Priority boarding my cough

[flying_duck]

Remind me again why I spend thousands of dollars a year on VA

Boarding farce! They were boarding general at the same time as priority.

 

[codash1099]

Remind me again why I spend thousands of dollars a year on VA

Boarding farce! They were boarding general at the same time as priority.

Don't expect anything different from the competition!

 

[flying_duck]

Told the CSM who was horrified let’s see if anything comes of it.

Yes I enjoyed the lounge. Sitting quietly in my seat right now.

Nothing like spending 20k a year to be treated like a nobody. I don’t know how QF Platinums do it without losing their minds.

 

[flying_duck]

CSM advises that gate 79 is a bit cough... long story short doesn’t really allow them to board priority via 2 agents at the same time as other gates do. Usual gate at BNE in my experience is gate 81. Hence they boarded both queues at once. Still pretty pathetic for one of our two main carriers. Singapore’s has gate 81 secured for an 11;30ish departure, why do they take priority over a local carrier?

 

[drron]

I'm going to be boarding 2 VA flights tomorrow.Hope they continue messing up PB.

 

[flying_duck]

Having a quiet giggle that posts are censored but thread titles aren’t. Sorry mods.

 

[flying_duck]

I'm going to be boarding 2 VA flights tomorrow.Hope they continue messing up PB.

good luck. I hope you enjoy queueing

 

[drron]

Hey as a OWE,OWS and LTQP I am quite used to boarding from the Y lane on QF.

 

[Mattg]

Singapore’s has gate 81 secured for an 11;30ish departure, why do they take priority over a local carrier?

Gate allocation has nothing to do with being a "local carrier". If it's a better gate, probably SQ has paid more for it...

 

[jase05]

As a rule of thumb I find ADL and MEL the best at enforcing VA PB. SYD can be hit and miss and I haven’t been through BNE in a long time so can’t comment.
As a general observation I do still find it better than QF

 

[Denali]

Told the CSM who was horrified let’s see if anything comes of it.

Yes I enjoyed the lounge. Sitting quietly in my seat right now.

Nothing like spending 20k a year to be treated like a nobody. I don’t know how QF Platinums do it without losing their minds.

A nobody?

 

[Hvr]

Priority boarding my cough

So does your donkey have status? If not they can join the queue.

 

[flying_duck]

So does your donkey have status? If not they can join the queue.

I’m not sure what status donkeys have, emotional support animal maybe? Then I really could board before everyone as I would have special needs. You might be onto something here.

 

[flying_duck]

A nobody?

View attachment 142958

Yes, people without status don’t get published status benefits, people with status should get them but don’t always. Surely it’s not to much to expect a published benefit to be given?

 

[flying_duck]

Gate allocation has nothing to do with being a "local carrier". If it's a better gate, probably SQ has paid more for it...

You’re quite right, which means VA does have the choice to use facilities that would help them deliver the product they advertise, but choose not to.

 

[Pleb Status]

Told the CSM who was horrified let’s see if anything comes of it.

Yes I enjoyed the lounge. Sitting quietly in my seat right now.

Nothing like spending 20k a year to be treated like a nobody. I don’t know how QF Platinums do it without losing their minds.

Firstly, I always have a bit of a chuckle when someone believes that a $20k pa spend in airfares is anything special. You need to spend well into 6 figures to think you will get any sort of attention...

Secondly, a photo showing a whole lot of people milling around the boarding gate means absolutely nothing. Do you have any actual proof that PB was not being enforced? As per a similar thread a week or two ago, with all of the fake status floating around, and then adding in J and YX, half of the aircraft could be allowed PB access.

Depending on the airport, where do you expect pax to congregate prior to boarding if there is no real space around the boarding gate?

On Monday, my A332 to PER was scheduled to board from one of the more 'space challenged' gates in MEL. As there was a small delay to the commencement of boarding, there was more than 250 pax in a small area trying find anywhere to stand.

It looked pretty ugly when I approached the gate but when boarding started I was about number ten on board.

 

[RooFlyer]

I’m not sure what status donkeys have, emotional support animal maybe? Then I really could board before everyone as I would have special needs. You might be onto something here.

