Following is an email i sent to customer care 2 months ago....as yet no reply. This is the final straw....cya qantas.
I arrived into NYC last night after a very unpleasant flight on QF 11 and QF3047, all due to my seating preferences being ignored yet again.
I don't expect much from the FF program, being able to check in quickly then have something close to my seating preference (forward window seat) is all I really look for. However 2 out of the last three times I have been to the USA this has not happened.
Once on board I realised I had been allocated 34D, I went and spoke to the crew who asked me to wait to speak to the cabin supervisor. Steve came and saw me and said he would do his best to find me another seat.
The flight was quite full but Steve managed to find me 73K after moving some passengers around (I was not aware of this at the time but soon would be). I was not happy being at the very back of the aircraft but Steve mentioned that there was no one stitting next to me so I would have some room. Due to the flight being full I could see there was no other option and Steve really had done everything that he could.
Just prior to take off a rather large man walked over to me and asked why I had taken "his" seat. I explained that I was moved from another location etc....He was very upset that he had been moved from 73K and was now in a row of 5 while I had 2 seats to myself. He promptly sat next to me and kept on voicing his dis-satisfaction with me for some time. He was a rather tall man and due to the metal box under the aisle seat he could not extend his legs in front of him so he took up over 50% of my legroom.
I felt extremely uncomfortable and incredibly angry that I had been put in this position, not by Steve but by qantas's failure to get something as simple a s seat allocation correct. Steve mentioned to me that I was one of 5 QFF Platinum members in the main cabin, I would have thought that my seating preference would have had some priority.
I spent 13 very uncomfortable hours, not only physically but emotionally as the wanker next to me reminded me that I was in his seat about 12 times during the flight.
The reason I ask for a forward seat on international flights is to ensure I get to immigration asap. Seat 73k was not helpful, QF11 was delayed in sydney and I had 75 mins to get my connection to Newark. of course the line at immigration was huge, again I had to beg with the customs official to get me to the front of the line to catch my flight. I managed to do this and just made my flight I time. Once aboard QF3047 yet again my seating preference was not in place, allocated 21E I spent the next 5 hours sitting between some very large people, the flight was full so there was no chance of moving.
All up I spent close to 20 incredibly uncomfortable hours due my seat allocation not being delivered. Like most people i don't want to complain, i hate having to cause problems and in this case i know i caused Steve a considerable amiunt of grief as he had to shift other people around....i just want to get on board, get somfortable and get on with getting to my destination. I found the whole experience highly embarassing and it got worse when i discovered other passengers had been shifted so that i could a window seat.
It seems Qantas only cares when I purchase a business class fare, I fly once every 6 weeks business class to Tokyo and get my seating preference but my company will not pay the $12,000 + for bus class to the USA. I fly Qantas in the hope my status will make the flight bearable and I upgrade with points when I have enough in my points balance.
I truly am at the end of my tether here, I have been a loyal customer for some time (Platinum FF for 5 years running) but I really don't see the point any longer. The value of the QFF program has been dramatically eroded over the last 4 years, other airlines have better programs and I can tell you without a doubt (from flying a number of sectors this year with Air NZ and Virgin to HKG) they look after their top tier customers significantly better than I have experienced over the last 12 months on Qantas.
I do not want an apology or it won't happen again etc, I want to know what qantas is going to do to about the situation the airline place me in over the last 24 hours and what they will do to ensure it does not happen again.
Stephen
QFF $#@#$#$#
I arrived into NYC last night after a very unpleasant flight on QF 11 and QF3047, all due to my seating preferences being ignored yet again.
I don't expect much from the FF program, being able to check in quickly then have something close to my seating preference (forward window seat) is all I really look for. However 2 out of the last three times I have been to the USA this has not happened.
Once on board I realised I had been allocated 34D, I went and spoke to the crew who asked me to wait to speak to the cabin supervisor. Steve came and saw me and said he would do his best to find me another seat.
The flight was quite full but Steve managed to find me 73K after moving some passengers around (I was not aware of this at the time but soon would be). I was not happy being at the very back of the aircraft but Steve mentioned that there was no one stitting next to me so I would have some room. Due to the flight being full I could see there was no other option and Steve really had done everything that he could.
Just prior to take off a rather large man walked over to me and asked why I had taken "his" seat. I explained that I was moved from another location etc....He was very upset that he had been moved from 73K and was now in a row of 5 while I had 2 seats to myself. He promptly sat next to me and kept on voicing his dis-satisfaction with me for some time. He was a rather tall man and due to the metal box under the aisle seat he could not extend his legs in front of him so he took up over 50% of my legroom.
I felt extremely uncomfortable and incredibly angry that I had been put in this position, not by Steve but by qantas's failure to get something as simple a s seat allocation correct. Steve mentioned to me that I was one of 5 QFF Platinum members in the main cabin, I would have thought that my seating preference would have had some priority.
I spent 13 very uncomfortable hours, not only physically but emotionally as the wanker next to me reminded me that I was in his seat about 12 times during the flight.
The reason I ask for a forward seat on international flights is to ensure I get to immigration asap. Seat 73k was not helpful, QF11 was delayed in sydney and I had 75 mins to get my connection to Newark. of course the line at immigration was huge, again I had to beg with the customs official to get me to the front of the line to catch my flight. I managed to do this and just made my flight I time. Once aboard QF3047 yet again my seating preference was not in place, allocated 21E I spent the next 5 hours sitting between some very large people, the flight was full so there was no chance of moving.
All up I spent close to 20 incredibly uncomfortable hours due my seat allocation not being delivered. Like most people i don't want to complain, i hate having to cause problems and in this case i know i caused Steve a considerable amiunt of grief as he had to shift other people around....i just want to get on board, get somfortable and get on with getting to my destination. I found the whole experience highly embarassing and it got worse when i discovered other passengers had been shifted so that i could a window seat.
It seems Qantas only cares when I purchase a business class fare, I fly once every 6 weeks business class to Tokyo and get my seating preference but my company will not pay the $12,000 + for bus class to the USA. I fly Qantas in the hope my status will make the flight bearable and I upgrade with points when I have enough in my points balance.
I truly am at the end of my tether here, I have been a loyal customer for some time (Platinum FF for 5 years running) but I really don't see the point any longer. The value of the QFF program has been dramatically eroded over the last 4 years, other airlines have better programs and I can tell you without a doubt (from flying a number of sectors this year with Air NZ and Virgin to HKG) they look after their top tier customers significantly better than I have experienced over the last 12 months on Qantas.
I do not want an apology or it won't happen again etc, I want to know what qantas is going to do to about the situation the airline place me in over the last 24 hours and what they will do to ensure it does not happen again.
Stephen
QFF $#@#$#$#
