Dear Geoff...

[Platy]

Whilst travelling BUSINESS class many times a year I have NEVER EVER witnessed meals being given out to fare paying pax first and then to travelling staff, EVER! That's countless flights so are we saying EVERY crew I have ever travelled with have ignored the QF policy!?

 

[thadocta]

Whilst travelling BUSINESS class many times a year I have NEVER EVER witnessed meals being given out to fare paying pax first and then to travelling staff, EVER! That's countless flights so are we saying EVERY crew I have ever travelled with have ignored the QF policy!?

I flew SYD-MEL in J on the 0800 flight last Saturday morning (Easter Saturday) - was sitting next to a dead-heading CSM in row 3, she was ignored during the meal service, as was the rest of the deadheaders, until those of us who were payng SLC were served. So the rules are followed sometimes, it seems.

Dave

 

[Reggie]

Whilst travelling BUSINESS class many times a year I have NEVER EVER witnessed meals being given out to fare paying pax first and then to travelling staff, EVER! That's countless flights so are we saying EVERY crew I have ever travelled with have ignored the QF policy!?

I flew SYD-MEL in J on the 0800 flight last Saturday morning (Easter Saturday) - was sitting next to a dead-heading CSM in row 3, she was ignored during the meal service, as was the rest of the deadheaders, until those of us who were payng SLC were served. So the rules are followed sometimes, it seems.

Dave

I also fly J, at least once per month return, always PER - MEL, SYD, ADL or BNE and I have to admit the time above was the first I had seen crew bypassed, but it did happen.

 

[JohnK]

Love the recliner Peter. I am glad it happens to other people.

I was a bit tired last night so forget to mention another small issue we had with the aircraft on QF9...

After the IFE system had been going approx 30 minutes, they made an announcement that the games were not working so they were about to reboot the system. This meant those watching movies had to start again.

Secondly, on our "side" of the aircraft (we were sitting on the left hand side), there was no interactive menu system on the IFE. Just a screen saying "Sorry, it's not working right now". So we had to scroll through all of the channels to find what we wanted. Those across the aisle had the menu system working for some reason. :?

It seems like the IFE systems are in poor repair on the 744's.

My QF10 flight SIN-MEL yesterday Friday had similar problems with IFE. Most selections of movies were not available for most patrons but they had the menu options, but my IFE in seat 37D did not have a menu available. They reset 3 or 4 times but still no menu. I could watch about 4 very boring movies, text news which I read about 15 times and flight path. No games. The aircraft was very full but no aisle seat available so it was a very boring and long flight.

 

[justme]

It is a little concerning that QF staff OFF-DUTY can get priority status - I had a flight on EK a few years ago where I sat next to an off duty staff member. She had to rely on a no-show and the captains permission to get the seat in y class next to me (our company policy is to fly OVER in j, but coming home is often open to debate, as they don't see the need to arrive home in a fit state!! And with poor connections on GF from Muscat, apparently arriving home is only an option!).

So is it ONLY a QF issue?

 

[Yada Yada]

My QF10 flight SIN-MEL yesterday Friday had similar problems with IFE. Most selections of movies were not available for most patrons but they had the menu options, but my IFE in seat 37D did not have a menu available. They reset 3 or 4 times but still no menu. I could watch about 4 very boring movies, text news which I read about 15 times and flight path. No games. The aircraft was very full but no aisle seat available so it was a very boring and long flight.

That's a bummer, John. I must say that QF's IFE systems seem to to be the worst of any airline I've flown.

 

[serfty]

My QF10 flight SIN-MEL yesterday Friday had similar problems with IFE. Most selections of movies were not available for most patrons but they had the menu options, but my IFE in seat 37D did not have a menu available. They reset 3 or 4 times but still no menu. I could watch about 4 very boring movies, text news which I read about 15 times and flight path. No games. The aircraft was very full but no aisle seat available so it was a very boring and long flight.

That's a bummer, John. I must say that QF's IFE systems seem to to be the worst of any airline I've flown.

I have a feeling that Qantas are not putting a great deal of effort into fully fixing the IFE on the 744 loop systems given they are due to be replaced by AVOD Mk II (or is that III?) in the next year or so.

 

[jakeseven7]

I flew on QF433 SYD-MEL today, followed by QF9 MEL-SIN, both in J.

QF433 was a 767-338, with 25 seats in the J cabin. My daughter and I occupied seats 5J and 5K, the back row of the cabin.

Surprisingly, at least 14 of the seats in J were occupied by QF staff wearing cabin crew and flight crew uniforms. I could see more in the front row of the Y cabin behind me.

Being in the back row of the J cabin, we were of course served our lunch last. By this stage, there was no choice of meals because everyone else had been served and one of the dishes had run out. They also ran out of dressing for the salad.

And not long after we were served our meal, the QF staffer in the seat in front of my daughter reclined her seat to the full extent.

I would like to know why it is that I as a paying customer, and a Gold level FF, I was assigned to the back row of the cabin while QF staff occupied rows in front of me, and why it seems OK for QF staff to get whatever mean they desire but not have enough for paying customers.

I am also surprised that crew were assigned the front row of the Y cabin. It's likely that there would have been a number of Platinum or Gold FF's on board who would have a forward cabin preference.

