The Alan Davies Affair [QF FA Swears at PAX?]

[Fantic125]

Re: The Alan Davies Affair

Umm.... what proper channels?? Contacting customer care to get a stock standard impersonal letter and a $200 travel voucher if you're lucky? Good on him for using technology to maximum effect.

Unfortunately you need to publicly shame them into a providing a tangible response which it seems they are.

So why should it matter if they are a "celebrity"?

Shouldn't all people be treated equal?

I thought out of all people wilco, you would be advocating that?

 

[wilco]

Re: The Alan Davies Affair

So why should it matter if they are a "celebrity"?

Shouldn't all people be treated equal?

I thought out of all people wilco, you would be advocating that?

I do. He shouldn't be rewarded for his fame, but if he can use it to maximum effect, why not?
I think its important for certain things to be in the public domain, rather than swept under the carpet as Qantas would no doubt prefer.

I sometimes wish I was famous so that my gripes with QF could gain some traction, but alas, they get resolved in private.

 

[elbarto]

So next time I have a bad flight or something goes wrong in life in general, I should just take to social media and whinge about it and hope that all of my 3 followers spread it? I don't think so. If you look up the #qantas hashtag you'll see a ton of complains which are unlikely to get any action from Qantas. I'm sure the same can be said for many other airlines and businesses out there.

 

[Foreigner]

I just read the Herald Sun article and I am wondering why Alan Davies would let his two year old play in the bathroom in the first place? You don't go to the bathroom to play. I am just thinking what the bathroom floor looks like after a few hours of flying, it's gross. Why would you let your child go there to play?

I don't care if the child in the the F, J, PE or Y toilet a child that young needs someone looking after him/her. If there was some unexpected turbulence and the child was injured what's the bet he would be tweeting that Qantas was negligent. After all the whole world is responsible for my children but I am not attitute seems to prevail.:shock: The classic DYKWIA in a nutshell.

If the Qantas FA swore that is very unprofessional and does need to be addressed. I don't know if there is much Qantas can do about parents not taking adequate care of their children though.

I couldn't agree more with all this.

Btw, it's the passenger's allegation that the FA swore. Let QF hear the FA's version of events.

 

[straitman]

Re: The Alan Davies Affair

Umm.... what proper channels?? Contacting customer care to get a stock standard impersonal letter and a $200 travel voucher if you're lucky? Good on him for using technology to maximum effect.
Unfortunately you need to publicly shame them into a providing a tangible response which it seems they are.

Try using http://qantas.com/yourexperiencewithqantas as this works quite well from my experience.

On each occasion I have used it there has been a reasonable response and quickly.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Re: The Alan Davies Affair

LOL - AFF is a victim of it's own success!!!! Item no 2 is where you need to be at this moment in time!!

I don't know the ins and outs other than he is on QI and was in Jonathon Creek amongst other TV programs.

never heard of the chap.

Was he flying F, if not the kid should not be allowed to wee up there. Period. End of discussion.

 

[Princess Fiona]

never heard of the chap.

Was he flying F, if not the kid should not be allowed to wee up there. Period. End of discussion.

No spruce, not flying F merely J.
The issue seems to be that neither him nor his daughter were prepared for a long flight, she became bored and went for a play in the F toilet ( yuckk!!) was escorted back to her seat/chastised by the FA and started crying ( as 2 year olds do ).
Alan Davies took offence to this and complained to the FA who he states told him to F-off. When he took his complaint further he states that the CSM refused to believe his version of events.
What he has so far not divulged is what he said to the FA which caused the F bomb to be said to him. He also appears to be trying to play-down (IMO) the issue of his unaccompanied toddler wandering into a public aircraft toilet for a play.
Qantas via twitter has done what any reasonable complaints department would do in the meantime :apologize for his upset, ask for some details and promise they will investigate.

 

[Foreigner]

Thread name sounds like a movie name, a la The Thomas Crown Affair.

 

[TonyHancock]

Thread name sounds like a movie name, a la The Thomas Crown Affair.

I'm writing the script now, Russell Crowe to play the FA, Alan Davies to play himself, Danni Minogue to play the QF social media rep and a guest appearance by Warwick Davis as Alan Joyce.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll probably reach for the sick bag as you watch this emotional roller coaster set at 36,000 feet.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Suri Cruise is a shoo-in for the part of Miss Davies Jnr

 

[Foreigner]

I'm writing the script now, Russell Crowe to play the FA, Alan Davies to play himself, Danni Minogue to play the QF social media rep and a guest appearance by Warwick Davis as Alan Joyce.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll probably reach for the sick bag as you watch this emotional roller coaster set at 36,000 feet.

Mix some intrigue as well to keep passengers at the edge of their seats.

