Qantas: 'one of the worst airlines in the free world'

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levelnine

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A trip report/review of Qantas from an American frequent flyer that concludes: 'Happy to arrive here after a long day on one of the worst airlines in the free world.'

The state of the Qantas Domestic Business Lounge in Sydney looks particularly terrible in the photos.

Tasmania and the Great Barrier Reef | SFO777
 
Melbourne, not Sydney. Looks ok to me?

If you scroll down (the whole page does not load all at once), a later flight in the trip departs from the Sydney Dom J Lounge. The state of the floor is pretty terrible.
 
Melbourne, not Sydney. Looks ok to me?
The Sydney lounge is in the trip from Hobart to Hamilton Island. Yes, it does look pretty awful though I think the blogger is somewhat harsh in his assessment of QF as being the worst in the free world! There is a word I could use to describe people like him, but being a lady I shall refrain.:)
 
If you scroll down (the whole page does not load all at once), a later flight in the trip departs from the Sydney Dom J Lounge. The state of the floor is pretty terrible.
Have to agree. It was 9am when he took those awful photos. I’ve only been in the Sydney J lounge once in recent times and it really is poorly designed and food offering poor. Few power points. But he is also a bit precious and putting the tray in the aisle is pretty poor given he complained about the state of the floor.
 
Have to agree. It was 9am when he took those awful photos. I’ve only been in the Sydney J lounge once in recent times and it really is poorly designed and food offering poor. Few power points. But he is also a bit precious and putting the tray in the aisle is pretty poor given he complained about the state of the floor.

Gosh, there’s a lot of ‘poor’ in my post o_O
 
I was in SYD dom J the same morning (Dec 31 going by the discarded newspaper) around 0700 and it was nothing like that.
Must have degenerated rapidly after I left.
 
Not too sure what to make of this comment: "The most notable thing about walking around the lounge was how utterly and disgustingly flithy [sic] the place was. Either Aussies are slobs and/or the staff only cleans up once a week. This is only a sample at 9am."
 
So he's the "most popular" on FT for TRs? Right.

Anyone who gobs off declaring something to be the worst because of a bit of dry duck has no business inflicting their banal observations on anyone.

Although the guy riding a bike through a crowded airport in the third pic down from the top would have been comment-worthy if he wasn't too busy looking for things to complain about. Reading any further would waste valuable minutes.
 
The hotel in Hobart and his trip seemed pretty nice

the Islington, in South Hobart. yes, its very nice.

I didn't know there was a B737 sim here though. :oops:

I thought his overall comments were fair enough - he called it as he saw it. Non-priority boarding, for instance. I also agreed with his comments about the QP in Hobart - they, like I often do, left the QP for the departure lounge!! If I found the J lounge in SYD like that, I would probably have said much the same thing. I wonder of they increased the cleaning staff to accommodate the extra pax from the closed QP?

I mean, if we saw an Admirals Club like that, we'd say so in aTR, Wouldn't we? Plenty of negative comments about US airline food here too! Not to mention the US itself ....
 
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It's a bit like criticizing family isn't it? :) :p Family members can kick the boot in as much as they like, but an outsider, no way!
 
I've only got to the MEL lounge (Dom J, which he calls First Class or Gold lounge - which are both incorrect) and I can't stand it/.

First of all, he claims QF has no nonstop competition on the route - WRONG! UA fly and have flown LAX-MEL for years.. non stop for well over a decade. Idiot (specially for a guy called SFO777 who I know flies UA a lot). It stinks of entitled elitism ("If I were buying a ticket I'd...")

oh and he claims to be "Flyertalk's most popular trip reporter? Ego much?!

gah!

How can QF be the worst when he says he and his wife slept for 7+ hours in bedding "they got right" ?

Far out.

Jiust keep using phrases like "snooty dragon" - that goes down well....

WOW the SYD J lounge must have been in an alternate world for him to compare it as being worse than a domestic AA or UA club, because bar a very few exemptions, even on a huge delay day in SYD or when the QC is closed like now there's zero comparision IMHO.

but yes, a lot of filth in there.. that's what happens when those plebs from the QC are allowed in. Written like a snooty dragon :p

and again with the entitlement wanting another F lounge for OWE's. far out.

And yet again, the agent is a dragon.

While he did not experience the best in the SYD J lounge he's so harsh on other aspects and seems overly entitled to me.
 
Yep United and Qantas fly direct non-stop from LAX to MEL. Also had he connected via Sydney (as he didn't spend plan to spend any time in Melbourne anyway) he could have flown direct non-stop on Qantas or United or Virgin or Delta or AA.

Re Sydney Business Lounge - I laughed when he commented about horse sized carrots - what he failed to recognise is that the fruits and veggies on that table are positioned next to a juicer - so you can make your own fresh fruit & veggie juice. The carrots for eating are julienned and over near the main food offerings.

The lounge does seem to be super dirty that day (suspect a very busy travel day) but the fact that the Qantas Club and Business Lounge have real barista made coffee puts its ahead of any AA lounge I've been in.
 
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So he's the "most popular" on FT for TRs? Right.

Anyone who gobs off declaring something to be the worst because of a bit of dry duck has no business inflicting their banal observations on anyone.

Although the guy riding a bike through a crowded airport in the third pic down from the top would have been comment-worthy if he wasn't too busy looking for things to complain about. Reading any further would waste valuable minutes.
I searched on FT and couldn’t find much there. He could of course be using a different name but then that’d make no sense.

I laughed when he commented about horse carrots - what he failed to recognise is that the fruits and veggies on that table are positioned next to juicer - so you can make your own fresh fruit & veggie juice. The carrot for eating are julienned and over near the main food offerings.

The lounge does seem to be super dirty that day (suspect a very busy travel day) but the fact that the Qantas Club and Business Lounge have real barista made coffee puts its ahead of any AA lounge I've been in.

Yeah. Stupid is as stupid does.
 
Yes, many aussies are slobs this is true and sadly in lounges also. We've all seen them. However it doesn't excuse the lack of staff to do a good job cleaning up, and keeping it tidy-ish - I mean if there were no staff (bar any cleaning ones) in the QC they could have rostered on a few more bods to run tables and the like. It's a tough one.

it doesn't present a good image at all, but gee I reckon most other lounges under that level of load (it looked pretty close to full with most seats taken etc) then most would have some degree of trash left.

It does embarass me when I do see people, specially at home here in Australia, act like bogans.. moreso in food courts where they just leave their cough everywhere when they literally pass bins on the way out but can't be bothered to take their tray o cough 5m to dump it (but I digress).

I just think he's become too privliged in his using points or whatever to fly these nice products and seems to forget that he and his wife are living a life most find hard to attain or enjoy.

I'm glad though that his time in HBA and hopefully on HTI made him and his missues hopefully enjoy Australia enoough to not equate the whole place with the QF J lounge, or the MEL "Gold/First Class" Lounge :p
 
I searched on FT and couldn’t find much there. He could of course be using a different name but then that’d make no sense.

SFO777 is indeed well known on FT for his TRs.

Here's his TR thread for this trip: Tasmania and the Great Barrier Reef via Qantas First Class - FlyerTalk Forums

and here's his whinge about the QF SYD J lounge: Dreadful SYD T3 Lounge makes me long for an Admirals Club or even a United Club - FlyerTalk Forums

Some of his complaints are valid, but the hyperbole is excessive.
 
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