Qantas... Why do we bother?

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bobw

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My wife and I, Both QC Gold, have just returned from Japan. We booked Business Class in July including selecting seats (Top deck 14A/B). At Sydney checkin we were informed we had been moved and separated. (Qantas website showed our booking with original seats still allocated.) The girl on the counter offered to ask another passenger if they would be prepared to swap with one of us. I said not good enough. Eventually we got two seats together but in another cabin. Why were we separated? Why weren't we told earlier?

Then there was checkin at Narita. 45 minutes in the queue because the Business/Gold queue now includes Premium Economy. Then on board... Most of the cabin crew were fine but there was one who obviously wasn't happy and wanted to make sure the passengers weren't either. She was surly, didn't smile at anyone, asked 'What do you guys want?' when taking meal orders then couldn't deliver the correct choices.

Seems Business Class and FF Gold have been downgraded yet again.

It is my wife who asked 'Why do we bother with Qantas?'
 
My wife and I, Both QC Gold, have just returned from Japan. We booked Business Class in July including selecting seats (Top deck 14A/B). At Sydney checkin we were informed we had been moved and separated. (Qantas website showed our booking with original seats still allocated.) The girl on the counter offered to ask another passenger if they would be prepared to swap with one of us. I said not good enough. Eventually we got two seats together but in another cabin. Why were we separated? Why weren't we told earlier?

<snip>'

Chairman's lounge hangers-on strike again?
 
My wife and I, Both QC Gold, have just returned from Japan. We booked Business Class in July including selecting seats (Top deck 14A/B). At Sydney checkin we were informed we had been moved and separated. (Qantas website showed our booking with original seats still allocated.) The girl on the counter offered to ask another passenger if they would be prepared to swap with one of us. I said not good enough. Eventually we got two seats together but in another cabin. Why were we separated? Why weren't we told earlier?

Then there was checkin at Narita. 45 minutes in the queue because the Business/Gold queue now includes Premium Economy. Then on board... Most of the cabin crew were fine but there was one who obviously wasn't happy and wanted to make sure the passengers weren't either. She was surly, didn't smile at anyone, asked 'What do you guys want?' when taking meal orders then couldn't deliver the correct choices.

Seems Business Class and FF Gold have been downgraded yet again.

It is my wife who asked 'Why do we bother with Qantas?'

I'm concerned to hear of this recent experience, and request a private message with the details as reference so I can follow up.
 
It's Qantas. That's the new "enhanced" service you now get. The world has moved on, Qantas is eager to embrace the Abbott/Hockey mantra that the age of entitlement is over. Qantas does these things to provide you with the best service possible. In any case, wanting to sit with your partner is so 1960's. I am sure that Joyce would not be allowed to sit with his partner on board, so why would you expect it?
 
I'm concerned to hear of this recent experience, and request a private message with the details as reference so I can follow up.

+1 for that, RR :)

I wonder if you might indulge by addressing my cynicism in my post above. Take a situation un-related to the OP; a hypothetical situation, but one which is speculated about here from time to time. Say a Chairman's lounge member checks in at the airport, before a flight and requests a specific seat in J, which has been pre-chosen by a Plat member, travelling with another person (same surname).

Is it true or not that "everything else being equal" (for instance, no medical or special reason for the Plat pax to be in a particular seat), the CL's request for that seat will be granted, and the Plat pax will be seated elsewhere?

Now as a Plat I have certain privileges above those of lower status, so I'm not necessarily complaining that a CL's perks would extend to the scenario above. But it would clarify an oft-speculated situation here.
 
Man that sucks, I empathize with your situation as there was an attempted split up i had to rectify in long haul F on AA, but was only OWE.

If its any consolation, having access to Redroo on this forum, helps, IMHO.

Hope that never happens to you again.
 
I'm concerned to hear of this recent experience, and request a private message with the details as reference so I can follow up.

Good to see, RR. But it would be nice if QF stopped treating these events as one-offs to be investigated and managed and started looking at the change in Company culture which causes them in the first place.
 
I was all set to reply to the thread-title "Because we've tried the opposition and they're marked less better." ... but that really only applies to Domestic. Incidentally, due to a Corporate TA stuff-up, I'm relegated to "not bothering with Qantas" tomorrow. Not a happy-chappy.

Back to the original post: it almost seems like having status with QF is deterimental; if status allows you to access preferential seats, but then CL (or some other "operational reason") appears such that you are replaced in those seats, on fuller flights this can't help but inconvenience the status passenger over the less status, who manage to retain their original preferences. I'd like to hear - no specifics relating to this case - what QF's take is on this conundrum.

