P1 Fail

[dfcatch]

The Ultimate P1 Failure

All the niceties aside - the overriding premise and promise of P1 - is that the Special Service Team will proactively monitor your travel and manage any disruptions.

So when QF subs out QF11 down to a 747 tomorrow (25 Aug) - due to "maintenance" (nothing to do with the A380 charter, of course) - you'd expect that the P1 team would swing into action.

Nope.

Hours after starting to reallocate F pax to QF 93, in the evening hours QF11 gets withdrawn from sale and the Great Reshuffle begins.

QF93 fills up with refugees, QF15 and QF17 temporarily get withdrawn from sale as well so Res can move folks around.

Now I know what you're thinking.... P1 called earlier in the day to give a heads up and provide options!

Nope.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

Zero.

The big-fat "you should have flown United".

Not one to wait for Tony Hancock to save the day, I call P1..... "Hey - so wassup with QF 11 fools?"

"Agh, hmmm, Let me check.... Oh umm.... Dunno, I can see it's been downgraded but res were supposed to contact people. We have no visibility until they update the aircraft in the system. "

I even considered delaying a day (which upon learning of my unhappiness, indicated that they would probably accommodate). Alas, SWMBO wouldn't appreciate doing laps of LAX for 24 hours (no matter how fun that can be).

So eventually get a call back, congratulating me on my squishy 747 Y bulkhead and a "we'll keep an eye on it to make sure no one moves you, hopefully".

Quick check of EF shows a block next to me.
Find some horrible, barely alcoholic beverage in the minibar to console myself - and think about my Lifemiles balance.

Check EF an hour later - no more shadow block. Hmm.....

Check EF again.... They've found me a friend...


WTF..??

 

[dfcatch]

I have to say, that despite the improvement with the attitude onboard towards P1s, and despite that the SST are very nice affable, helpful, polite folks - when they can't perform the singular job they're meant to do...... Well. You get it.

I've enjoyed my time as a P1. But given my very poor experiences with my first flight as a P1, and now my last flight as a P1.

Well let's just say I'm seriously thinking it's time to find Another Airline.

 

[Princess Fiona]

That's very poor. The SST should have been calling P1's as soon as the F passengers were re-accommodated.
I'd be pretty cross if I were you.
I would also be letting Lesley and the team know that I'm a bit cross and the reasons why.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Didn't you read the P1 benefits handbook?

*When travelling on any Qantas # flight, where possible Qantas will endeavour to allocate seats on both sides of you to to ensure you have a friend all flight.

I think Qantas need to hire someone to hack together these types of issues so they get solved faster. Instead of earmarking them for the 'next tech upgrade' things like this should be given to the kid in the back room to create the required scripts to fix it - which may well be as simple as a cron that runs each minute to ensure P1s don't get anyone except other P1's allocated next to them unless all seats are already allocated. It's a simple fix really.

Your flight is tomorrow and you're Platinum One.
I hope someone at QF reads your post and makes an appropriate adjustment to your seating arrangements.

 

[kevrosmith]

I think this is another demonstration of the fact that there are P1s and there are P1s. Not all P1s are equal. Such a shame though that it was such a failure.

Perhaps one of the SST team needs to subscribe to the General Qantas Cancellations/Delays/Substitutions thread so that they can be kept up-to-date with the latest happenings within Qantas

 

[Pleb Status]

I disagree that this is a P1 fail. What you experienced is exactly the poor level of service I have always received from the P1 SST since day 1. So I argue this was just typical of the service that the 'second tier' of P1 receives.

Double WP (QF/VA) is by far the best way to go versus just QF P1. I have saved thousands of dollars by using BFOD and you can avoid some of the dodgy 'partners' like EK.

 

[Flying mermaid]

The SST should have been calling P1's as soon as the F passengers were re-accommodated.
.

Why? Given in my (granted only once), experience they don't bother contacting the F passengers, this is consistent.....

 

[dfcatch]

Naturally I'm happy to spark the debate and discussion, but just to be very clear :

I'm not having a go at the staff on the P1 Team, who I find to be lovely people to deal with, and I do believe they as individuals try very hard.

My issue is with the QF handling of the matter more generally/systemically.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Naturally I'm happy to spark the debate and discussion, but just to be very clear :

I'm not having a go at the staff on the P1 Team, who I find to be lovely people to deal with, and I do believe they as individuals try very hard.

My issue is with the QF handling of the matter more generally/systemically.

I haven't had anything to do with the P1 team, but the senior people I have dealt with at Qantas, have been hard working with a passion to see the airline deliver a quality product. I agree with you that it just seems to fall to pieces at times in the execution.