 

[wilco]

So next time I have a bad flight or something goes wrong in life in general, I should just take to social media and whinge about it and hope that all of my 3 followers spread it?

If you think its going to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion sooner, why not?

I for one and sick and tired of being hand balled left right and centre by large companies (QF included). I understand things happen, but when they do, I expect them to be dealt with correctly and expeditiously. I don't want to go around in circles with, "were really sorry" and "we hope you fly us again" as that just does not cut it. In this instance, the bad press will cost QF far more than any resolution they ever would have offered this chap in private.

Was he flying F, if not the kid should not be allowed to wee up there. Period. End of discussion.

Like no one on this forum has never used a higher class loo?? It happens all the time, especially on narrow body aircraft.

she went for a play in the F toilet ( yuckk!!) was escorted back to her seat/chastised by the FA and started crying ( as 2 year olds do)
Alan Davies took offence to this and complained to the FA who he states told him to F-off. When he took his complaint further he states that the CSM refused to believe his version of events.
What he has so far not divulged is what he said to the FA which caused the F bomb to be said to him. He also appears to be trying to play-down (IMO) the issue of his unaccompanied toddler wandering into a public aircraft toilet for a play.

Lots of things wrong with this.

I think its unreasonable for a parent (travelling solo) to be expected to monitor the child for every waking minute and if the FA saw her playing in the loo, they could have handled it very differently. Chastising a 2 YO is IMO, not cool and I think any parent would take issue with that.
No matter how rude and obnoxious the customer is being, there is NO EXCUSE for dropping the F bomb, if indeed it was dropped. If its found that it was, the FA should be given his marching orders. There is no place in any customer service role for that kind of attitude. You should also be able to identify when the situation is getting out of hand, excuse yourself, and refer the matter to the CSM who is better placed to deal with it.

The child wandered.... so what? its a sealed aircraft, she couldn't have gotten that far, and if it was a repeat problem, a simple word to the parent to be mindful of the child annoying F pax is all it would have taken, but to take it out on the child is just inappropriate and unacceptable. And like I said, who hasn't used a higher class toilet at least once in their life? and as adults, we should know better.....

As much as I dislike travelling with children, they are not to blame, as they simply do not understand.

 

[Simo]

Not sure of this has been said in the thread yet but anyway.

My feeling is that this is now an allowed response from staff as Alan Joyce said this to all of Australian travelling public and the unions back in October.

This is all said tongue in cheek!!!

Simo

 

[Princess Fiona]

If you think its going to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion sooner, why not?

I for one and sick and tired of being hand balled left right and centre by large companies (QF included). I understand things happen, but when they do, I expect them to be dealt with correctly and expeditiously. I don't want to go around in circles with, "were really sorry" and "we hope you fly us again" as that just does not cut it. In this instance, the bad press will cost QF far more than any resolution they ever would have offered this chap in private.



Like no one on this forum has never used a higher class loo?? It happens all the time, especially on narrow body aircraft.



Lots of things wrong with this.

I think its unreasonable for a parent (travelling solo) to be expected to monitor the child for every waking minute and if the FA saw her playing in the loo, they could have handled it very differently. Chastising a 2 YO is IMO, not cool and I think any parent would take issue with that.
No matter how rude and obnoxious the customer is being, there is NO EXCUSE for dropping the F bomb, if indeed it was dropped. If its found that it was, the FA should be given his marching orders. There is no place in any customer service role for that kind of attitude. You should also be able to identify when the situation is getting out of hand, excuse yourself, and refer the matter to the CSM who is better placed to deal with it.

The child wandered.... so what? its a sealed aircraft, she couldn't have gotten that far, and if it was a repeat problem, a simple word to the parent to be mindful of the child annoying F pax is all it would have taken, but to take it out on the child is just inappropriate and unacceptable. And like I said, who hasn't used a higher class toilet at least once in their life? and as adults, we should know better.....

As much as I dislike travelling with children, they are not to blame, as they simply do not understand.

Not sure what's wrong with what I've stated but I would like to respond to a few of the assertions which I believe you are interpreting from my post:
I did not state or assert that a parent flying solo should monitor their child every waking minute.
I'm not sure how anyone can be sure of the rights and wrongs of the QF CSA's handling of the situation whereby they found an unaccompanied toddler playing in the F toilet and accompanied them back to their seat in J. Perhaps you have some knowledge not published openly thus far.
I passed no comment/opinion on the FA dropping the F bomb on @alandavies1. In fact had I expressed an opinion it would have agreed with yours.
To paraphrase your post "children wander and a simple word to the parent was all it would have taken",
I would say that we don't know if in fact that is what occurred and the subsequent events were triggered by the response from the parent of the wandered child ( however in error the CSA might have been).

