Qantas raises the bar

[Dave Noble]

The airline industry - and 6 million frequent flyers - are waiting to see whether Qantas can deliver on a promise to introduce new services for its most valued customers, designed to separate the national carrier from low-cost airlines.

Along with most of the full-service carriers, Qantas has been criticised by customers who believe that cost-cutting in the past decade has transformed it into little more than a low-cost airline that serves free food.

article at Qantas raises the bar

 

[nlagalle]

I sort of like the concept of the FF card being the boarding pass, however i am still collecting my paper passes.. i will be sad to see those go!

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

part of me would even be slightly willing to pay to have this sort of thing.

if i could rock up at the aiport, chk in at a kiosk, take my bag to a drop off, and avoid a 30+ min wait in the Q.

Would be great if this kind of thing could have some sort of global standard to it. Then your tage could work with any airline.

 

[djfuzz]

part of me would even be slightly willing to pay to have this sort of thing.

if i could rock up at the aiport, chk in at a kiosk, take my bag to a drop off, and avoid a 30+ min wait in the Q.

Would be great if this kind of thing could have some sort of global standard to it. Then your tage could work with any airline.

Would be nice too if you could simply use the card as an RFID tag and swipe it / walk close to a check in terminal and at the gate - the only trouble I imagine would be the issue of the crew on board not being able to verify your seat without a paper boarding pass (though giving them an RFID or barcode scanner could resolve that too).

 

[david870mdg]

I just love Alan Joyces comment that "Qantas will never be JetStarised"


:mrgreen:

 

[wandering_fred]

Why do I see that the elites of the One World partners are not as valued to Qantas?

Actually I shouldn't complain... The QF seating assignments have been quite reasonable lately....

Fred

 

[MrHyde]

My concern is how this will affect the expense processes at many of my clients. They all require a scan of the boarding pass along with the ticket invoice before travel expenses are processed. Without a BP, they will have to accept just the invoice.

The methodology is flawed anyway. I understand they want the BP as proof that travel actually did take place. However, with online check-in, you can still easily get a BP, even if you don't fly.

A better way would be ask for extract from frequent flyer statement as points get credited only if you actually fly. But then, you still have to process expenses of people who are not FF members. Different processes for different people then leads to all sorts of other problems.

 

[notzac]

Doesn't the NZ system print you a boarding stub to get on the plane? I wonder if QF will end up doing the same thing..

 

[Mal]

My concern is how this will affect the expense processes at many of my clients. They all require a scan of the boarding pass along with the ticket invoice before travel expenses are processed. Without a BP, they will have to accept just the invoice.

Qantas could/will provide a cash register type docket of the seat number to pax swiping at the gate. So this should both help the onboard staff with identifying the correct seat as well as prove that the pax was on the flight.

RFID for Qantas does both surprise and excite me. It's great from a status type of view, but Qantas has only recently spent big $$$ implementing barcode scanners at the gate. Now they need to implent RFID scanners at the same gates, which I don't think is a feature of the scanners they have implemented.

Prepared for the future? Not Qantas!!

 

[serfty]

Doesn't the NZ system print you a boarding stub to get on the plane? I wonder if QF will end up doing the same thing..

Absolutely, it's a small slip, like that of a cash register about 10Cm long and 7 6cm wide containing your name, seat number in LARGE letters, NZ/*A status etc.

Enough to allow the cabin crew to identify you and your seat.

 

[serfty]

... but Qantas has only recently spent big $$$ implementing barcode scanners at the gate. Now they need to implent RFID scanners at the same gates, which I don't think is a feature of the scanners they have implemented.

Prepared for the future? Not Qantas!!

Note that it does not have to be RFID - My three month old WP card has a 2D bar-code on the back - this is different from the past.

 

[docjames]

There'll have to be a print out to settle the inevitable seating-assignement squabbles.

 

[BlueAU]

Note that it does not have to be RFID - My three month old WP card has a 2D bar-code on the back - this is different from the past.

