- Joined
- Apr 5, 2006
- Posts
- 132
- Qantas
- Platinum
- Virgin
- Platinum
-HI All
Some observations and commentary on recent excursion on QF to HKG on the recently introduced A380 service.
There is no complaining on my part that I scored a $380 each way ticket in whY. Goodness a complete bargain in fact. I have fallen back to QF NB following 3 years of soft landings but have maintained GE on NZ thanks to a plenty of work trips over the past year to the US. I also find that NZ service and lounges are pretty darn good.
This trip also provided the opportunity to travel on the QF A380 model. I have previously enjoyed whY on the UD of the SQ model through SIN on trips to HKG, ZRH and LHR in all honesty… if you have going to fly whY there are very few other comfortable options for self funded travel – I don’t fall in to the paying for premium classes market segment unless work coughs up for it. Adding further woe is that the cheap fares I buy are usually unable to be upgraded with points unless you manage to strike a really helpful customer service person… and occasionally it happens! I head that SQ are removing whY from the UD of the A380... damn!
So, having no status with QF (moved across to the DJ/VA side for my minimal domestic travel). I was however able to grab a year of CX Gold thanks to the Amex Platinum promotion. It was time consuming to determine what benefits you were entitled to at this level but this trip to HKG was a holiday and a no stress trip.
I scored the fabled 80K for both sectors during online seat selection… a solid $20 investment being tall and a devoted non-recliner. And I nearly always end up behind the urgent recliner whenever I travel. Murphy’s law I s’pose!
I rocked up to SYD for check in and looked at the J class check with six counters, two dragons operating and 12 pax waiting patiently. I should have just gone to the whY line but I decide to wait! The whY line opposite was fair pinging along too. The counter dragon became mighty confused as to why I was in front of her…. Crediting miles to QF but using the benefits of CX Emerald (cheap QF tickets do not accrue mileage on CX) - she told me that I was not entitled to do this and I said whatever and smiled. Just make sure my QF number remains in the booking so I can get a little mileage pittance please. She threw my BP at me!
I made a comment that I thought that it was a surprise there was no priority tag on my suitcase and she let me know in no uncertain terms that this was not part of the Oneworld Sapphire deal. “I have been sitting at this desk for thirty years and this is not a benefit. CX don’t do it for us and we don’t do it for them!” OK Mrs…. It was just a comment on my part and somewhat defensive on yours!
Hmmm… having been well and truly out of the Oneworld circle for well over three years now I forgot how the relationship really does not work for you - as much as they want to tell you it does. Oh my goodness… over at Star Alliance you always get extremely well looked after with NZ GE status on AC, UA, US, SQ, TG et al… premium check in, priority bags, lounges, miles, express immigration, noise cancelling headphones, bottles of water, J class amenities and wines. Often there are other little treats that get dropped off to my whY seat in a sneaky onboard duty free bag! This is really consistent across my travel patterns… OD upgrades every now and then but not a lot these days.
Anyway, toddled off to the QF lounge where initially I was told no entry, then on hindsight yes please come in. It was pretty busy and the staff were really helpful and friendly. The Barista could have been better… my short macchiato was nasty but the food was OK and there were even warm pastries and croissants being handed around.
Boarded the plane, waved the CX Emerald card at the Emerald line and was allowed through even though there was some concern at the lowly bronze printed on the BP. Sat down and made myself comfortable. There were 145 passengers in total on the flight! Lots of opportunity to spread out so I blew my $20 but what the hell!
I was in the last section and there were 13 pax on takeoff. We all spread out after so it was great. The sweet young F/A really annoyed me when she said that even though it was empty this SYD/HKG sector was really busy… we have to do two meal services, drinks, snacks, water and ice creams… Poor things. They only had 9½ hours to serve all 13 of us… maybe a few more after takeoff!
Man the aircraft was dirty – greasy marks on the windows, walls and tray tables. The loos were pretty much unspeakable, showing great wear and tear, hand sinks not draining, floors stinky and sticky. The carpet in the cabin had joins that were zippering and there was lots of damage. Not sure what A380 this was, but it had seen better days. The entire plane… dowdy! Nothing fresh about this – green and orange are two colours that might be best left out of aircraft seating plans.
AV nothing special… screen resolution not brilliant. Might want to have a look at NZ latest offer as it really is pretty intuitive to operate and pretty good content.
Service was as expected… ho hum and took forever. Verging on mean with the beverage services… and why does it take so long? There were so many staff too.
