The QF Response to a pretty terrible flight attendant

[N860CR]

I've previously posted this as part of a trip report, however given the incident has now been looked over by Qantas and they have been given a chance to respond, I thought I'd open it up to general discussion. I'm particually interested to hear the opinions of the QF FA's we have here.

Sorry if it's a little long winded, I've extracted the parts that aren't really relevant

---

QF128 B747-400
HKG-SYD
Main Deck Business

Before I start, this was the worst flight I have ever taken on Qantas and I have contacted customer care already.

It's often said that a good crew can turn a good flight to a great one. By that same token, a terrible crew can turn a good to an awful. The crew member who served my row of business on this flight was not only the rudest most unpleasant FA I've ever crossed, but also one of the most rude people I can ever remember meeting.

Boarding efficient with the usual stupid secondary check at the gate. Champagne offered on boarding followed by a slightly late departure (about 30 minutes due to engineering issues). No additional drinks offered during the delay.

Issue number one occured on the ground when the FA in question was collecting breakfast orders. She approached with a bunch of pens in hand and announced "fill in your orders ASAP". I requested a pen and was abruptly asked "how did you get through customs?" after an excuse me I got a filthy look followed by an aggressive "What's wrong with you people who travel without a pen?!" before a pen was thrust into my hand and said FA stormed off. I was absolutley disgusted and totally shocked at the rude and aggressive behaviour of this woman. There has always been the occasional less than friendly FA, but I can't ever recall a situation where a crew member so blatantly attacked me, especially over something so trivial as a pen, which she was handing out anyway!

Anyway, that aside we got airbourne and I settled in. Amenity kits were handed out without discussion (interesting to see new style wetpacks for the ladys, but the same old ones for men). PJ's carried out on a second trolley a few minutes later. As the infamous FA approached, I wasn't offered a size, nor was a word muttered, I simply had an XL pair thrown, yes thrown at me from the trolley. I take a medium, however as by now I'd figured out there was something seriously wrong with this woman, I decided to let it go.

So we waited for a drink. An hour passed, and we continued to wait for a drink... nothing happened. Dinner preperations were going on so then it seemed the drink service was being forgotten today. Fortunatley I managed to flag down one of the economy FA's who was happy to assist, she had been shuttling drinks back and forth to the Y+ section.

Over 2 hours out of HKG (on an overnight flight...), dinner commenced. Standard QF J fare, soup + steak and it was all fairly nice. Still plastic forks I see.

Unfortunatley, FA from hell struck again during the meal service. It took roughly 45 mins from entree to main service, so the drinks were well and truely dry by this stage. However, the mains were dropped onto the tray and the FA walked off without saying a word. By this stage I'd had enough so I hit the call bell, was shot a filthy look from the other aisle along with a head shake and given a very abrupt "yes".
"Could we have some drinks please?"
"I'm busy, just wait"
And she walks off again.
So the main course went ahead, without a drink. What a dry ship this was. Drinks were finally offered, after the mains were finished.

By the time the dinner service was finished, we were almost 3 1/2 hours into this barely 8 hour sector. I managed maybe 2 hours sleep before being woken for breakfast 1h 40min out of Sydney.

All in all I'm very upset with QF and have sent a detailed email so can only hope I receive a decent response. That woman needs to be sacked, no doubt about it.

----

Now, to QF's credit, I got a call back within 48 hours of sending the email. A new record.

On the phone, the lady I spoke with sounded supprised with the behaviour and seemed to have genuine shock as to "how this person could get into a premium cabin". We discussed aspects of the service and I felt there was a real concern, however this lady was clearly very good at her job as a "smoother-overer". A request for further follow up was met with "I can't guarentee it, but you're request is very reasonable so I'll see what I can do", and "I'm sure there have been complaints about her before". At this stage, I thought that maybe, just maybe, something would be done.

Today I received the written response, which reads a little differently. "I'd like to convery my apologies that you feel you did not receive the level of service expected from a premium airline". For one, drop the premium airline BS, it's getting old. And more importantly, you feel. It's gone from "oh yes, thats just not on" to a very loose statement that does not confirm that something has gone very wrong on this flight.

