acampbel
Member
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2005
- Posts
- 351
I had a day trip to Brisbane yesterday .... or at least that was the plan. Up at sparrow's fart to catch QF502, which was chockers. After taking off they announced that catering was a bit short, but I near enough to the front to get a hot breakfast and my conscience stopped me from grabbing a meal voucher on exit. I'm no hobbit!
After a long day in a rather steamy Brisbane I caught a taxi back to the airport with a couple of colleagues from Melbourne who were flying Virgin. We parted ways at Departures, little knowing that my arrogant "Sorry guys - I'm off the the QC for some refreshments!" was soon going to come back and bite me.
The security screening was a bit of a bother as they only had 1 X-ray machine working. Come to think of it .... the whole airport was a bit dim, which was a theme carried through to the romantically-lit QC. I was on a Red-e-deal but it never hurts to ask so I politely enquired whether I could make the 3rd last flight to Sydney rather than the last one. It transpired that they had already pushed back but the staffer said he would get me on the next one as "the sooner you're out of here the better". He also warned me that there would be no boarding announcements in the QC. I had time to grab some wine and cheese before they started boarding.
It was only at this point that I looked at my boarding pass - 4A. I don't like window seats as a rule but being just behind business would get me off quicker, which was to be a real plus later. Soon after boarding some worrying announcements started. First there was a problem with refuelling due to power problems, then they started talking about curfew into Sydney. The suit in 4C started cursing away as we sat and waited and waited to hear from Canberra about a dispensation. We were all closed up and ready to go when we heard that Canberra says no.
Feckity cough (or words to that effect) came from Grumpy to my right, and we all filed off to go down to the service desk. Due to my seat and some lazy J pax, I was second at the desk behind Grumpy. This was a good thing as they had announced that hotels were pretty full that night and it would have to be first in, best dressed. There was 1 other Qantas flight in the same boat (hopefully my original QF561) as well as a Virgin flight, so I doubt whether everyone got a room. Grumpy was berating the service desk staff as if the whole thing was their fault, and so I was first out the line with 2 taxi vouchers and the promise of dinner, bed and breakfast at the Hilton. I had also booked myself on QF501 the next morning (at 5am!).
So sorry about the long-winded story, but after posting some messages mildly critical of Qantas I thought it only fair to say that being put up in a 5-star hotel for free after paying for a cheap ticket is pretty good value. I know that Jetstar would have just booted me out of the terminal but I wonder if anyone was on the Virgin flight and could tell me how they went. It might be useful for future reference.
Cheers,
Andrew
.
After a long day in a rather steamy Brisbane I caught a taxi back to the airport with a couple of colleagues from Melbourne who were flying Virgin. We parted ways at Departures, little knowing that my arrogant "Sorry guys - I'm off the the QC for some refreshments!" was soon going to come back and bite me.
The security screening was a bit of a bother as they only had 1 X-ray machine working. Come to think of it .... the whole airport was a bit dim, which was a theme carried through to the romantically-lit QC. I was on a Red-e-deal but it never hurts to ask so I politely enquired whether I could make the 3rd last flight to Sydney rather than the last one. It transpired that they had already pushed back but the staffer said he would get me on the next one as "the sooner you're out of here the better". He also warned me that there would be no boarding announcements in the QC. I had time to grab some wine and cheese before they started boarding.
It was only at this point that I looked at my boarding pass - 4A. I don't like window seats as a rule but being just behind business would get me off quicker, which was to be a real plus later. Soon after boarding some worrying announcements started. First there was a problem with refuelling due to power problems, then they started talking about curfew into Sydney. The suit in 4C started cursing away as we sat and waited and waited to hear from Canberra about a dispensation. We were all closed up and ready to go when we heard that Canberra says no.
Feckity cough (or words to that effect) came from Grumpy to my right, and we all filed off to go down to the service desk. Due to my seat and some lazy J pax, I was second at the desk behind Grumpy. This was a good thing as they had announced that hotels were pretty full that night and it would have to be first in, best dressed. There was 1 other Qantas flight in the same boat (hopefully my original QF561) as well as a Virgin flight, so I doubt whether everyone got a room. Grumpy was berating the service desk staff as if the whole thing was their fault, and so I was first out the line with 2 taxi vouchers and the promise of dinner, bed and breakfast at the Hilton. I had also booked myself on QF501 the next morning (at 5am!).
So sorry about the long-winded story, but after posting some messages mildly critical of Qantas I thought it only fair to say that being put up in a 5-star hotel for free after paying for a cheap ticket is pretty good value. I know that Jetstar would have just booted me out of the terminal but I wonder if anyone was on the Virgin flight and could tell me how they went. It might be useful for future reference.
Cheers,
Andrew
.