P1 Fail

[747800intercon]

The P1 level is the biggest joke ever. I've been 5 years as P1 and in that time not one op up and no invitation to anything. When you do call the SST they are rude and arrogant - you feel like a nuisance. Those P1 ladies especially Belinda need to come down a few levels in their arrogance towards customers.

I get all I need done by the premium desk who are fantastic - the SST is basically a complete waste of time.

 

[Mr_Orange]

I explained how there is no benefit in being P1 anymore, classic example about the lack on invites, have to get 3 x the SC's needed for WP (for what exactly) Yeah sure you don't expect to get invites every few months, but once a year I think it's important, they say how good the P1 benefits are, well they should dam well deliver in what they say.

Considering the cost of this (bold above), it does seem pretty poor.

By contrast, I bought a Tag Heuer watch earlier this year from the local boutique. They signed me up to Club 360 (only available to those who purchase through a boutique as opposed to an authorised dealer) with lots of promises of invitations to various events, including the F1. Not much materialised initially but recently I have had two invitations to golf events. One didn't work for me but the second, 2 free tickets to the PGA at the GC does. Possibly not a huge value gift but nonetheless, they have delivered on their promise.

My point being, QF make lots of promises but consistently seem to fail to deliver them.

 

[incumbent]

The P1 level is the biggest joke ever. I've been 5 years as P1 and in that time not one op up and no invitation to anything. When you do call the SST they are rude and arrogant - you feel like a nuisance. Those P1 ladies especially Belinda need to come down a few levels in their arrogance towards customers.

(...) - the SST is basically a complete waste of time.

I was only P1 for around 20 months, but I couldn't disagree more regarding the SST. Quick responses via email, and perfectly competent and polite service on the phone when necessary.

 

[PeteJ]

The P1 level is the biggest joke ever. I've been 5 years as P1 and in that time not one op up and no invitation to anything. When you do call the SST they are rude and arrogant - you feel like a nuisance. <snip>

I've always found the Platinum One Special Service Team to be very good and certainly never rude or arrogant. Every team member I've emailed or spoken to has always been extremely polite, helpful and competent. Likewise the Premium Desk staff and, for that matter, Qantas staff in general. The Qantas staff at Canberra airport are especially great.

 

[TonyHancock]

I have found the SST to be very good in my dealings with them. Certainly no sign of arrogance or rudeness, quite the opposite in fact.

 

[kermatu]

I've always found the Platinum One Special Service Team to be very good and certainly never rude or arrogant. Every team member I've emailed or spoken to has always been extremely polite, helpful and competent. Likewise the Premium Desk staff and, for that matter, Qantas staff in general. The Qantas staff at Canberra airport are especially great.

I agree with these comments too - very polite, even when I've emailed at 1am (not expecting a reply)!

That said, I haven't received proactive monitoring of flights, and I question the SST's ability to influence much as any serious issue I've had has always been rectified at the airport or the premium line. Around 2 years as P1 and I've had no invitations or upgrades either.

Main problems for me are:
- the heightened expectations and hype around P1. For the extraordinary time and $ cost of attaining (over and above WP) Qantas simply fails to deliver.
- typical inconsistency - some P1s here (and that I know) get regular upgrades and invitations; others, like me, nothing.

I've said all this before and unfortunately my latest 4 or so months since re-attaining P1 have proven no different.

Of course I think Qantas generally is excellent and service is almost always friendly and high caliber - especially in J or when I am fortunate enough, F.

 

[pagingjoan]

I have found the SST to be very good in my dealings with them. Certainly no sign of arrogance or rudeness, quite the opposite in fact.

That reflects my experience, too. Not a hint of arrogance or rudeness in any of my dealings with them.

 

[Canny man]

That reflects my experience, too. Not a hint of arrogance or rudeness in any of my dealings with them.

I couldn't agree more. I can't think of any other service team I've experienced that matches the professionalism, friendliness and effectiveness of the SST. It doesn't matter who you talk to, but they will always do whatever possible to help out and never fail to get back to you when promised.

 

[dfcatch]

Sure, some concert tickets and invites to events etc are nice.. but lets be honest: the priority should be ensuring everything travel related is absolutely top notch and smooth - every single time. From booking, airport/lounge experience, in the air, and any rebooking/cxl/follow up issues - the focus should be 'proactive as possible', and 'as personal as realistic'. Understanding those needs is key. The priority has to be making the experience exceptional.

From someone who works in a role which is heavily consumer experience focused - This has to be QF's focus if you're flying enough to reach P1.

THIS! THIS X 1,000,000,000,000!

This is the exact point of my OP in this thread.

I was P1 for 20 months and had exactly ZERO invitations to anything.

Was I upset - no.

Was I well aware of other P1s regularly receiving more invitations and regular comp. upgrade love - sure.

But the only thing I expected was a top-notch, smooth, travel experience.

Given they've stuffed that up, I'm not honestly able to recommend P1 to others when they enquire as to its value (which all the P1s here would no doubt agree - we get asked a lot).

Reality is, I'm not quite sure what they do (besides a few minor published benefits/fee waivers which used to be provided to WP).

 

[token01]

Seems like P1 is a P fail. This thread combined with family and friends experiences as a P1 has certainly made me not bother to shoot for it.

I would like to see P1's however be able to redeem their points at classic rates if a commercial seat is available. Dont care what booking class is available, If i can book a ticket for that flight then a P1 should be able to redeem it at a classic rate.

(Granted this comes as requesting a seat release as a lowly WP was not fruitful after trying for 2 weeks. First time in 5+ years redeeming points for myself long haul so was a little ticked but understood the bean counters being peak season.)