Now I'll admit that the issue about the staffer fully reclining just after our meal was served might be considered a minor complaint, but I can tell you it was not a good look to see a QF staffer doing this given the circumstances.

Footnote - as it happened, the QF staffers on Q433 were the crew of QF9 for our flight to Singapore!

Will look forward to hearing QF's response, hope you can post it here soon

 

[Yada Yada]

Will look forward to hearing QF's response, hope you can post it here soon

I will do - although I have not written to them yet. I'll do that when I return home later this week.

 

[JohnK]

Will look forward to hearing QF's response, hope you can post it here soon

I will do - although I have not written to them yet. I'll do that when I return home later this week.

Hey Peter, have you written to QF yet? Would love to hear their response!

 

[Yada Yada]

Hey Peter, have you written to QF yet? Would love to hear their response!

John - finally got around to it late last week. Will keep you posted on whether or not there is a response.

 

[Mish]

I made a complaint last year about the aweful state of domestic A330 so called "Business Class" [what I referred to as Premium economy]. They sent me a $50 David Jones voucher which was nice.

(Incidently I told QF I'd never fly A330 domestic business again and I haven't). Even made a point of flying via another city instead of direct to avoid it.

 

[Yada Yada]

I made a complaint last year about the aweful state of domestic A330 so called "Business Class" [what I referred to as Premium economy]. They sent me a $50 David Jones voucher which was nice.

(Incidently I told QF I'd never fly A330 domestic business again and I haven't). Even made a point of flying via another city instead of direct to avoid it.

Interesting. I must admit that I've enjoyed my flights on domestic A330's more than any other aircraft in the fleet, although I do recall the aircraft was not entirely clean coming out of PER last time, which is similar to my recent experience with DJ out of PER. Maybe the airlines need to change cleaners over there, or do the cabin crews just do a quick tidy up before turn-around?

For my complaint, I'm not looking for any compensation. I'd like QF to give a clear explanation as to why staff travelling pax get the best seats at the expense of FF's and as a result, also get the best service and meal selection. I'm guessing that I won't get a clear explanation.

 

[NM]

I made a complaint last year about the aweful state of domestic A330 so called "Business Class" [what I referred to as Premium economy]. They sent me a $50 David Jones voucher which was nice.

(Incidently I told QF I'd never fly A330 domestic business again and I haven't). Even made a point of flying via another city instead of direct to avoid it.

So what type of aircraft do to choose to fly for domestic business class? Obviously its nice to get a 743 or 767 with Dreamtime seats, of the occasional 744 or A330-300 with Skybeds, but apart from that, the Millennium seats are basically the same on A330-200, 763 (domestic config), and 73H. The only real difference being the 2x3x2 on the A330-200. But so long as you can avoid the E seat I would have expected little difference.

I do very little domestic travel these days, and its normally just a connection on an international itinerary, so for me a Millennium seat is just fine for a 1-2 hour connection to a Skybed for the long-haul flight.

 

[Yada Yada]

Hey Peter, have you written to QF yet? Would love to hear their response!

John - finally got around to it late last week. Will keep you posted on whether or not there is a response.

Anna from Qantas Customer Care phoned while I was out of the office and left a voicemail to say that she was looking into my complaint and would be back in touch soon.

 

[Yada Yada]

Here is the resolution of this issue. Anna from QF Customer Care phoned to say that she had investigated the issues fully and could advise the following:

• It is in the cabin crew award that they always travel in J when flying pax to begin working on another service. The seats are blocked off and therefore if any pax requests an upgrade when checking in, they cannot move the crew into Y.
• With regards to the general issue of seating allocated at the airport during check-in, she said that they have identified some problems and would be refining their procedures soon to improve the process. Perhaps "forward cabin" won't consistently mean row 46 for me!
• The cabin crew on QF433 did the wrong thing in serving our meals last. They should have served all paying pax first and then served the crew. The cabin supervisor on that flight has been advised of the error made that day.
• The crew member who reclined fully during the meal service has been counselled about this. Anna said that crews often have to deal with "recliner" issues during flights so should have known that it can cause a problem and is best avoided on such a short flight for the comfort of the pax behind.
• They are sending my daughter and I each a $50.00 duty free voucher for use on a future flight.

Anna was very apologetic about the issues I had raised and thanked me for making the complaint as they will use it to improve their service.

 

[Damien]

All things considered, a positive response. Good to see.

 

[JohnK]

Anna was very apologetic about the issues I had raised and thanked me for making the complaint as they will use it to improve their service.

Good to hear the positive outcome.

Nice gesture with the duty free vouchers.

 

[straitman]

Anna was very apologetic about the issues I had raised and thanked me for making the complaint as they will use it to improve their service.

Well done Yada Yada,

I've found that I invariably the response is positive if the complaint is reasonable and the explaination of the complaint is one they are able to work with.

It's the nit picky and abusive complaints that don't help our cause. Put things in perspective and remember that the airline is worked by real people with feelings and that we all have bad days on occassions and we can all be happy.

 

[oz_mark]

I made a complaint last year about the aweful state of domestic A330 so called "Business Class" [what I referred to as Premium economy]. They sent me a $50 David Jones voucher which was nice.

(Incidently I told QF I'd never fly A330 domestic business again and I haven't). Even made a point of flying via another city instead of direct to avoid it.

I believe Airbus refer to the 2-3-2 seating configuration as premium economy as well.