Why do we hold unreal expectations of Qantas??

[BAM1748]

I dont like how the CEO gets involved in commentary of politics / Professional athletes and due to him taking a personal offence at the aforementioned commentary then threatens to withhold Qantas sponsorship if actions arent taken against the athlete.

QF sinks a lot of passenger paying ticket money into sport and other sponsorship. I have no issue with QF voicing an opinion on athletes who are happy to take the money and not be held accountable for bad behavior or mouthing off.

 

[Chooleekhor]

Their marketing is totally real! If you are a platinum. Then you get the choice seats, first crack at meal choices, wines, amenity kits, headphones and PJs from business class. You get a warm welcome and an offer to have your jacket hung up. And first crack at a spare seat beside you. All of those combined bring QF economy to a really good level.

The problem is if you don’t have that status. If I fly CX or SQ economy, I know what i’m going to get. It’s not dependent on status.

I used to get higher level service flying SQ economy than QF business ...it’s the attitude you get and the dollars are quite substantial in my two different tickets flying the 2 carriers in exact same routes.

 

[ajw373]

Do you mean Reg Ansett? Bob was a ground hugger with his budget cars!

And even then I wouldn’t have added Reg Ansett to that honor list, the one with the ego at Ansett was Sir Peter Ables and his infamous aircraft orders. Some of which he made without consulting his partner old Rupes.

 

[drron]

What has stuck with me was how the crew reacted when my son developed a hitherto unknown pain coming home from an overseas trip. They were fantastic, getting assistance from a doctor passenger, right down to organising an ambulance , keeping tabs on our luggage and rescheduling our domestic flights home. I tell you, having a knowledgeable Aussie crew with a familiar accent was very reassuring in those conditions . When something like that happens it’s a real comfort to have people like that about! (And I’m sure if I was Chinese and had a similar problem, I would appreciate being able to have my fellow countrymen around supporting me, - in case I ruffled the feathers of the PC brigade). So yes I believe they do market themselves as
a caring Aussie airline because to us because they easily demonstrated that. ( and the same caringness was displayed when on another trip, our plane was rescheduled due to mech problems)

Actually this reminds me of another issue which puts me off QF.I have attended 2 medical emergencies on QF.once I spent at least 50% of my time in the Y cabin SIN-LHR instead of my paid J seat.The CSM gave me a bottle of wine and a model QF plane and said management would be in touch-they never were.The second time only a thank you from a couple of FAs.Now I don't expect anything except a thank you.
I have had one experience on JAL with a critically ill patient.I was allocated an FA to help out.As well as the crews thanks I later received a personal thank you letter from the President of JAL along with a portable translator and a gift certificate.The important part was that the JAL President had written the letter-or certainly put his signature on it.

 

[ovtraveller]

My wife and I have been travelling regularly for the past 25 years, so I asked her the question of what it was that made Qantas better than Emirates, Singapore, Cathay etc.
Her answer was simple: “ I love coming home on Qantas”. What could I , as a geek who loves flying , possibly add?

 

[Silvia]

The main gripe with QF has to be the older flight attendants.
I tend to fly them long-haul 2-3 times per year, plus some domestic sectors.

Sad to say that the older staff tend to be jaded and not very caring. Recently on QF36 an older flight attendant was extremely rude towards my husband as he was grabbing a snack from the economy rear section. She was clearly annoyed that we had bothered her as she was having a chat with another older flight attendant.

Now, I am aware that it may be unfair to make generalisations, but that has been my experience as of late. The younger crew do tend to try to please and engage a bit more. Last year we got downgraded from QF95 J redemption ticket to Y in QF93. I had my wedding dress with me and the younger crew were amazing, definitely looked after us, even tried to give us some food that was not served on PE and got a bottle of bubbles as they were disappointed to hear about the downgrade.

I am not sure if we hold unreal expectations, but the odd smile here and there and consistent service will do.

Now don't get me started that they no longer serve hot chocolate on some flights to Singapore and on my last 2 flights no more complimentary J headphones to Y platinum passengers. I guess the odd greeting from the CSM to a half full economy cabin of platinums will do!

