"....prepare the cabin for landing"

[medhead]

Where you can pay for tour soft drink instead?

Not at the time of the flights mentioned here where booze is included for free

 

[Groundhog]

Then either ask nicely for seating to be sorted, or be a gentleman and let her sit up the front for a change.

I though i would be a gentleman and fly with her and keep the family togther

 

[kitkatff]

I though i would be a gentleman and fly with her and keep the family togther

tsk tsk, you should know the best gift would likely be an hour of peace and quiet (and free wine) away from the family

 

[JohnK]

Back to normal last Friday. Meal service concluded and one FA came around with the chocolates which I didn't see the past 2 weeks. And then cart came around to collect rubbish and they had wine on top and when I asked for beer she went and got a cold one from front galley.

All is good. It must have the crews encountered previous weeks.

 

[N860CR]

It can happen sometimes... Shouldn't, but I've noticed it does. Seems to be either a lazy crew issue or something else making it a slow service (or a combo of both).

To avoid any risk, I hit the call bell and ask for another before the clearing has started. Saves having to worry about missing out.

 

[JohnK]

I think you are right. Lazy crew.

 

[russ]

Slightly off topic, for which I apologise, but this makes me think about the whole economics of the flight

What was the ticket price? If it was $149-$179, then I don't know how QF can afford to provide food and drinks in the lounge, food and drinks in the plane and have enough left over to actually fly anywhere!

Consider a fairly competitive route of about the same distance, e.g. LAX/SFO. Southwest Airlines does that for about USD$80 which is about A$100, and you get no lounge or inflight food. QF is doing the same distance with much higher fuel and staff prices, plus lounge and food for only $50 to $80 more! That seems bloody cheap!

Am I missing something in my analysis?

 

[esseeeayeenn]

The food and drinks in the lounge aren't paid for from the individual fare.
The cost would properly be amortised not only across the individual frequent flyer's profile but across the whole operation - it's an investment in loyalty.
It not only attracts the status pax who enjoy the privilege but aspirational status pax who hope to do so one day.

 

[JohnK]

What was the ticket price? If it was $149-$179, then I don't know how QF can afford to provide food and drinks in the lounge, food and drinks in the plane and have enough left over to actually fly anywhere!

Ticket price was a little more than half the first number you quoted but less than half the second number you quoted.

 

[PLANT]

Bums on seats..... Are not the earner for airline it's the freight/cargo that pays for the flight.... To allow for $120 tickets!

 

[RooFlyer]

Slightly off topic, for which I apologise, but this makes me think about the whole economics of the flight

What was the ticket price? If it was $149-$179, then I don't know how QF can afford to provide food and drinks in the lounge, food and drinks in the plane and have enough left over to actually fly anywhere!

Consider a fairly competitive route of about the same distance, e.g. LAX/SFO. Southwest Airlines does that for about USD$80 which is about A$100, and you get no lounge or inflight food. QF is doing the same distance with much higher fuel and staff prices, plus lounge and food for only $50 to $80 more! That seems bloody cheap!

Am I missing something in my analysis?

The food and drinks in the lounge aren't paid for from the individual fare.
The cost would properly be amortised not only across the individual frequent flyer's profile but across the whole operation - it's an investment in loyalty.
It not only attracts the status pax who enjoy the privilege but aspirational status pax who hope to do so one day.

I guess the Lounges are funded by the wider 'Loyalty' business unit budget and I think 'Loyalty' derives most of its income for selling QFF points to corporations who in turn give them to customers in exchange for spend (Woolworths, credit cards etc). "Loyalty' has been one of the most profitable parts of Qantas in recent years.

Qantas' frequent flyers aren't so much the object of the QFF scheme, with Lounges a reward, but rather they are merely comprise a membership list and this list is a very valuable commodity. Qantas Loyalty sells it to those who will pay for points. Lounges are provided as an incentive to keep the membership list (AKA 'Qantas Frequent Flyer') attractive (as opposed to other airline's membership lists).

