Tale of a pretty disappointing evening at Sydney airport

[Berlin]

Although I have only had a handful of major disruptions like this, in my experience QF has been by far and away the worst of the 'major / premium' airlines when it comes to handling a severe delay or cancellation. BA, AA and even AY have handled disruptions better for me

I can confirm the same for BA and AA (and even Iberia, actually). Quite shocking I think, something QF really should look at- can't get much more stingy than BA and Iberia and still they somehow manage this better!

 

[kermatu]

I can confirm the same for BA and AA (and even Iberia, actually). Quite shocking I think, something QF really should look at- can't get much more stingy than BA and Iberia and still they somehow manage this better!

A sad indictment of QF.

 

[serfty]

I can confirm the same for BA and AA (and even Iberia, actually). Quite shocking I think, something QF really should look at- can't get much more stingy than BA and Iberia and still they somehow manage this better!

BA & IB are generally subject to eu261/2004 - as a result there is a minimum cost per pax for such delays.

 

[kpc]

I'm sure most of you know what I think of Qf by now http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/showthread.php?p=1660816 ps if you are wondering, there has been no hint of any resolution from QF todate. My loyalty as an 8+ year Plat and LT Gold member neans nothing to them....time to move on to other airlines!!

 

[Berlin]

BA & IB are generally subject to eu261/2004 - as a result there is a minimum cost per pax for such delays.

Yea, I'm aware of that. But that's not even my issue in cases like this, travel insurance covers any costs incurred anyway and QF also offers you some dodgy overbooked airport hotel if you get stuck. The issue is the attitude towards the situation and how staff handles it (or is empowered to handle it, rather). I generally don't think a decent attitude towards customer service is anything that some law can fix- even if it comes from Brussels!

 

[Pleb Status]

Unfortunately, unless I am missing something important, I cannot really see what the real problem is here.

In my experience, the service received by the OP appears to be at the better end of the QF scale of service delivery. QF generally does not handle delays and cancellations very well and it normally takes weeks to sort everything out as a result.

 

[Berlin]

I cannot really see what the real problem is here.
QF generally does not handle delays and cancellations very well

Ouhm- and you can't see a problem with Qantas 'generally not handling delays and cancellations very well'? I have no doubt that this is not out of the ordinary for QF but I still can see something wrong with that, very much so actually :shock:

 

[RichardMEL]

I'd like to see how AY handles a cancel at SIN or BA at SYD or something.

I think most logistical problems QF face in dealing with cancels or delays tend to be worse when the larger aircraft go u/s - ie basically the whole QF International fleet bar transtas 737's. I mean your A380 goes tech in DFW your options are limited and you suddenly have 400ish pax needing help. That would be a nightmare for any decent carrier IMHO.

OTOH I've seen QF handle domestic delays at hubs as you'd expect. eg some years back MEL-BNE returned to gate as Captain wasn't happy with a coughpit reading and wouldn't fly the a/c on safety grounds. next 737 they could get for us was 2h away, all pax given $20(I think) credit in the terminal on showing BP (I went to the lounge) and it was all handled very smoothly and I think there were few grumbles or issues for the majority of pax.

I have also been met off an international QF94 at MEL at the door by an agent explaining my bag didn't make it and they had everything sorted out paperwork wise etc and I was out of MEL International in about 15 minutes with escort and an update on where the bag was and when it would be delivered. It was very very good service.

When the "system" works, it works very very well... when it breaks.. it is horrible. I am sure most of us have bad experiences at other majors around the place of problems and also of successful service recovery (I've had some real stinkers with AA and UA over the years by way of example)

QF's far from perfect, but it's also far from the worst out there IMHO. Obviously many people's mileage varies

 

[Berlin]

When the "system" works, it works very very well... when it breaks.. it is horrible. I am sure most of us have bad experiences at other majors around the place of problems and also of successful service recovery

I did by no means want to diss Qantas here, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I'd love to continue to love this airline (and my guess is that I'm not alone with this sentiment here) but on this occasion, it was a bit of a shocker.

What I got from the staff was mostly the fact that it was a horrid day overall, with the QF7 returning for technical reasons (and after you've been out to the Pacific for three or four hours and then return back, I bet every single one of those 400+ passengers was already in a default 'cranky' mood, regardless of the airline just doing safety first) and then awful weather over in NZ.

But it was Sydney, and not Dallas- if QF had enough staff to handle a day like this, then it should be here (and in Melbourne alike)!

 

[RichardMEL]

I would agree with that, and I'd be willing to bet had there just been the NZ weather issue (your flight Berlin) or the QF7 issue, it would have worked out more or less OK (as much as these things can be when hundreds of people are involved) .. seems like a perfect storm hit (no pun intended) though.. and where do the staff magically come from? It would take time to find off duty staff willing to come in to assist, and if they pulled from, say, domestic that would affect things there. You can't just have staff paid to sit around on the off chance there will be issues either.

Is it good enough there was just one staff member at that desk? No, of course not. Was it handled poorly by the lounge? Hard to say if they were instructed to send people to the gate it's probably not their fault. Did the gate staff handle it well? Probably not, but again sorting out ~150 pax is going to take time, let alone those with more complex requirements.

I'm not trying to be a QF apologist by any mrans here. I am just trying to be realistic at the logistical nightmare that would have been going on that afternoon/evening. I am sure some hard calls were made in the operations area re resources and where best to use them.

I've flown QF a *lot* over the past 5-6 years and I've personally been involved with 1 delay over a few hours (the BNE flight) and a few minor ones (one was a 380 issue at the gate in MEL that had us sitting around for 90 or so min, though I was in F so it was rather acceptable ) but really overall operationally QF (like most majors) runs a pretty good ship *overall*

the sad thing is we always will remember the shockers and the fails in service and recovery. That's human nature and quite normal

and as a consequence we then have the choice to vote with our future spend.....

 

[Berlin]

All reasonable arguments RichardMEL. Speaking to the poor staff member at the sole Qantas sales desk, the one big error I can identify is relying almost entirely on their call center to sort things out. That's a typical money saver and always a door wide open to disaster. Having three or four staff members sitting there, even if they fiddle their thumbs some times when nothing is happening, might be not too much staff cost to bear.

From memory, BA had 3 staff members in the First class re-booking queue alone when the computers went out at LHR a year ago and AA for all airlines had something like 5 desks manned at DFW in a similar situation. Gosh- even Air Berlin had three staff members in TXL to look after re-bookings and stuff like this (and who knows Tegel will know that this is a feat in itself) when I had an issue two years back.

One lone lady at a major airline hub is just not enough at the best of times if you ask me. And she also had to process all overweight luggage charges which alone will keep her quite busy whenever the check in area is busy