Value of WP when things go wrong

[dfcatch]

I posted earlier that I was very grateful for being WP and being able to get through on the phone in under 60 seconds when others were reporting hold times of over an hour.....

Just wondering if others would like to share their experiences this week of where having WP/WP1/CL has proven invaluable.

IMHO - I've always felt the real benefit of status is when things go wrong.

 

[nlagalle]

I was caught in LHR meant to fly out on QF10 on saturday night. Managed to book SQ and get out on the same night. Had I not had pressing matters here I would have happily stayed on though!

Anyway I couldn't get through at first as the number was engaged but when I did it was answered promptly, but there was nothing they could do (which I expected).

At the airport the ground staff said I could use the F lounge if I wanted (tried the SQ one instead - god it needs a revamp!).

I was re-booked to fly on the 1st but they phoned me last night to see if I wanted to fly on the 31st. I then told them I had made it home!

Given the volume of work I am pleased they contacted me to offer an earlier flight!

 

[Mal]

WP and other status tiers help. Especially when things go wrong.

However - when things REALLY go wrong, the staff are too busy trying to work out what to do for it to be an immediate help. Granted, you will end up with priority, but I don't think airlines see it properly as VIP - help them out material.

That's where P1 and CL are supposed to help (with Qantas). Concierge Key (AA), Prem (BA) etc etc etc. BUT - if there are no planes flying at all (eg ash issues), then magic cannot really happen...

 

[medhead]

Well my experience matches yours. A couple of engaged calls to the phone line. But a quick redial and I was through in <90 seconds. Called a total of 3 times. The people i spoke to were very helpful and professional. They also didn't let the pressure they must have been under come across to me. I was slightly disappointed they didn't offer to rebook me on to the competition. But I had already looked after that so it didn't matter.

On another good note I just received a call about my expenses claim, that was submitted Sunday night. Excellent turn around, when I was expecting to wait a week. I was told this is what they are doing for the statused.


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

 

[hayden]

I did a DONE4 last year (which when I booked originally I was going to do myself) then later my girlfriend decided to come so booked a LONE4 for her (don't worry I copped it from every female I know)

Anyway, we were in San Fran at the time and in the morning I decided to check our flights for the evening to New York, noticed that I was flying out that night but my girlfriend was booked on the NEXT nights flight... don't know how that happened. Had a look myself and saw there were no seats in the same fare bucket that she needed to change onto my flight - I thought that it was going to be a real pain.

Rang Qantas - it took a whole of 5 minutes to have it sorted out. The guy originally said he couldn't do anything, but then he said "does she really need to be on the same flight" - I said it would be nice if she was so was. He went away again for 30 seconds and came back and said it was all sorted.

I assume I wouldn't have been able to have that fixed if I were gold/silver/bronze (or it would have taken a lot more effort)

*edit* err I left out the bit where I was able to get help this week*

I was able to discuss options with premium desk with no wait at all , again had heard stories from friends with massive waits on the phone lines. No issues flying from MEL-BNE yesterday

The top bit was meant to be an added story for the other time I think having status helped!

 

[Nam Taf]

I've even had silver help once.

I was very close to bag drop cut-off and went to check in using the self-check in machine. There was an issue with getting through the menus and I was trying to get the attention of the CSA on the floor to help. She was tied up with an elderly couple and in the period of time my check-in timed out. When I went to re-enter it (with her still tied up), bag drop said it'd closed.

I grabbed another CSA from a different area and she instructed me to immediately haul cough to the priority check-in counter. I rocked up and gave my case. The lady on the counter turned to her colleague, flashed the card and asked what to do. The colleague said she really needed to ask the supervisor, who'd just walked off but then considered it for a moment before saying just force it through cause it'd been only a few minutes after bag drop close.

Maybe I was just noticing things but they certainly cast eyes over the FF card before making their decision and I can't help but feel that, given everything was running smoothly except for my little issue, they took that in to consideration to step up and take a risk to make sure I got through OK.

