Are my expectations of QF customer service too high?

[Redeye]

I'm a long standing QF Platinum member. For business & family reasons I make several trips business class a year to Europe.
I have to make a return trip to the UK with my elderly father, who is on a separate business class ticket & will be travelling with a wheelchair.
As we are both leaving from and travelling to the same locations, I thought it would be simpler for me to make the chauffeur drive requests on my ticket. Unfortunately the QANTAS website does not give you the option of noting with the car booking that there is more than 1 pax and that you are travelling with a wheelchair. Something which the chauffeur drive company should know so they can allocate an appropriate vehicle.

So after booking the car online I telephoned the service desk and relayed my problem. The CSO wouldn't note the additional requirements on my booking and told me to inform the car company when they ring to confirm pickup time. That may work fine when being collected from home but what happens at the destination airport ? I thought, it was a simple basic request to annotate my booking request & potential link the two tickets.

In frustration, I called the Emirates Service Centre, and relayed my issue. The response,"you're kidding? Is that the way QF treat their Platinum customers?". Yes, unfortunately it is. THE CSO couldn't touch my booking as it was in the QF system. But he came up with a solution, he booked the cars on my fathers ticket (EK), made a request for a large car, noted there were two pax & a wheelchair and put a link to my booking. What a difference in service!!

I subsequently filled in a QF Customer CAre form to let them know I was not happy with the service. So far no response.

As a QF frequent flyer, I always book my trips on QF codeshare flights for which I usually pay a premium of anything up to a couple of hundred dollars over the same ticket booked with EK. Surely for that premium I should expect at least the same standard of service from QF?

 

[Ansett]

Never expect anything from QF and you will never be disappointed.

Have to say IMHO that is pretty poor service from QF especially given the need for wheelchair assistance.

Hope all goes well for you and your Father.

Did you by chance ring the premium line and end up in the non priority area?

Why not book 2 cars as you are entitled to

 

[harvyk]

With the title of this thread, I was expecting a rant about how the F lounge was missing your favourite champagne.
No you're not expecting too much from QF, in fact I'm pretty sure this is the sort of thing a disability advocate service would love to hear about and then take QF to task over.

 

[Squirrel.Monkey]

Unfortunately, with Qantas it really depends on who you get, even though I am a Silver member, there have been times I've felt like Platinum one and other times I've felt like I have stowed away on the plane. Fortunately, the latter does not outrank the former. I know you shouldn't have to, but call back and make sure you speak to someone else.

 

[kiwitripper64]

My wife and I flew to London and my wife badly sprained her ankle the day before we left and couldnt walk on it. After a bit of rest and ice we decided to commence the trip the next day and keep her foot up in J seats. I rang Qantas and asked for a wheelchair at AKL, SYD, DXB and LHR. I spoke to a lovely person who was very sympathetic and organised a wheelchair to meet us after each flight. Arrived at check-in at AKL and, no surprises and no wheelchair. The agent looked at the booking , saw the request and went and found a wheelchair after debating whose job it was ( ours or his). On arrival to SYD, DXB and LHR there were still no wheelchairs. We asked the person at the gate in SYD, and she said it would be there soon. After 15 min we walked ( and hobbled ) to the lounge and didnt see any sign of a wheelchair on route. same at the other airports.
The most annoying part was that we requested this and were promised some help, then they just ignored us.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

In qantas' defence perhaps their system wouldn't allow any further changes apart from a few notes.

You might have also called at the end of the shift where the CSA was ready to go home in 5 minutes.

Emirates also has a lot more experience in booking cars for customers and staff are likely used to dealing with simile requirements.

But in saying that I need to ask... Why are you bothering with qantas? As an Emirates platinum you'd be getting far more benefit and you wouldn't be paying a premium for QF#

 

[Redeye]

But in saying that I need to ask... Why are you bothering with qantas? As an Emirates platinum you'd be getting far more benefit and you wouldn't be paying a premium for QF#

Precisely the question I have been asking myself! One word, loyalty!

 

[Ansett]

How long ago did you submit the form to customer care?

Oh and loyalty is a one way street with QF they expect you to be loyal to them but heaven bid we would expect any loyalty or service from QF.

 

[Anna]

My wife and I flew to London and my wife badly sprained her ankle the day before we left and couldnt walk on it. After a bit of rest and ice we decided to commence the trip the next day and keep her foot up in J seats. I rang Qantas and asked for a wheelchair at AKL, SYD, DXB and LHR. I spoke to a lovely person who was very sympathetic and organised a wheelchair to meet us after each flight. Arrived at check-in at AKL and, no surprises and no wheelchair. The agent looked at the booking , saw the request and went and found a wheelchair after debating whose job it was ( ours or his). On arrival to SYD, DXB and LHR there were still no wheelchairs. We asked the person at the gate in SYD, and she said it would be there soon. After 15 min we walked ( and hobbled ) to the lounge and didnt see any sign of a wheelchair on route. same at the other airports.
The most annoying part was that we requested this and were promised some help, then they just ignored us.

That's very poor. I flew last week with my father and the wheelchairs I had called to request for him were available with no issues (ADL and PER). The QF staff were very helpful in general.

