Priority boarding on QF domestic - what is the story?

[darklight]

... the scanner had an issue with my ticket in scanning it (freshly minted from QF lounge). Eventually it processed it.

Slightly OT, but are the QF scanners not the worst piece of junk ever? I would think every 2nd flight I take they have to rescan 3 or 4 times.

 

[nonpop]

Isn't the whole point of priority boarding that you don't have to be lurking around the gate 30 minutes before departure in order to hear that call?

Bingo! We have a winner. This is how AA do it and I love their Priority Boarding.
You just show up and now matter if there is someone in the non-PB lane, they stop that lane and call from the PB lane, then continue with the non-PB lance once the PB lane is cleared. Works a treat.

Oh QF it isn't that hard to do. In fact it seems very logical.

 

[Mal Ware]

Isn't the whole point of priority boarding that you don't have to be lurking around the gate 30 minutes before departure in order to hear that call?

Well if you were on time, you would be able to take advantage of priority boarding, if your late, you would just join the pack that is using both lanes anyway by that stage....

 

[medhead]

Bingo! We have a winner. This is how AA do it and I love their Priority Boarding.
You just show up and now matter if there is someone in the non-PB lane, they stop that lane and call from the PB lane, then continue with the non-PB lance once the PB lane is cleared. Works a treat.

Oh QF it isn't that hard to do. In fact it seems very logical.

And how DJ do it as well. Not hard.


Sent from the Throne

 

[ozbeachbabe]

30th Oct '12
Syd > Mel
QF447 departing 4pm
B767 (old)

2 Lines formed
Boarding called. 1 gate agent appeared to process general pax. He starts processing general pax, then looks over to me (I was 1st in priority line) and says "oh someone will be there soon".

He then looks across at general line and waves them forward and lets them board (nobody processing priority).
Everyone in the priority line had a laugh (some pax let out a few "what a joke" comments). I just smiled (1st world problem).
Then a female gate agent appeared from running up the gang way and said "they started sooner than I was ready". She called me across and ... blam ... the scanner had an issue with my ticket in scanning it (freshly minted from QF lounge). Eventually it processed it.

When I got to my seat ... the overhead bin space had already been taken directly over my seat by someone seated nearby with 2 bags, laptop & suit jacket. I just had my small rollaboard. Oh well, I had another laugh to myself.

Summary: Priority boarding was an epic fail on this flight.

It is the FA's who come up to board not the gate agents. No doubt you would have sern them onboard during the flight.

What should have happened is the first FA should have said to the gate agent to wait for the 2nd FA to arrive before doing the boarding call.

There seem to be a lot of new young FA's recently so not sure what they are taught in ground school re PB if indeed they are taught anything at all.

This guy needs retraining - re should have called the PB lane first and then started on the general lane.

Retraining indicates that they have been trained in the beginning which may not be the case.

It might be more appropriate to say that PB needs to be addressed in the ground school rather than on a trial & error basis.

Bingo! We have a winner. This is how AA do it and I love their Priority Boarding.

You just show up and now matter if there is someone in the non-PB lane, they stop that lane and call from the PB lane, then continue with the non-PB lance once the PB lane is cleared. Works a treat.

Not always. AA start off boarding with 2 gate agents then after the initial flow of PB pax have boarded they go back to the desk.

This happened to us in LAS & the gate agent in the general boarding queue just ignored us so we ended up joining that queue. The AA system is only as good as the people providing the service.

And how DJ do it as well. Not hard.

......as long as they don't apologise to the pax in the gen boarding queue while they down tools to board Medhead in the PB lane.

 

[nonpop]

It is the FA's who come up to board not the gate agents. No doubt you would have sern them onboard during the flight.

Sorry I use the term as a generic. To me the 'gate agent' is someone serving a function for a moment in time. If they then go and perform a secondary function I really don't care. But for the moment they are serving me, I see them as a 'gate agent'.

Not always. AA start off boarding with 2 gate agents then after the initial flow of PB pax have boarded they go back to the desk.

Only speaking my from experience, every AA flight I've ever had has always either been with PB first (via pre-boarding) or usualy I find myself coming to the the head of the line well after general boarding has started (squueze in one last drink at the lounge). Each time I find the single 'gate agent' serve their current pax, then hold the general line and wave me across to them ... a quick glance of my BP to ensure I'm 'valid', they then process me and I board with them then serving the next PB or non-PB pax where no more PBs exist.

 

[medhead]

......as long as they don't apologise to the pax in the gen boarding queue while they down tools to board Medhead in the PB lane.

They only do that in Sydney and they can't play rugby league, so they have an excuse. But if I get serious for a second, sorry wasn't the problem the tone was the issue.


besides "don't mention the war"

 

[simongr]

Hilarious in SYD today. I was starting to curse people drifting into the premium lane only to find that the big sign for PB was on the left but the actual PB lane was on the right. People were actually self policing - despite QF's efforts!

 

[pauly7]

PB seems to be settling in now with pax more used to it and staff being clearer about communicating it.

Did Mel - Syd - Ool and vice versa over the long weekend for a holiday and it worked perfectly in every port - even Gold Coast which I expected nothing, but the ground crew were fantastic (and loved my $25 voucher comp for the lack of QF club!).