I'd love to have posted the 'donkey scene' from 'Airplane' (or was it 'Flying High'?), but can't locate it

 

[flying_duck]

Firstly, I always have a bit of a chuckle when someone believes that a $20k pa spend in airfares is anything special. You need to spend well into 6 figures to think you will get any sort of attention...

Secondly, a photo showing a whole lot of people milling around the boarding gate means absolutely nothing. Do you have any actual proof that PB was not being enforced? As per a similar thread a week or two ago, with all of the fake status floating around, and then adding in J and YX, half of the aircraft could be allowed PB access.

Depending on the airport, where do you expect pax to congregate prior to boarding if there is no real space around the boarding gate?

On Monday, my A332 to PER was scheduled to board from one of the more 'space challenged' gates in MEL. As there was a small delay to the commencement of boarding, there was more than 250 pax in a small area trying find anywhere to stand.

It looked pretty ugly when I approached the gate but when boarding started I was about number ten on board.

sure I’ll bite. I don’t expect attention, I expect what my status should give me.

PB line was the first line you encountered when approaching the gate. General boarding was about the same size in the opposite direction.

When I finally got to the front of the PB line, I noticed the general boarding line was about half done. I mentioned it to the agent scanning boarding passes who said the plane was late so they had to board everyone at the same time (it wasn’t).

I was asked how I was upon boarding which is when I made my complaint. It was followed up and the CSM confirmed to me they were boarding both queues at once because of the design of the gate that it was too difficult to funnel PB pax into the secondary boarding pass screening point.

So proof as in a picture detailing how boarding happened? No, I wasn’t going to hold things up further. But it’s a discussion I have now had with two staff members both of whom confirmed they were not respecting PB.

 

[Pleb Status]

sure I’ll bite. I don’t expect attention, I expect what my status should give me.

PB line was the first line you encountered when approaching the gate. General boarding was about the same size in the opposite direction.

When I finally got to the front of the PB line, I noticed the general boarding line was about half done. I mentioned it to the agent scanning boarding passes who said the plane was late so they had to board everyone at the same time (it wasn’t).

I was asked how I was upon boarding which is when I made my complaint. It was followed up and the CSM confirmed to me they were boarding both queues at once because of the design of the gate that it was too difficult to funnel PB pax into the secondary boarding pass screening point.

So proof as in a picture detailing how boarding happened? No, I wasn’t going to hold things up further. But it’s a discussion I have now had with two staff members both of whom confirmed they were not respecting PB.

Your quote 'Nothing like spending 20k a year to be treated like a nobody' sounds like you expected attention, otherwise you would have been happy to be treated as a nobody and you would not have made the comment...

You received access to the PB queue as per your status entitlement. Also, once again, more than half the aircraft could have legal access to the PB queue explaining the 'equal' queue lengths.

A valid reason was provided why VA boarded both queues at the same time. Although it may not be optimal, where does it say in the T&C that VA cannot board both queues at the same time particularly if they believe they are running late? I personally find the best use of the PB queue is when I arrive late at the gate I get my BP scanned straight away.

As explained previously, the picture you provided proves absolutely nothing. Also, who exactly told you that PB was not being enforced?

 

[flying_duck]

Your quote 'Nothing like spending 20k a year to be treated like a nobody' sounds like you expected attention, otherwise you would have been happy to be treated as a nobody and you would not have made the comment...

You received access to the PB queue as per your status entitlement. Also, once again, more than half the aircraft could have legal access to the PB queue explaining the 'equal' queue lengths.

A valid reason was provided why VA boarded both queues at the same time. Although it may not be optimal, where does it say in the T&C that VA cannot board both queues at the same time particularly if they believe they are running late? I personally find the best use of the PB queue is when I arrive late at the gate I get my BP scanned straight away.

As explained previously, the picture you provided proves absolutely nothing. Also, who exactly told you that PB was not being enforced?

The manager on board this flight.

So status grants you access to the priority boarding LINE but nothing else? I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect priority boarding is exactly that, priority, as in before something else. Not the ability to stand in a different queue.