My concern is, what exactly does a staff member have to do before Qantas take these things seriously. Short of throwing a glass of red wine in my face, there is not much more that this FA could have done to make the flight more unpleasant, however it seems that QF just want to fob it off.

Opinions?

 

[JohnK]

I am shocked. That is an extremely disappointing response from Qantas.

Is it just me or is Qantas getting very cheeky with the way they are treating genuine complaints? Little to no investigation and then respond trying to smooth things over with a sorry if we are lucky.

That reminds me I still have not sent in my feedback for a bad economy flight in August. I am not expecting any action but it will be interesting to see if I get any response.

 

[anat0l]

Gee...did they just wheel out response #13995 at you or something:?:

How insulting.


FWIW I sent a gentler complaint to QF recently about the attitude of the MEL lounge staff. (Not that they are rude, just ridiculously rigid and unwelcoming.) I got a brief call today that my email was received, acknowledged and being forwarded to the MEL staff. The QF staff member talking to me over the phone seemed to not have rehearsed his lines, and seemed to awkwardly (and inaccurately) blurt out what he wanted to say to me.

Looks like some people really just need some Communication 101.

 

[whereishome]

Having dealt with customer dissatisfaction as part of my previous job (and am happy to be out of it due to this part), I can maybe shed a little light.

Incidentally, you guys have nothing on the complaints I received from people whose weddings I was involved in - imagine those idiots on Airways who haven't read their T&Cs, but on their wedding days. REALLY glad I'm out of that job.

A few things :
- The language : nobody will admit liability or anything in writing, hence the "you feel" language. It's the lawyers talking there.
- The escalation : Their lawyers and marcomms will have determined the best way in which to deal with complaints. The person you speak to on the phone may only be one rung up the ladder and helplessly bound to a corporate rulebook. As much as we want to help you, we can't go outside the system.
- The person you deal with on the phone : they are in the unenviable position of taking stick from every customer who has been wronged (or who feel they've been wronged - again, Airways proves there are a lot of idiots out there), 99.99999% of the time it has nothing to do with the person you're talking to. Imagine getting screamed at for the behaviour of someone else in the company, in a different department, in a different CONTINENT, in a role not even close to yours. And having to smile, apologise, hang up and take the next computer assigned coughout. There is high turnover in customer complaints/service.

All you can really do is not take no for an answer and hope it gets elevated high enough. And try not to channel all your frustrations into the poor person that answers your phone.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

My concern is, what exactly does a staff member have to do before Qantas take these things seriously. Short of throwing a glass of red wine in my face, there is not much more that this FA could have done to make the flight more unpleasant, however it seems that QF just want to fob it off.

Opinions?

Replacing a staff member costs more than the average customer spends in 3 years of flying.

Sadly you are right, the only way they would lose their job is if an undercover employee caught them treating you that way or there were many many complaints.

Also have you noticed that QF FA's see themselves as safety experts, where as good airlines FA's see themselves as waiters in the sky...

 

[Mal]

Sadly you are right, the only way they would lose their job is if an undercover employee caught them treating you that way or there were many many complaints.

I suspect the issue was handled this way:

- FA had no previous complaints (or different complaints) from fellow staff members/passengers.
- FA may have had to respond to the allegations and denied them (or the FA may not have had to respond to them).
- Qantas filed feedback into FA's record for later reference if required.

 

[N860CR]

It is perplexing, and I do deal with this kind of thing myself (not in a direct customer service role) so I do know how hard it is to deal with people individually without fear of running into a legal battle, however I just feel (and I don't think it's unreasonable) that not enough has been done in this case. We're not talking about a minor incident, this is a big one for someone who's job is to serve people and Qantas seem to prove again and again that they have limited interest in actually improving their front-line customer service staff.

