Poor Spa availability for First out of SYD! (Couldn't book timely one with "day before" call.)

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La Mouette

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No spa availability, but not surprised on a busy travel day.

I was there last Saturday, and there was no spa availability in advance, travelling in F. I don't know what the underlying reason is, but I think it's pretty poor not to have at least enough capacity for F pax. They also said that they'd waitlist me, but they didn't.
 
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No spa availability, but not surprised on a busy travel day.

I was there last Saturday, and there was no spa availability in advance, travelling in F. I don't know what the underlying reason is, but I think it's pretty poor not to have at least enough capacity for F pax. They also said that they'd waitlist me, but they didn't.
Were you contacted the day before as per protocol? That's pretty bad if not.
 
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I was there last Saturday, and there was no spa availability in advance, travelling in F. I don't know what the underlying reason is, but I think it's pretty poor not to have at least enough capacity for F pax. They also said that they'd waitlist me, but they didn't.
Were you contacted the day before as per protocol? That's pretty bad if not.
Yes, when she rang the day before, the host went through the usual stuff - seat number, etc. - and asked if I wanted a spa booking. I said yes, but the only slots were three hours or more before the flight. I didn't want to arrive at the airport four hours in advance just to have a 20 minute spa treatment! The host then offered to waitlist me. Then when I arrived in the lounge, I checked again, and I hadn't been waitlisted. They'd had cancellations, so if I had actually been waitlisted, I would have received a treatment.
 
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The host then offered to waitlist me. Then when I arrived in the lounge, I checked again, and I hadn't been waitlisted. They'd had cancellations, so if I had actually been waitlisted, I would have received a treatment.
I would suggest some feedback (via P1?) is in order. It may have been an unfortunate mistake, but with the way Qantas flog "First", such should never happen.

Moreover, Qantas had a maximum 28 First PAX that day out of SYD (LAX,SIN/LHR)- it seems strange they could not fit you in closer to your flight.

How many spa rooms are there? (I don't do Spa's, so don't know for sure.)
 
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I would suggest some feedback (via P1?) is in order.

I'd definitely provide feedback about this. There may have been 'extraordinary' circumstances of course, maybe one of the spa rooms was unserviceable, but it's not a good situation. When I'm departing F ex-SYD the spa treatment is the main purpose of my lounge visit; I eat little and only drink tea, preferring to indulge on board.
 
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Never happened to us but sometimes it can be close to boarding time. We don’t mind that.
Years ago I avoided the spa treatment but not now.
 
First time for everything I suppose. We've never had an issue, have a couple more flights coming up, but I suppose it can happen to any of us. We normally have a big time buffer built in for our flights as we need to drive well over an hour to BNE, then a flight to SYD.... probably helps with the booking options.
 
Another example of AJ and his penny pinchers reducing Sofitel Massage staffing and expenses. Just to save a few dollars at our expense.

If this was a QFF award ticket the surcharges would infuriate me even more.
 
How many spa rooms are there? (I don't do Spa's, so don't know for sure.)
The issue is therapists rather than rooms. In my experience it's usually two but occasionally three therapists in Sydney. Melbourne is usually two but occasionally one.
 
Yes, when she rang the day before, the host went through the usual stuff - seat number, etc. - and asked if I wanted a spa booking. I said yes, but the only slots were three hours or more before the flight. I didn't want to arrive at the airport four hours in advance just to have a 20 minute spa treatment! The host then offered to waitlist me. Then when I arrived in the lounge, I checked again, and I hadn't been waitlisted. They'd had cancellations, so if I had actually been waitlisted, I would have received a treatment.
I haven't flown QF F that often and have little desire to, but on the handful of occasions I have my phone call has been bang on 9am Sydney time (woke me up once in Perth!) the day before, and the staff are aware of my transiting time in to Sydney (including whether domestic or from NZ) and have given me full range of available times. I assumed that was P1 related but maybe transiting pax get dealt with first?

Must admit I have often selected a time close to departure even if I'm in the lounge 2 hours prior - so I can eat, then relax, and then eat onboard.

I have no faith they do, but you'd hope they'd analyse who may be in the lounge and when and make calls accordingly.

Is it ever more than 28 pax maximum? Even that assumes none of the 28 are staff upgrades (which has to be a rarity).
 
Even that assumes none of the 28 are staff upgrades (which has to be a rarity).
I'm not sure staff upgrades get lounge access (and hence spa).

I did miss DFW, so it could have been 42. The HKG flight that day was a 789 so no first.
 
I'm not sure staff upgrades get lounge access (and hence spa).
Yes, that's why I said 28 (or 42) is an absolute maximum number of pax to accommodate for the spa, and even that assumes that F is full of only revenue or rewards pax.

That said, I have seen (and overheard) staff travelling in the F lounge - on at least one occasion explicitly noting their upgrades came through the night before. Could have been a one-off, as I agree it seems unlikely they'd get access like that. But who knows with QF!
 
All in all it was a very bad day from a customer service perspective. I think the DFW flight leaves at 1pm, so there would only be LHR after that. There must only have been only one person working, and the host decided to ring the P1s last!

There was this crazy atmosphere of sheer panic amongst some staff, while the others were their usual selves. When I rang five minutes ahead to ask for the porter, the F host was in audible meltdown ... we're so busy, there's no one here, etc. ... but the usual porter was there when I arrived calm as ever. New-look Nestor was his usual self. But then the lounge was chaos. Despite the restaurant being only half full, it took over an hour to get served spaghetti in burnt butter water. I would have missed my spa appointment anyway.

I did contemplate a Mexican stand-off, but opted instead to just surrender peacefully!

NB: this was followed by a truly amazing crew to SIN and the team at the SIN lounge, who I find are consistently excellent, despite the crowding at times. F world problems :D
 
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