Notes from an occasional QF pax

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toowongman

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Over in the VA forum Rooflyer posted their one-off VA experience, so after flying QF for the first time since 2006 I'm reporting from the other direction.

Had to be in Toowoomba from MEL for a usual monthly Friday afternoon meeting so thought it was time to give the new WTB airport a go and thus QF400 then QF2016 up the hill instead of the usual MEL-BNE with VA and rental car.

Not having any status apart from a paid ticket, it was interesting to see things "from the other side".

Checkin: What? You have to tag your own bag. Err OK. After working all night and driving straight to MEL I wasn't having much luck, and a few QF people just watched and walked past. Thanks guys, I worked it out after a few minutes. Security was no effort, was amusing to see people queued up to get in to the lounge, however not for me.

Boarding: A330 so dual entries, I can't be bothered so wandered on about half-way through after reading the free newspapers and watching Chinese tourists. Nothing to report there. Picked up some headphones.

Seat (economy): Wow, where did all that space come from? Awesome. Nobody next to me (aisle seat), plenty of leg room and an extra bit of width (more than I'm used to) and the seat belt had plenty of surplus space (sometimes I get an extension with VA). Little iPad in the seat pocket, so I set that up and then realised the headphones didn't fit (dual prong) however you can get one side in and listen like old Uncle Arthur with one ear.

Flight: we took off and landed early. I started the LEGO movie then promptly fell asleep after breakfast.
Food: Wow, an actual box of food that resembled a real breakfast was handed out with a smile along with some reasonable tea. Yoghurt, small cake thing from memory. Very nice. VA would give you a half muesli bar thing or nasty cheese and some attitude.

Connection: Had 35 minutes to reach QF2016 which was delayed a few minutes, then 30 minutes, then an hour, then two hours and change. No lounge access for me, so head over to the food court, fired up the 4GX and worked for an hour mixed with testing coffees from various places. The self-serve-ordering cafe near the travelator was my favourite, machines speak English. Turns out we could have shown our boarding pass for a $20 credit.

Boarding: Bus to the Dash-8 was OK, people smell and I can't control that so such is life. Banged my head boarding, however aisle seat was roomier than expected and matched how I felt with VA in the 737. Again roomier seat belt. Are QF passengers on average larger? :)

Flight: bumpy towards the NSW-QLD border but what can you do? Crosswinds at WTB caused the pilot some grief so they just "put 'er down" with a nice thump landing.

Food: Hello - Yoghurt box again. Was hungry so ate it with another tea. Was nice not to have to reach for a credit card.

WTB airport - reminds me of NTL from ten years ago, however kudos to the Wagners for taking their vision to reality. Private enterprise for the win.

Will I fly QF again? Yes - we're shifting to BFOD QF or VA. Would switch to 100% QF tomorrow if they would status match, however I suspect that won't happen as VA's family pooling can misrepresent an actual frequent-flyer.

So if you've been a rusted on VA person, give QF a try and see for yourself.
 
you got lucky on your a330 seat with an ex-international jet from jetstar, the newer 330-200 domestic seat and configuration is as tight as a 737 on qf or va

i had one this morning down to mel also and agree it is nice and roomy for domestic
 
Ever since I stopped crediting flights to QFF (but still flying QF occasionally), I have been very impressed by QF customer service. I get the feeling things are better than a year ago
 
Would switch to 100% QF tomorrow if they would status match, however I suspect that won't happen.
It does happen sometimes - my partner had her VA Gold matched back to QFF a couple of years ago as part of the deal when her employer at the time switched from VA to QF. All depends on the deal (if any) that has been concocted to make the switch I guess.
 
Little iPad in the seat pocket, so I set that up and then realised the headphones didn't fit (dual prong) however you can get one side in and listen like old Uncle Arthur with one ear.

Nice TR

PS. If you come across this again you will find that one of the jack prongs - the one on the cord end - folds out of the way back along the cord and once folded flat gives you stereo sound.
 
Talking the amassment of QF FF points and QF SC though, Jul 14 has made it harder to retain status by 5 points flying ADL - SYD, before Jul 14, it was 15 SC to fly ADL - SYD, now its 10. Not to mention a lot of the eastern states capital city triangular flying, also now 800 QF FF instead of 1000.
5 SC is not much, per trip, but x 2 = loss of 10. If I flew 3 times a year, 6 x 5 = loss of 30 QF SC.
I think since middle to late 2000s, QF has changed a lot.
No dividends/guidance again this time round either.
 
Nice TR

PS. If you come across this again you will find that one of the jack prongs - the one on the cord end - folds out of the way back along the cord and once folded flat gives you stereo sound.

Ah excellent, thanks for that :)
 
I've recently returned to Qantas (switched to VA + Etihad/SQ back when the fleet was grounded and never looked back).