It will be very interesting if I hear from them again as requested. And for the record, I've yet to even raise my voice at anyone from Qantas, and actually had a very pleasant chat with the lady I spoke to at customer care, however as suggested, she doesn't seem to be the person to "make things happen".

 

[samh004]

If I was in a premium cabin and receiving said treatment I wouldn’t think twice about recording (stealthily) via audio or video, how the FA was treating me, and after such an email I’d reply back that I’m thinking of uploading the evidence to Youtube. Heavy handed, but gets the job done. In hindsight, not really useful and you shouldn’t need to be prepared for such things especially in premium classes, not even bearing in mind what standard Qantas say they are.

 

[thewinchester]

If I was in a premium cabin and receiving said treatment I wouldn’t think twice about recording (stealthily) via audio or video, how the FA was treating me, and after such an email I’d reply back that I’m thinking of uploading the evidence to Youtube. Heavy handed, but gets the job done. In hindsight, not really useful and you shouldn’t need to be prepared for such things especially in premium classes, not even bearing in mind what standard Qantas say they are.

Two minds on this kind of response.

Yes, it is heavy handed but it makes the message very clear and is unchallengeable proof that what you say happen did. The flipside of this, if not handled cautiously (like threats to go to the media, share online, etc), could almost be seen as corporate extortion straight from the playbooks of many an ACA/TT customer.

I'd consider a middle of the road approach - gather any evidence by any legal and respectful means necessary, then make sure to approach it with the same calm manner and explain that you have other evidence, be it audio, video, or statement from an unrelated pax who observed it occur, that backs up your concerns and you're more than happy to share this as part of the investigation & resolution procedure you're expecting to take place.

Where this gets tricky if some form of compensation offer ex-grata is made by the carrier. If I had this kind of evidence, I wouldn't be going in and asking for the compensation up front. Let them get all the business out of the way, make their apologies, followed by a case for a form of measured recognition suited to the nature of the incident.

 

[kamchatsky]

The response from QF is certainly poor. the service you received is worse than Y. I cannot believe that they don't deal with this in a personal manner (rather than standard letter) for J customers.

 

[Saab34]

I suggest you post a 0-Star Skytrax review.

 

[Leumas]

Now, to QF's credit, I got a call back within 48 hours of sending the email. A new record.

On the phone, the lady I spoke with sounded supprised with the behaviour and seemed to have genuine shock as to "how this person could get into a premium cabin". We discussed aspects of the service and I felt there was a real concern, however this lady was clearly very good at her job as a "smoother-overer". A request for further follow up was met with "I can't guarentee it, but you're request is very reasonable so I'll see what I can do", and "I'm sure there have been complaints about her before". At this stage, I thought that maybe, just maybe, something would be done.

Today I received the written response, which reads a little differently. "I'd like to convery my apologies that you feel you did not receive the level of service expected from a premium airline". For one, drop the premium airline BS, it's getting old. And more importantly, you feel. It's gone from "oh yes, thats just not on" to a very loose statement that does not confirm that something has gone very wrong on this flight.

My concern is, what exactly does a staff member have to do before Qantas take these things seriously. Short of throwing a glass of red wine in my face, there is not much more that this FA could have done to make the flight more unpleasant, however it seems that QF just want to fob it off.

Opinions?

Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with this side of QF for a while, but from your experience, it seems to be the same as I'd. Ultimately, in this case (as was mine), it's a your word against hers. There's no way QF can verify it.

The primary objective of the people that responded to you is to stop you complaining further, to sympathise and to give you a hug, then close the file. Negative as it may sound, but if you insist on pushing the issue, you'll have to provide evidence. The ball is in your court and in most cases, you won't have anything further to prove your case (or it's just too hard).

As you said, they responded quickly and you were impressed by that. That action alone would have reduced the chance of you pushing the issue further.

Now that you've published this on a public forum, or even if you go the TT/ACA, QF will know how to deal with it - you aren't the first, and you won't be the last.

One thing that I remember now, which was told to me by this team from QF is, when it comes to customer service issues, deal with it straight away, as in, on the spot. Ask for the supervisor, ask for the CSM.

