Qantas doesn't care about priority boarding

The tricky one is PB once general boarding has commenced. I generally don't leave the lounge until the flight is called. Too often you leave a comfortable chair and then spend 45 minutes standing about because the flight is delayed. When they say it is boarding, I head there.
Usual situation is a huge economy queue, empty premium lane and two FA's scanning. Obviously they are both processing pax from the economy queue. The critical point for me is whether the FA on the priority side is keeping an eye on the premium lane. If they are, all is good. If they are not, the premium passenger is put in the position of either being rude and pushing in or standing there like a dork and watching the plane load.
I guess the ideal situation is rope off economy lane then do Priority Boarding from the lane which has the computer where the sole F/A stands. There are no longer 5 F/A's on any flights so you will only ever get one coming up to board as there must be a minimum of 3 onboard. If there are two people boarding at the gate the 'second F/A' will actually being a member of ground staff/departure agent.

What can happen if the masses are called to board via the economy boarding lane then the gate has to down tools to made a further boarding announcement or sort of some kind of seating issue at the desk then pax will move out of the unmanned general boarding lane and move across to the Priority Boarding lane. If you're eligible to use the PB lane and arrive at the gate after the initial PB call and general boarding has commenced it may be somewhat of a bunfight.
 
Worked in MEL a few days ago - as I got to the gate, boarding was underway with a long general line and no one in the PB lane.
I walked straight up and had my BP scanned - there was one pax scanning their BP on the priority side as I got there. The wait was 5-10 seconds.
 
Pre-covid it was common for the premium line to be longer on the 330 and you just join whichever line was shortest and go with the flow. These days Id say it's confusion so just see if people seem like they know what they're doing or not and act accordingly as staff are unlikely to intercept.
 
Pre-covid it was common for the premium line to be longer on the 330 and you just join whichever line was shortest and go with the flow. These days Id say it's confusion so just see if people seem like they know what they're doing or not and act accordingly as staff are unlikely to intercept.
I believe there’s a dedicated thread for this somewhere (or plenty!) and I feel a bit guilty because I was the one who derailed the conversation so mods please move.

To the point above: Staff will not intervene at all. Actually, in this particular set up in Melbourne, the point where you “push in” is way ahead of where the boarding passes get scanned (by the ‘priority sign’ while the scanning is further up the gate) so staff couldn’t even intervene from up there, hence also no walking up and asking them. I have seen on the very rare occasion though that staff was indeed caring and sent up someone to stand at the actual or sign or even, science forbid, move up and down the monster queue to advise people that this is actually the priority queue. Needless to say, this requires enough staff and caring enough to forgo a nice chit chat in favour of actual work so very unlikely to happen unless Qantas decides a promised benefit really matters. Ha!

And where to cut in? Groups of “very important” business people in their suits just do it anywhere I’ve noticed so I’ve learnt my lesson: Looks can be deceiving but if there’s a backpacker with an actual oversized backpack and a clueless look on their face up the front of the priority queue: Perfect opportunity. Same with a mum and her three screaming children who is struggling to make sure she’s at the right gate (airport/planet), you can bet she’s unaware which is the priority queue and snap, here you go. And if you really cut in front of someone who’s also rightfully there, then just behave like the before mentioned people in their suits: Ignore it and move on to the gate.

Sounds all pretty tough but if I pay upwards of $400 for a business class ticket Sydney-Melbourne, then the least one can ask is Qantas providing the promised benefits. Again- mods please move as this discussion belongs elsewhere.
 
I believe there’s a dedicated thread for this somewhere (or plenty!) and I feel a bit guilty because I was the one who derailed the conversation so mods please move.

To the point above: Staff will not intervene at all. Actually, in this particular set up in Melbourne, the point where you “push in” is way ahead of where the boarding passes get scanned (by the ‘priority sign’ while the scanning is further up the gate) so staff couldn’t even intervene from up there, hence also no walking up and asking them. I have seen on the very rare occasion though that staff was indeed caring and sent up someone to stand at the actual or sign or even, science forbid, move up and down the monster queue to advise people that this is actually the priority queue. Needless to say, this requires enough staff and caring enough to forgo a nice chit chat in favour of actual work so very unlikely to happen unless Qantas decides a promised benefit really matters. Ha!

And where to cut in? Groups of “very important” business people in their suits just do it anywhere I’ve noticed so I’ve learnt my lesson: Looks can be deceiving but if there’s a backpacker with an actual oversized backpack and a clueless look on their face up the front of the priority queue: Perfect opportunity. Same with a mum and her three screaming children who is struggling to make sure she’s at the right gate (airport/planet), you can bet she’s unaware which is the priority queue and snap, here you go. And if you really cut in front of someone who’s also rightfully there, then just behave like the before mentioned people in their suits: Ignore it and move on to the gate.

Sounds all pretty tough but if I pay upwards of $400 for a business class ticket Sydney-Melbourne, then the least one can ask is Qantas providing the promised benefits. Again- mods please move as this discussion belongs elsewhere.

Has Qantas responded to your complaint yet? Will be interested to see what they say. They were doing really well pre-covid after the big 'focus' and seems on this flight at least it may have slipped.
 
