Goodbye Qantas.. Hello Etihad

[mannej]

I read that post and the OP was put on UA transPac after their domestic UA flight was late resulting in them missing their QF flight. I would have thought it would be UA they should be disillusioned with?

A lot of people think that joining another frequent flyer program has to be at the expense of their current one. There is no 'one size fits all' program so while one ff program may be better for for upgrades, another program may be better for awards in the form of less points and/or lower taxes.

I think the OP has had the run around with claiming ORC and the refund for the extra legroom seats, hence the proverbial dummy spit. Whilst EY may look nice and shiny on paper, are they any better or worse compared to QF dealing with customers when things go wrong?

 

[Buzzard]

Whilst QF is not perfect, I do not know of an airline that is.
I do most of my flying with QF but do mix it up a bit.

 

[under the radar]

'social media' = seeks validation..and yes I am well aware of the irony of my post MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE...yes I did say CHRISTMAS...I refuse to follow the 'we must not offend anyone' crowd. It's not my problem whether or not you 'recognize' the event of 'the birth of Christ'. And just for the record. I was born into a Catholic family, and I choose to be an Atheist. But I don't begrudge or get offended by those that do....that's my final OT and RANT for 2015

 

[hutch]

It is just so much easier earning FF points on Australian based airlines. I can't see me earning enough points on the Coles/Ethiad to make it worth my while to focus on.... plus having to always fly via AUH.

Happy xmas.

 

[NZflygirl]

I have to admit I am infatuated with EY and have never flown them! So I'm going to say - go for it!! Make your own assessment. At the end of the day, that's the one that counts the most

 

[ozbeachbabe]

It is just so much easier earning FF points on Australian based airlines. I can't see me earning enough points on the Coles/Ethiad to make it worth my while to focus on.... plus having to always fly via AUH.

Happy xmas.

Or you could like flying to SIN a lot.

 

[MrJetset]

These rant threads are always full of threats and speculation... so for those that want actual experience, in our family we fly QF and EY F regularly.

We primarily travel primarily to CAI and JFK. For years we would book AONEXs and endure 8-11 hour layovers in the CCR on BA because of our QF loyalty. Then BA removed the 744 from CAI, replaced with ex BMI aircraft with no F.

We have flown EY for years and generally have a mix of QF/EK and EY F flights to the Middle East and JFK. Why do we keep both? Because of one single feature of the QF WP and above benefit: Additional Award Release Request. QFF points are useless if you can't book flights. We have always had award seats released +/- 3 days of our request. That said we will generally always change our QF1/2 flights to EK closer to departure.

For all of those signing the praises of the EY F product, perhaps you should consider that your opinion isn't based on experience, rather a sophisticated advertising campaign. The reality is that the product is a differentiator yes, however for those traveling together even the sliding partition doesn't help you experience the flight together. The cabin is cavernous with an enclosed feeling. You cannot see your travel companion unless one of you are laying on the bed which is uncomfortable and hard. It's the hardest bed I have ever experienced in the sky. There are also no personal air vents in F which can be serious when the crew set the cabin temperature at 25 degrees as standard. There's a FT thread with countless pax stating that they had to complain several times to bring the temperature down to 19 degrees. Frankly, I prefer the A346 or 77W.

None of the ME3 handle IRROPS well and you are always at the behest of ground staff. Even FAs have difficulty anticipating your needs in F, however QF F is also not without fault. I've had CSDs pat me on the head while sat in 1A on QF12, possibly because of my age but it was entirely inappropriate. I've been scolded for ordering a Bailey's I chose not to drink because I changed my mind and decided to go to sleep. The QF Premium Desk seems to have disappeared and dealing with other agents has always resulting in reservations not ticketing and requiring multiple calls. In fact calling QF at midnight SYD time from the UAE via Skype I was on hold for 45 mins and spoke to an agent in NZ who failed to send my reservation to ticketing.

In short: There's no point having all of your loyalty, or hatred against one airline. It's in an pax's interest to keep their options open and fly whichever airline suits based on product, route and price. We have the luxury of choosing QF, EK or EY based on any of those factors. IMO many of the QFF loyalists miss out on incredible experiences on other airlines such as SQ who provide a different cultural experience and an entirely different notion of service.

 

[timster]

Why not switch alliances rather than just airlines ? With the OP's flying patterns, reaching gold with Star Alliance for example shouldn't be too difficult (eg with TK, or others maybe with family pooling). Fly with whichever *A airlines take your fancy (SQ, TG, NZ etc), while crediting miles to one - to get and maintain your status. Better benefits than QP (eg access to any *A lounge).