 

[harvyk]

about 35 returns SYD MEL so still at least 7k spend and that is if you can find AUD200 returns which I find very hard, cheap weekend trips are usually about AUD350 return so that makes it a 12k spend with QF on DSC

If your doing a return flight more than once a fortnight, that counts as pretty frequent IMHO. Especially if it's on a bus service type route.

 

[craven morehead]

My wife and I have been travelling regularly for the past 25 years, so I asked her the question of what it was that made Qantas better than Emirates, Singapore, Cathay etc.
Her answer was simple: “ I love coming home on Qantas”. What could I , as a geek who loves flying , possibly add?

Maybe you paid overs for the privilege ??

 

[Danielb56]

I'm platinum with Qantas. I don't agree even considering some of the mundane bus runs I take are too short for the full range of benefits you listed. I honestly haven't received a warm welcome in a long time. They actively ignored my partner on a recent international flight, in business. (same booking etc.)

I'm not complaining, I'm in the same boat as the OP in thinking the marketing is BS. But for the less frequent flyer who buys the marketing, I can totally see why they have expectations that I might think are unrealistic. I see my treatment and I'm supposed to be semi important.

I use to travel all the time and for the past few years have reduced it to something small. I will start again next year but I have noticed that Qantas, like all major companies (i.e Banks etc) favour those who are privileged over those who are not. For example, I held a high status (Platinum and Gold) but since my travels have slowed down my status is now Silver and soon to be Bronze.

Last year while on Gold status my wife and I booked Business Class Reward Flights and were able to book directly with Emirates to Cairo etc. This year, on Silver, we are looking to book flights to Athens and return from Rome Business Class. What do you think I can get?...To Athens we got a BA flight to Singapore and then connect with Qatar to Doha and Athens- it cost me 40,000 points more per ticket and 1 extra leg. Can't get direct from Aust to Doha or Dubai and then onto Athens. That option took me a long time to find. The return home is even better. Still have not booked it as the flights returned are not available but some testing shows me that to fly direct home is only in Economy and not Business - via Shanghai or somewhere else.

The point I am making is this...all the flying I did previously to get the points (and status) for me to fly now was out of loyalty to Qantas. Where is the loyalty in return? It only works if you are a higher status - Qantas does not respect its' customers. It is the customer loyalty that makes Qantas profits and with all their hype of customer service from Qantas - you have to say give me a break. I found over the years that I received better service from Qantas partners than I did Qantas and I have been a member since 1990...

When I return to travel again next year I am debating whether to use Qantas although it maybe an issue...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

daniel... slightly off topic, but have you researched using the multi city tool? Often you won’t find anything just searching SYD-CAI, but searching individually say MEL-SIN, SIN-DXB and so on will find availability on EK for you, for all sectors. Or even QF to SIN, then EK after that. So many EK flights you’re bound to find something, even as a bronze.

 

[lonewolf]

QF sinks a lot of passenger paying ticket money into sport and other sponsorship. I have no issue with QF voicing an opinion on athletes who are happy to take the money and not be held accountable for bad behavior or mouthing off.

Except it wasnt Qantas, It was the CEO pushing his own view because he was directly affected by those comments. Thats the issue i had with it. The athlete had already been sanctioned by the board but the CEO of Qantas was affected by one of the comments as it related to him and basically used his weight as CEO of Qantas to make the sporting board make stronger sanctions and in effect get rid of the athelete from the sport. That was using his power for personal reasons. I didnt like that.

 

[opusman]

It doesn’t have to be a race to the bottom though? JAL gives PEY pax lounge access. If the QFi business class lounges were of a higher standard it wouldn’t be an issue. As it is, they have to cater for large numbers of potentially low revenue pax. That hurts the quality of the product offered, and discourages some pax from buying business class fares. I’ve mentioned before that I think business class pax should be entitled to F lounge access, which reflects the value of the ticket, especially TPAC.