I asked for a status match of my VA platinum - this was denied (in a strangely worded email that effectively said: Qantas absolutely don't status match but send us your travel history with Virgin anyway and we'll forward it to our managers for their consideration). I forwarded the last six months of VA activity statements and was offered 90 days double status credits.

I did have two long haul trips already booked when I made the request and was able to describe significant planned bookings at the time of the request (one long haul return per month for at least nine months). So.... While it may be true they won't outright status match (and certainly not to platinum) they will make it at least somewhat easier for travellers switching to Qantas if they can prove their potential value IME.

And for what it's worth I've been reasonably surprised by the overall level of service. With a few exceptions it's been substantially better than my memories of Qantas back before I switched to VA.
 
I'm wondering how to compare the service standards between the airlines. I find qantas is more likely to provide better service to higher status passengers. Drinks from business, unsolicited offer to hang jackets, birthday greetings, offers if anything is required, idle friendly chit chat. Having said that qantas staff can also completely ignore you - the service is inconsistent.

Virgin, on the other hand, is very consistent IME. As a platinum I get treated just like any other passenger. Zero platinum recognition. They will hang jackets, if you make them or just do it yourself. I did get an upgrade the day after my birthday, except I put that down to overbooking. Just last night I found that we had a "VIP" on the flight. They called the lounge 5 minutes before boarding started so he could walk out, delayed boarding looking for this guy. On board the CS made a special visit and asked if he needed anything else. First time I've seen this on VA. However, it has confirmed my view that VA platinum isn't really worth it compared to gold. Platinum is not recognised, just as gold is not recognised.

Completely irrelevant to the OP or this thread.

I was going to reply "actually we're not talking about that". But then I got distracted by a shiny thing.

Talking the amassment of QF FF points and QF SC though, .
 
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Talking the amassment of QF FF points and QF SC though, Jul 14 has made it harder to retain status by 5 points flying ADL - SYD, before Jul 14, it was 15 SC to fly ADL - SYD, now its 10. Not to mention a lot of the eastern states capital city triangular flying, also now 800 QF FF instead of 1000.
5 SC is not much, per trip, but x 2 = loss of 10. If I flew 3 times a year, 6 x 5 = loss of 30 QF SC.
I think since middle to late 2000s, QF has changed a lot.
No dividends/guidance again this time round either.
Which is not the point of this thread.
 
I'm wondering how to compare the service standards between the airlines. I find qantas is more likely to provide better service to higher status passengers. Drinks from business, unsolicited offer to hang jackets, birthday greetings, offers if anything is required, idle friendly chit chat. Having said that qantas staff can also completely ignore you - the service is inconsistent.

Virgin, on the other hand, is very consistent IME. As a platinum I get treated just like any other passenger. Zero platinum recognition.

This is very true. We found over the last eighteen months that there was a peak in customer service, happy staff etc. just after the whole rebranding caper was finished, and since then everything has rolled back down hill. When I was a WP flying Y it really disturbed me to see so many staff/friends/partners cop free upgrades to J after take off. On my second-last VA flight the crew really didn't want to sell anything out of the trolley, just push it back to the rear and get it over and done with.

On the last flight they cracked it at me for trying to use a card to pay ("don't you have cash? the machine is down the back") when usually they want it the other way around. Mentally I now expect them to be Virgin Blue with the addition of a free sandwich shop before the flight.
 
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I'm wondering how to compare the service standards between the airlines. I find qantas is more likely to provide better service to higher status passengers. Drinks from business, unsolicited offer to hang jackets, birthday greetings, offers if anything is required, idle friendly chit chat. Having said that qantas staff can also completely ignore you - the service is inconsistent.

Virgin, on the other hand, is very consistent IME. As a platinum I get treated just like any other passenger.....

Bit of a similar situation to the OP - mostly been on VA for the last year or two but more QF flights have started to pop up, dunno whether its because QF fares are becoming more competitive or undercutting VA or whether its just their more comprehensive schedule.

My unremarkable last few QF flights have been pretty much like every VA flight lately, competent crew, B738 Y class seat, reasonably healthy load factors. But I have noticed a tiny bit of a turnaround in on board service on QF - the crews possibly seem a little bit more motivated. Lounges generally similar and subject to crowding at peak times. Priority Boarding on the other hand is still a clear win for VA over QF (not that it keeps me awake at night myself).

As medhead says - a bit more recognition of status on QF compared to VA but its all a bit superficial, shallow and not that important to me, although others would disagree.
 
Not sure I'd totally agree with superficial. But I rarely bother with on board service, it's a bus trip for me. I do however agree about VA favouring friends and staff. Seems to have dropped off. But I was darn annoyed in the last six months on an E190 to have staff in 3F talking to staff in 3C, over the top of me, when 3A is empty. Stuff the platinum let's look after the staff. Fail!

Priority boarding is the only win, but gold gets that anyway.
 
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