetstar.

I am also chasing LTG. I am over half way. If/when I reach LTG if I can't see a credible path to WP or have already got it or retained it then I'll probably just fly whichever airline internationally I'm happy to fly that offers the best price if booking J or flying Oneworld/Emirates.

I haven't flown Virgin for some time, but it seemed not as good as QF back then and they still don't offer lifetime status so I'm better to consider getting status with them after getting LTG with QF (it's too much for me to maintain status with both at the same time).
 
I don't discourage anyone from trying any airline. However, when asked, I offer my personal thoughts as to whether or not the chosen airline will serve the paxs' purpose.

In some instances, if I know the person on a personal level (say, how much $ they can spend or the purpose of their travel) - I might suggest that they try JQ or ZL instead of QF .. simply on cost, # of pax travelling etc
 
I don't actively discourage people but I do suggest alternatives. It has opened a few eyes with a couple of rusted on QF travellers now using basically anything but QF. Why? Because they found a better experience at a cheaper price. We are talking International.
 

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