The international J lounges in Australia are embarassingly bad, especially given how much QF charge for business class. They really should be Qantas clubs, with a separate (better) lounge for J/SG.

 

[BAM1748]

Except it wasnt Qantas, It was the CEO pushing his own view because he was directly affected by those comments. Thats the issue i had with it. The athlete had already been sanctioned by the board but the CEO of Qantas was affected by one of the comments as it related to him and basically used his weight as CEO of Qantas to make the sporting board make stronger sanctions and in effect get rid of the athelete from the sport. That was using his power for personal reasons. I didnt like that.

Ok I hear you don't like it, I did like it and thought it was a good comment from the CEO representing his business and where his business sends hard earned money generated from it's customers. If one party can speak up then so can the other. If you don't like the CEO saying something then please athletes don't go biting the hand that feeds.

 

[Vic]

I use to travel all the time and for the past few years have reduced it to something small. I will start again next year but I have noticed that Qantas, like all major companies (i.e Banks etc) favour those who are privileged over those who are not. For example, I held a high status (Platinum and Gold) but since my travels have slowed down my status is now Silver and soon to be Bronze.

Last year while on Gold status my wife and I booked Business Class Reward Flights and were able to book directly with Emirates to Cairo etc. This year, on Silver, we are looking to book flights to Athens and return from Rome Business Class. What do you think I can get?...To Athens we got a BA flight to Singapore and then connect with Qatar to Doha and Athens- it cost me 40,000 points more per ticket and 1 extra leg. Can't get direct from Aust to Doha or Dubai and then onto Athens. That option took me a long time to find. The return home is even better. Still have not booked it as the flights returned are not available but some testing shows me that to fly direct home is only in Economy and not Business - via Shanghai or somewhere else.

The point I am making is this...all the flying I did previously to get the points (and status) for me to fly now was out of loyalty to Qantas. Where is the loyalty in return? It only works if you are a higher status - Qantas does not respect its' customers. It is the customer loyalty that makes Qantas profits and with all their hype of customer service from Qantas - you have to say give me a break. I found over the years that I received better service from Qantas partners than I did Qantas and I have been a member since 1990...

When I return to travel again next year I am debating whether to use Qantas although it maybe an issue...

Certainly I agree that as platinum i get better award availability. Having said that, I still get the dodgy options (Europe-Dubai-Bali - Jetstar to Australia), the error to complete the award booking when i find the business seats. At least when I call to book that award I can use the premium number.

If you're debating flying Qantas, I find Virgin business is much more consistent for domestic flights. In fact my ranking for domestic would be Virgin Business, Qantas Business, Qantas economy, virgin economy.

Except it wasnt Qantas, It was the CEO pushing his own view because he was directly affected by those comments. Thats the issue i had with it. The athlete had already been sanctioned by the board but the CEO of Qantas was affected by one of the comments as it related to him and basically used his weight as CEO of Qantas to make the sporting board make stronger sanctions and in effect get rid of the athelete from the sport. That was using his power for personal reasons. I didnt like that.

I think the problem is all the nonsensical ramblings about the one aspect of that players pronouncement to do with sexuality. I would condemn that player for his judgmental attitude about me partaking of the demon drink and history of being a fornicator. Then there is his failure to understand christian doctrine in telling me I'm going to hell. The fact that someone with a bigger voice than me forced bigger sanctions is just fine for me. That player attacked 90% of the Australian population.

 

[Fergo747]

Qantas, like all major companies (i.e Banks etc) favour those who are privileged over those who are not

Whilst I don't disagree with this statement, I think the notion of those who are privileged to Qantas compared to what we believe are different things - what I mean by this is that in Qantas' eyes, CLs are those people and anyone else is not.

Speaking from experience, I know a number of people have stated in this thread the 'additional' onboard benefits that WP and above receive (I'm not referring to the tangible stated benefits), but can say that this is generally not the case. Apart from the occasional very forced 'thank you for flying with us Mr X' (in which the CSM has to quadruple check the iPad and even then gets it wrong), there is nothing of note that I have received above and beyond that of a non-status pax.

