Let us know your most outrageous thoughts on any topic about flying

[VPS]

Oh my God. I have been identified! I must confess that i am on the QF payroll. Until I was found out, this lurk was rewarding, both financially and in satisfaction. It was an easy gig - every waking moment of my life I just had to tweet something like "loving the new QF economy seats - they are smaller but the moodlighting makes everything so much better". Such an easy way to earn dollars.

I'm sure at some stage someone "accused you" of working for Qantas - well now you've been outed

 

[harvyk]

harvyk, I get the loving of flying. I also understand that status can seem important. But in my humble opinion a status run has to be a mathematical equation. IE that the benefits to be obtained outweigh the extra cash spent. I have only seen evidence of the is equation a couple of times in many endless posts regarding this.

Well forward bookings in the following year can easily help justify the spend of an SC run, especially when you start adding in status bonuses and lounge access which comes with higher status.

Depends on how close you get to retaining your status as well. If you're only a few SC's away, an SC run will help retain that status, and again, whilst a paid QP membership might on the surface look cheaper than $800 in airfare, once you start calculating the additional benefits (such as more points, better odds on upgrades lounge access etc) those waters can start to look a little bit more murky than $500 (or less if on corp scheme) to renew vs $800 for SC run.

 

[juddles]

..... IMHO airlines have it all wrong,......

This is the single most common foolishness that us frequent Flyers suffer. The airlines do not have it wrong!! They know all of this stuff, everything, from status to ticketing, to loyalty, to pricing, a gazillion orders of magnitude better than us mere spectators. They are professionals. they actually know what they are talking about, what they are dealing with. They do not have the luxury of being armchair warriors. And in the specific case of QF, they are doing superbly.

 

[harvyk]

This is the single most common foolishness that us frequent Flyers suffer. The airlines do not have it wrong!! They know all of this stuff, everything, from status to ticketing, to loyalty, to pricing, a gazillion orders of magnitude better than us mere spectators. They are professionals. they actually know what they are talking about, what they are dealing with. They do not have the luxury of being armchair warriors. And in the specific case of QF, they are doing superbly.

There are many airlines out there who I don't think know their stuff as well as you're claiming. It's the whole "how do you make a small fortune in the airline business? Start with a large fortune" joke all over.

In another group there was a comment about what VA needed to do to sort out their current state of affairs. It was everything from "Focus solely on domestic" to "expand their international operations", "get rid of business class and become a LCC" to "introduce first class". In reality the one thing an airline truly needs is a crystal ball, but since I don't have one, being an armchair expert seems like a good equal second to actually knowing anything about running an airline (hey isn't this what this thread is about?)

 

[juddles]

I actually have a crystal ball. But it is in clear need of re-calibration. According to it, Virgin should have died a couple of years ago.

 

[juddles]

But maybe accountants and hopeful souls are skewing the timeline....

 

[harvyk]

I might not have a working crystal ball, but I can make some wild predictions for you if you like?
It turns out my predictions about what airlines are going to do come true about 50% of the time

 

[AisleSeat]

had half a bottle of Gage Roads Old Money (bourbon-barrel aged Russian imperial stout @13%ABV)

You mean Stockade Old Money

 

[juddles]

I might not have a working crystal ball, but I can make some wild predictions for you if you like?
It turns out my predictions about what airlines are going to do come true about 50% of the time

To calibrate any crystal ball requires only one thing: input that pax will debate everything on offer, then forget all that and then choose simply on price.

 

[juddles]

People, I must retire from this thread for tonight. I am exhausted, and really want to enjoy the small holiday I am blessed with. As a P1 with QF I get invites to certain things. This current one is simply a few days at an all-inclusive resort down in Brisbane. It is a winery thing. Thanks to the P1 thing I get a bottle of the top wine as an arrival gift. Also free passes to golf entertainment, and a free thing tomorrow doing a tasting tour in the winery. Also get a few hundred bucks credit at the onsite restaurants. Fantastic gig.

 

[FrankP]

I always like seeing the somewhat "elitist" nature of flying exhibited by the unwashed masses at airports/lounges/travel. Like they've joined an exclusive club. With fake furs and slacks cut so you can hang "just right". Everything from being at the front of the line to get to ... a dedicated booked seat that no-one can get but you ... to skipping ahead of the line at priority check-in and security, to side-looks from J as you parade your way to the back of the double-bogey. My crystal ball tells me Oz flying will always have a silver-plated spoon in need of a good polish in its mouth.
Thats why I'm always amused/intrigued/concerned at the good ol' USofA approach that you're just taking a bus that might, on occasion, fall out of the sky. Luggage late? Why ask me! Missed your flight? Here, have another one! Wrong instructions? Whatever. Where do you need to be now? Kicked off an overbooked plane? Next one in an hour, don't make me call security!

I think I like the Oz version better. More in touch with the human condition ... that EVERYONE wants to (in Masterchef parlance) ... ELEVATE something ... so they can join their peers.