 

[blueythecat]

EY starved me all the way to Europe once (in Y) - I was so hungry when I arrived I just grabbed my bags and raced off and scoffed the nearest arrivals area sandwich (it wasn't as good as it looked - they never are - at least I wasn't staving though!). I haven't forgiven them for that yet, when another too good to refuse sale comes along though I'll no doubt reconsider my position!! Chances are I'll be right back on that horse, although this time with my own food in tow!

QF is hardly perfect either - everyone has their QF complaint or two or one hundred. Stop devaluing our points would be a good complaint to start with!!!

 

[travellinmumberry]

Thanks everyone for the valuable feedback. I will definitely take the advice on board.
I will still be flying Qantas (no choice for business domestic which are booked on my behalf). And I already have Krisflyer membership as I love SQ (most of the time….!).

Just to clarify that I had already taken my complaints through the appropriate channels in customer care – unemotionally and with a clear outline of what I would like (points and reimbursement of the legroom seat fee). It is now nearly 2 months since the flight with no resolution.
I have learned the term ORC through this experience.
The gripes with UA are being followed through with them separately (delay and typically poor service).

This is not my first experience of poor Qantas customer service. My husband had a QF F class A380 seat not working on a long haul flight. The cabin crew response was shrugs and ‘nothing we can do about it as the cabin is full’. No apology, no compensation offered. It took a month of chasing through customer care to get a few thousand points in compensation.
An example of a better approach to customer care was when flying SQ J class long haul my entertainment system wasn’t working. I was immediately given a $200 voucher to spend and given very attentive service with lots of apologies throughout the flight. Things go wrong but the way businesses deal with the things that go wrong will make a difference to customer loyalty and I think Qantas need to up their customer care game.

 

[MrJetset]

I had a broken F seat 1A on QF. The FA, again overly casual said "Ummm, I could move you to 1K but there's someone on staff travel in there now and I would have to ask them to move..."

I really didn't need nor want that information. She should have just sorted a solution and presented it to me. To make matters worse the the staff member glared at me and huffed and puffed as he had to move from 1K to 2F.

Not exactly a First Class experience.

 

[marki]

Ho Hum, just another dummy spit. Something goes wrong, slam the fist onto the table and blame QF for the end of the world as we know it.

Mods, do we need a special thread for all these....I've had enough of QF....type posts

It should be called the ---Dummy Spit Post "xx_XX" (insert company name)

 

[marki]

I have to admit I am infatuated with EY and have never flown them! So I'm going to say - go for it!! Make your own assessment. At the end of the day, that's the one that counts the most

Wasn't Nicole Kidman? (Infatuation) lol

 

[eminere]

Wasn't Nicole Kidman? (Infatuation) lol

And Dannii Minogue before her.

 

[MrJetset]

And Dannii Minogue before her.

Actually Danni remains an EY Ambassador.

 

[eminere]

Actually Danni remains an EY Ambassador.

Perhaps, but not in the ad campaign.

But we are going OT.

 

[browski]

If you are a frequent flyer to the Americas, (or a dom Oz flyer) then stick with VA or QF.
For everyone else.............do the the math.

The 3 largest airlines servicing Australia are Emirates, Cathay and SQ.
Each of them have:
1. 3-5 flights per day from each of the BNE, SYD, MEL, PER etc
2. one-stop flights to most of the planet (especially EK)
3. an abundance of 5th freedom flights; and these flights are perennially a bargain (RE: EK: JFK-MXP; SYD-AKL, BKK-HKG; KUL-MEL OR SQ: FRA-JFK; DME-IAH ; MUC-MAN OR CX: TPE-ICN, TPE-NRT, BAH-DXB etc.
4. Great airports (although my favorite is HKG)
5. Great regional airline partners: CX: Dragonair; SQ: Silk Air; EK;flydubai.com (personally I like flydubai because they have affordable Business Class and also very cheap 45kg economy luggage allowance)
6. Extensive FF programs and partners (although I like the certainty of Krisflyer and the abundance of Saver awards..........and the 15% on-line booking discount)

So, make it easy on yourself and weight your travel with one of these 3.
For the infrequent flyer then it doesn't really matter which airline you choose.

 

[MrJetset]

If you are a frequent flyer to the Americas, (or a dom Oz flyer) then stick with VA or QF.
For everyone else.............do the the math.

We fly to JFK on EY via AUH. It is cheaper than QF/AA in F.

Booking CAI as a separate ticket is a no brainer to insert in between the connection segments.