Some random thoughts I've had lately about how Qantas can improve it's product. I'm sure many will disagree, but what do you think they can do to improve?
A good swathe of suggestions, but you're right - we won't agree on all. So let me comment on what you have (geez, here comes a long posting)
Boarding experience
Can be improved, alot. Generally all order goes out the door when the flight is called. Priority boarding almost never used or enforced, and when it is, mobs just stand in the way blocking the entrance. The only reason I like to get on early is so that I can secure some precious cabin storage space, which can be a challenge!
No jokes here. On international thankfully it is enforced...about 95% of the time (at least IME - YMMV a lot!). I don't see why QF find this so hard to do. Most boarding is done dual lane, what's wrong with having a sign "Business etc." and "Other". I guess a problem is that what do you do when a pax rolls up to the priority line when they are not entitled to do so? Do you send them back (possibly wasting time)? Or, instead of boarding two lines at a time where one line is priority and the other is non-priority, what if you call priority first (families with small children, Business, etc.) then call the rest (a la USA style)? At least it's a little easier here to tell those who aren't entitled to priority boarding to sit back down. But does this mean you can board an aircraft just as fast as they do it now?
Business Class
Please improve the amenity kit. There must be alot of waste. I generally take out the "lip balm" for my wife and throw out the rest.
As a guy, I like to have a toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving cream and a *sharp* razor. You could include a cologne sample or some such. Get rid of the cheap lookig pencil case bag. I think Emirates does a good job here.
Have they stopped giving toothbrush, toothpaste and shaving cream? You've got to be kidding me.
As for the razor, it is sharp enough for my needs, and should be for most unless you're Chuck Norris. I like the current bags better than the large flat hard clam-cases, but in both cases the bags are easily reusable, even for non-toiletry related purposes.
It's actually not as easy as one would think to get a good J kit these days, let alone even a good amenity case. For example, the following J amenity kits suck: SQ, VS, UA, BA (accessories are OK), LH. VA doesn't look that bad, but I couldn't split between the QF J and VA J (except, I suppose, VA gives you deodorant, whereas QF only gives F pax the same item in their amenity kits).
If anything, perhaps QF could make their J kits a little bigger, and a darker shade of colour for the male kit bag.
From my experiences on a good range of airlines, most people do not take amenity kits with them. This includes some better ones out there, like CX, NZ and even EK.
The business class seat on the A380 is great. Please roll out to the rest of your fleet, such as the 747s. The older product is falling behind the competition (certainly compared to EK, SQ, CX, etc).
Ditto. Truth be told, though, I sleep just as well on QF's Skybed compared with other flat seats, although I don't like herringbone seats myself. Plus, leather seats and me don't get along well (no surprise I'm not endeared by VS J's offering).
I think the whole 10 degrees of difference debacle - whilst it seems to some people to make all the difference - has been really, really blown up much more than it deserves. I think that the widespread critique of lie-flat as opposed to fully-flat beds is more psychosomatic than really genuine.
Better selection of magazines and reading material please on long haul flights (why not some National Geographic, T3, Wheels, my wife would ask for more women's magazines)
I suppose they've attempted to be as gender neutral as possible. National Geographic wouldn't be bad. T3 might not be appropriate as the front cover may offend. Women's magazines ditto to a smaller degree, plus there's nothing that makes a magazine rack look more trashy than ever by adorning it with gossip magazines. (I'll eat my words if there is already one on the standard rack...)
The movie and tv show selection is great, as is the music selection. See below for other AVOD suggestions.
And yet people say that it's not good enough when EK runs a system which offers thousands upon thousands of AV offerings. Come on - who can honestly listen and watch all of that before they are rotated?
Every airline's fantasy (and small reality in the USA).
First Class
great product on the A380. A pity that you are phasing it out on most routes, but presume this makes financial sense. Just lends to the perception that Qantas is "cheapening" without the first class offering, so Qantas really needs to make business class *outstanding* to counter this perception.
Agreed. It's a shame that commercially its going like this, although around the world a similar trend is being noticed, with the exception of the USA (whose F product has never been anything to write home about) and the Middle East (who can probably be perpetually relied upon to supply F all the time until the oil runs out).
For the rest of the world, unfortunately F is becoming a dying breed, and airlines rolling out the 3 class concept (J/W/Y) are finding better successes than those with F. It's even a funnier irony when the FFP members of airlines which do not have F complain bitterly that they cannot redeem premium award seats on other airlines which do have F! With dwindling F seat numbers of late do you really think they'd be smart enough to put two and two together... ('No, they are that dumb', you say? Spot on...)
Amenity kit is much better than business class, but I just have a feeling that this kit should be the standard in business class, and first should have something really special.
If the F kits were standard in J then that'd be great, although by that time I really would like to see what they would offer as an F kit, what you would call something really special? And no a golden-edged case woven with fine silk would not float my boat.
It's a nice case and looks sturdy - good there. Nice accessories from Payot and ticks off most of the essentials (but we are a very discerning bunch, of course). I hear EY gives their F pax something that looks like a small netbook bag or the like. Cute, but that sounds like overkill to me. All I want is a nice case of decent size that isn't a shoe bag (urgh...). And all accessories in the kit - none of this "hand around a basket and take what you want" B.S. (I'm looking at you again, VS!). If you are really, really concerned, have the staff set up a container where unopened, unused amenity items can be dropped off. These items can either then be repacked (if completely unused), or, for example, donated.
