No more flight announcements in the Qantas Club [Repudiated by Red Roo]

[TheInsider]

Also think it is a good idea, and will stop 130+ Qantas flights a day, x 2 boarding announcements being made (including final calls)

 

[Princess Fiona]

Terrible decision IMO.
It is one of the good points of difference between QF, BA and AA.
I like being able to relax in the lounge and wait for the boarding call. There would be many better ways to reduce noise pollution in the lounges eg. mobile free zones.
I would be interested to know what consultation process (if any) QF have taken with their core clientele ?

 

[mannej]

Damned if you do damned if you don't. You are never going to please everyone hence I'm happy airline management isn't my job (outside of my armchair of course)

 

[NM]

Good move IMHO, mind you I rarely wait for the call anyway if HLO.

Totally agree. I find the constant bombardment of flight announcements extremely annoying and intrusive. The lounge is supposed to be a haven, but instead is often noisier and less lounge-like than the gate lounge area. The constant flight announcements are just noise pollution. They should be limited to major delays and cancellations, and leave the regular flight boarding announcements to the screens.

 

[eastwest101]

Majority of Qantas FIDS are controlled by the gate staff, and they change them when it is ready to board. The boarding call procedure for staff is to make the boarding call when they see the flight change to boarding (controlled by the gate staff), and when making that call, it is noted down in the flight history with the time and who made the call (this includes personal pages and finals calls).

It was my impression from all the posts in these threads:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer..../mel-departures-boards-not-correct-48010.html

http://www.australianfrequentflyer..../mel-departures-boards-not-correct-48010.html


That the general observations were that the QF FIDS were more accurate than the VA FIDS - but also variable depending on airport and terminal, and in the case of mass disruptions like SYF fog last month - never to be relied upon at all.

I agree with other posters that there will be a lot of default boarding calls along the lines of "If there is a Mr or Mrs Smith flying QF123 ABC-XYZ would they please present themselves immediately at gate 16 as your aircraft is awaiting departure."

 

[TheInsider]

I agree with other posters that there will be a lot of default boarding calls along the lines of "If there is a Mr or Mrs Smith flying QF123 ABC-XYZ would they please present themselves immediately at gate 16 as your aircraft is awaiting departure."

But based on experience up there, there are always these calls anyway, at least 1 every 2-3 flights, and generally for QF club members.

 

[ftm]

I think it is a great enhancement.

With QF Link moving to T3 in Sydney, there would be even more announcements - you'd barely have a quiet moment! With 85% of domestic flights departing on time (or whatever to OTP is these days), the inconvenience of having to check the board should be minimal.

 

[straitman]

Majority of Qantas FIDS are controlled by the gate staff, and they change them when it is ready to board. The boarding call procedure for staff is to make the boarding call when they see the flight change to boarding (controlled by the gate staff), and when making that call, it is noted down in the flight history with the time and who made the call (this includes personal pages and finals calls).

Your first sentence is the essence of the problem IMHO :!:

The 'majority of Qantas FIDS' How is the average punter meant to know which screens at which airports are part of the majority :?:

 

[netgrom]

Is there a website or app to see the up to date gate information? I don't have a problem with no calls, however open the lack of screens around the larger QP means you have to walk a bit of a distance to see one, be good if you can just bring it up on your device, or get the Qantas app to alert you when your flight is boarding.

 

[markis10]

Your first sentence is the essence of the problem IMHO :!:

The 'majority of Qantas FIDS' How is the average punter meant to know which screens at which airports are part of the majority :?:

I believe every port where there is a lounge has QF gate controlled FIDs rather than airport supplied, for obvious reasons!

 

[markis10]

Is there a website or app to see the up to date gate information? I don't have a problem with no calls, however open the lack of screens around the larger QP means you have to walk a bit of a distance to see one, be good if you can just bring it up on your device, or get the Qantas app to alert you when your flight is boarding.

Quite a few, Flightware is one which google use, just google your flight.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

love the change, continual announcements annoy me!

 

[TheInsider]

Your first sentence is the essence of the problem IMHO :!:

The 'majority of Qantas FIDS' How is the average punter meant to know which screens at which airports are part of the majority :?:

The ones that use the same screen template. So MEL, SYD T3, BNE, PER, ADL, CBR Lounge, probably more just can't think at the moment. Also AFAIK all the gate staff change it because they see it at the gate. Staff can change it to 3 different options, "Boarding", "Final Call", "Closed", "Go to Gate" is on a timer until it is changed by the gate staff.

 

[significance]

Quite a few, Flightware is one which google use, just google your flight.

Does it have boarding times or just departure times? Departure times are much less useful, as time from boarding to departure depends in practise on the airport and aircraft.

 

[markis10]

Does it have boarding times or just departure times? Departure times are much less useful, as time from boarding to departure depends in practise on the airport and aircraft.

Qantas actually has a boarding time that is a set time before the expected departure, so the expected departure is actually the key which flightaware shows:

Qantas 619 (Track inbound flight)
QFA619 · "Qantas" (all flights) qantas.com

Brisbane (YBBN / BNE) Gate 23	Melbourne Tullamarine (YMML / MEL) Terminal 1
12:10 EST	13:52 EST
Scheduled: 12:00 EST 7-day average: 12:09 EST	Scheduled: 13:42 EST 7-day average: 13:49 EST

If you take off 20 minutes thats the boarding time for Domestic, 40 for international.

