Travelling with Qantas on Christmas eve.

[Pusiek]

Hours Domestic Qantas Club – The lounge is open one hour prior to the first Qantas service until the last Qantas departure.



Qantas for Christmas for its loyal customers, please. Travelling from Perth to Canberra via Brisbane on 24/12/20. Sitting at Brisbane business lounge waiting for 19.00 flight, around 18.00 our flight gets delayed by 30 minutes, then about 19.00 we are informed that our flight to Canberra will not be boarding until at least 21.50. But then the best part : Announcement is made that Brisbane lounge will be closed at 19.15 and everyone is asked to leave the lounge and go and sit at the gate. When I refused to leave the lounge as we are waiting for our Qantas flight to Canberra, firstly manager by the name Beverly comes to us and demanding that we will leave the lounge straight away as it is closed now, Beverly became unpleasant, telling me that is Christmas eve, and I should be more understanding etc., when I said to Beverly that I am going to make a complain to Qantas, she told me: " is not going to do any good to you". That's is professional reaction from the manager on duty towards gold member travelling business class. What Qantas website says about Qantas lounges hours of operating: Opening hours

Departures Level 1, near Gate 22 - to the right of Qantas Club main reception.

Or via Premium Lounge Entry with dedicated security.



One hour prior to each Qantas operated service until last Qantas departure.



A few minutes later another manager (Patrick) turns up and start pushing his request to leave the lounge, there are talks about police being called and threats being made towards my wife and I that if police will be called, we will be denied boarding our flight to Canberra. Eventually we decided to leave, and spend nearly 2 hours at the gate 26. Then things got even worse, when Patrick had come back to us and gave us more bad news, The aircraft we were going to fly to Canberra had been changed and there is no business class on it, all economy. He did organized a business class meal for us for that flight, which (I did not want, I just wanted to get home) but that was it what he could do. We ended up paying for business class and travelled in economy in small, pretty run down aircraft. After 3 hours delay we finally left Brisbane and landed in Canberra at 0.30 AM, next day. All in times of Christmas joy. Apart from other issues with Qantas I would like to know, why we had been robbed of my benefits associated with travelling in business , when Qantas will educate its staff how to talk to passengers in civilize manner and respect its own rules, please? It has been very difficult year for a lot of people and business' and one would think that Qantas would appreciate the value of each passenger at this difficult times.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to posting on AFF Pusiek.

A tricky one but not unique when things snowball after a delay ... crew can run out of hours, aircraft scheduled elsewhere. No one wins.

On balance, I'm sympathetic to Qantas's desire to close the lounge before advertised time on Christmas eve; perhaps they could have gone about it in a more tactful way, if your recounting is on the money. Once you started refusing and then threatening a complaint, you lost some moral ground, I'm afraid. (Make a complaint by all means, but threatening it at the time won't change the situation and only antagonise things).

A bad experience for you, bad that it happened, but being 'robbed of benefit of business class is, unfortunately, not unusual when delays and aircraft changes happen.

 

[boomy]

Sounds like a poorly managed situation, by both sides.

On one hand the lounge should have been kept open until the last QF flight departs. That used to be the policy, including on Christmas Eve. Closing the lounge early is another measure of cost cutting but instead of saying that they often make up random excuses.

Having said that the OP’s attitude didn’t contribute to the situation. Refusing to leave the lounge and arguing with the staff is not an acceptable behaviour because the people who work there simply follow company protocol, they don’t make the rules.

Regarding the aircraft swap that is unfortunate but not really anyone’s fault, these things happen. If this flight was to be the main leg then refund of the difference between Y and J would be fair but since this was a connection then QF is more likely to offer some points compensation for the involuntary downgrade.

 

[DC3]

... Announcement is made that Brisbane lounge will be closed at 19.15 and everyone is asked to leave .... We ended up paying for business class and travelled in economy ...

I would email QF about this, but keep it simple. You may well receive some offer of compensation. I would not include the he said, she said stuff, as that will probably get things off-track and go nowhere.

Whatever you decide, please let us know.

And welcome to AFF.

 

[Daver6]

I'm actually impressed that QF got the J meal onto a Y only flight.

 

[jb747]

Closing the lounge early is another measure of cost cutting but instead of saying that they often make up random excuses.

“Often make up random excuses..” Really? How often have you often have you been given a made up, random, excuse.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Welcome to posting, Pusiek.

Closing the lounge 2 hours before the last flight is poor. And the line about ‘it’s Christmas Eve’ cuts both ways.

It would have been reasonable to offer a voucher for a coffee shop, although something seems to have put staff on the back foot, and a complaint would be more effective without the refusal to depart, etc.

Re the involuntary downgrade, you can seek compensation for that.




cheers skip

 

[boomy]

“Often make up random excuses..” Really? How often have you often have you been given a made up, random, excuse.

With QF over the years? Quite often. Personally I take a more humorous approach since these people are like my second family and most of the time I know the real reasons behind. I’m sure there are heaps of examples similar to the OP’s in different threads on AFF if you care to search.

 

[jb747]

Again...”know”, or think you know? I have seen numerous of these sorts of comments over the years, and occasionally I’ve known the story behind them. But, a common component is that so often people don’t really know, they just think they do.

Right now, I’d be very curious as to just what hours the staff were rostered for, and whether the roster was fully populated.

