Priority boarding on QF domestic - what is the story?

[ChrisCunard]

There were two doors with two aero bridges (gate 10 at Sydney if memory serves correctly).

The carpets have been replaced in recent times to have a red line that indicates where the queue should go.

The announcement was along the lines of:

"Qantas welcomes passengers on QF 583 to Perth. All Business Class, Platinum, Gold and One World frequent flyers are welcome to board through the left lane while all other passengers please present your boarding passes at the right lane. Repeating, all Business Class, Platinum, Gold and One World frequent flyers are welcome to board through the left lane while all other passengers please present your boarding passes at the right lane only. Thank you and enjoy your journey".

This was repeated twice.

They were then checking people in the left queue to ensure they were the correct class / status.

It worked really well and added a bit of extra happiness to holding a J ticket. Was also wonderful to have had Skybed on that flight! I think QF should put the 744's skybeds into their remaining domestic 332's once the 744 refits are done, they really are alot better than the Recaro
or Silverwings!

 

[LiamR]

Just got back from Sydney and to my amazement, Priority Boarding!!

It worked really well, two separate isles, walked up to the front, gave her my boarding pass, and off I went onto the aircraft. I've attached a picture below....


























Then I looked at my boarding pass and saw the DJ flight code... Oh that's right, I'm on Virgin going home.

Sorry, I had to do this. It felt so much better comming home without having to demand a writen benefit.

(I was too lazy to take a photo today, so thank you AnsettAddict for this pic.)

 

[medhead]

Well, I'm boarding at my convenience for now on. Right at the very last second. No overhead locker space? No my problem; find space! No I can't check my luggage as it has a computer in one bag and vital medical equipment in the other.

Simple, not my problem.

 

[Stephen65]

That seems to be the credited strategy to me Medhead when flying domestic J. I wait in the QP till the last minute, wander over as the gate is closing and am one of the last onboard. That way I don't have to wait in any queues or cut queues.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

That seems to be the credited strategy to me Medhead when flying domestic J. I wait in the QP till the last minute, wander over as the gate is closing and am one of the last onboard. That way I don't have to wait in any queues or cut queues.

And your tactic for Y...

 

[nlagalle]

Most of my flights are MEL-SYD-MEL. To be honest the "priority queue" on most of these flights would be worse than the non status queue!

If they employed the method JQ uses (a priority queue that joins in front of the normal queue) then it would work aok.

 

[Stephen65]

And your tactic for Y...

I will cross that (aero)bridge when I come to it.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

I will cross that (aero)bridge when I come to it.

LOL (Not all of us travel in J)....

 

[Danger]

I experienced the walk of shame on Friday afternoon at Sydney domestic . . .

If this had happened to me I would have taken a seat in the boarding area, pulled out my laptop or a newspaper and waited until exactly five minutes before the scheduled departure time (assuming the flight was actually on time) and then boarded - at my convenience! If I'm going to be embarrassed for seeking to enjoy a benefit that I'm entitled to, someone will pay. Ninety-nine times in 100 I travel with checked baggage so it would take them a whole lot longer to find and offload my bag then it would for them to bite their tongue and let me board five minutes before the flight is scheduled to depart. If the had an issue with this, I'd refer them to the QF website and the five minute cut-off, then I'd refer them to the priority boarding benefit.

Its clearly listed as a benefit for both SG and WP without the international definitions on the OneWorld QFF page:

My post #294 also has pictures from the OW Website and QF's site, which both clearly state that OWE + OWS get priority boarding.

There's a difference here, though. QF says "priority boarding"; oneworld says "preferred boarding" and "invited to board at your convenience". As I've stated several times before, "board at convenience" is not "priority boarding".

Flew Syd - Per on Friday and Priority Boarding was not only announced but also enforced.

Those of us in the J Cabin, plus WP, SG and OW frequent Flyers were welcomed into the Left boarding queue.

A330-300 with two doors allowing for speedy boarding.

So all we have to do is take a flight where two aerobridges are used.

There were two doors with two aero bridges (gate 10 at Sydney if memory serves correctly) . . . The announcement was along the lines of:

"Qantas welcomes passengers on QF 583 to Perth. All Business Class, Platinum, Gold and One World frequent flyers are welcome to board through the left lane while all other passengers please present your boarding passes at the right lane. Repeating, all Business Class, Platinum, Gold and One World frequent flyers are welcome to board through the left lane while all other passengers please present your boarding passes at the right lane only. Thank you and enjoy your journey".

Well there's one great big issue with this: a "oneworld Frequent Flyer", by definition, includes oneworld Ruby which is Qantas Silver. So we've gone from QF providing the benefit to no one (despite their website where it states Platinum and/or Gold depending on which page you choose to look at) to Qantas Platinum, Gold and Silver. Is there no end to the inconsistency.

Well, I'm boarding at my convenience for now on. Right at the very last second. No overhead locker space? No my problem; find space! No I can't check my luggage as it has a computer in one bag and vital medical equipment in the other.

Simple, not my problem.

I couldn't agree more, hence my approach outlined in the top of this thread. And why should you have to check your luggage? Provided it's within weight and size limitations, you're well within your right to take it on board. It's their problem to find the space.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Probably not, but l can't say for sure (I didn't recognise people from the lounge though). So many people cued up in an instant when that announcement was made, l ended up way back, with no priority cue either. Only 2 FA's scanning tickets.

You be lucky to get any more than 2 FA's boarding ever.

Gold Member - good point.

Why QF doesn't use some staff members as 'floats' in the capitals is beyond me. 'Floats' at terminals like SYD, MEL, BNE, ADL and PER with the initial rush and then go to the next gate for the next boarding of aircraft? Do the gate staff who scan the BP's have to be on the plane?