Boarding commences 20 minutes before departure for all Qantas flights

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/domestic-check-in-times/global/en

 

[reductionist]

I like that QF does boarding calls, so I'm a little disappointed with this decision. It's far from the worst enhancement they've made however. And, I can see why some people would find the calls annoying.

So, assuming that there's no hope of having this reversed, I'd ask that Red Roo consider putting up additional monitors in the lounges. I am specifically thinking of certain areas of the MEL J DOM lounge where I normally sit with my laptop but am unable to see any monitors. Because I now have 2 choices, leave my work materials unattended while I go find the monitors or pack up when I want to look at them. Both are a little annoying. AA has monitors everywhere which works well.

Also, monitors in the bathrooms/toilets would be great too.

Side note: Maybe it would be good if we could opt into push notifications for boarding via the iPhone app. I've built a similar system before and there's not a huge amount of work involved in it.

So, Virgin Australia wins this round AFAIC.

 

[kevrosmith]

I have mixed feelings about this change. I tend to zone out of most of the calls... they just become part of the background noise. But then closer to the time I'm expecting my call, I tend to zone back in. I noticed the lack of calls in the AC lounges in USA, and was more pro-active in ensuring I was at the gate close to boarding time. I would be happy with the decision as long as the displays accurately updated with delayed boarding times, which I general observe Qantas is fairly good at.

In most of the QF lounges I visit (SYD, BNE, CNS), I know that the displays are Qantas' own FIDS, run directly from their flight management system, so as TheInsider indicates, once the gate commences boarding, I know that I'm going to see the update on the Qantas FIDS (these are the ones with the red borders). Generally this applies to flight delay times, although it always assumes QF update the relevant info in their management system too... but I'd generally expect this to happen.

In airports where the Airports manage and operate the common-use FIDS (mostly in common areas, but sometimes in lounges where the airline presence is not significant), then it all depends on whether the Airport makes use of the Qantas FILD feed as to whether their FIDS will display the correct information automatically. I know for certain CNS does. Once the gate commences boarding, a message is sent through the FILD feed to the Airport Management System, and the displays show the status change. (For other airlines at airports in these circumstances, this process is largely manual, and relies on the local staff to log in and set the status, which happens with varying degrees of reliability).

For those comparing this to Virgin, I tend to wholely disagree. Especially in SYD, I find the Displays are fairly inaccurate, and I've had the Lounge call flights, and then waited at the gate for 20 minutes until boarding actually commenced. My observation is that Virgin Lounge staff in SYD make calls based on the ETD and boarding time (20 minutes before) without taking into account operational delays, which often tend not to show on the FIDS.

 

[eastwest101]

In airports where the Airports manage and operate the common-use FIDS (mostly in common areas, but sometimes in lounges where the airline presence is not significant), then it all depends on whether the Airport makes use of the Qantas FILD feed as to whether their FIDS will display the correct information automatically. I know for certain CNS does. Once the gate commences boarding, a message is sent through the FILD feed to the Airport Management System, and the displays show the status change. (For other airlines at airports in these circumstances, this process is largely manual, and relies on the local staff to log in and set the status, which happens with varying degrees of reliability).

For those comparing this to Virgin, I tend to wholely disagree. Especially in SYD, I find the Displays are fairly inaccurate, and I've had the Lounge call flights, and then waited at the gate for 20 minutes until boarding actually commenced. My observation is that Virgin Lounge staff in SYD make calls based on the ETD and boarding time (20 minutes before) without taking into account operational delays, which often tend not to show on the FIDS.

Totally agree with your comments kevrosmith - especially the ones regarding the inconsistencies in the boarding info for VA flights in SYD, they were very inconsistent a while ago but seem to be improving a bit lately. I too have seen VA lounges call flights as boarding where the operating aircraft is running 30 mins late, and other times no boarding call for flights that are boarding.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

What about calling delays only. If you haven't heard anything be there at advertised boarding time. No need to continually check then

 

[GoldCanyon340]

I really can see both sides of the argument here but would tend towards retaining the boarding announcements. I always like to go into relaxation mode at an airport, whether the flight is for business or pleasure. That would be eroded somewhat by the need to check the status of said flight constantly. Now I will accept that the majority of my flights are from ADL and we don't have as many announcements in the QP as other ports (especially since losing QF81 ). However, do vocal announcements in any QP/J lounge in Australia *really* disturb people to frustration?

It will be interesting to monitor the on-time statistics of evening flight departures without boarding announcements as a group is having another 1, 2, 3 drinks for the road.

QF should certainly invest in more monitors if this policy will be the new reality. I agree with a previous post about monitor availability in MEL DOM J as I like to sit on the relaxation chairs in the TV area and there is no ability to view monitors from there. The onus should not be on the passenger to have an app on their mobile device, if indeed they have a mobile device. There's also a monitor up the far end of the ADL QP, beyond the bar in the mobile phone free area, that sometimes seems to get stuck on 'page 2' of departures.