 

[oz_mark]

I would take a guess and say Qantas are watching their pennies very carefully, and staff getting paid overtime may be quite a challenge.

 

[boomy]

Again...”know”, or think you know? I have seen numerous of these sorts of comments over the years, and occasionally I’ve known the story behind them. But, a common component is that so often people don’t really know, they just think they do.

Right now, I’d be very curious as to just what hours the staff were rostered for, and whether the roster was fully populated.

“know” comes from is the difference between what is said by QF staff on and off the record. There are no absolutes, certain things can be far more complicated but sometimes all is needed is a bit of common sense.

I can think of two recent examples: cancellation of hot meals in Y and axing service counters in lounges. On record the former was explained as due to catering health concerns. Although no such concerns seem to apply in J where hot meals are served as normal. The latter was due to staff health concerns. That said by staff member checking pax BPs not even standing behind the dedicated plastic screen.

These kind of answers are IMO an insult to people’s intelligence. There’s no shame in cost cutting, many businesses had to do it this year just to survive. I believe that honesty is the best policy, treat people like adults and most will understand.

 

[dk4]

I would take a guess and say Qantas are watching their pennies very carefully, and staff getting paid overtime may be quite a challenge.

But equally, if I were a staff member at an airline right now, I would want to be seen as going "above & beyond" to make my services invaluable to the company, and ensure whatever meagre number of customers the business has at the moment, were fully satisfied - all with the aim of hoping to ensure I had a job tomorrow and into the future!

 

[oz_mark]

But equally, if I were a staff member at an airline right now, I would want to be seen as going "above & beyond" to make my services invaluable to the company, and ensure whatever meagre number of customers the business has at the moment, were fully satisfied - all with the aim of hoping to ensure I had a job tomorrow and into the future!

I don't think having staff working for free is a solution to the problem.

 

[kevrosmith]

Yes, we were caught out similarly back during the middle of the year. Flight home to CNS from a weekend in BNE was delayed a couple hours. “No problem”, I thought, “at least we can wait it out in the Lounge and grab a bite to eat for dinner” (back when only the Business Lounge was being opened for all). Got to the entrance to the Lounge, and as the time was close to the original departure time of the flight (last flight of the night at 7pm!), “Sorry Sir, the Lounge is now closed”. I thought exactly same as OP: “what happened to ‘until last flight departs’...” but figured not worth arguing. It’s a New World, and travel is a new beast in this New World.

Unfortunately for us, it got worse, as every food outlet in the QF end closed, and we had to rush down to the VA end where Red Rooster thankfully served us some dinner even though they had also technically closed.

Clearly QF are saving money on staff overtime, I just think they’d be better off updating the information on the website to state the new hours and conditions. It makes sense to be upfront and honest.

 

[MrJetset]

You have some actual issue with the closing of the lounge and the invol downgrade, but refusing to leave the lounge removed any of your credibility.

The fact that a Manager said the AFP may be called (your description) means you were aggressive and belligerent. Frankly, you're lucky you weren't denied boarding. I think the fact you flew at all is the Christmas spirit you speak of. The staff could have easily made it much worse at their sole discretion.

 

[Kerrodt]

The OP hasn’t been back online since first posting their rant. There are always two sides to a story like this and I’m certain we don’t have the full story here.

 

[DC3]

The OP hasn’t been back online since first posting their rant. There are always two sides to a story like this and I’m certain we don’t have the full story here.

Yes. I just read the original post again. The OP did not actually ask for advice, but we provided advice/comment anyway. So, I guess that we see if anything further comes of it.

 

[Pusiek]

I would email QF about this, but keep it simple. You may well receive some offer of compensation. I would not include the he said, she said stuff, as that will probably get things off-track and go nowhere.

Whatever you decide, please let us know.

And welcome to AFF.

Thank you DC3

you are right, I should keep this short and firm, but emotions played a big role in this at the time I wrote to Qantas.

I am sure I would not be the only one, who observes Qantas customer's service going down year after year. Before everything started I did speak to two other staff members at the lounge and they did confirm to me that they do stay open for the delay flights ( Qantas only not Jetstar) from time to time, but it is up to management of the lounge to make such decision. Realistically what got me going was the way they treat you, not so much if you are in the lounge for another 3 hours or not.

So far I have sent two emails to them and I am still waiting.............

 

[Pusiek]

You have some actual issue with the closing of the lounge and the invol downgrade, but refusing to leave the lounge removed any of your credibility.

The fact that a Manager said the AFP may be called (your description) means you were aggressive and belligerent. Frankly, you're lucky you weren't denied boarding. I think the fact you flew at all is the Christmas spirit you speak of. The staff could have easily made it much worse at their sole discretion.

I can tell I was not, but I do run my own business called Business Limousines, and I cannot imagine to tell my clients who I agreed to collect from the airport, that I am not going to do so, because his or her flight is delayed. I do wait until such time when your flight arrives( I do recall picking people up from Canberra Airport as late as 2.00 AM). No fuss no extra charge, it is called the business agreement and once accepted, I would fulfil my commitments no matter what( even if I were to ended up loosing on it). It is my reputation and return customers valued more than anything else.

Post automatically merged: Jan 14, 2021

I'm actually impressed that QF got the J meal onto a Y only flight.

Yes, that's exactly what I needed, not