Qantas Platinum One experiences?

[aus_flyer]

To all the newly-minted Platinum One frequent flyers out there... I'm curious to hear... what's been your experience so far?

Anything different?

Free upgrades?

... or all hype?

 

[Princess Fiona]

With the RRP of $330 Taittinger Comtes De Champagne 2006, and some reputedly 3000 P1's, thats a massive $990,000

I doubt they paid anywhere close to RRP for it.
Still a massive outlay for a Xmas gift for your customers though.

 

[RichardMEL]

(sendle saga upodate)

So... Wednesday rocked around and I had emailed sendle a complaint asking them to escalate my case to a manager or someone who can actually resolve my case. Meantime I got an email from CouriersPossibly saying that they had received a request from the sender to follow up on this (with the corporate team) but hey so sorry instead of actually doing anything they had the cheek to tell me that "Sorry, you need to contact the sender about this" WTF? Like what is wrong with these people and the constant buck passing? So, I had no recourse but to bother the SST about it and they got back to me promptly and said they'd get their team to liase directly with the courier. That email came in right when I was on the phone with the Sendle "account manager" who informed me that my "happiness Champion" who I was very unhappy with *WAS* allegedly a senior team member at the 2nd level to resolve customer issues. Yeah, nah. Absolute rubbish. I got platitudes and wishy washy excuses regarding the peak holiday period (umm BS dudes, the parcel had been in Melbourne since December the freakin 5th! - don't pull that on me) then after I pressed her about the various lapses from my "Champion" such as promising to get back to me on a certain day and not doing so etc after initially suggesting I was unreasonable to expect updates daily when there was no news, and I told her "No. I mean when your representative emails me on a Friday and says they'll have an update by Tuesday, and there is nothing the next Wednesday I find that unacceptable and very poor customer service. I'd rather be told there's no news when I am expecting an update then be left in the dark which makes me feel totally unvalued and not a priority" (which I am absolutely not - after all I am just a douche recipient I have not paid them any money). Finally she relented and agreed that "perhaps" they could have been "more transparent" with me about what was going on and blah blah blah but rest assured she would take control of it now but then proceeded to give me more BS that it would take at least 2 business days for them to get YET ANOTHER request to the courier to deal with me. I mean come on. 2 more days? after 3 weeks and this is way overdue?? Why can't they phone someone there and just get it sorted? What a bloody rubbish outfit Sendle are. So yet again she requested an address to redirect to (don't even get me started) and said she'd work on it and get back to me.

That was Wednesday.

Friday.. this morning. well what do you know IT SHOWED UP!!! but to my home, and luckily I *was* home... so I finally have it, but anything from Sendle? NOPE! not even a "hey our system shows you got the parcel that's great" nothing.

I suspect this was QF pushing directly with CouriersMaybe than anything Sendle didn't do.

So anyway hooray! I got the Comtes, though one wonders at its condition for being thrown around trucks for 3 weeks (the wrapping had various holes and signs of tear on it) but inside looks OK

so I am happy this ordeal is finally over, but frankly Sendle are a disgrace, and I made it very clear to the SST that I feel they should reconsider who they use to manage this stuff as, while the problems myself and other P1's have had are not their fault per se, the service they choose to use reflects poorly on QF's rep.

So... yay it's over

but My God.. Sendle.... wow. just wow.

Happy New Year!!

 

[Daver6]

I'd say there is every chance that champagne has been stored in hot conditions and is stuffed by now.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

(sendle saga upodate)......

Would have been quicker if you'd walked from Melbourne to Mascot and picked it up yourself.

 

[RichardMEL]

I'd say there is every chance that champagne has been stored in hot conditions and is stuffed by now.

Definitely a concern but what on earth can I do about it? Nothing it seems.

And laughably I just had a follow up from the SST saying they'd been informed it would be delivered to a newsagent near me, maybe today or maybe in the new year. I mean even they are getting Fake News still. I politely informed them that I had the gift and commented again on how poor Sendle(and their sub contractors, specially CouriersPotentially) have been for the past 3 weeks. Again not their fault but I did burst out laughing at the email.

 

[Kangol]

After all this, you may as well have not received it at all.
I wonder if the SST is going to provide any further form of recompense.

 

[Daver6]

Definitely a concern but what on earth can I do about it? Nothing it seems.

