juddles
Suspended
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2011
- Posts
- 5,283
- Qantas
- Platinum 1
Hi all.
I am continually frustrated in voicing my opinions in many threads that refer to Qantas, as I seem to manage to always come across as a "QF fanboi". Or get accused of being some QF stooge that is planted here in this forum to promote QF.
I think the root problem is that I only tend to comment on QF things, as I do not fly Virgin, and this is an aussie site where these are the only two significant carriers....
Anyway, I thought that if I posted in one spot some of my (many) gripes about QF, then I could refer anyoneto this to disprove that fanboi label.
As is usual in my world, many of even my own opinions can be tempered with caveats (ie "QF sucks at ABC but to be fair other airlines also suck") So despite my desire to introduce said caveats in the interest of fairness, I will not do that here. So just will go "both barrels", and no bandaids.....
In no particular order:
1.- My number one gripe with QF is the redemption of award flights. Not so much the lack of availability - but precisely the issue of co-payments. It is obscene. One has enough points to get a "free" flight from A to B, but then at the end you discover that you have to pay a stack of cold hard cash also. WTF? I don't think anyone expects this. Surely relies on people no longer actually valuing the dollar cost they spent to gain the points....
2.- The "spin team" that QF employs. This is the people that Qantas has who design, redesign, continually change everything - from menus to websites. (aaarrrggghh!!) There is an old saying, "don't fix it if it isn't broken". QF go way worse than this. They provide something that is "broken", but rather than fix it, they just endlessly install new, also broken, things. Drives me crazy. I never dare to think I know more about running an airline than the airline itself, but in this regard I think the management is way out of touch with consumer reality. I picture in my imaginative mind the old management boys being convinced of need for change by teams of young design ladies buttering them up and flashing their eyelids and convincing them. Am I way off mark here? I horribly think I am not. I doubt they have a single consultant that rocks up with a proposal that says simply " feed the pax real meals, not bullshit".
3.- I am a Platinum One within the QFF program. It is not a great lifestyle I have - to earn that you fly enough that you cannot even remember when lounge access was a pleasure. You just survive. WE P1's get a newsletter every few months. This is something that should be designed exactly for it's public. I suspect most P1's have had a gutful in general of travel - we do it because we must. And you have to do millions of km. So they send out their newsletter with some lass giving such priceless tips as how to travel??? Telling you of their favorite restaurant in Greece??? That newsletter makes me want to vomit. It is the ultimate in QF disconnected, false, cheap, thoughtless, DRIVEL.
4.- "Consistently Inconsistent" - OMG, QF have taken this to levels that are amazing. But I am sure almost everyone who flies QF a bit would agree that this is their natural logo/slogan. It should be emblazoned in huge letters over every single one of their aircraft. As I said at the start, this is not a thread where I will allow myself to praise, so keeping to the negative, Qantas has managed, consistently, to make every flight a surprise. I just never know what I will get when I board. Even before boarding....
5.- Crews. I am P1. I am sitting in 1A, in business, the highest class on my SYD-SCL flight. Yet the crew member manages to make me, ME, feel guilty asking for a second bottle of water. If I was in charge, that crew member would be instantly dismissed. The ones "having a bad day" do so much damage to the airline. I know we can all have a bad day, but in my experience of the three or four crew I interact with on a given long-haul flight, at least one is having a "bad day".
6.- Priority luggage. This one is so pitiful it makes me unsure whether to laugh or cry. Again, as a P1, I expect the best. (I keep saying I am P1 not to bignote myself, but so we all realise that my experiences are as a pax who is second only to CL's - so if I get cough, God forgive anyone who is simply WP or lower!) Priority luggage is the biggest nonsense out there. Many a time I have checked in two bags - one may come out near the front, the other at the end. It is simply nonsense. But (on international flights at least, which is what I most do) I notice that the crew bags are always delivered first. I do not begrudge that - they need to get out of there. But if you can make crew bags come out as a priority, you can do the same with status bags......
7.- Just a personal situation issue - irrelevant to most travellers. I travel continuously. Internationally. So actual time is a personal thing - as in what time of day you are at. I rock into the Brisbane lounge at 6am and cannot get a glass of champas or a bourbon. Despite it being, for me, almost midnight according to my body clock.
8.- Call centres. I understand that these days it is a costly thing for a company, and in the case of Qantas every caller who actually needs to speak to a staff member incurs a cost to the company that obliterates any profit from their ticket. But when someone has a doubt, a problem, it is perfectly natural they want to speak to someone. Speak to a real human being. Not some automated junk electronic chat service. And if you do call, and you do wait the eternity it takes, you would hope that when you finally get that real human being on the line, they should be adept. Someone who can actually understand your problem, know the exact options, and know how to fix things. It is rare in the common lines to get someone who can satisfy even one of these three key aspects. As with any business, I want to be able to speak to someone. Someone who's english I can understand.
Anyway, enough of a rant to get this alive......