 

[Ausbt]

SYD Gate 19 was a bit of a joke yesterday. As you come down the corrider their were two lines extending around a blind corner. It just so happens I unintentionally chose the Priority queue along with 50 other (presumably and definite given the conversations I overhead) non-Plat/Bus guests. So that gate is a fail for Priority just by design really.

 

[dfcatch]

Bingo! We have a winner. This is how AA do it and I love their Priority Boarding.
You just show up and now matter if there is someone in the non-PB lane, they stop that lane and call from the PB lane, then continue with the non-PB lance once the PB lane is cleared. Works a treat.

Oh QF it isn't that hard to do. In fact it seems very logical.

Yes - it works - and yes it doesn't matter if you're there first or come down later, and IME they do it perfectly with 1 FA.

Except for the odd mishap like OBB mentions - AA does it perfectly, and VA are pretty darn good too.

It's just QF that seem to have a problem with the basics of life.

QF should win an award for always managing to overcomplicate the simplest things......

They would have serious competition from QFF and Government for that award though

 

[Heleigh]

QF777 Mon 5/11 MEL-PER worked prefectly
QF772 Thur 8/11 PER-MEL male staff (Not crew or gate staff) policed PB lane

 

[flyingfan]

MEL-SYD at gate 7 this morning. When boarding started it was by certain rows to use the right lane, as well as WPs, Emeralds and Business to use the left. This was despite the signs showing the priority lane to be on the right. I went with the boarding call and got into the left lane. The right lane was cleared sooner and the FA waved me over. Then things ground to a halt on the aerobridge for a while before advancing slowly. And once we got on it didn't matter because the aircraft went tech anyway - but at least it was done pretty much there and then instead of after we'd been in our seats for three quarters of an hour which was the case with another recent QF flight.

 

[eastwest101]

MEL-SYD at gate 7 this morning. When boarding started it was by certain rows to use the right lane, as well as WPs, Emeralds and Business to use the left. This was despite the signs showing the priority lane to be on the right. I went with the boarding call and got into the left lane....

Ah yes - the good old Crowd Control 101 fail - gate agents calling the flight are facing opposite to all the PAX and so sees PB lane on their left, so the PB lane must be on the left, right?

 

[LiamR]

QF400 on Wednesday, Qantas staffer standing at the end of the priority line guarding the queue.

10 points to Qantas!

 

[flyingfan]

Ah yes - the good old Crowd Control 101 fail - gate agents calling the flight are facing opposite to all the PAX and so sees PB lane on their left, so the PB lane must be on the left, right?

That's what I first thought but the desk where the calls are made is 90 degrees away from the gate, so the orientation shouldn't have been as confusing as if it was opposite. It was moot anyway because the crowds had already formed, no one moved away and no one was rejected.

QF400 on Wednesday, Qantas staffer standing at the end of the priority line guarding the queue.

10 points to Qantas!

This is great to hear. Virgin staff enforce the priority queue as though their salaries depend on it.

 

[wafliron]

This is great to hear. Virgin staff enforce the priority queue as though their salaries depend on it.

Now there's half-decent idea... Might get PB to actually work on QF!

MEL-SYD yeaterday morning PB worked reasonably well, but only due to pax self enforcement. I wasn't at the gate to hear the boarding calls so not sure how well they were done.

SYD-MEL yesterday evening was announced properly but didn't work at all - although to be honest in this particular case I didn't mind at all as we were at risk of missing curfew (pushed back at 10.57pm, took off 11.05pm!), so I'd rather they board the pax as fast as possible rather than worrying about PB.

 

[Anna]

I've just given ADL a serve on the "how was QF?" survey. The other day there wasn't even a call for business to board first, let alone platinum/emerald, let alone a dedicated boarding line. It was just a boarding free-for-all.

Hope the airport manager rings me back. I'd love to hear the official "reasons" (read, excuses) for no priority boarding at ADL.

 

[medhead]

I've just given ADL a serve on the "how was QF?" survey. The other day there wasn't even a call for business to board first, let alone platinum/emerald, let alone a dedicated boarding line. It was just a boarding free-for-all.

Hope the airport manager rings me back. I'd love to hear the official "reasons" (read, excuses) for no priority boarding at ADL.

Don't hold your breath. I've been banging on about ADL for over 12 months. When I can be bothered to send feedback, the best I get is we've passed your feedback on to the airport manager. In my opinion, ADL staff do not care one little bit about the customers. I absolutely hate the boarding free for all there. Glad it's not just me. Sometimes they don't even bother with an announcement at all.

 

[JohnM]

MEL-SYD at gate 7 this morning. When boarding started it was by certain rows to use the right lane, as well as WPs, Emeralds and Business to use the left. This was despite the signs showing the priority lane to be on the right. I went with the boarding call and got into the left lane.

I've also struck this.

I've also seen where none of the staff had taken the time to make sure the signs were pointing clearly, such that the arrow on the small one at the head of the lanes was pointing the middle of the tape.

I still maintain that the most fundamental deficiency in this whole shemozzle is the very weak signage. The arrows and colour contrast should be BIG, BOLD and CLEAR - like AA's which are simple and absolutely crystal clear.