Anyway HKG was brilliant as always… love eChannel immigration… why can’t something like that happen in Australia? Caused a minor kerfuffle with a few fellow Aussies who thought that you could use ePassports but the kiosk was saying no!! Sorry people but they needed your previously registered fingerprints and pictures!
On the return.. check in at the QF FFSG/Oneworld Sapphire counter, terribly delightful. So sorry Willie the flight is full but you are in 80K so it should be OK! Thanks for the reassurance. Priority tags applied… there you go Madam Thirty Year veteran down at QF SYD… Do you know where The Pier is Willie??? Why waste time at the nasty QF/BA lounge when you can have a coughtail of sorts, noodles and dumplings at the Long Bar??? Um dumb question!
The trip home… I am sure it was the same dirty plane but this time packed to the rafters. Maybe Uni etc is about to start off but gee… not a spare seat anywhere. Service the same… slow and mean on the beverages. Not a single water run all night, no cup noodles run (it was referred to but never eventuated… I hate those foul things anyway). The self-service snack bars were all locked up…. Wonder why QF talk refer to them so proudly??? Cost cutting? Enhancement? Who knows?
Arrived at SYD, a shambles, AUS/NZ passport lines moving slower than other passports and the APEC line painfully slow… sometimes I wonder why I head there. Last year at SFO I was virtually frogmarched by an immigration official to the head of the line in front of a plane full of SQ girls and a frosty LH A380 crew… privilege plus! 50 mins to get to the front of the taxi queue… sigh… Welcome to Sydney!
Not planning on chasing anymore QF/Oneworld points following this recent re-introduction… I am burning my remaining points on CX to LHR later this year and then it is adios I feel! Star Alliance and their team have it all sorted! Full benefits to all!
You know, I am even keen on looking at Skyteam with CZ and their cheap flights to CDG that you can book the AF code share flights and KE and their smart service. The new aircraft at CZ are as good as QF... haven't heard of any of the issues with regards to their maintenance etc as QF has been having a run of lately! years ago when I loved in China remember joining MUs FF plan - The Golden Swallow! Got to love that!
QF/Oneworld will probably go the way of the dinosaur. All the so called heritage brands are sort of losing the plot
In hindsight... maybe that should be the way of the Dragon?
My two cents worth…
Ooh Roo
Willie…
Some observations and commentary on recent excursion on QF to HKG on the recently introduced A380 service.
There is no complaining on my part that I scored a $380 each way ticket in whY. Goodness a complete bargain in fact. I have fallen back to QF NB following 3 years of soft landings but have maintained GE on NZ thanks to a plenty of work trips over the past year to the US. I also find that NZ service and lounges are pretty darn good.
This trip also provided the opportunity to travel on the QF A380 model. I have previously enjoyed whY on the UD of the SQ model through SIN on trips to HKG, ZRH and LHR in all honesty… if you have going to fly whY there are very few other comfortable options for self funded travel – I don’t fall in to the paying for premium classes market segment unless work coughs up for it. Adding further woe is that the cheap fares I buy are usually unable to be upgraded with points unless you manage to strike a really helpful customer service person… and occasionally it happens! I head that SQ are removing whY from the UD of the A380... damn!
So, having no status with QF (moved across to the DJ/VA side for my minimal domestic travel). I was however able to grab a year of CX Gold thanks to the Amex Platinum promotion. It was time consuming to determine what benefits you were entitled to at this level but this trip to HKG was a holiday and a no stress trip.
I scored the fabled 80K for both sectors during online seat selection… a solid $20 investment being tall and a devoted non-recliner. And I nearly always end up behind the urgent recliner whenever I travel. Murphy’s law I s’pose!
I rocked up to SYD for check in and looked at the J class check with six counters, two dragons operating and 12 pax waiting patiently. I should have just gone to the whY line but I decide to wait! The whY line opposite was fair pinging along too. The counter dragon became mighty confused as to why I was in front of her…. Crediting miles to QF but using the benefits of CX Emerald (cheap QF tickets do not accrue mileage on CX) - she told me that I was not entitled to do this and I said whatever and smiled. Just make sure my QF number remains in the booking so I can get a little mileage pittance please. She threw my BP at me!
I made a comment that I thought that it was a surprise there was no priority tag on my suitcase and she let me know in no uncertain terms that this was not part of the Oneworld Sapphire deal. “I have been sitting at this desk for thirty years and this is not a benefit. CX don’t do it for us and we don’t do it for them!” OK Mrs…. It was just a comment on my part and somewhat defensive on yours!