Bottoms up!

 

[russ]

Ticket price was a little more than half the first number you quoted but less than half the second number you quoted.

Wow! Bargain!

 

[Kangol]

The food and drinks in the lounge aren't paid for from the individual fare.

I would be surprised if there wasn't some element of the fare being put towards the costs of running a lounge. Sure, the paid QP membership will go towards the costs of running dom QP/int J lounges, but for dom J/int F, there are no paid membership schemes that allow entry - just COS and QFF status. Which would be in one way coming from the fare price.

Think about all the times you have had plenty of nice food and drink in the F lounge, not to mention the spa, showers, etc. Where would the money be coming from exactly in order to run it? I don't know for sure but it wouldn't make sense to not have income from the fare price going towards lounge running costs.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

I would be surprised if there wasn't some element of the fare being put towards the costs of running a lounge. Sure, the paid QP membership will go towards the costs of running dom QP/int J lounges, but for dom J/int F, there are no paid membership schemes that allow entry - just COS and QFF status. Which would be in one way coming from the fare price.

Think about all the times you have had plenty of nice food and drink in the F lounge, not to mention the spa, showers, etc. Where would the money be coming from exactly in order to run it? I don't know for sure but it wouldn't make sense to not have income from the fare price going towards lounge running costs.

This is more clear internationally, where your BP is scanned and they know exactly who is in the lounge and how they got there. J/F pax would come from fare revenue, and SG/WP from loyalty. I'm not sure which would apply for a WP F pax, but they must have a system where one trumps the other. They also re-bill other airlines for lounge access through their programs.

Being a little disenfranchised of late, I do like to visit as many OW lounges as possible as QF will have to pick up the tab.

Domestically it's less clear. I would say QP is membership and loyalty, and J lounge is fare and loyalty splits, but who knows what the accountants have come up with.

It would be hard to take a chunk of every Y fare to pay for lounge access when maybe 80% of the pax are ineligible.

 

[Himeno]

I would be surprised if there wasn't some element of the fare being put towards the costs of running a lounge. Sure, the paid QP membership will go towards the costs of running dom QP/int J lounges, but for dom J/int F, there are no paid membership schemes that allow entry - just COS and QFF status. Which would be in one way coming from the fare price.

I would expect that a lot of the cost of running the LAX lounge comes from BA, JL and CX.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I would be surprised if there wasn't some element of the fare being put towards the costs of running a lounge.

I didn't say there wasn't. What I said was that the cost isn't entirely recovered from any one INDIVIDUAL fare.
In the same way that advertising isn't directly paid for by the tickets booked as a direct consequence of the particular campaign.

 

[Kangol]

I didn't say there wasn't. What I said was that the cost isn't entirely recovered from any one INDIVIDUAL fare.
In the same way that advertising isn't directly paid for by the tickets booked as a direct consequence of the particular campaign.

The food and drinks in the lounge aren't paid for from the individual fare.

"isn't entirely recovered" and "aren't paid for" are not quite the same.

I didn't say you said anything.

One example where the cost IS entirely recovered from the individual fare:
A pax doesn't enter the lounge and hence does not use any lounge facilities, incurring a cost of $0 to QF as far as lounge facilities are concerned. QF wins!

No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong. - Albert Einstein at BrainyQuote

 

[Kangol]

It would be hard to take a chunk of every Y fare to pay for lounge access when maybe 80% of the pax are ineligible.

Let's do the numbers: every dom Y segment has 1c of their fare allocated to lounge costs. Say up that to 50c. Then $1. $2. $5. How many domestic pax fly every month? What is the prevalence of dom pax that are eligible for lounge access?

I would expect that a lot of the cost of running the LAX lounge comes from BA, JL and CX.

Yeah, the oneworld branding probably has something to do with it. I wonder if each airline has an equal split, or if the number of flights/eligible pax served has something to do with it...

Some of the numbers in the above are probably commercially sensitive so we may never know...