And laughably I just had a follow up from the SST saying they'd been informed it would be delivered to a newsagent near me, maybe today or maybe in the new year. I mean even they are getting Fake News still. I politely informed them that I had the gift and commented again on how poor Sendle(and their sub contractors, specially CouriersPotentially) have been for the past 3 weeks. Again not their fault but I did burst out laughing at the email.

You could just point this out the the SST team. Something along the lines of how you really appreciate the gesture of a high end fine product, but the chances are its ruined due to handling.

Sending champagne (possibly the most delicate of all wines) in summer is just plain silly if you don't know how its going to be stored or delivered in a reasonable time frame. I ordered a $60 toner cartridge from QLD, delivered to Perth in less than 24 hours and not charged a delivery fee. If a company can achieve that for a non-perishable item at no cost to me, surely the SST team can organise similar for a perishable $200+ item?

 

[kermatu]

Definitely a concern but what on earth can I do about it? Nothing it seems.

And laughably I just had a follow up from the SST saying they'd been informed it would be delivered to a newsagent near me, maybe today or maybe in the new year. I mean even they are getting Fake News still. I politely informed them that I had the gift and commented again on how poor Sendle(and their sub contractors, specially CouriersPotentially) have been for the past 3 weeks. Again not their fault but I did burst out laughing at the email.

Be nice if they proactively* send you the wallet.

* prompted by this thread.

 

[RichardMEL]

After all this, you may as well have not received it at all.
I wonder if the SST is going to provide any further form of recompense.

I don't see why. they just seemed happy that I got my gift. There was no real comment or indication they considered the overly long time or what happened to be a huge issue though they said they'd pass on my comments regarding Sendle.. probably to the circular file.

Still I felt it was important to give them the feedback about how poor that company was, and not only to me, but to others (as detailed here) and not just this year and it reflects on QF.

It is disappointing but given the whole thing is a gift and not a published benefit per se I can't really jump up and down or even say "Well the bubbles could be ruined by the idiot couriers" thing.. I just know to maybe save it for a not so important occasion where I have backup "just in case"

I'm not going to raise it further with QF anyway unless they decide to contact me, which I highly doubt.

 

[RichardMEL]

You could just point this out the the SST team. Something along the lines of how you really appreciate the gesture of a high end fine product, but the chances are its ruined due to handling.

Sending champagne (possibly the most delicate of all wines) in summer is just plain silly if you don't know how its going to be stored or delivered in a reasonable time frame. I ordered a $60 toner cartridge from QLD, delivered to Perth in less than 24 hours and not charged a delivery fee. If a company can achieve that for a non-perishable item at no cost to me, surely the SST team can organise similar for a perishable $200+ item?

Oh I agree but as I noted above it's a gift somehow it seems churlish to then keep going on about it when I really don't know if it's ruined till I open it.

I guess on the off chance QF contact me further about this incident I will mention the possibility, but really I'm just so over the whole thing. I've wasted so much time and effort on dealing with Sendle and CouriersPotentially that I think a bottle of Grey Goose would be more useful at this point to get over it all lol.

Anyway hope you have all been entertained by my saga and I didn't really want to hijack this thread because it's not all about me and my Sendle rage

 

[juddles]

Anyone had any experiences with lost baggage as a P1?

I just did BNE-SYD-AKL-SCL-BOG - checked in my trusty old samsonite "Oyster" hardshell case in Brisbane, all the way through to Bogota. Even though this is a QF ticket the SYD-SCL was on LATAM metal and the SCL-BOG was on Avianca.

No show of bag upon arrival at Bogota yesterday. A day later and the Avianca staff can't even tell me if the bag got on the first flight, let alone the rest of them.

I just flicked an email off to the P1 team to see if they can help. I really don't want to lose that old suitcase - it is an ancient veteran of travel

 

[RichardMEL]

Not the same, but my only lost (or misconnected) bag issue as P1 happened about 18 months ago.

I flew SFO-LAX-MEL with LAX-MEL an upgrade to F.

Knowing SFO being the Airport of the Devil I had arranged a like 5pm SFO-LAX to connect to the 10pm LAX-MEL... In theory I would have around a 4 hour connection at LAX (so I was thinking a long slow meal in the lounge etc).

Well even with my precautions, AA was having it's problems, and SFO weather got in the way.. end result did not leave SFO till 8pmish getting into LAX around 9pm.