 

[Deleted member]

my elderly mother needs wheel chair assistance,travelling with me form AKL recently , no wheel chair, no chance of there beinga wheel chair, we eventually managed (once in the lounge) to have one sent upfor the trip to the gate....poor service all round

 

[ChasingDaylight]

Did WLG-xMEL-DXB-LHR-DUB a year ago with my aging father who has knee issues so I'd requested special assistance in MMB and confirmed via telephone. QF (and BA at the very end) had a wheelchair waiting at MEL on arrival, again on departure (to & from lounge), golf cart and wheel chair in LHR and wheel chair in DUB. I was mightily impressed with QF.

 

[kiwitripper64]

Yep. The only constant in qantas is the inconsistency. The staff range from amazing, friendly and helpful with practical help, to just dont want to be there. I understand staff cant always be bright and awake, but the systems are inconsitent as well. Look at bag unloading and dont start me on my friends (WP) attempts to consitently get vegetarian J meals in dom.
At least they have never run out of wine

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Precisely the question I have been asking myself! One word, loyalty!

Qantas isn't your wife. You're allowed to see what else is out there

If you like - PM me your flights over the past 12 months and ill show you what those same flights would look like under a EK flight number (your EK points, value, status, how much you'd save and how many free upgrades you'd likely have had). I've run similar numbers for 100's of others (on AFF too!) and almost everyone is better off sending their business to another frequent flyer program - especially when most of the flights are international.

Even after switching in most cases you can keep flying exactly the same flights, same planes and use the same lounges. The only changes are increased bank balance and love of flying again.

 

[ronagoh]

In qantas' defence perhaps their system wouldn't allow any further changes apart from a few notes.

#

I beg to differ - it's just a matter of putting in a code for WCHR - wheelchair and the system automatically does the rest.
Could also be a case of the CSO did not do that and ignored the booking and could not find the booking again after the call ended!

 

[Alanslegal]

In frustration, I called the Emirates Service Centre, and relayed my issue. The response,"you're kidding? Is that the way QF treat their Platinum customers?". Yes, unfortunately it is. THE CSO couldn't touch my booking as it was in the QF system. But he came up with a solution, he booked the cars on my fathers ticket (EK), made a request for a large car, noted there were two pax & a wheelchair and put a link to my booking. What a difference in service!!

From what I have read EK loves QF WP flyers. Should see all the free upgrades WPs are getting when flying EK metal.

That said, I love to bag out Qantas just because it is fun to do so. My excuse for not flying this month is "I don't fly Qantas because they don't let me wear my designer thongs into the F lounge". Next month .... it's because of something else, just as frivolous

 

[ozbeachbabe]

From what I have read EK loves QF WP flyers. Should see all the free upgrades WPs are getting when flying EK metal.

EK don't appear to lavish op-ups on their own freq flyers. A friend is EK Gold & does FIFO to KBL & has received an op-up once.

 

[katiebell]

Yep. The only constant in qantas is the inconsistency. The staff range from amazing, friendly and helpful with practical help, to just dont want to be there. I understand staff cant always be bright and awake, but the systems are inconsitent as well. Look at bag unloading and dont start me on my friends (WP) attempts to consitently get vegetarian J meals in dom.
At least they have never run out of wine

They ran out of champagne on my first flight Aus to LHR via DXB about 4 hours before we got there. I was in J and no champagne anywhere at all on the flight...

 

[katiebell]

I have had to fly with assistance due to an arm injury. Airlines included QF, CX, BA, AC, WS, OS, FB, AB, HG, CJ and several others.

The outstanding airline was FB (Bulgaria Air).

Qantas was pretty good most of the time and outstanding ex LHR.

CX and BA were disappointing (a stewardess on BA could not help with my small, light cabin bag in J because she had an elbow injury: this was not reassuring as it would have demanded more effort to evacuate a plane in an emergency and I thought that she was not fit for duty… another story).

OS and AC were the worst.

Aiports also played a role in how airlines can look after pax (eg at DXB the QF first hostesses are not allowed to help pax or security give them a really really hard time). Ground staff at LHR have refused to help me up stairs when bussed to the gate...

I think that all airlines should follow Jetblue's training: all staff have to check in and fly as a wheelchair pax and personally experience a lot of other nonstandard travel scenarios so that they really do understand pax needs.

 

[Cynicor]

Precisely the question I have been asking myself! One word, loyalty!

Whenever I see this, I think "old person".

I don't quite understand being loyal to a company that is run at a profit. How on earth does "loyalty" work in this situation?

Unless you meant their "loyalty program" or FFP, I just don't get why people would be loyal to an entity that exists only as a concept.

 

[katiebell]

Whenever I see this, I think "old person".

I don't quite understand being loyal to a company that is run at a profit. How on earth does "loyalty" work in this situation?

Unless you meant their "loyalty program" or FFP, I just don't get why people would be loyal to an entity that exists only as a concept.

Loyalty works, if done properly, as it is cheaper to retain customers or staff than to find new ones. Also, bad reputations and actions spread rapidly and widely. Good ones not so much. Just look at the content of most AFF posts.