 

[kermatu]

Not P1 team's fault if they aren't told or advised of a problem. But that points to a system failure that the notification of problems and the way they are addressed (be it F pax, CLs, P1s - whatever) is flawed.

P1 continues to feel like a tack-on, inconsistently applied and well short of the hype for some (including me).

I've had minor issues with flights (delays and seats, but fortunately never a cancellation) and have never once felt that I was receiving proactive monitoring or service beyond what I could do with a call or at the airport (which is where I've had all my fixes).

 

[moa999]

What class are you flying?

And if a cancellation isn't it going to be a full flight?

 

[Mrmaxwell]

As others have alluded to this really seems like a system/process issue and nothing to do with the P1 team.

It would seem obvious but the process should be;

1. Flight / equipment change and/or cancellation
2. Top tier PAX list pulled (P1) from affected flight(s)
3. List passed to P1 team for proactive action/contact/change of flight details to customer satisfaction
4. Happy P1 customer

 

[dfcatch]

Having slept on the issue, I think my bitter disappointment comes down to two things:

1/ The lack of any proactive communication as per the OP.

2/ The apparent attitude by QF that fails to recognize/acknowledge that Economy 380 to Economy 747 is a significant downgrade.

So Red Roo is under no illusion whatsoever, let me make this crystal clear.

I ONLY booked this flight as it was an A380.

If I knew it was going to be a 747, I would not fly QF - period.

For a start - VA is better in economy than QF 747.

Also - don't treat high-tier pax like we were born yesterday.

The 380 charters are publicly available information, so don't pull "maintenance" as the BS excuse with me.

I have no problem with you chartering the aircraft - but proactively communicate and offer solutions.

 

[RooFlyer]

What's the charter angle, please? Just curious about this phenomenon as I hadn't heard of it before in the context of interruption to scheduled service. (not doubting your recounting, either )

 

[ReLoad]

What seat did you have on the 380?

 

[maninblack]

Surely P1 is like "double secret probation" it doesn't really mean anything does it? You don't just get recognised as top tier but double secret extra special top tier! Extra iPad small talk from the CSM on the plane! No other OW carrier recognise it as anything other than OWE do they? Dealing with QFF/loyalty has always been the most 'unrewarding' part of any dealings you are likely to have with QF. Nothing's changed.

 

[eastwest101]

What's the charter angle, please? Just curious about this phenomenon as I hadn't heard of it before in the context of interruption to scheduled service. (not doubting your recounting, either )

I am just guessing but QF used a A380 for a one-off BNE-SYD-LAX charter flight, which, with the higher utilization rates of A380s and B747s this year means that the OP's flight got downgauged from a A380 to a B747.

The OPs complaint seems fair. Its not as if the aircraft substitution was sprung on QF at the last minute! The lack of pro-active communication and re-acomodation of P1s and other passengers with other options seems a bit amateurish and/or disorganized. I don't know who told the OP about "maintenence requirements" but if true thats also poor communication.

 

[Melburnian1]

I think this is another demonstration of the fact that there are P1s and there are P1s. Not all P1s are equal. Such a shame though that it was such a failure.

Perhaps one of the SST team needs to subscribe to the General Qantas Cancellations/Delays/Substitutions thread so that they can be kept up-to-date with the latest happenings within Qantas

As the individual who started that, I notice that the helpful lady RedRoo sometimes appears to be reading it.

There's just one problem - while it is not the same every day (and, to be fair, some days almost all the QFi network can run like clockwork), when it is bad - it is really bad - with rolling 24 hour delays, aircraft substitutions and presumably very unhappy passengers. The SST staff would be kept busy monitoring the QF delays and cancellations thread and would not have time to attend to P1s.

Let's face it - except on the Australia - USA run where QF has the largest share of seats and on the Australia - NZ runs where it is prominent although engaged in a fierce battle with NZ/VA - QFi is a relatively small international airline with poor 'own metal' frequencies to foreign carriers' home ports such as BKK, CGK, HKG, ICN, MNL and SIN to name a few.

I agree - time for you to switch to another airline, and even on the USA route you now have a few to choose from, although not all carriers are nonstop to LAX, which may be a potential negative for some passengers.

 

[amaroo]

Nice charter! Assume it was the regular "brethren" that coughed up the dosh?

 

[MrJetset]

Nice charter! Assume it was the regular "brethren" that coughed up the dosh?

A rather curious bunch. Was on a flight with them occupying the entire F cabin years ago. No IFE usage at all, rather just reading books and sleep.

I was most impressed they knew exactly where the old F lounge was in SIN and were making a mad dash to it.

I knew a F FA on the flight. They are considered VVIP. I imagine higher than P1 to bring it back on topic.