Hmmm… having been well and truly out of the Oneworld circle for well over three years now I forgot how the relationship really does not work for you - as much as they want to tell you it does. Oh my goodness… over at Star Alliance you always get extremely well looked after with NZ GE status on AC, UA, US, SQ, TG et al… premium check in, priority bags, lounges, miles, express immigration, noise cancelling headphones, bottles of water, J class amenities and wines. Often there are other little treats that get dropped off to my whY seat in a sneaky onboard duty free bag! This is really consistent across my travel patterns… OD upgrades every now and then but not a lot these days.
Anyway, toddled off to the QF lounge where initially I was told no entry, then on hindsight yes please come in. It was pretty busy and the staff were really helpful and friendly. The Barista could have been better… my short macchiato was nasty but the food was OK and there were even warm pastries and croissants being handed around.
Boarded the plane, waved the CX Emerald card at the Emerald line and was allowed through even though there was some concern at the lowly bronze printed on the BP. Sat down and made myself comfortable. There were 145 passengers in total on the flight! Lots of opportunity to spread out so I blew my $20 but what the hell!
I was in the last section and there were 13 pax on takeoff. We all spread out after so it was great. The sweet young F/A really annoyed me when she said that even though it was empty this SYD/HKG sector was really busy… we have to do two meal services, drinks, snacks, water and ice creams… Poor things. They only had 9½ hours to serve all 13 of us… maybe a few more after takeoff!
Man the aircraft was dirty – greasy marks on the windows, walls and tray tables. The loos were pretty much unspeakable, showing great wear and tear, hand sinks not draining, floors stinky and sticky. The carpet in the cabin had joins that were zippering and there was lots of damage. Not sure what A380 this was, but it had seen better days. The entire plane… dowdy! Nothing fresh about this – green and orange are two colours that might be best left out of aircraft seating plans.
AV nothing special… screen resolution not brilliant. Might want to have a look at NZ latest offer as it really is pretty intuitive to operate and pretty good content.
Service was as expected… ho hum and took forever. Verging on mean with the beverage services… and why does it take so long? There were so many staff too.
Anyway HKG was brilliant as always… love eChannel immigration… why can’t something like that happen in Australia? Caused a minor kerfuffle with a few fellow Aussies who thought that you could use ePassports but the kiosk was saying no!! Sorry people but they needed your previously registered fingerprints and pictures!
On the return.. check in at the QF FFSG/Oneworld Sapphire counter, terribly delightful. So sorry Willie the flight is full but you are in 80K so it should be OK! Thanks for the reassurance. Priority tags applied… there you go Madam Thirty Year veteran down at QF SYD… Do you know where The Pier is Willie??? Why waste time at the nasty QF/BA lounge when you can have a coughtail of sorts, noodles and dumplings at the Long Bar??? Um dumb question!
The trip home… I am sure it was the same dirty plane but this time packed to the rafters. Maybe Uni etc is about to start off but gee… not a spare seat anywhere. Service the same… slow and mean on the beverages. Not a single water run all night, no cup noodles run (it was referred to but never eventuated… I hate those foul things anyway). The self-service snack bars were all locked up…. Wonder why QF talk refer to them so proudly??? Cost cutting? Enhancement? Who knows?
Arrived at SYD, a shambles, AUS/NZ passport lines moving slower than other passports and the APEC line painfully slow… sometimes I wonder why I head there. Last year at SFO I was virtually frogmarched by an immigration official to the head of the line in front of a plane full of SQ girls and a frosty LH A380 crew… privilege plus! 50 mins to get to the front of the taxi queue… sigh… Welcome to Sydney!
Not planning on chasing anymore QF/Oneworld points following this recent re-introduction… I am burning my remaining points on CX to LHR later this year and then it is adios I feel! Star Alliance and their team have it all sorted! Full benefits to all!
You know, I am even keen on looking at Skyteam with CZ and their cheap flights to CDG that you can book the AF code share flights and KE and their smart service. The new aircraft at CZ are as good as QF... haven't heard of any of the issues with regards to their maintenance etc as QF has been having a run of lately! years ago when I loved in China remember joining MUs FF plan - The Golden Swallow! Got to love that!
QF/Oneworld will probably go the way of the dinosaur. All the so called heritage brands are sort of losing the plot
In hindsight... maybe that should be the way of the Dragon?
My two cents worth…
Ooh Roo
Willie…