I still wish I could've thanked them better than I was able to

 

[Princess Fiona]

Might have posted this before, a couple of years ago we were late to SYD, major crash closed F3 and missed the check in for our classic award flights to MEL ( x 6). Immediately booked on the next flight FOC, this was one of my first experiences as a newly minted WP and I was ( and still am) very impressed

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Considering wp1 is being sold as looking after you when things go wrong, I'd love to know how it's different to the already great platinum service..


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[Princess Fiona]

Considering wp1 is being sold as looking after you when things go wrong, I'd love to know how it's different to the already great platinum service..


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app

If I'd have been P1 in my example above I would have expected a helicopter to land at the side of the Freeway and take us all to SYD to make the flight

 

[straitman]

If I'd have been P1 in my example above I would have expected a helicopter to land at the side of the Freeway and take us all to SYD to make the flight

Wake up.

Your dreaming again :!:

 

[el_rooto]

If I'd have been P1 in my example above I would have expected a helicopter to land at the side of the Freeway and take us all to SYD to make the flight

Could they have held the plane?

 

[quark]

I wasn't caught up in the stuff this week as I luckily had a DJ flight booked this morning, however I got looked after superbly on a J RTW last year.

Everything was fantastic the whole way, but the kicker was getting to LAX late due to wings icing up in Calgary, and then being told the onward flight to Sydney had been cancelled (must have been about 11pm). "I'm so sorry Ma'am, however if it isn't too much of an inconvenience (!) we would be happy to put you and your colleague on the next flight to Melbourne in 30 minutes. First Class"

Naturally we decided this was definitely NOT an inconvenience...

Good job Qantas.

 

[Febs]

Just wondering if others would like to share their experiences this week of where having WP/WP1/CL has proven invaluable.

Not this week, but every time there's an issue, QF seem to look after their WPs (or at least, my WP colleagues and I) very well. Once I landed in LAX and my LAX-SYD was cancelled. Some pax were being pushed onto the next day's flights (24hrs later), but when I got to the lounge they'd already given me a seat on LAX-MEL and MEL-SYD (interestingly this flight was diverted to SYD mid-flight due to weather in MEL ).

During the QF32 incident and A380 grounding, we were all heading to LAX (I was getting on a CX flight, my colleagues were getting on QF LAX-SYD). This is when hundreds of pax were being put up in hotels and told to wait up to a few days (from memory) for the backlog caused by replacing the A380s with 744s. My WP boss didn't have his flight cancelled, and I bet him he'd be upgraded to First. Sure enough, he was (the ONE time I didn't fly QF out of LAX...d'oh)!

I've always said the best value of WP is the unpublished benefits.

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[JohnK]

Nothing went wrong but I had a slight seating anomaly so I thought I would call Qantas.

I went to look at my booking at T-74 hours and I was able to go from 6D to 4A but when the return flight appeared it showed 6E shock as my allocated seat and gave me an error that I was not able to select seats. This flight has been rescheduled from a 767-300 to a 737-400. This is a known glitch in the seat allocation program.

Anyway called Qantas premium today and was answered almost immediately and I asked for a seat allocation on the return leg. She asked what seat I wanted. I explained that as the flight is outside the T-80 hour mark that row 6-7 aisle would be fine. She said hand on a sec and see what I can do for you. After about a minute or so she said you now have 4C allocated. And I do!

Who said that a Platinum cannot have a seat allocated in row 4-5 before T-80 hours?

 

[Jobu]

WP1 received the same support as WP last week. Flights weren't rebooked and had to call QF to find out what was going on. May have been that the 'benefits' hadn't gone live yet. I have received great support as a WP in the past.

 

[richie9x]

A few months ago a check bag went missing (the only time I check a bag in this year). They said because I was platinum the bag would be delivered direct rather than waiting for the normal delivery run. As I stopped for lunch in the city, the bag made it to the hotel before me. This is the only time platinum has really come in handy for when something went wrong.

During the grounding it was no help whatsoever. I could not get through to any of the phones numbers. I did receive SMS saying my flight was canceled. I was wondering if I would be able to change my flight from BNE-MEL to BNE-xAKL-MEL seeing as how jetconnect were still flying. But never got the chance to ask.

Instead I had to rely on my trusty travel agent who once again proved to be well worth the fee she charges.

 

[reductionist]

I called the WP desk within minutes of the announcement (less than 10).