There aren't any staff that 'float' - every staff member has a flight departure to look after & they stay at the desk on the gate. There may be a Supervisor that floats between departure gates but there are usually multiple departures so they can't be everywhere at once. To have more staff 'floating' would mean management rostering more staff on which would cost more money - no brainer.

The actual boarding process ie the scanning of boarding passes isn't done by gate staff but by the Flight Attendant(s) on QF Domestic flights.

It may be slightly different at some ports but in BNE the gate staff need to stay at the departure gate 'til stumps when all pax have gone through the gate reader to give pax clearance then pull the aerobridge back for the flight to depart.

The $64,000 question is when will QF recognise that 'Priority Boarding' means being able to board anytime via a dedicated boarding lane for J/CL/WP/SG & OWE/OWS, not just the ability to board at the beginning if they're seated in row 4 when the initial call is for pax seated in rows 15-29.

DJ 'get it' because JB is at the helm & understands what premium pax want & if QF hadn't allowed him to walk away QF would have 'got it' long ago.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

So where have all the check in staff gone now that there is Next Gen check in? Did they get the boot? I agree with eveyone on this thread. How hard can it be for QF to implement a published bendit?

 

[connieguy]

So where have all the check in staff gone now that there is Next Gen check in? Did they get the boot? I agree with eveyone on this thread. How hard can it be for QF to implement a published bendit?

Published benefit? QF try very hard to hide the benefit and give it lip service during the service announcement. I suspect someone sees this as it will cost them money and they have decided not to make it happen. Just like they do with lounge WiFi, cutting WP loyalty bonuses, pushing up PG, taking away anytime lounge access, not giving WPs the points bonus they gave to all other FFers, upgrade lottery, etc. Just cheap cough penny pinching by an tired airline which thinks it can't lose any FFers to new dogs on the block. DJ may not be perfect but it is listening and changing for the better.

 

[Ewing]

So where have all the check in staff gone now that there is Next Gen check in?

Don't even get me started on that.

I waited ~25 minutes to check in for a flight out of CBR on Saturday (I was connecting to International and needed my bags through checked). There was one person on the counter (a second person did show up as I got to the front of the line), and as we all know just about everyone in CBR seems to be Gold, Platinum or CL. If they're not, they're travelling on government business and are in J anyway.

Lucky I got to the airport early.

Of course if the lady that kept asking everyone in the line if they were travelling business went and started processing check-ins instead we could have gone on our way much quicker.

On the positive side I was a little bit concerned when my tag didn't get the Business insert (it was only printed on the tag) but on arrival in DFW it was waiting for me on the separate Business carousel so all was good!

 

[Leumas]

View attachment 3370

What is Velocity Platinum? I can't see it on the Velocity web site?

 

[markis10]

What is Velocity Platinum? I can't see it on the Velocity web site?

Its a new level coming soon.

 

[Groundfeeder]

So where have all the check in staff gone now that there is Next Gen check in?

Coming back from CNS to BNE around 7.30pm all of the QF Bag Drop chutes were closed and there were no pax checking in that I could see - what staff - what curfew? The temp cab rank was its usual disaster.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Coming back from CNS to BNE around 7.30pm all of the QF Bag Drop chutes were closed and there were no pax checking in that I could see - what staff - what curfew? The temp cab rank was its usual disaster.

At that time it's a ghost town in BNE - I think the only flight still open for baggage would have been QF557 @ 2015 so I'd say if the bag drops were closed they would've checked the last few pax at the counters.

So where have all the check in staff gone now that there is Next Gen check in? Did they get the boot? I agree with eveyone on this thread. How hard can it be for QF to implement a published bendit?

There haven't been any redundancies but I think if they were offered there's probably quite a few people who are hanging out for that & would be happy to accept. There's still people needed on the remaining checkin aka service desk counters & others are in the bag drop area or kiosk areas. If QF had an over supply of staff I'm fairly certain they wouldn't be rostering their part timers on max hours of 37.5 per week instead of 20.

IMHO QF don't need any more staff at the gate other that what they currently have in order to implement (real) priority boarding. Seriously, what's involved - some tensa barriers & a a sign that says "Priority boarding - Business Class, Frequent Flyer Platinum/Gold, OneWorld Emerald/Sapphire but most importantly they have to want to actually do it.

 

[QF WP]

The only time I get to the Gate early is if I am in an Exit Row in Y. Generally I am carrying 2 carry-on, a laptop bag and my FF bag (which holds work stuff & change of clothes if an overnight trip).

If I'm in J (a JASA or ODU), then I wait in the QP until the final call and then go to the Gate.

Thankfully I've had more of the latter recently, but having no points left will mean I'm back to my first option above permanently.

 

[connieguy]

IMHO QF don't need any more staff at the gate other that what they currently have in order to implement (real) priority boarding. Seriously, what's involved - some tensa barriers & a a sign that says "Priority boarding - Business Class, Frequent Flyer Platinum/Gold, OneWorld Emerald/Sapphire but most importantly they have to want to actually do it.

You mean like this?



2 boarding lanes
1 ground staff
1 BP scanner
1 extra Tensa barrier and 2 poles with signs
1 big sign to ensure everybody see how easy this is to do

From QF's lack of action on this issue, I have assumed they do not want to do it, just like they apparently do not want to fix their lounge WiFi system.

BTW DJ's "Board at your Convenience" and lounge WiFi systems works very well.

 

[serfty]

From QF's lack of action on this issue, I have assumed they do not want to do it, just like they apparently do not want to fix their lounge WiFi system.

I would assume Qantas have done their sums on the former (maybe well hear more in two weeks); the latter is just hyperbole given the credible reports Qantas have put out for new tenders on the Lounge WiFi.