 

[Andyzx]

1. Have QF outsourced their customer complaints. My recent versions, three in 3 years, resulted in standard “very sorry, premium airline, will look into it further, here’s a voucher”. I understand the need not to admit liability that can be used against them but maybe the alternative is worse. It just seems that written response is very generic and distant from the airline
2. I hope you received some compensation
3. From others experiences, is QF better / worse / or the same as other premium airlines. My experience, BA is much worse, Air NZ is generally better at both the verbal and written complaints (although this was a few years ago)
4 I have to say I hope I don’t meet the FA from hell and would have probably said more on the flight
5 A big plus with QF was a complaint that we had with SYD airport security. I copied QF on the email and received a quick response, a good discussion with them and they appreciated the feedback as they need to understand how their customers were tracking through SYD airport. Security has nothing to do with them so I was impressed.

 

[munitalP]

Did you go and talk with the CSM? If you didn't, why not?

The service you say you received is disgraceful and should have been sorted out on the spot. Qantas have an incident report system in place on-board, if you had of spoken to the CSM at the time, an incident report would have been filled out and the reaction from Qantas would have been mind blowing...

Regardless of premium cabin or not, shirty FA's (usually due to lack of sleep the night before I read somewhere :shock have no place on an airline - -period!

On that note, I dropped Mrs! (PG) at MEL yesterday for a J flight to AKL. My usual MO when dropping family off on QF flights is to use the 1st class suite - easy parking and quick. The check in girl - although the suite was empty decided to address me in a very demeaning manor regarding the suite is only available for use when I am personally flying. I pointed out that I had used the suite many times before and was gracious of the service (in my most flattering manor) - her response was it was QF's good nature that they had allowed me to do this - I looked at her for exactly 5 seconds and responded it was my good nature to fly QF and not another carrier - she didn't utter another word! A win for the pleb!

Mr!

 

[ric_melb]

Danielribo,

Your quote seems to be just an extract from the Qantas letter. Did they say anything more; like we apologise for any inconvenience, etc?

 

[Travel Guru]

I looked at her for exactly 5 seconds and responded it was my good nature to fly QF and not another carrier - she didn't utter another word! A win for the pleb!

Mr!

LOL! :mrgreen::mrgreen:

Priceless!!

TG

 

[N860CR]

Yeah thanks. I really don't have the time to chase it unfortunatley so as suggested, I shall try to leave it in the past.

I didn't bother raising it with the CSM at the request of my better half who just wanted to try to enjoy the rest of the flight. I wasn't too keen on making a scene and risking making the flight even worse.

And the 'extract' was the main portion of the letter. The only other line of significance was something like 'i hope I've been able to restore your faith in Qantas.'

the outsourcing makes sense, would explain why they really don't care.

 

[ejb]

...I looked at her for exactly 5 seconds and responded it was my good nature to fly QF and not another carrier - she didn't utter another word! A win for the pleb!

Mr!

I would have loved to witness this, the look from her would have been priceless.....

ejb

 

[drewbles]

All you can really do is not take no for an answer and hope it gets elevated high enough. And try not to channel all your frustrations into the poor person that answers your phone.

I must be one of the few people you'd like. When I have had a particularly bad experience or have the need to complain about service provided or similar for any company, and I have to speak to someone I always start off with "I know you're not personally to blame for this situation so please excuse me if I do get a bit aggravated with you as I'm extremely frustrated" or similar. This immediately seems to get the person on a better footing and appreciates that I am really pissed at the incident. The one exception is a certain financial institution that appears to use a Philippines call centre with staff that are so sickly sweet and apologetic, not to mention amazing at only reading a script, that they just say 'oh im so terribly sorry to hear you're having this problem mr $custname'.

As per all things in life, treat people how you would want to be treated in the same situation. Something the QF FA should clearly learn!

 

[tuppaware]

Did you go and talk with the CSM? If you didn't, why not?

Agreed, one thing to be insulted by someone, its another to sit there and take it.