PJs are a nice touch, although regularly run out of my size.
Which size is that, out of interest?
What else could make the F class experience truly memorable? Limo service (although business class offering with Emirates), really personalised service (Air France collects passengers in limos and transfers them to other terminals when they are in transit)
I agree - QF could really improve their ground service with F, especially in SYD, the supposed flagship international port for QF, and hardly is at that. Probably doesn't help having the blowhard incompetent MAp running the show at SYD, but surely QF must have a muscle to flex that they could use to their advantage and really create a premium experience for their F passengers. Something like even a completely segregated F section with immaculate fixtures, porter-at-kerb service ... similar to SQ's at T3. Dedicated immigration and security would be nice, but probably can't pull it off. Ditto with expedited pathway from security to F lounge (MAp of course will have a field day
par nauseum if anyone should even consider trying to bypass their "precious" duty free jungle).
Personal bar (eg Emirates already offers on their A380 business class)
This I don't agree with. Personal bars are tacky and not worth the space.
I think QF could make their self-serve areas nicer (cf. the "metal" look of just having a hole in a galley wall), although the A380 J lounge is not a bad idea if they would have a self serve area
in the lounge area. Too bad they haven't designed the lounge to accommodate more people (and probably would be contentious e.g. for Pacific flights due to LOTFAP's stupid "anti-congregation" laws). But having a bar with attendant all the time doesn't shine with me. I fronted up to VS J's much-promoted signature bar which had a FA behind it. I sat down, had a drink, took a photo and noticed the semi-mirror on the ceiling. Then I decided - big deal. (On top of that, VS's bar selection sucked, except for the vodka which wasn't bad).
In F, if QF could improve their call bell attendance times, then having to call a bell and have a drink prepared and delivered to you is almost as good. How about training F staff to mix basic IBA coughtails? That'd go down a bit of a treat.
On Board Entertainment
Qantas could really improve this, ahead of all other airlines, if Qantas entered an alliance with someone like Sony (Playstation), Microsoft (Xbox 360) or Nintendo (Wii) - really improve the offering beyond the 1980s level of gaming.
Combined with internet, could offer some real options.
Duty Free
What am I really likely to buy on a plane? Probably last minute gifts rom wherever I was just visiting. Why not include some local specialties depending on the port of departure, for people to buy as gifts / souvenirs?
That would be nice, although I'm wondering whether there's a whole bunch of legal and customs issues one would have to work out for particular local specialties.
Why not some really 'in-demand' products such as iPads?
Because you would have enough annoyed passengers p*ssed off that QF stocked 50 iPads on the plane but the front section of Y already bought them all.
Not only that, but electronics all suffer the same problem - low margin. I don't think there's enough of a "halo effect" in offering a popular item like an iPad to stimulate the purchase of other items, simply because the context of buying the item on the plane changes people's spending habits immediately.
I really wonder how much QF make from inflight duty free sales anyway. My guess it doesn't make them a lot; in fact, I'd hypothesise that they'd be lucky to break even (after accounting for eventual disposal of aged stock that could not be sold).
Frequent Flyer Programme
Please add something beyond 2400 Partner Gold? BA seems to have offerings such as free upgrades, a "gold list" and a "Concorde" membership level.
FF programmes appeal to the 'hubris' in people, so Qantas needs to appeal to this. Otherwise FFs will shop around for the best offers. Got LTG, Platinum plus PG, will get status with another airline/programme. Give them a reason to stick around...
Yes please. Even something like continuous fixed points bonuses on milestones after 3000 SCs (i.e. a bolstered version of the loyalty bonus), and/or when you hit 4800 SCs (i.e. double 2400SCs), select another of the 2400SC level bonuses. How about two space-available one-class single-sector upgrade certificates, provided upgrades are redeemed at least 7 days in advance of a flight? For this I'd set the bar very high, something like 5000 - 6000 SCs. Other things like F lounge vouchers would be nice.... you can tell I'm running out of ideas here. I suppose they could consider gifts a la NZ do for their Gold Elites for Christmas every year.
Beyond Life Time Gold? Why not offer Life Time Platinum. Just make it hard to get if you are really concerned.
The problem is that the harder you create a level the more it has the potential to just annoy people. Of course, QF can also take the "soft" approach which is silently give people a benefit that is not published. The "get out" clause for them is that they can revoke it at any time, and there is no accountability. Not all good things, but we are used to unwritten benefits and blah-blah-blah not just on QF, mind you.
I'd advocate that if Lifetime Platinum were instigated then it should be 30000 lifetime SCs but only counting SCs which were earned on QF or JQ flights (i.e. marketed, not necessarily operated, which is fair since this lines up with QF's current rules).
Offer a way to achieve CL level. Just figure out how many members you want, do some analysis and workout what criteria you need to keep it at that level.
How to achieve CL level? Apart from possibly saving the life of a key QF big cheese (even then unlikely), basically work your way into a position of very high financial influence. Or spend millions on QF each year.
Again, publishing a "guideline" may just annoy people more than give them an incentive to try for it. CL isn't even very, very widely publicised, and I think it should stay that way, because in the end for those that don't have it and those that don't know of it, it really is not a big deal.