AA agent et us and reminded us about the connector, ripper, got to the F lounge about 9:15pm (with QF94 boading from 9:25pm) well I was in F so yeah no worries staff were brilliant and I managed a quick meal and wine and all that was fine, boarded around 9:45 and no worries.

That was all great

Get to MEL and as I go to disembark F host appears and lets me know my bag missed the flight at LAX and they'd rerouted it via BNE.

Now here's the thing, the card she gave me noted P1 as well as being in P class. They sure took extra care of me that's for sure. Escort through immigration(well smartgate so.. yeah) then a stop at the baggage desk, they confirmed some details, let me know I'd get the bag later on and gave a reference number and all that, then escort to customs exit and waved through. I was out of there in I swear 15minutes max from docking.

I would have to think part of the special handling and effort was not just the awesome MEL F hosts, but my status *had* to have some bearing on it. My bag did not show up till later that evening, but honestly I could not complain with any aspects of how it was handled by both AA at LAX and QF.

Of course it helped that I was landing at a QF hub and handled directly by them rather than whoever at BOG (LAN?) but I was fairly impressed.

 

[kermatu]

Not dismissing what was impressive customer service, but as you say, surely down to the fact you (and your bag) were on QF metal and out of and into QF ports. I’d be surprised if the SST had anything to do with it and even more stunned if they could help when in another port and not flying QF. But no harm in asking if all other avenues fail.

 

[RichardMEL]

Not dismissing what was impressive customer service, but as you say, surely down to the fact you (and your bag) were on QF metal and out of and into QF ports. I’d be surprised if the SST had anything to do with it and even more stunned if they could help when in another port and not flying QF. But no harm in asking if all other avenues fail.

Well I did note it was different

yeah SST probably can't do much given QF only had part to do with it.. probably very difficult to deal with 3rd parties like this on bags.

good luck!

an

 

[kermatu]

Rather than speculate I emailed the SST myself and queried the wallet vs the champagne.

Here's the response

View attachment 112515

Well, @danielt25 if we ever meet allow me to buy you a drink. Courtesy of your post I made some queries to the SST. After a couple of emails and a good chat with the regional manager, they confirmed my classification as a government employee was incorrect. Also confirmed this is why I got the poorer gifts the past two years (to fit within a Finance Department decreed dollar value), and that I was excluded from any event invitations. These are apparently the only aspects of P1 that are different for such employees, as well as Parliamentarians.

A few days later got a call inviting me to the flight sim experience, acknowledging I was in NZ at the time but giving me possible dates down the track.

Not expecting a flood of invitations or anything, and may well not make P1 again due to flying being spread a bit more away from QF / OW and overall reducing a bit this year. But still good to know there was a reason for my frustration.

 

[Ansett]

So Guess al those that got wallets should check and see what they are being classed as along with those not receiving invites.

 

[RichardMEL]

Gee that's really great to know and explains a good deal for some of our P1 members.

Good to hear you've been sorted out Kermatu !

 

[kermatu]

What’s also interesting is that my queries were clearly the impetus for the SST to examine my profile and flying habits for perhaps the first time. I guess that confirms what a lot of us suspected too.

 

[kermatu]

Upgraded to J on BNE-CBR by the P1 team. Much appreciated.

 

[Matt_01]

As I look back over this thread it would appear that the benefits of P1 are in decline when compared to a few years back. For me the last op up I received was in early Sep 17 (BNE-MEL). Yes got the fizz at Christmas, however from memory over the past few years I seem to recall getting upgrades around my birthday and when I ticked over to P1 again. Since my renewal Aug 17 only 1 upgrade in Sep 17 and an invite to the 787 preview in Nov, was not really a preview as I arealy traveled on the 787 to ADL. x2 Flounge passes nice touch, but no real need for them and I gave them away on AFF.

I clocked over P1 again in Dec and will remain P1 until at least Aug 19, also with LTG under my belt I have found that I have been travelling domestically more with VA (also WP) for the better points earn rate, which I transfer to my KF account. For the regular 1hr flights MEL-ADL or MEL-SYD I seem to achieve better shadows in VA economy X than QF row 4. Consciously or not I have have also been booking more international flights with SQ and CX, currently there is little or no incentive to fly QF until at least Aug 18. I still fly QF on a regular basis however it is not with the same regularity as this time last year and my flying has not reduced it is now just spread across more carriers.

No real point to this post, just my P1 observations.