Early-morning chaos in Sydney

Status
Not open for further replies.

spiggy_topes

Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2006
Posts
161
[Text of letter to Qantas Customer Care sent this morning. Does this experience match with other experiences in Sydney?]
11th July 2009

Dear Sirs,

I am a frequent flyer on Qantas with around four round-the-world trips a year, always in Business or First, a similar number of return visits to Asia, and numerous interstate flights. I have held Platinum status for several years now and ensure that I fly often enough with Qantas to maintain this status, as the benefits are very useful to me.

On the evening of the 9th July my family and I returned from Hong Kong from a brief holiday. We were booked on QF128 to Sydney and then on QF516 to Brisbane, as I was unable to book a direct flight to Brisbane on that day.

The flights from Hong Kong and Sydney were fine, and all Qantas staff we met were professional and helpful. Unfortunately, the scenes that awaited us at Sydney Airport on arrival shortly after 8.00 am on the 10th July were what I can only describe as dire.

On clearing customs in Sydney we made our way to the transfer bus for the Domestic terminal. Here we were met by a queue so long that it had backed up into the arrivals hall. We were told that there would be a 45-60 minute wait for the bus, and were advised to take a different bus from outside the terminal. This we duly did. I will not detail the issues with this service as they are outside your control.

On arrival at Terminal Three we were met by another huge, snaking queue with around 100 people waiting. To my surprise this turned out to be for the Business/Qantas Club counter. The queue was so long that it was intersecting the economy check-in line (I couldn’t even guess how long that line was).

At the Business counter there were two desks open, with at least the same number of desks unmanned. Fortunately there was a desk open which was solely for flights about to be called. I realized there was no point in joining the main queue as our flight left in thirty minutes, so we waited by the ‘last minute’ desk until our flight was called, and managed to check in.

I cannot begin to imagine the impressions of a tourist, or a visitor to this country for the first time, in the face of such chaos.

Let me stress that I do not usually have any problems with Qantas. I like the standard of service both on the ground and in the air. My specific reasons for writing are as follows:

(i) If you are expecting a large volume of transfer passengers – which can be planned for – can you not ensure that there is sufficient capacity in place to handle them in a timely manner? As airport manager in charge of transfer services, I would either have extra transfer buses in place, or charter extra buses between terminals 1 and 3 for use on the public road at busy times.

(ii) If you know that a large number of people will be checking in at Terminal Three, why have such low numbers of staff to handle the volume of traffic? The reaction of most of the passengers in the business queue at Sydney was astonishment that business customers – one of your best sources of revenue - should be treated in such a manner. Surely it is not difficult to plan ahead and have an appropriate number of staff available for busy periods. Of course this will cost a little extra, but you will not be losing the business of your most profitable customers.

This is not a ‘I will never fly Qantas again’ letter, as I will continue to use your services – although I will now be trying other premium carriers on the trans-Pacific route if I have to return via Sydney. Rather, I would like to draw your attention to what I see as serious lapses in service quality that could easily be remedied with a little planning.

I look forward to your comments.

Yours sincerely

[Name, qualifications etc removed]
 
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

Sounds like a fair letter to be sending. Now just wait for a number of years and you may get a response!
 
The response will be interesting if it is not just the usual blaa blaa etc :!:

Will post it if and when a reply comes - although it may just be the usual 'we take customer service very seriously' brushoff.

The point in writing was partly sympathy for the Qantas staff - on previous occasions it's been perfectly clear they are aware of the shortcomings in 'the system' and have been pleased to have a customer write on their behalf - perhaps because such letters are listened to more than internal feedback?
 
Will post it if and when a reply comes - although it may just be the usual 'we take customer service very seriously' brushoff.

The point in writing was partly sympathy for the Qantas staff - on previous occasions it's been perfectly clear they are aware of the shortcomings in 'the system' and have been pleased to have a customer write on their behalf - perhaps because such letters are listened to more than internal feedback?
Are you planning to post this or send it via the email links to customer service. From experience the links seem to work much better with a more appropriate and timely response. There is another thread at the moment with this as a theme.
 
Are you planning to post this or send it via the email links to customer service. From experience the links seem to work much better with a more appropriate and timely response. There is another thread at the moment with this as a theme.

Thanks, I was going to post it but will follow your suggestion and email it as well.
 
[Reply just received:]

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. As a Platinum Frequent Flyer, your feedback is very important to us.

I would like to advise that a Customer Care Executive from our Premium Team will be personally contacting you to discuss your feedback.

[...]

We value your ongoing loyalty, and appreciate you taking the time to let us know about your experience.


Kind regards

Qantas Customer Care
 
[Reply just received:]

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. As a Platinum Frequent Flyer, your feedback is very important to us.

I would like to advise that a Customer Care Executive from our Premium Team will be personally contacting you to discuss your feedback.

[...]

We value your ongoing loyalty, and appreciate you taking the time to let us know about your experience.


Kind regards

Qantas Customer Care
I've found they will ring within about 7 days and normally work to do what they can to sort things out.
 
