The QF Response to a pretty terrible flight attendant

[Mitch_W]

Sorry to hear you had such an experience. But I'll be blunt, things won't *ever* change at Qantas for two major reasons:

- General monopoly in the Australian market, including the lucrative mining flights in WA
- Airline of choice for government and business
- Australia's poor service culture which is also prevalent on a plane

If the skies were "opened" and EK and SQ were granted more access, I have no doubt it would be the end of the Flying Kangaroo. Qantas know this and hence from what I can observe lobby the government and big business strongly. Plus I wouldn't be surprised the ACCC turns a blind eye towards Qantas.

I enjoy travelling on Qantas, and have had some great International and Domestic J experiences. But I've also had a number of bad J experiences on QF, against none with CX or SQ or JL. It makes the blood boil when you've paid a premium for a less than satisfactory hard product, and then the soft product is also extremely poor.

Agree that QF service & attitude are not a patch SQ. It is unfortunate that I feel the need to avoid QF wherever possible.

 

[N860CR]

To those who questioned why I asked whether the FA was attractive, I thought it may have some relevance.

From the information the OP provided I don't see that the service was so very bad that it warrants much thought. Of course it was less than ideal but you come to expect that from time to time. If you go into every experience or flight expecting stellar customer service, you will be disappointed.

You have gotten me curious now... If you didn't find the service mentioned bad, what would you consider bad service to be? Is a FA behaving in a polite manner considered "stellar customer service"? Would it have been more realistic to expect rude, unhelpful FA's who failed to do their job properly, and then take anything better than that as a bonus?

On that, what specific differences should I have expected between having an attractive or unattractive FA?

I'm not having a go, I'm just curious as to your differing expectations based on the physical appearance of the crew.

 

[HardieBoys]

I'd definitely write back to Qantas and complain about the lame response you received to your initial notification of complaint. Unless, of course, you have been mollified by the letter.

I've often wondered what a CSM would do if he or she received a complaint about crew whilst on duty, as opposed to complaints after the event. I'll ask a contact I have about this.

I do know that compliments to staff actually reach the staff members involved, at least on regional services. Having once written an email of compliment about two crew on a regional flight, I was once running extremely late for a flight. The check-in staff called me on my mobile, had my boarding pass waiting at the gate, and having literally run across the tarmac to the plane, I jumped on board - only to be met by the very two staff I'd complimented a month or two earlier. "Thanks for the great email!", was their greeting, before shutting the door and we were on our way. I wonder if letters of complaint find their subject as well?

 

[milehighclub]

I personally would have dealt with this onboard with the CSM who has the appropriate documentation to fill out on crew (good and the not so good in this case) as well as compensation tools that he or she could of offered to you had they been aware of it. Had you not been satisfied with the outcome onboard, it would at least be documented, and the CSM can follow up your complaint on the ground through our internal methods.

 

[JohnK]

Yes, but only when convenient. Price dictates everything for me these days, and atm, QF fares are competitive on the CFS-SYD-AKL route.

Don't get me wrong it does that for me as well. But unfortunately Qantas knows this as well and can do whatever they like when it comes to customer service knowing that we do not have a lot of choice.

Unfortunately in Australia, we have little competition in anything, hence we pay through the nose. What would we give for a Walmart or an Amazon or an Adorama here in Oz. I don't think it's ever going to happen because our market is too small.

Sad but true....

 

[SQ1]

You could always try Qantas, they provide good service....

Hey munitalP ........ nice pick up!!!!

Sorry, I still give 'Qantas' a miss..... for obvious reasons. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:



Cheers
SQ1

 

[munitalP]

Hey munitalP ........ nice pick up!!!!

Sorry, I still give 'Qantas' a miss..... for obvious reasons. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:



Cheers
SQ1

Actually the reasons are not obvious...

If you take a cab in Sydney and have a bad driver, do you never take a cab again in Sydney, or do you avoid that cab company...

If you get stuck on the Western Ring road in traffic at 4pm Monday afternoon - do you never use the Western Ring road again?

If the commuter train is 5 minutes late - do you never use METLINK again?

Not taking it away from the OP because he got a bad deal - I bet he'll be back on QF metal - I can't believe the fragile nature of so many posts on this thread - oh my god, I had a bad flight on QF, I'll never fly them again etc etc etc...

I could say - princess, toughen up, but that would somehow be misconstrued as being a personal attack on you (which it wouldn't be - just a saying) and a MOD might give me an infraction, so I will say instead - well, I can't think of anything to say so I wont....

Mr!

 

[mannej]

Mr!

Although I do agree with you in parts, we have the power to vote with our feet. The reason's why one may want to tolerate before they do walk is different compared to another.

In the case of the OP, although the inflight service was atrocious (to the level Helen from hell perhaps), I would be basing my decision to fly on QF more on what they do to apologise. A Pre-written apology in this situation is clearly not enough. People who have had their IFE not work have got better compensation out of this. Although I am not suggesting for one the OP wants compensation out of this, QF's priorities seem a little mixed up here. A sincere apology and a token bottle of wine (it could be anything) would be more appropriate than what the OP has received to date.

I would pursue this, as it is not on. You can not take out your lack of sleep out on the paying public, as the changing timetables are all part of your job, so if you can't handle it, the job is not for you.

danielribo, please do let us know when QF settle this to your satisfaction thanks

 

[munitalP]

Mr!

Although I do agree with you in parts, we have the power to vote with our feet. The reason's why one may want to tolerate before they do walk is different compared to another.