Regards,

BD
 
A couple of years ago they separated myself and aged mother in J. We'd been booked and seated together until 2 hours before flight. Entered the club and they looked at my frail blind mother and without me saying anything we were back together. Have no idea why it happened as we were not in the "pick" seats.
 
Same thing happened to us for a flight we took last month .... J BNE-SYD. Only noticed when I did an online review of bookings a few weeks out. Called the Plat line and got them to put us back together, the only option available was row 1 so the agent slotted us in there - well before my Plat status T-80 rights.

I queried why this occurred, response = no idea. If I hadn't reviewed the booking - I would have been posting a similar thread....
 
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In Qantas' defence, for the last 6 years, I've always told my wife that I was sure I selected seats together but "the airline must have made a stuff-up".
............she seems to get over it a little too quickly.
 
This would happen with all airlines from time to time and I have a feeling that many pax just cop it which is perhaps why it perpetuates. On the few occasions where it has happened to me I've just been, er, positional on the matter and they have reversed the change on the spot.
 
Slightly OT, but I have a fundamental objection to pax who have pre-selected seats being shuffled around the cabin at the whim of CLs and WPs or QF. From what I can see of it too many "status" FFs are apparently too lazy to organise their seating in a timely manner - and think nothing of commandeering other pax' seats just because airlines allow the practice in order to suck up to them. In what universe did these people actually get the idea that that was an acceptable thing to do.............to anyone!!?

By all means give status passengers free drinks, better food, dedicated queues, massages or whatever else but any enhancements shouldn't be allowed to involve trashing the fundamental entitlement of another pax who booked his trip in good faith and expecting the airline to reciprocate (exceptional circumstances aside).
 
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What a great game!!

I had no idea that as a WP I could - at a whim - shuffle everyone else around the cabin. In fact, until this point, I wouldn't have even entertained such a notion. Let's face it, I've achieved status because I'm so disorganised that my weekly travel changes almost daily. Silly me, I should settle for a job that allows me the luxury of booking my single flight per year months in advance!

Now, the next time I'm enjoying my massage in the MEL dom J Lounge, I must remember to play chess with everyone else in the cabin.

Regards,

BD
 
I got moved once in DOM J from a pre-selected seat, because "a couple wants to sit together". Now this was an ADL/MEL flight so surely even the most loving couple should be able to handle being separated for the 55 minute flight time, but besides that - it particularly annoyed me at the time because I had been in the lounge for an hour, and they never bothered to page me to check it would be OK or even to tell me in advance. Instead I found out at the gate when I got the beep and then had to go to the service desk where I had to wait for 5 minutes before I got given my new boarding pass.

I was going to send some feedback to make some sort of complaint but by the end of the flight I decided, what's the point, it would be ignored anyway.
 
+1 for that, RR :)

I wonder if you might indulge by addressing my cynicism in my post above. Take a situation un-related to the OP; a hypothetical situation, but one which is speculated about here from time to time. Say a Chairman's lounge member checks in at the airport, before a flight and requests a specific seat in J, which has been pre-chosen by a Plat member, travelling with another person (same surname).

Is it true or not that "everything else being equal" (for instance, no medical or special reason for the Plat pax to be in a particular seat), the CL's request for that seat will be granted, and the Plat pax will be seated elsewhere?

Now as a Plat I have certain privileges above those of lower status, so I'm not necessarily complaining that a CL's perks would extend to the scenario above. But it would clarify an oft-speculated situation here.

<crickets>

Un-indulged.
 
I got moved once in DOM J from a pre-selected seat, because "a couple wants to sit together". Now this was an ADL/MEL flight so surely even the most loving couple should be able to handle being separated for the 55 minute flight time, but besides that - it particularly annoyed me at the time because I had been in the lounge for an hour, and they never bothered to page me to check it would be OK or even to tell me in advance. Instead I found out at the gate when I got the beep and then had to go to the service desk where I had to wait for 5 minutes before I got given my new boarding pass.

I was going to send some feedback to make some sort of complaint but by the end of the flight I decided, what's the point, it would be ignored anyway.

Even worse, people (luckily they did not try me) were moved on a CBR - SYD flight because a family group (5+) including the odd inlaw or two, had their flight cancelled and were put the earlier flight that I was on, so making our flight a bit late, and still wanted to all sit together. The FAs were busy moving people around the plane...and the passengers agreed more fool them. Come on - it's a 25 minute flight for goodness sake!
 
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