 

[medhead]

What 2 year goes to the toilet alone, or even at all?

Mix some intrigue as well to keep passengers at the edge of their seats.

And some snakes, gotta have some snakes!

 

[Sprucegoose]

Like no one on this forum has never used a higher class loo?? It happens all the time, especially on narrow body aircraft.

This is not the issue is it?

If I'm in F, then yes there is something wrong when all and sundry use the F loo.

The kid issue.....well who hasn't got kids. Enough said.

 

[skywalkerLAX]

I think its unreasonable for a parent (travelling solo) to be expected to monitor the child for every waking minute and if the FA saw her playing in the loo, they could have handled it very differently. Chastising a 2 YO is IMO, not cool and I think any parent would take issue with that.

I disagree. If I am (as a parent) not able to supervise my children then I can't go traveling. Easy as that. This goes especially for children under the age of 5.

The FA should have notified the pax whose child was 'on the loose' to watch over his kid and the case was closed. The passenger was clear at fault here for the initial situation. The behavior of the FA is however inexcusable IMHO.

 

[drron]

I have kept an eye on the comedians twitter account.Personally i think thats where he belongs.
He was in J.

sadly we weren't flying first class, that's why my two year old got a bollocking I suppose, for going in the 1st class loo..

It was a 747,not a narrow body aircraft.It was soon after take off from BKK.The service had been delayed 4 hours meaning this was in the wee small hours BKK time.

right at the start of the Bangkok-London leg. The #qantas steward who told me to cough* off had only just started work

Worst thing was the #qantas flight was already 4 hours late, the food was rank & THEN the steward made my daughter cry & told me to cough* off

He was with his 2 year old.

what are you talking about? I was with her. His intervention startled her causing her to lose her balance. I caught her.

Can a 2 year old easily open the toilet door on a 747?This tweet suggests,but does not prove,he went with her-

she wanted to play in the 1st class toilet, there are limited options let's face it, so the#qantas steward came & had a go at us

The FA was responding to this comedian-

Life in #qantas town. A steward made my 2 yr old cry after turfing her out of a "1st class" toilet & told me to "cough* off" when I complained

Funny he doesn't say what language he used to elicit this response.Sure the FA should not have responded in this way but the fellow obviously thinks he is important enough to do what he likes.

And wilco this statement bothers me-

I sometimes wish I was famous so that my gripes with QF could gain some traction, but alas, they get resolved in private.

Seriously.Your complaints get resolved but you still want to have a go at them publicly?As a former BA employee what do you reckon a BA FA would have done if a J pax tried to enter the F cabin?

 

[VHOEJ]

Twitter is still not the right way to go about this sort of thing - there are always two sides to a story, anyone can say what they want on Twitter and it may not have happened. Anyone can just complain about a flight when nothing bad happened, thinking they will get something out of it.

It is pretty clear he isn't fly QF again in the future anyway so QF can't really do anything to apologise. Even if they offered something, he would probably complain it wasn't adequate. The airline can't win.

 

[wilco]

I disagree. If I am (as a parent) not able to supervise my children then I can't go traveling. Easy as that. This goes especially for children under the age of 5.

The FA should have notified the pax whose child was 'on the loose' to watch over his kid and the case was closed. The passenger was clear at fault here for the initial situation. The behavior of the FA is however inexcusable IMHO.

You are able to supervise your child for every single second of every single hour of every single day?? We all get tired, we all fall asleep without knowing it, for all we know, she could have been asleep, the father dozed off and then she woke up. What do you honestly expect him to have done? Miraculously woke up at the exact time as she did?

As a general rule, I agree with you, but in reality its downright impossible.

And wilco this statement bothers me-

Seriously.Your complaints get resolved but you still want to have a go at them publicly?As a former BA employee what do you reckon a BA FA would have done if a J pax tried to enter the F cabin?

They don't get resolved entirely to my satisfaction, nor as quickly as id like, so you learn to cut your losses and get on with things, but had I been a celebrity and/or had some bargaining power (i.e.: twitter) I'm sure the outcomes would be very different as being a SG just doesn't cut it in qantasland.

I don't need to resolve my issues in the public domain and prefer not to, but IME, unless QF is at risk of losing face, and suffering some sort of backlash (negative publicity) then they are not so eager to settle disputes.

To answer your Q, I would like to think that any FA would never have allowed the situation to get so seriously out of hand and the moment it began to escalate, should have excused themselves and got the CSM involved.
You can never solve a problem with a pax that you are personally involved in, unless you capitulate which it seems to me the FA was unlikely to do. That is why a neutral third party was necessary to mediate this situation.