chooms
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2006
- Posts
- 547
- Qantas
- Platinum
- Virgin
- Platinum
A couple of weeks ago (apologies for the delay, been a bit busy), I was on QF952 CBR-BNE and something happened that made me a bit :evil:.
Parliament was sitting that week but QF952 is a mid-morning flight and was relatively empty (only 1 pax in J to begin with).
I had pre-selected 4A in what was a flight using 734 metal, so convertible J/Y seats in rows 1-5.
These seats have slightly more legroom than the standard Y seats and seem to be more comfortable (more cushioning).
There were people seated in 4A, 4C, 4D, 4F and 5A, 5C, 5D, 5F (middle seats 4B and 5E left vacant/WP shadows).
The first time I noticed the person who would turn out to be a major PITA was in the boarding queue. Unbelievably, Qantas were actually using and enforcing the priority boarding queue. As I joined the J/WP queue to board, I noticed the person in front of me had a boarding pass with 18C and NB status. I thought this person was just trying to test the rules when the FA pointed out the person was in the wrong queue and would have to join the Y/SG/PS/NB/no status queue.
Well, this set off what I considered to be a worse tantrum than my what my niece does when you try and turn off a wiggles dvd.
She started saying that there must be a conspiracy against her at QF as she claimed she was meant to be sitting in J! She was flabbergasted to be sitting in Y and so far down the back of the aircraft.
The FA was trying to calm her when she then said she has selected 5A on internet check in and should be sitting in that seat.
Eventually, the FA managed to get the person to head over to the service desk to try and resolve issues.
I eventually made it down the airbridge on to the aircraft whilst the FA offered apologies at the gate.
Just as I thought everyone was on the aircraft and the door would be shut, on walks tantrum lady. She stops at row 2 and exerts a clearly audible "sigh" and signals for a FA from the front of the aircraft.
Not hiding her displeasure through the use of what would be best described as an 'outdoor voice' she said someone was sitting in 5A where she was "meant to be" and that she wouldn't go down to her seat. This is when the medical excuses (which hadn't been raised earlier) began. She couldn't sit in Y because she had a "heart condition" and was stubbornly refusing to go down to row 18.
After about 2 or 3 minutes of loudly professing her displeasure with QF in front of all passengers, she was lead up to the front galley by the FA.
What happens next is what really made me :evil:.
After about another 2 to 3 minutes, tantrum lady was seated in 3C and proceded to be treated to a restricted J service - no substantial food, just the premium nuts (quite fitting) and wine.
I know J on a 734 isn't anything to write home about, but to whine your way there was an absolute disgraceful act. Sure, all of us would like that little bit of extra room and a marginally better bite to eat (the egg salad roll in Y would have needed an axe to cut in half but that is another issue), but to lower yourself to put on a display more fitting for a toddler to get a convertible J seat on a 734 for a 1 hour flight was embarrassing for all of us.
Now that I have described the incident, it got me thinking as to what could have been done differently to get tantrum woman seated without more incident.
My first solution (whilst may be a little biased bue to my seat allocation and WP status) would have been to move either the occupants of 4A & 4C or 4D & 4F to J seats and seat her by herself in economy.
This would have rewarded loyal customers and kept the trouble maker in Y instead of rewarding her with J.
The other options would obviously been to force her to sit in her allocated seat or boot her off the flight.
What do AFFers think?
Parliament was sitting that week but QF952 is a mid-morning flight and was relatively empty (only 1 pax in J to begin with).
I had pre-selected 4A in what was a flight using 734 metal, so convertible J/Y seats in rows 1-5.
These seats have slightly more legroom than the standard Y seats and seem to be more comfortable (more cushioning).
There were people seated in 4A, 4C, 4D, 4F and 5A, 5C, 5D, 5F (middle seats 4B and 5E left vacant/WP shadows).
The first time I noticed the person who would turn out to be a major PITA was in the boarding queue. Unbelievably, Qantas were actually using and enforcing the priority boarding queue. As I joined the J/WP queue to board, I noticed the person in front of me had a boarding pass with 18C and NB status. I thought this person was just trying to test the rules when the FA pointed out the person was in the wrong queue and would have to join the Y/SG/PS/NB/no status queue.
Well, this set off what I considered to be a worse tantrum than my what my niece does when you try and turn off a wiggles dvd.
She started saying that there must be a conspiracy against her at QF as she claimed she was meant to be sitting in J! She was flabbergasted to be sitting in Y and so far down the back of the aircraft.
The FA was trying to calm her when she then said she has selected 5A on internet check in and should be sitting in that seat.
Eventually, the FA managed to get the person to head over to the service desk to try and resolve issues.
I eventually made it down the airbridge on to the aircraft whilst the FA offered apologies at the gate.
Just as I thought everyone was on the aircraft and the door would be shut, on walks tantrum lady. She stops at row 2 and exerts a clearly audible "sigh" and signals for a FA from the front of the aircraft.
Not hiding her displeasure through the use of what would be best described as an 'outdoor voice' she said someone was sitting in 5A where she was "meant to be" and that she wouldn't go down to her seat. This is when the medical excuses (which hadn't been raised earlier) began. She couldn't sit in Y because she had a "heart condition" and was stubbornly refusing to go down to row 18.
After about 2 or 3 minutes of loudly professing her displeasure with QF in front of all passengers, she was lead up to the front galley by the FA.
What happens next is what really made me :evil:.
After about another 2 to 3 minutes, tantrum lady was seated in 3C and proceded to be treated to a restricted J service - no substantial food, just the premium nuts (quite fitting) and wine.
I know J on a 734 isn't anything to write home about, but to whine your way there was an absolute disgraceful act. Sure, all of us would like that little bit of extra room and a marginally better bite to eat (the egg salad roll in Y would have needed an axe to cut in half but that is another issue), but to lower yourself to put on a display more fitting for a toddler to get a convertible J seat on a 734 for a 1 hour flight was embarrassing for all of us.
Now that I have described the incident, it got me thinking as to what could have been done differently to get tantrum woman seated without more incident.
My first solution (whilst may be a little biased bue to my seat allocation and WP status) would have been to move either the occupants of 4A & 4C or 4D & 4F to J seats and seat her by herself in economy.
This would have rewarded loyal customers and kept the trouble maker in Y instead of rewarding her with J.
The other options would obviously been to force her to sit in her allocated seat or boot her off the flight.
What do AFFers think?