I had to wait on hold for roughly 5 minutes before being answered.

The guy I spoke to had absolutely no idea what was going on. He had no suggestions for me other than to find another airline ("quick smart") for the following day's flight.

I was already looking at Virgin flights whilst on hold so he didn't have to tell me twice.

I have the feeling if I'd called say, 30 mins after the announcement they'd have a better response prepared.

Interestingly he must have cancelled my booking as it immediately started appearing in my profile as a voucher (I get an error when I try to use it though).

I was staying with friends and had a ride to the airport so there was no need to arrange accommodation or claim any expenses.

 

[ChrisGibbs]

I've had a couple of reasonably recent experiences:

Volcanic Ash - April 2010


Was due to leave on QF2 on the day all flights were grounded. Was proactively called by Qantas Premium Desk and offered a seat on the last flight at lunchtime prior to the shutdown of the Northern European airspace. During the shutdown I was called at least twice a day with updates from Qantas. On the Sunday evening I was offered a re routing of my London - Sydney sector to Madrid - Buenos Aires - Sydney at no cost to me. All I had to do was get myself to Madrid via Eurostar and Hire Car Paris to Madrid on Monday to connect with Iberia from Madrid - Buenos Aires on Tuesday then connecting with QF18 from Buenos Aires on the Wednesday arriving back into Sydney on Thursday evening. All up 100hrs door to door (instead of the standard 25hrs). Qantas picked up reasonable expenses for the delay and re-routing with Travel Insurance picking up the residual.


Qantas Grounding - 29th October 2011


Was scheduled to be on QF17 SYD-EZE on Monday 31st October with onward connections to Asuncion via Santiago. QF Premium desk rang me at 05:30pm on Saturday afternoon (about 30 minutes after the announcement) and said that Operations had proactively transferred me on to the QF codeshare with Lan Chile from Sydney to Santiago via Auckland arriving into Asuncion at the same time and same flight as originally scheduled.

Summary


On both these occasions I've had a positive experience. The lesson for me is that when the proverbial hits the fan then you need to engage proactively and work with the QF team to get the outcome your after. With the Volcanic ash experience I could have sat back at the Sheraton Skyline for nearly 2 weeks waiting for QF to find availability. Alternatively I worked out the way I could get to an airport in Europe that was open and QF did the rest with the re-routing.

 

[dfcatch]

I've had a couple of reasonably recent experiences:

Volcanic Ash - April 2010


Was due to leave on QF2 on the day all flights were grounded. Was proactively called by Qantas Premium Desk and offered a seat on the last flight at lunchtime prior to the shutdown of the Northern European airspace. During the shutdown I was called at least twice a day with updates from Qantas. On the Sunday evening I was offered a re routing of my London - Sydney sector to Madrid - Buenos Aires - Sydney at no cost to me. All I had to do was get myself to Madrid via Eurostar and Hire Car Paris to Madrid on Monday to connect with Iberia from Madrid - Buenos Aires on Tuesday then connecting with QF18 from Buenos Aires on the Wednesday arriving back into Sydney on Thursday evening. All up 100hrs door to door (instead of the standard 25hrs). Qantas picked up reasonable expenses for the delay and re-routing with Travel Insurance picking up the residual.


Qantas Ground - 29th October 2011


Was scheduled to be on QF17 SYD-EZE on Monday 31st October with onward connections to Asuncion via Santiago. QF Premium desk rang me at 05:30pm on Saturday afternoon (about 30 minutes after the announcement) and said that Operations had proactively transferred me on to the QF codeshare with Lan Chile from Sydney to Santiago via Auckland arriving into Asuncion at the same time and same flight as originally scheduled.

Summary


On both these occasions I've had a positive experience. The lesson for me is that when the proverbial hits the fan then you need to engage proactively and work with the QF team to get the outcome your after. With the Volcanic ash experience I could have sat back at the Sheraton Skyline for nearly 2 weeks waiting for QF to find availability. Alternatively I worked out the way I could get to an airport in Europe that was open and QF did the rest with the re-routing.

And the Sheraton Skyline isn't what I'd call a 2 week kinda hotel

 

[Inver]

Great to read about these positive stories, this makes me keen to work on my lowly NB status.