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

[Princess Fiona]

I wonder if this will apply to lounges in the Int terminals?
Maybe even the MEL and SYD F Lounges :shock: :shock: :!:

 

[netgrom]

May be false information after all:
Qantas: no plans to abandon boarding calls at airport lounges - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

 

[anat0l]

So, Virgin Australia wins this round AFAIC.

Not really - they may have boarding calls, but I find they are often absent or late. OK I don't have extensive experience, but surely it can't be the few times only that I've flown that a boarding call for my flight has only been made either (a) when I ask how the flight is going (because I haven't heard the boarding call but it's boarding time), (b) after I leave the lounge, or (c) not at all.


Anyway, another rumour has it that the change announcement is an "internal miscommunication" and may not be happening. So dear peasants of France, set down thy pitchforks....... (with apologies to Les Miserables)


Mind you, when it comes to a point where QF has frequencies of departures from a lounge which mirror that of continental Europe or America, it might be worth considering cutting off boarding calls. Otherwise, you'd have an announcement almost every three minutes for the whole day.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Maybe even the MEL and SYD F Lounges :shock: :shock: :!:

Can you imagine being on your third serving of salt and pepper squid, wondering what is causing the delay to your flight, and then seeing the aircraft casually taxiing for departure? :shock:

 

[significance]

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

So I'll now need to a) remember these differences; b) perform an (admittedly trivial) calculation each time I fly; c) either set a reminder for myself or keep watching the clock; d) when my expected boarding time approaches, either use an app/google to look for changes or walk across the room to check the screens; e) adjust the time of my reminder accordingly; f) repeat as required.

Yes, it may be a minor hassle, but the type of hassle that will add to the stress of travel.

 

[Princess Fiona]

May be false information after all:
Qantas: no plans to abandon boarding calls at airport lounges - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

Thank goodness for that
I really did think the sky was falling

 

[GoldCanyon340]

It's usually 25 minutes in MEL for flights departing from the JQ/regional pier.

 

[sjd]

Number of monitors in the BNE J Lounge definitely need to be improved to make this work. There are only two and one is down the far end near the toilets and not particularly visible. The middle section of the lounge does not have a visible monitor. Also with all the code shares these days sometimes two or three flights take up the whole screen that you can see, forcing you to go for a walk to the other end of the lounge to check on your flight. Because of this, I rely on the calls and often get a boarding call before I can see my flight on the visible monitor. Improve the number and visibility of monitors and this might work.

 

[anat0l]

So I'll now need to a) remember these differences; b) perform an (admittedly trivial) calculation each time I fly; c) either set a reminder for myself or keep watching the clock; d) when my expected boarding time approaches, either use an app/google to look for changes or walk across the room to check the screens; e) adjust the time of my reminder accordingly; f) repeat as required.

Yes, it may be a minor hassle, but the type of hassle that will add to the stress of travel.

Do you know how to tie your shoe laces, or you wear slip ons only?

You have got to be kidding me.........

 

[markis10]

Thank goodness for that
I really did think the sky was falling

Of course we have Qantas saying its true on facebook then telling another organisation its not - sounds a bit like a ask your mother ask your father situation!

 

[BAM1748]

if QF do discontinue the announcements i might start checking my bag so I can hear my name called out which also means i can maximize my lounge time, how kind of them.

 

[legroom]

...Does anyone know of an iPhone app which will give me a buzz when my flight starts boarding? Or at least show the current boarding time estimates so I won't need to keep getting up out of my seat to look at the screens? Perhaps Qantas could incorporate these features into their app?

Curious that you mentioned that.

On the weekend flights, I saw messages flashed on my iPhone "... QFxx_ boarding time is now 17:25 @ Gate 9..."

I had the QF iphone app installed and I did the OLCI with the passbook as well, so I am unsure which of those features triggered the boarding message.

However, I could not remember if it rang or vibrated as I was browsing the iPhone at the time.

Could I have missed that if I had not been looking at the phone ? Possibly !

 

[straitman]

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.

There has been no discussion whether this was proposed to be only domestic or Int as well. Certainly Auckland does not work as lounge staff have often advised that the boards only show the scheduled times and not the real times.

In any case Qantas have now advised ABT that this is not happening. (see post #42)

 

[mckinj02]

If they are planning on ceasing boarding announcements, they definitely need to upgrade there monitors and have more of them located throughout the clubs!

 

[RickyT84]

I don't mind QF ditching the flight annoucements in the QP as long as they continue to do it for delays and last miunte changes. As other posters mentioned, this would work only if there have sufficient monitors installed in the lounge so one does not have to venture too far to keep track of things.

 

[medhead]

Curious that you mentioned that.

On the weekend flights, I saw messages flashed on my iPhone "... QFxx_ boarding time is now 17:25 @ Gate 9..."

I had the QF iphone app installed and I did the OLCI with the passbook as well, so I am unsure which of those features triggered the boarding message.

However, I could not remember if it rang or vibrated as I was browsing the iPhone at the time.

Could I have missed that if I had not been looking at the phone ? Possibly !

Looks like the sort of message passbook provides. It will notify you however you have set it.

 

[significance]

Do you know how to tie your shoe laces, or you wear slip ons only?

You have got to be kidding me.........

Sure, I can do all that without any real difficulty. I could also bring my own lunch, sit on the floor, and arrange a courier to transport my baggage. It's just that I'd rather not.

 

[Limewood]

Looks like its not true HERE

 

[samh004]

Perhaps they should have just removed JQ announcements, not QF ones to see if that helped...

That said, I'm one of those that knows when I start boarding (it either says on my BP, or updates to PassBook on my phone) and head to the gate at the appropriate time. Occasionally, this will mean I'm there early, or that I need to head back to the lounge if there's a large delay, but it's a good habit to get into. I would hope if a flight had a significant delay and pax came back to the lounge, they'd consider making calls for flights then, as that's when there's a level of uncertainty.

 

[legroom]

Looks like the sort of message passbook provides. It will notify you however you have set it.

Good call !

I went to iPhone Settings / Notifications / Passbook and reset the alert option from BANNER (Boarding Notification disappears after few seconds) to ALERT (which stays until you take some action i.e. cancelling it).

I'd strongly recommend using the passbook function for your boarding pass as it does have an in-built reminder function based on boarding time as continuously (I hope) updated by Qantas.