bammac
Intern
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2005
- Posts
- 72
My Status run to Platinum, MEL-BNE-TSV J return (a novella by bammac)
Pre-abmble
I’m one of the members of the ‘never received an offer for DSC’ club. I’m not sure what the criteria is, but I fly mainly J with the odd F thrown in for good measure. My flying has been limited in the last 18 months due to work. I fly enough to maintain SG but WP eludes me.
I swear if it wasn’t for the fact that the DSC promotion was advertised, I assumed that it didn’t exist at all… just a cruel prank the more humorous members are pulling over the more gullible ones.
So with with the booking close off date for the DSC promotion nearing I decided to book for early in the new year. Let me say this, I am typically time poor so when Saturday 4th opened up I took the plunge. It’s a bucket list thing I’ve always wanted to do.
Whilst I still have a a few flights left before my Feb 28 review. I wanted to be WP before a holiday in the US in mid Feb… you know to enjoy some of the perks. To do this I opted to book two J seats, so that I could wrap this up all in a day. Flights booked and paid for in cold hard unfortunately. Not enough points to do a JASA, so the $/SC is going to be ugly for some…. let’s just say I’ve always wanted to do it and I’ve had a good year (plus admitting you have a frequent flying problem is the first step towards Platinum).
So the day was simple:
---
QF604 MEL to BNE
Aircraft: 737-800
Running Total SC/Seat: 60
QF970 BNE to TSV
Aircraft: 737-800
Running Total SC/Seat: 120
QF971 TSV to BNE
Aircraft: 737-800
Running Total SC/Seat: 180
QF625 BNE to MEL
Aircraft: 737-800
Running Total SC/Seat: 240
10mins after landing I was being chauffeured back home, nice way to end the day.
Some points of possible interest
Priority boarding: 1/4
Hot towels: 1/4
Papers: 1/4
On time: 4/4
Onboard Dragon sightings: 0/4 (The onboard crew for each flight were really top-notch it must be said)
Total SCs 480 (960 when DSC post)
Some points of probable nil-interest.
Pre-abmble
I’m one of the members of the ‘never received an offer for DSC’ club. I’m not sure what the criteria is, but I fly mainly J with the odd F thrown in for good measure. My flying has been limited in the last 18 months due to work. I fly enough to maintain SG but WP eludes me.
I swear if it wasn’t for the fact that the DSC promotion was advertised, I assumed that it didn’t exist at all… just a cruel prank the more humorous members are pulling over the more gullible ones.
So with with the booking close off date for the DSC promotion nearing I decided to book for early in the new year. Let me say this, I am typically time poor so when Saturday 4th opened up I took the plunge. It’s a bucket list thing I’ve always wanted to do.
Whilst I still have a a few flights left before my Feb 28 review. I wanted to be WP before a holiday in the US in mid Feb… you know to enjoy some of the perks. To do this I opted to book two J seats, so that I could wrap this up all in a day. Flights booked and paid for in cold hard unfortunately. Not enough points to do a JASA, so the $/SC is going to be ugly for some…. let’s just say I’ve always wanted to do it and I’ve had a good year (plus admitting you have a frequent flying problem is the first step towards Platinum).
So the day was simple:
- 07:05 QF604 MEL to BNE
- 08:55 QF970 BNE to TSV
- 11:35 QF971 TSV to BNE
- 15:00 QF625 BNE to MEL
---
QF604 MEL to BNE
Aircraft: 737-800
Running Total SC/Seat: 60
- Priority scanning at security was actually worth going through for once.
- MEL QP light and quiet.
- No priority boarding, the signage was there of course, but it was looking untidy and disorganised.... Much like the disembarking passengers on a JetStar flight (Just saying).
- Seats 1D & 1F
- No hot towels
- No papers were offered, The reading level required for Melbourne papers may have been beyond that of our Queensland cousins and hence opted not to carry them. Fortunately the children's activity packs were in ample supply.
- Breakfast served after 25min from take off, sausages with a un-godly feta muffin concoction. The almond pastry diluted the bad feta after taste fortunately.
- J was full, I did have an FA ask that I actually paid for both seats. I think a crew member wanted to move from row 3 to row 1. No dice, I'm scared of sitting next to dragons.
- The crew polite and courteous, older (baby boomers) and didn't fuss or huff and puff. So pretty relaxed.
- All electronic equipment turn off request was very early. We were outside of the Gold Coast when the captain made the call. It left close to 25min of nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs and think of ways to inject my soon to be platinum status into everyday conversation.
QF970 BNE to TSV
Aircraft: 737-800
Running Total SC/Seat: 120
- Lounge traffic was light in Brisbane
- Had 20min between flights which afforded me a toilet break in the QP. The broken coat hanger and toilet seat in my stall left me wondering how worse a condition those buggers in the business lounge had left things to warrant closing it down and leaving the Pub open!… Though, in fairness, a broken toilet seat is more befitting of its honorific pub title.
- Priority boarding! Plus explained to PAX what the two lines were about. So good job Brissy for not letting your reputation of a slow, Mexican-like work ethic from getting the better of you.
