I have had enough.... [Offloaded after Flight not called in VA lounge]

[JohnK]

Nuked is probably a more accurate word!

Not at all.

I have lounge access for another 18 months and will use Virgin where possible and give them a chance to show they are serious about customer service and the customer experience.

I do more than enough flying to keep all 3 airlines happy.

 

[Conrad_S]

I'm not without some sympathy for the op having read all the posts. However...
All the solutions make the system more complex. Probably more likely to fail. For me the problem doesn't seem to be possible if it made clear to the passenger that it their responsibility to be at the gate with bp 5 minutes before scheduled boarding. If there is a delay then that can be communicated directly and go back to the lounge, hang around whatever.
For the companies the challenge is then to train and equip the gate staff adequately.

 

[markis10]

Gate staff and catering are the two biggest areas where improvement is needed if VA wants to win the race.

 

[robbie1984]

Many airlines don't do lounge calls.....EK lounge SIN didn't call our QF6 flight a couple of days ago.

Doesn't make for an enjoyable relaxed experience.

I'm glad some airlines don't make calls int he lounges. Otherwise there is a constant stream of PA's, not very conducive to a relaxing environment.

 

[oz_mark]

Gate staff and catering are the two biggest areas where improvement is needed if VA wants to win the race.

Shane how they put so much good stuff in place, and then shoot themselves in the foot at the coal face. It would be great if they could get these details sorted.

 

[wallacej]

What is all this business about the lounge knowing what passengers are in there because of their boarding pass? Is this some special thing I miss out on?

In my experience, I've only had the staff at the entrance glance at my BP, hardly long enough to write down all my details and never scanned. I assume they just glance to see status and class of travel.

In the past it was always scanned, these days it is a quick glance and off you go.

 

[robbie1984]

In the past it was always scanned, these days it is a quick glance and off you go.

Aren't they just validating your eligibility to enter? I don't think the old system or Sabre lists those that are in the lounge at a given time, the Velocity system may do.

 

[Mal]

Its simple. Page missing passengers in both lounge and gate. (Or call as I suggested earlier).

A status pax may or may not be in the lounge. A non status pax could be in the lounge as a guest or somewhere else in the airport (or elsewhere).

 

[BAM1748]

I prefer no calls, a la AA Admirals Lounges. However, boards MUST be accurate for it to work.

Im in an Admirals Club as I type this, they are doing boarding calls.

matt

 

[BAM1748]

All you can do in the end is to vote with your wallet.


Matt

 

[777]

Can i suggest this thread is getting somewhat derailed by the "paging v. not paging" argument and is missing the fundamental point: The flight information displays in the lounge are not accurate. I'm not too sympathetic to complaining that you didn't get personally paged but if you can't rely on the display boards it is impossible to relax in the lounge. If boards jump from not showing boarding or showing a delay to showing "closed" without displaying anything in between then there is a real problem and even the most diligent traveller will get caught out. I'm sympathetic to the OP because i've been observing this a lot recently.

 

[medhead]

Inaccurate flight information boards is a bad thing. But that does not prevent people catch their flight. The boarding time is known and it is pretty easy to find out the time. Making it easy to relax until the boarding time and then get up and walk to the gate. All of which requires that only the gate number is correct on the information board.

 

[legroom]

Its simple. Page missing passengers in both lounge and gate. (Or call as I suggested earlier).

A status pax may or may not be in the lounge. A non status pax could be in the lounge as a guest or somewhere else in the airport (or elsewhere).

I'd agree with your earlier suggestion.

'Phone' instead of 'paging' would be more direct and far less disruptive to the vast majority of passengers (lounge & terminal).

The airline would have an instant reply so they can decide if offloading is needed.

In other words, do what QF is doing !

 

[777]

Inaccurate flight information boards is a bad thing. But that does not prevent people catch their flight. The boarding time is known and it is pretty easy to find out the time. Making it easy to relax until the boarding time and then get up and walk to the gate. All of which requires that only the gate number is correct on the information board.

Then why have them at all?

 

[Pushka]

And if you are going to have them they must be accurate.

 

[medhead]

Then why have them at all?

Maybe I wasn't clear. Yes, I agree they need to be accurate. However, I disagree with the suggestion that people can't relax and they will almost certainly miss their flight. That certainly isn't a suggestion about removing those boards.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

After this thread, I was watching the boards at SYD yesterday, pretty closely.

I have to say, with the discrepancies, having a relaxing wait when a flight is delyed is impossible as we don't know whether ti's delayed still or boarding or closed. My SYD-OOL 16.10 yesterday was supposed to board at 1540 gate 38. 1540 came around and passed with nothing showing. I checked the arrivals board and noted gate 38 (frm MEL) hadn't yet landed, so I was fairly comforable it was a delay. This went on until my predetermined time to check with the angels of 1550. At that point the MEL flight in gate 38 had landed (and displayed as such) but OOL had not progressed. Then "go to gate" showed so I decided to wait and see what would happen. About 1555 "boarding" showed. I waited more to listem for the announcement. It didn't come by 1558 or so and I was getting nervous so I quickly asked an angel in the lounge on my way out and she said she'd just check for me. A puzzled look came over her face and she phoned the gate and confirmed yes, it was indeed boarding and as I hurried out, I heard her make the page in the lounge. I'm wondering if that page would have ever come if I had not asked the question.

Seems from that, the lounge is totally reliant on the gate notifying them when they start boarding and the gate didn't do it for my flight yesterday, but the boards were indeed correct. The trouble is, if we don't want to wait at the gate for 20 or more minutes, what do we do? You cannot always just ask the angels because at times the queue is three or four deep probably all trying to ask a similar question............

Also to say that the airport are responsible for the boards is one thing, but the boards updated correctly for my flight, which was late, so it was not updated via a time based pre-programmed schedule, so how did Syd airport know when the plane started boarding? Do the gate staff notify them as well as the lounge (which may answer the question of why some flight are missed........stressed out gate staff juggling more balls than they can cope with).

 

[JohnK]

As I have stated throughout this thread I accept responsibility for missing this flight. Ultimately it is up to the passenger to ensure they are at the gate for boarding. I really cannot explain why I did not check flight status with the desk sooner. Perhaps I was too casual. Perhaps I had other things on my mind. Perhaps I have had one too many delays and any sort of delay these days is not unusual. Still not good enough.

But if you are going to have departure/arrival boards then these need to be correct all the time and there aso needs to be consistency in boarding announcements.

By receiving a response acknowledging there are issues and investigating these issues is a good start.

And the travel voucher I received as a gesture of goodwill is greatly appreciated.

 

[lovestotravel]

By receiving a response acknowledging there are issues and investigating these issues is a good start.

Pretty much any company will say they are "investigating" and you will never hear anything more

 

[medhead]

After this thread, I was watching the boards at SYD yesterday, pretty closely.

I have to say, with the discrepancies, having a relaxing wait when a flight is delyed is impossible as we don't know whether ti's delayed still or boarding or closed.

Is it really that hard to relax until the scheduled boarding time?