Alan: Are you awake??
God: Urgh FFS. Yes. What is it now Joycey.
Alan: I was just wondering about our new lifetime platinum status. Do you think we got it right?
God: Really. At 1am? I don't sleep but I do have things to do. Which bit?
Alan: Well we're copping flack about how it's unattainable. That anyone who gets to LTG and quit out to chase the same on Virgin.
God: LTG?
Alan: LifeTimeGold. You know, on the AFF abbreviations.
God: Oh, my bad. Maybe I should join AFF.
Alan: Anyhoo. I can't change the numbers, we're already in the market.
God: And you didn't for a moment think that 75k was too high, when I've had near-God lifetime Angel wings at 60k for 20 yrs? I told you that months ago.
Alan: Yes but I forgot. I was pretty hazy. Been on a Publicity Run on our new Perth-London run.
God: Oh my Me. Dare I ask.
Alan: Its the same as a status run, but for CEO's. When you have to do a plane flight for no other reason than to try to get a bunch more publicity, good or bad. If you time it right you'll get a whole bunch of good press for hardly any money. Sweet as bro.
God: Is this another AFF thing?
Alan: No, they're all plebs. WP1's and lower. Wouldn't know s$%^ about CEO stuff.
God: Your platinum stuff sucks. The meek shall inherit the airline. Even if they service it from Fiji. You need to do something more to look generous.
Alan: Like offering a heap more pleb seats at the back from FF points?
God: Its a start.
Alan: Good plan. I might do another publicity run, make an announcement, get some press points. Bloody AMP and bankers are hogging them all !!

 

[zenyattamondatta]

Urgh.

 

[TonyHancock]

The first comment I would make is about ‘status running’, why would anyone actually spend money to do this. Why would one put themselves through flights that do not need to be taken to gain status that is most likely over hyped/ marketed. After you have been to one F lounge they are all the same.

Let's just take a step back for a moment and think of a FF scheme that is a little different. What if a return flight SYD-PER, at the end of your "status" year, gave enough, shall we call them Tier Points to take you to, and again let's for arguments sake just say, 7000 Tier Points. What if at 7000 Tier Points you earned two single upgrade vouchers that allowed you to upgrade an entire itinerary, not just a single sector, on your airline of choice.

Whilst we are "just saying" what if your regular itinerary involved OSL-LHR-SIN-SYD-SIN-LHR-OSL? ...and let's just say (again) you were booking this for AUS$4.5k for J and using a voucher to upgrade to the F cabin, at the time of booking, even when there was no rewards availability.....and use the second one for the same itinerary a couple of months later. OK that cabin may not be anywhere near the same league as SQ/QR/EY/EK etc but nevertheless the champers and wine is rather decent and the bed very comfortable.

Would you think about taking that SYD-PER-SYD* trip to fly F from Europe for less than the price of QF Y+

*The author of this post, for the sake of transparency, confesses to doing this in December 2017 and thoroughly enjoyed the F cabin on 8 long haul sectors.
......and as outrageous as this post sounds it is actually all true

 

[RooFlyer]

How about these for truly outrageous thoughts (mainly in respect of flying J):

* Qantas is a very good domestic airline

* Qantas is a very mediocre international airline inasmuch as it charges high prices for an average product

* People who look at Qantas international starry-eyed and remain 'loyal' to it, don't fly the top tier international airlines so don't know what they are missing

* With QFF, you are not the object of the scheme to be looked after, you are the product, whose personal preferences go into a massive database to be sold by Qantas to anyone who buys their points wholesale. These points buyers are the actual 'customers'. Qantas gives you lounges and a few other things just like you'd give a rat an occasional treat to keep it engaged while you did other things to it. But ultimately the individual rat is unimportant, as there are plenty more where it came from.

 

[Forg]

You mean Stockade Old Money

10 Internets to you Good Sir!
[I honestly didn't think anyone would necessarily know it was a beer, let alone what brewery made it]

 

[daft009]

cough goes wrong, thats life, deal with it.. does that count?

people love whinging.. if only this power/energy could be harnessed for something positive
yes i find myself whinging too from time to time, have to snap myself out of it and move on

 

[Forg]

people love whinging.. if only this power/energy could be harnessed for something positive

Woah … you've just totally nailed the driving force behind the creation of the world's biggest ever empire!

 

[Matt_01]

Let's just take a step back for a moment and think of a FF scheme that is a little different.

"Just saying" had I had cause to travel to the UK on a regular basis or realised the benefits of another scheme a few years back it is very likely that I would be a member of said scheme and mostly only a few thousand of what they call TP away from said schemes LTG (OWE).

Mr Hancock to answer your question, if I was only a couple of hundred TP way from the 7000 mark would I make a run SYD-PER to realise defined benefits I would most likely do that. Heck what is an extra 200 TP when you are close to the 7000 mark. In my lousy scheme if I get to 7000 SC I am rewarded with 100K worth of FF points, hardly an incentive.

 

[AisleSeat]

Perhaps not so outrageous....but duty free stores airside that sell suitcases/cabin roller bags. What? Why? I've always found it baffling.

Passengers are already airside with their cabin luggage. Now unless a catastrophe occurs and that bag breaks and need an emergency replacement, does anyone purchase these? Would you have to gate check it? Do airlines allow for an extra bag if its duty free and treat it like any other duty free? Or are they just there to fill up floor space.

 

[tgh]

Great summary , Roof_lyer.. but the stampede to talk about status and points and similr trivia has rolled right over it…..

How about the applied environmental vandalism of flying and the multiplication factor of those who do it frequently and/or those who grossly consume extra space in the dirty tin tube.
..and... ( leads to..drum roll… ) what about those who by their keyboard input facilitate additional desire/ambition to increase the aforementioned vandalism...