 

[RichardMEL]

Hardly objective as a P1 though? QF crew fawn over top tier elites, and perhaps you get to experience a different side to the airline to the rest of us

Travel paid business international without status and your odds suddenly get a lot worse.

That's a fair assumption to make, but I take the P1 stuff out of it when I made that comment.. plus tbh I haven't had an obvious P1 onboard experience for seeral years.. ie no significant greeting or indication that my status was noted at all(and I don;'t care). Perhaps the most recent was last year sitting in row 3 on a 717 and the QFLink CSM made a special visit to me to ask for my food order to ensure I got my choice. Other than that, to be honest, very little on board service wise I have had and noted different to others around me. This is mostly flying J and some F.

And I also indicated other airlines also and I've flown various with little or no significqant status (eg: SQ as a *G isn't valued by them)

The only "fawning" I've experienced, tbh has been on TG in F where frankly I've felt uncomfortable being treated like I was the king or something.

 

[RichardMEL]

This is where we disagree. The non-status pax in premium economy and business class... who are far more profitable that an economy class pax on a red e-deal, get the complete raw prawn.

With respect this is a very generalised statement to make that probably does not hold true all the time. For some passengers sure. I grant you.. and clearly your statement is based on your experiences, but that doesn't mean everyone will feel the same. As counter, my sister who is a Bronze nobody flew J MEL-LAX (I upgraded her) a few years ago and adored every single minute of her experience and did not express any problems with her flight. That's subjective sure, but so is your comment. It certainly isn't a statement of fact.

Economy class passengers flying on $100 red e-deals get first class lounge access, preferential seating, a shadow. A full-fare paying business class passenger gets relegated to the economy class lounge, in row 17 (international), with no choice left for the meal, and a two hour call centre wait time.

this comes across as a little bit of envy tbh.... except for the call centre comment which is a disgrace that QF has seemingly failed to address (or they do not care) for a number of years now. Very short sighted too imo as many would give up and go elsewhere - as they should - due to long wait times.

I'd also wager if the IT was far better and there weren't so many numerous issues, glitches and problems with the online systems, far less people would be calling.

To me this is one of the major major issues QF has (along with the inconsistency)

 

[Danielb56]

daniel... slightly off topic, but have you researched using the multi city tool? Often you won’t find anything just searching SYD-CAI, but searching individually say MEL-SIN, SIN-DXB and so on will find availability on EK for you, for all sectors. Or even QF to SIN, then EK after that. So many EK flights you’re bound to find something, even as a bronze.

I have looked at everything...i think they have changed the playing field with the Sept changes...

 

[QF WP]

I have always held an expectation for Qantas (or any business) - do what you have stated will be done in certain circumstances. It’s when QF don’t meet the expectation that a degree of (my) loyalty diminishes - and that’s hard to maintain and easy to lose, just like brownie points.

I was always told to under-promise and over-deliver, be aware of ones capabilities and resources and allocate accordingly. Qantas did for many years deliver on my expectations (as a medium to high tier FF). Then I got spoilt - a choice of airlines (and FF programs), both domestically and international. My horizons and knowledge grew, yet Qantas failed to grow with me. Instead they “enhanced” their program and every time, tried to convince me I was better off. Thankfully I never believed them.

Now days, they are my second string FF program and I use them only when it suits me (schedule, cost, and FF benefits in that order). My eyes are open to the multitude of offers in the market. I am not blinded by their rhetoric any longer. Whilst I am looking forward to LTG, it is no longer a driving force in our relationship - merely a reward for long service (aka loyalty). It will give me more benefits than them.

Many members here on AFF have shared their knowledge with me - and I with them. The lifeblood of a good community. Time had created some truly great friendships that have already spanned over a decade. But my relationship with Qantas has, over the same timeframe, waned to a friendship of convenience (mine not theirs) and it feels truly liberating.

 

[tofidog]

And on trips since then once I've moved to Australia, my memories are always of old and overweight flight attendants.

You are joking right?