- Seats 2A and 2C
- Again cabin was full, though my fellow passengers would jealously think otherwise.
- Hot towels! Get them while they are hot (and not enhanced out of existence)!
- Light brunch served probably closer to 20mins after take off. Mushroom and cheese croissant and a yoghurt and berry side. Both were perfect.
- Seats look grimy. I wouldn't for the life of me know what the cost/maintenance difference is between fabric and leather seats.... but surely the stains in the flight cabins and the QPs may cause Alan to rethink his fabric decor strategy.
- Again cabin crew are polite, relaxed and courteous... Baby boomers are chilled cats on the weekends it appears.
- On a nerdy side note, one of the crew looked like captain Picard from Star Trek. If only Qantas had offered form fitting male uniforms it would have given me a nerdy thrill.... Plus I am working on a Will Riker-like beard so it was one of those galaxy aligned moments we get in life. (Mental note add Star Trek: The Next Generation to the TV shows on my iPad).
- Some hefty PAX in J on this flight. That's not a punch line on the collective girth of the Townsville natives, but rather that they paid to not asphyxiate unwitting PAX in economy. So yay for caring guys!
- Plus daily papers were offered on this flight! Sure I was the only capable of reading them but it's touching they offered them to all.
QF971 TSV to BNE
Aircraft: 737-800
Running Total SC/Seat: 180
- Lounge was surprisingly pleasant, was expecting an unmanned setup. Low and behold I find myself in a small yet perfectly adequate lounge. With enough time for a soda water before catching the return flight back to Brisbane.
- No priority boarding, no signage or announcement of this being available either.
- Seats 1A and 1C
- Cabin again full, when we count shadow as we'll!
- Light chicken salad for lunch and a muffin, tried the salad. Should have ignored it as I did the muffin, pretty dry and un-impressive.
- No hot towels
- No papers
- Service was again very much as the previous two flights, same courteous level of service from the baby boomer generation. Different FAs on each flight.
- Plenty of young children on board with at least 10 babies.... Must be some sort of crèche service Qantas are trailing. The famous QLD Bundy rum must have kept them quiet however as I did not hear a peep!
QF625 BNE to MEL
Aircraft: 737-800
Running Total SC/Seat: 240
- Lounge was full-ish on arrival, probably due to pax wanting to see the last wicket of England's first innings of the Sydney test. It Cleared out once the Sydney flight was called.
- Incidentally James Horwill (a Wallaby) and Jonathan Thurstan (a Kangaroo) looked a little uncomfortable with slumming it in the Pub. They were left alone as far as I could see, the Ashes coverage was grabbing the attention.
- The priority boarding signage was out and setup. Staff opted to to do other things than man the priority line. Some PAX took maters into their own hands and created a new line and just forced their way to the BP scanner. I had a chap try and do so next to me, but like Gandolf said, “You shall not pass”…. my two J seats trump your one old man. I respect his ingenuity though, it wouldn’t be necessary if Qantas just enforced a standard (will leave that for the 100+ posts in other threads).
- Had an FA come up to me once boarding was completed and said that do I often book two seats? He said that I should be calling the reservations to do so as they had been paging me as I was not in my shadow seat. I replied with just 3 points to this:
- I informed both the BP scanning FA and onboard FA what I was doing (as I did for each flight).
- It would have not have been an issue if the scanner was going and you weren’t manually double handling the chit’s into the system.
- The phone line to book is hardly as convenient as online when booking at 1am whilst also in another country. He left, apologetic & tail between his legs.
- Seats 1A & 1C
- Opted not to partake in the food/beverage service other than a couple of G&T’s to wind down the adventure.
- Although the signal was poor, it was nice to listen to the ABC coverage of the Ashes. At least to capture England’s capitulation in real time.
- Rest of the flight was uneventful but again the onboard crew were very solid in the level and manner of service they delivered.
10mins after landing I was being chauffeured back home, nice way to end the day.
Some points of possible interest
Priority boarding: 1/4
Hot towels: 1/4
Papers: 1/4
On time: 4/4
Onboard Dragon sightings: 0/4 (The onboard crew for each flight were really top-notch it must be said)
Total SCs 480 (960 when DSC post)
Some points of probable nil-interest.
- I do prefer the the J Seats on the 737-800 over the the blocked-off middle seat joke they have on other planes.
- I’m still surprised to see the amount of faded red tail birds, sporting the older logo still on the tarmac. It looks messy and the fact that some aircraft have definitely lost it’s bright red lustre run’s in visual parallel with the lustre QF has lost over the years.
- I had status credits post virtually 30min after each flight landed. Which is shocking as they had been taking 36hrs on Dom flights prior to Xmas. I still have flights on Emirates yet to post 5 days later.
- The flip side is that it's only posting one seat and not the shadow I have also paid for. Not sure why, I ensured they scan both BP for each flight. Will call on Monday to get sorted.
- Obviously in line with others, no DSC have posted yet. Will wait and see with those.
- It occurred to me that the “Switch all electronics off” request, which for my mind done far to early. Could be a procedural requirement for the 737-800? The more learned members would be able to shed light on that.
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