I am continually frustrated in voicing my opinions in many threads that refer to Qantas, as I seem to manage to always come across as a "QF fanboi". Or get accused of being some QF stooge that is planted here in this forum to promote QF.
I think the root problem is that I only tend to comment on QF things, as I do not fly Virgin, and this is an aussie site where these are the only two significant carriers....
Anyway, I thought that if I posted in one spot some of my (many) gripes about QF, then I could refer anyoneto this to disprove that fanboi label.
As is usual in my world, many of even my own opinions can be tempered with caveats (ie "QF sucks at ABC but to be fair other airlines also suck") So despite my desire to introduce said caveats in the interest of fairness, I will not do that here. So just will go "both barrels", and no bandaids.....
In no particular order:
1.- My number one gripe with QF is the redemption of award flights. Not so much the lack of availability - but precisely the issue of co-payments. It is obscene. One has enough points to get a "free" flight from A to B, but then at the end you discover that you have to pay a stack of cold hard cash also. WTF? I don't think anyone expects this. Surely relies on people no longer actually valuing the dollar cost they spent to gain the points....
2.- The "spin team" that QF employs. This is the people that Qantas has who design, redesign, continually change everything - from menus to websites. (aaarrrggghh!!) There is an old saying, "don't fix it if it isn't broken". QF go way worse than this. They provide something that is "broken", but rather than fix it, they just endlessly install new, also broken, things. Drives me crazy. I never dare to think I know more about running an airline than the airline itself, but in this regard I think the management is way out of touch with consumer reality. I picture in my imaginative mind the old management boys being convinced of need for change by teams of young design ladies buttering them up and flashing their eyelids and convincing them. Am I way off mark here? I horribly think I am not. I doubt they have a single consultant that rocks up with a proposal that says simply " feed the pax real meals, not bullshit".
3.- I am a Platinum One within the QFF program. It is not a great lifestyle I have - to earn that you fly enough that you cannot even remember when lounge access was a pleasure. You just survive. WE P1's get a newsletter every few months. This is something that should be designed exactly for it's public. I suspect most P1's have had a gutful in general of travel - we do it because we must. And you have to do millions of km. So they send out their newsletter with some lass giving such priceless tips as how to travel??? Telling you of their favorite restaurant in Greece??? That newsletter makes me want to vomit. It is the ultimate in QF disconnected, false, cheap, thoughtless, DRIVEL.
4.- "Consistently Inconsistent" - OMG, QF have taken this to levels that are amazing. But I am sure almost everyone who flies QF a bit would agree that this is their natural logo/slogan. It should be emblazoned in huge letters over every single one of their aircraft. As I said at the start, this is not a thread where I will allow myself to praise, so keeping to the negative, Qantas has managed, consistently, to make every flight a surprise. I just never know what I will get when I board. Even before boarding....
5.- Crews. I am P1. I am sitting in 1A, in business, the highest class on my SYD-SCL flight. Yet the crew member manages to make me, ME, feel guilty asking for a second bottle of water. If I was in charge, that crew member would be instantly dismissed. The ones "having a bad day" do so much damage to the airline. I know we can all have a bad day, but in my experience of the three or four crew I interact with on a given long-haul flight, at least one is having a "bad day".
6.- Priority luggage. This one is so pitiful it makes me unsure whether to laugh or cry. Again, as a P1, I expect the best. (I keep saying I am P1 not to bignote myself, but so we all realise that my experiences are as a pax who is second only to CL's - so if I get cough, God forgive anyone who is simply WP or lower!) Priority luggage is the biggest nonsense out there. Many a time I have checked in two bags - one may come out near the front, the other at the end. It is simply nonsense. But (on international flights at least, which is what I most do) I notice that the crew bags are always delivered first. I do not begrudge that - they need to get out of there. But if you can make crew bags come out as a priority, you can do the same with status bags......
7.- Just a personal situation issue - irrelevant to most travellers. I travel continuously. Internationally. So actual time is a personal thing - as in what time of day you are at. I rock into the Brisbane lounge at 6am and cannot get a glass of champas or a bourbon. Despite it being, for me, almost midnight according to my body clock.
8.- Call centres. I understand that these days it is a costly thing for a company, and in the case of Qantas every caller who actually needs to speak to a staff member incurs a cost to the company that obliterates any profit from their ticket. But when someone has a doubt, a problem, it is perfectly natural they want to speak to someone. Speak to a real human being. Not some automated junk electronic chat service. And if you do call, and you do wait the eternity it takes, you would hope that when you finally get that real human being on the line, they should be adept. Someone who can actually understand your problem, know the exact options, and know how to fix things. It is rare in the common lines to get someone who can satisfy even one of these three key aspects. As with any business, I want to be able to speak to someone. Someone who's english I can understand.
Anyway, enough of a rant to get this alive......
Last edited:
I'll waive them to send para 3 to the head of QF Loyalty -- because.. yep! 