In the case of the OP, although the inflight service was atrocious (to the level Helen from hell perhaps), I would be basing my decision to fly on QF more on what they do to apologise. A Pre-written apology in this situation is clearly not enough. People who have had their IFE not work have got better compensation out of this. Although I am not suggesting for one the OP wants compensation out of this, QF's priorities seem a little mixed up here. A sincere apology and a token bottle of wine (it could be anything) would be more appropriate than what the OP has received to date.

I would pursue this, as it is not on. You can not take out your lack of sleep out on the paying public, as the changing timetables are all part of your job, so if you can't handle it, the job is not for you.

danielribo, please do let us know when QF settle this to your satisfaction thanks

And in no way am I saying or implying the OP should take this laying down - in fact, I believe he should have instigated it onboard with the CSM as I stated in an earlier post.

No, my previous post - and not to be taken as a shot directly at SQ1, was trying to point out the fragile nature of some folk. Look at no news dot com and read the comments made by the general public in regards to the latest QF problem, read some of the posts on this site, my point obviously missed is simply, are we that fragile that a singular incident will stop us using that service?

I for one have a slightly thicker skin, and I am sure that the OP is the same as pointed out in my previous post.

Mr!

 

[nlagalle]

I swear I have been lucky with FA's on Qantas. All of them have been really good (Ok most of my flights are DOM though), to the point where I posted compliments to Qantas.

Everytime Miss nlagalle flies, the FA's are always super helpful, and even take her Qantas passport (she got with her FF card) up the front to get the captain to sign it.

 

[jb747]

Why didn't you talk to the CSM at the time?

 

[anat0l]

I think a lot of people here aren't appreciating that approaching the CSM from the OP's point of view was really putting him in between a rock and a hard place. Some may disagree, but that's how it was from the OP's point of view.

Irrespective of this, the fact that this incident happened and the response is insufficient, to put it nicely. Otherwise, if most of us really believed that the CSM should have been informed then and there and not a complaint lodged later, then most of the comments here would be along the lines of, "See, look what happens when you don't talk to the CSM immediately. You missed your chance, you dug your own grave, so lie in it." I believe there aren't comments of that kinds here so people do believe that whilst there may have been more optimal methods of approaching this issue, the issue still should be resolved with some degree of satisfaction.

People often say "I won't go with X ever again" - it's said about airlines, airports, whole cities, races of people, telecommunications countries, merchandise stores, schools/institutions, etc.. Rarely those people will hold to their promise; is it safe to say we can call them all hypocrites. But then humans as much as they have the power of choice also have the powers to reconsider, forgive and forget.

If everyone who said "I won't ever fly with QF again" actually lived up to their promise, the red roo would be out of business by now.

 

[SQ1]

I could say - princess, toughen up, but that would somehow be misconstrued as being a personal attack on you (which it wouldn't be - just a saying) and a MOD might give me an infraction, so I will say instead - well, I can't think of anything to say so I wont....

Wow, wow, wow ............did I say something wrong here???

So much for toughen up!!!

I work hard for my money and I spend it where I get good value and service!!!

If you have a different view ...... so be it.

Cheers
SQ1

 

[N860CR]

It's worth noting that, since the incident, I've taken 4 QF flights and will take a further 10 in the coming 6 weeks (and then continuing on and on into the future), so I'm not even trying the petty "I'll never fly QF again", however if there were a suitable alternative, I'd be starting to think about it. While the majority of my flights are domestic, I find the service is generally good and only encounter maybe 1 in 20 flights which are less than perfect.

I can understand some people who would wish to speak to the CSM onboard, however there are equally as many reasons not to. For one, my plan had been to eat and sleep given I had a 5 hour drive ahead of me after landing in SYD. I was at the conclusion of a peaceful and relaxing 2 week holiday with my partner (who I only see once a fortnight for 2 days since taking my "away from home" job) and the last thing we wanted was a drawn out confrontation with a crew member on an overnight flight. I also had no idea there was a form of onboard reporting system. To be honest, the cynic in me thinks that anything that is mentioned or written onboard can simply be "lost" as soon as the passenger steps off the plane. Stupid me thought that QF may value its customers a little more and have an efficient customer care program inplace (which clearly is not the case).

While I can appreciate that there are a number of excellent CSM's on QF (and I've met many of them), I'm sure there are an equal number who are far from excellent and would see a passenger complaint as major inconvienience to their otherwise quiet overnight flight.

 

[jb747]

Well, it's just that I'm the next level above the CSM, and if I'd heard about it, then something would have been done.

 

[N860CR]

For interests sake, what is the next level above the CSM? And why does customer care not just raise it with you and then organise for action to be taken? It seems odd that the action taken depends upon who it is raised with, especially when customer care is supposed to be the department set up to handle such things.

 

[jb747]

...the captain.

 

[N860CR]

Well you're probably one of a handful of captains that would care the slightest bit about a rude FA. I still standby the fact that Qantas have a customer care department, and thus that department should do its job.

 

[QF WP]

Actually, danielribo, I think it would be the reverse...there would only be a handful of captains that wouldn't care.

 

[N860CR]

It's not really the job of the flight crew to deal with unpleasant cabin crew. While I'm sure they probably wouldn't be too happy to hear about it, I can't see too many Captains getting involved in service related dispites between passengers and cabin crew. Should there be a safety issue, then yes they would, however otherwise I think it would take a lot to get the front end involved.

There may be the odd exception, however as a pilot for a regional carrier myself, I really can't see it happening all that often.