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Have had 6 QF flights in the last 8 weeks and not enforced on 4 of them. HBA was a absolute debacle and resembled one of those scenes you see at Myer Boxing Day sales when the doors get opened
 
I believe there’s a dedicated thread for this somewhere (or plenty!) and I feel a bit guilty because I was the one who derailed the conversation so mods please move.

To the point above: Staff will not intervene at all. Actually, in this particular set up in Melbourne, the point where you “push in” is way ahead of where the boarding passes get scanned (by the ‘priority sign’ while the scanning is further up the gate) so staff couldn’t even intervene from up there, hence also no walking up and asking them. I have seen on the very rare occasion though that staff was indeed caring and sent up someone to stand at the actual or sign or even, science forbid, move up and down the monster queue to advise people that this is actually the priority queue. Needless to say, this requires enough staff and caring enough to forgo a nice chit chat in favour of actual work so very unlikely to happen unless Qantas decides a promised benefit really matters. Ha!

And where to cut in? Groups of “very important” business people in their suits just do it anywhere I’ve noticed so I’ve learnt my lesson: Looks can be deceiving but if there’s a backpacker with an actual oversized backpack and a clueless look on their face up the front of the priority queue: Perfect opportunity. Same with a mum and her three screaming children who is struggling to make sure she’s at the right gate (airport/planet), you can bet she’s unaware which is the priority queue and snap, here you go. And if you really cut in front of someone who’s also rightfully there, then just behave like the before mentioned people in their suits: Ignore it and move on to the gate.

Sounds all pretty tough but if I pay upwards of $400 for a business class ticket Sydney-Melbourne, then the least one can ask is Qantas providing the promised benefits. Again- mods please move as this discussion belongs elsewhere.
Perhaps don’t assume the mum with the kids doesn’t know what’s going on, or that she doesn’t belong there 🙄
 
Perhaps don’t assume the mum with the kids doesn’t know what’s going on, or that she doesn’t belong there 🙄

Well- it’s the same judging from appearances that a lot of those very important suit people utilise when they push in. Both sucks and the point is that no one should have to do it at all if Qantas was policing their queue policy properly.
 
Have had 6 QF flights in the last 8 weeks and not enforced on 4 of them. HBA was a absolute debacle and resembled one of those scenes you see at Myer Boxing Day sales when the doors get opened

What feedback have you got? Would be pretty good if you detailed all 4 flights to see what they say.

Perhaps don’t assume the mum with the kids doesn’t know what’s going on, or that she doesn’t belong there 🙄

Well- it’s the same judging from appearances that a lot of those very important suit people utilise when they push in. Both sucks and the point is that no one should have to do it at all if Qantas was policing their queue policy properly.

Hate to admit but I push in on both Virgin and Qantas PB lanes because they are often so crowded these days people don’t know where they are supposed to be!
 
Have had 6 QF flights in the last 8 weeks and not enforced on 4 of them. HBA was a absolute debacle and resembled one of those scenes you see at Myer Boxing Day sales when the doors get opened

I'm not in the habit of defending QF or HBA, but that might be an exception, from my experience this year (3 departures in November) and before. Although one departure rom gate 2 (left hand, 'Virgin' end) was a bit sloppy, as the signs were not brought out. Traditional gate 4 (RH end) I've never had a problem with. PB called, and the signed premium lane served first.

More surprising as HBA is not an official Qantas "PB" port, as I've noted before.
 
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What feedback have you got? Would be pretty good if you detailed all 4 flights to see what they say.
Did send off some feed back (as I did for 2 recent VA flights where it wasn’t adhered to)
I gave them a pretty bad report on their survey for the HBA-ADL flight as it was a free for all for the J loo which is my absolute pet hate and more so than the PB.
Reply commented that my complaints had been duly noted and they appreciated the feedback and would endeavour to remind staff of PB and the loo. I didn’t expect to hear from them so happy enough
 
I'm not in the habit of defending QF or HBA, but that might be an exception, from my experience this year (3 departures in November) and before. Although one departure rom gate 2 (left hand, 'Virgin' end) was a bit sloppy, as the signs were not brought out. Traditional gate 4 (RH end) I've never had a problem with. PB called, and the signed premium lane served first.

More surprising as HBA is not an official Qantas "PB" port, as I've noted before.
Was Gate 4 and I appreciate that they may have been running a bit late as a wheelchair passenger took longer than normal to be seated.
The call for boarding was announced and then everyone just filed into the 1 line, there was no mention of PB and only 1 lane operating so everyone basically merged (pushed in)
I’ve never had a problem at HBA before.
I have usually found OOL and MEL to be the worst over the journey
 
Was Gate 4 and I appreciate that they may have been running a bit late as a wheelchair passenger took longer than normal to be seated.
Ha. You needn't have said "than normal". Something Iv frequently grumbled about; eg:

 
It's a dog's breakfast in Adelaide. Worse than ever now. Everyone ignores any instructions.
Only because staff don’t put their foot down.
It was similar at VA in ADL when I flew out Monday morning. Had a great staff member who was turning them away and sending them to the back of the queue, they soon got the jist and realised their attempts were futile. Stamp it out early
 
It's a dog's breakfast in Adelaide. Worse than ever now. Everyone ignores any instructions.
Last time I went the ADL the priority line had been removed altogether, not sure if it has been put back. Edit. I was talking about the priority line at security not boarding.
 
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