NB, PS, QP and SG have barcoding too! (Confirmed)

 

[drewbles]

NB, PS, QP and SG have barcoding too! (Confirmed)

This would also seem to confirm that these cards may indeed be interim for QP/PS/SG/WP/CL as the current cards have no RFID in them.

When the chip cards are rolled out, I'll assume they'd leave the barcode on there in case something 'goes wrong' with the RFID readers. Would only make sense to have the fallback just in case.

 

[harvyk]

I hardly see this as raising the bar. I too like getting the boarding passes, (I usually check in at the QP so I get the cardboard ones rather than the paper ones). RFID is not the magic bullet which turns a LCC into a full service airline.

And whilst we are on the subject of food, how about re-introducing hot meals on every flight. I remember years ago, that when flying a hot meal was almost a given (inc shorter flights such as MEL - CBR). Now out of CBR hot meals are almost as rare as hens teeth.

And whilst we're on the subject, why does QF............................ (Yes I have a few gripes that the red roo could fix or change...)

At least we have something in writing stating that QF will never become another JQ...

 

[UP4014]

I hardly see this as raising the bar. I too like getting the boarding passes, (I usually check in at the QP so I get the cardboard ones rather than the paper ones). RFID is not the magic bullet which turns a LCC into a full service airline.

Correct, it isn't raising the bar, just working out how to cut costs with a different boarding pass.

QF (or any other airline) wouldn't introduce something like this without working how it ads to the bottom line.

If they really wanted to make an improvement during the check in stage, simply have all the counters manned would be a start if they had a genuine concern about improving the service.


Matt

.

 

[harvyk]

If they really wanted to make an improvement during the check in stage, simply have all the counters manned would be a start if they had a genuine concern about improving the service.


Matt

.

Whoa, slow down there with that out there thinking

 

[Oneworldplus2]

If they really wanted to make an improvement during the check in stage, simply have all the counters manned would be a start if they had a genuine concern about improving the service.
Matt

+2

I flew from SYD to HBA a few weeks ago. Was an afternoon flight. The QC + WP + Oneworld que was almost out the door. Only 2 people at the bag drop for something like 50+ people. Alot of people were "not happy". Regular que would have been faster, @SYD. Crazy.

Hot meals, as quoted by other people, l think should be on pretty much every flight. You want to be a top level operator (as we are lead to believe by the marketing side of QF!!!), make yourself one by providing a top quality service, simple. Guess the old saying, "Too many Chiefs, not enough Indians comes to mind!"

I just flew Thai from PER to BKK last week. Staff ratio in whY was, well, l couldn't believe my eyes. I think that l counted upto 8, on a Airbus A330 (or A320) in whY. The AVOD touch screen in whY was the same size at QF J!!!

 

[harvyk]

+2

I flew from SYD to HBA a few weeks ago. Was an afternoon flight. The QC + WP + Oneworld que was almost out the door. Only 2 people at the bag drop for something like 50+ people. Alot of people were "not happy". Regular que would have been faster, @SYD. Crazy.

Hot meals, as quoted by other people, l think should be on pretty much every flight. You want to be a top level operator (as we are lead to believe by the marketing side of QF!!!), make yourself one by providing a top quality service, simple. Guess the old saying, "Too many Chiefs, not enough Indians comes to mind!"

I just flew Thai from PER to BKK last week. Staff ratio in whY was, well, l couldn't believe my eyes. I think that l counted upto 8, on a Airbus A330 (or A320) in whY. The AVOD touch screen in whY was the same size at QF J!!!

Single asile (6 abreast seating in 3-3) = A320
Twin asile (8 abreast seating in 2-4-2) = A330

8 Y FA's on an A320 is impressive
8 Y FA's on an A330 is average.

 

[mannej]

I just flew Thai from PER to BKK last week. Staff ratio in whY was, well, l couldn't believe my eyes. I think that l counted upto 8, on a Airbus A330 (or A320) in whY. The AVOD touch screen in whY was the same size at QF J!!!

Slightly OT
TG have not always had Personal IFE on the PER-BKK hop (A330), so this must be fairly new?