I have run into that same queue at that time of day trying to transfer to Qantas domestic. It is an absolute disgrace to this country when tourists are greeted with total chaos like that. Its as if you've arrived into a third world country. I avoid Sydney for domestic/intl transfers as much as possible (by flying SQ, where transiting is a pleasant process)
 
I have run into that same queue at that time of day trying to transfer to Qantas domestic. It is an absolute disgrace to this country when tourists are greeted with total chaos like that. Its as if you've arrived into a third world country.

Coupled with a very long and slow quarantine queue and (potentially) rude immigration and quarantine officers, it certainly gives a terrible impression to tourists.

I've had far better experience arriving into third world countries than Australia to be honest. Australia still rates as my worst arrival experience of any country (and I'm an Australian citizen).
 
Over the past year I have noticed that Qantas premium check-in has been very poor, at times, in SYD and BNE to the point where I no longer regard premium check-in as a benefit. I have lost count of the number of times I have sent feedback and have been promised that it will be look into but nothing happens. In fact I find the business class check-in counter closed quite frequently.

I have also changed my Friday night BNE-SYD and Sunday night SYD-BNE flights to outside of peak hour and when I get to the airport I look to see which queue is likely to provide the quickest check-in and go there. In my experience 10 people waiting in the business class and qantas club lines served by 2 check-in counters is going to be slower than 20 people waiting in the Qantas Club or WHY bag drop queues served by 6-7 check-in counters. Sometimes there is no one waiting in the Qantas Club bag drop queue and there are 3-4 people waiting in the business class check-in queue.
 
Yes, once again Sydney Airport is one of the worst when it comes to receiving the glut of passengers in the morning. I generally don't recommend catching a flight that arrives prior to 8am, unless you really love said queues. After this time, it becomes quite efficient... Until the evening, when it becomes a mad punch-out for taxis at Domestic, sadly.
 
I often get stuck transiting through SYD to BNE, normally arriving on QF130 from PVG (which is late more often than not to start with). Time table doesn't suit to fly KA/CX. Ignoring the AQIS cues which obviously QF has no control over and would be the same regardless of the flight you arrive on, I dread the walk to the transit desk where kaos awaits (although never been turned away). Then the news that I have missed my transfer. And then the cuing at the baggage services desk in BNE to report my lost bags (almost to the point where I dont even bother looking for the at the carousel anymore).

And why is it so hard for the SYD baggage handlers to match bags to flights, INT-DOM may be excusable as they do have to move them 500m, but the same thing happens transferring DOM-DOM.
 
I have run into that same queue at that time of day trying to transfer to Qantas domestic. It is an absolute disgrace to this country when tourists are greeted with total chaos like that. Its as if you've arrived into a third world country. I avoid Sydney for domestic/intl transfers as much as possible (by flying SQ, where transiting is a pleasant process)

Although I disagree about the 3rd world country (Sydney airport is far from that), I do agree with the general idea of this post. I have experienced this twice in the last couple of months - but usually avoid the J lines as I either get my BP from departure country or at the bag check on the INT side. Now I know this checkin is crazy at times, and if you have a bit of time up your sleeve between flights, it sometimes helps just to grab a coffee and wait for the rush to end.

Mr!

:-|
 
It gets worse if you want to get to terminal 2!

Add an extra security check in

I have done the external bus route when i flew back with singapore , but now generally just wait because if the hassle in carting the bag
My connecting flight doesn't leave till 1130 usually

Last time i got through the general queue about 30 mins before the business queue!




Shane
 
Update: A nice lady called (I think) Louise rang Wednesday afternoon and apologised profusely for the overcrowding incident. She promised to forward my letter to airport management and to her superiors. Apparently there was an issue with employees going sick last Friday.

I'm still going to avoid transfers through Sydney in the early morning though!
 
Update: A nice lady called (I think) Louise rang Wednesday afternoon and apologised profusely for the overcrowding incident. She promised to forward my letter to airport management and to her superiors. Apparently there was an issue with employees going sick last Friday.

I'm still going to avoid transfers through Sydney in the early morning though!

I was going to mention the staff being sick issue, as a comment was made earlier saying "why can't they plan better!?" however I did hold off on posting it as comments since the original stated the same thing happening .. so then decided that the chances of staff being off sick (causing a staff shortage) so reguarly, didn't seem right.
 
.. so then decided that the chances of staff being off sick (causing a staff shortage) so reguarly, didn't seem right.

Or perhaps this is the generic excuse when "Air Traffic Control requirements" or "equipment malfunction" are obviously inappropriate fob-offs :rolleyes:
 
decided that the chances of staff being off sick (causing a staff shortage) so reguarly, didn't seem right.

Agree completely - the whole system shouldn't collapse because one or two staff members go sick. And if this is a common problem, why not keep a standby rosta?

I mentioned during the call, as politely as possible, that if Qantas were trying to cost-cut by running these services with as few staff as possible, then they would be shooting themselves in the foot. They've already lost my custom for at least half the rest of my travel this year after last Friday's experience. I asked for this specific message to be passed upstairs - we'll see!
 
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..

Recent Posts

Back
Top