The only benefit i see of P1 for this is that they rank higher than CL for award release.

In comparison for P1 what would be the rival programs around the world? HON from LH?

I might be wrong but i guess CL falls into the category of Black card holders at BA, IO at EK so those wouldn't be a fair comparison.

 

[TomVexille]

In comparison for P1 what would be the rival programs around the world? HON from LH?

You might be able to add PPS to that, although the spend might be on the low side.

 

[AirKat]

Completely disagree with the negative comments about the SST, they are very helpful and professional, including Belinda!

However, I've been P1 for almost 4 years, and agree some of the benefits should not be published as they don't happen. I haven't been invited to an event/experience in over 2 years... and I think if I'd just been P1 for that period of time, I would be thinking that that benefit was a con. Often P1s can't attend anyway, as we travel so much. But there should be an invitation at least once a year, or stop publishing it as a benefit. People are often only P1 for a short number of years due to something going on in their life that requires the extreme amount of travel, in each membership year you should experience all the published benefits.

(RedRoo if you are reading this - Taylor Swift tickets please *joke*)

 

[boomy]

Seems like P1 is a P fail. This thread combined with family and friends experiences as a P1 has certainly made me not bother to shoot for it.

I would like to see P1's however be able to redeem their points at classic rates if a commercial seat is available. Dont care what booking class is available, If i can book a ticket for that flight then a P1 should be able to redeem it at a classic rate.

It used to be like that or almost as good. In previous years I never had any issues releasing classic awards upon request, no matter the route or how many seats left (I always like to ask how many vacant seats left). It was indeed the best benefit of P1 for international flights.

This year I'm not sure what happened but I was already refused twice. First time 6 seats left 3 months out and second time 8 seats left 9 months out for sale in first class on A380s. On both occasions the excuse was the strategic team predicts all tickets will be sold eventually so they don't release any extra award seats at this stage.

I suppose rules have changed and P1s don't get as many award seats released as before.

 

[emef]

I've been WP1 since it was introduced and have experienced no degradation in upgrades of any sort domestically or internationally.

 

[ReLoad]

I have to chirp in, the P1 SST team is by and whole a cool bunch of professional cats. I've had nothing but excellent dealings with them, including Belinda. Sometimes they couldn't do exactly what I requested, but were never rude or arrogant.

My P1 year this year has seen me take less flights with QF, which means less chance of something going wrong, and needing the P1 team. Still requalified easy for next year though.

Events wise I'm not fussed, chances are I'm not home to enjoy it anyway. Something for the wife to enjoy would be good, she has to put up with me being away all the time.

What I do want as an event is to do like Delta did for its top pax; give them a behind the scenes day at a jet base, including a sample of egress training etc, that's something I'd place real value on since I'm in the air so often. In fact I'd probably even pay to do that.

 

[TonyHancock]

in comparison for p1 what would be the rival programs around the world? Hon from lh?

BA Gold Guest List.

 

[token01]

You might be able to add PPS to that, although the spend might be on the low side.

I have been PPS for a fair few years. The service is great with call backs and seat clearance from seat control is quite good. But i would compare it to what WP should be which it is not.
A family member who is TPP (solitaire pps) is what i would compare P1 to. supplementary card etc. I believe here TPP wins out with airline service which is what a lot of people here believe P1 should be about. I do not recall too many extracurricular events non SQ related that TPP have been invited to but i will check with the family member tonight.

It seems that response that QF expects to sell the seats is on their new scripts. I had the CL family call up for me to get the seat I wanted on the 13th (J class cabin 60% open) LAX - BNE and were told they expect to sell them all out and sell out the F cabin to syd and mel same day.

 

[ReLoad]

Here is P1 in action on today's flight. Upgrade on a tail sector coming in from DRW.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Perhaps the expectations of some members are not being met because the welcome pack/phone calls create a new heightened level of expectation for the member.

If you tell a customer they're the "cream of the cream" - there's an expectation of something special. Maybe QF could dial back the wording, expectations will fall and any extra service above Plat will be well receive, rather than viewed as "well its about time I got something".

Of the 26 Pages in this thread - if we take out ReLoad & Candyman - the general vibe for P1 isn't positive. I wonder if QFF is measuring satisfaction across the wider base, and if the methods they deploy to do this can be relied on to be accurate. I guess the true measurement is knowing what share of wallet QFF has of the customer. Larger airlines have this data (and hence the huge profits) but I'm not convinced smaller players like QFF have figured it out yet.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

This year I'm not sure what happened but I was already refused twice. First time 6 seats left 3 months out and second time 8 seats left 9 months out for sale in first class on A380s.

On both occasions the excuse was the strategic team predicts all tickets will be sold eventually so they don't release any extra award seats at this stage.

I wonder what criteria the strategic team go on historically to gauge if they expect the flight to be full? There is a massive difference between "they expect all tickets to bd sold" vs every seat is occupied at flight close.

If anecdotally 7 days prior to the flight the previous year the F cabin was full you would expect a mixture of commercial fares sold in A & F fare buckets and possibly a couple of P class Classic Awards that may have been booked 353 days out.

At this stage (7 dsys prior) upgrade requests for P1 down would not have been processed.

However, if beancounters/strategic team are basing the stats once the flight has departed then that's a whole different ball game.

In this case as the occupants of the F cabin may comprise 8 pax who booked weeks in advance (see second paragraph above) then the remaining 6 pax could well be 2 staff and 4 J pax who had points upgrade requests confirmed at T-60 hours or T-60 mins if there were commercial no shows in F.