Experiences on Qantas staff travel

[DC3]

…. I’ve flown Brisbane to Sydney in business class for $70

And welcome to AFF

 

[DAC1]

As a Qantas staff travel beneficiary group E, I find it fantastic! You monitor the flight loads on the website via your phone…

For what it’s worth, if you are a group E beneficiary (or any beneficiary for that matter), you should not be able to monitor flight loads yourself.

It is a condition of staff travel that a staff member cannot provide their username and password to any beneficiary. So even if you have been given those credentials, it would be best if you did not broadcast that widely.

 

[Angelo1671]

Respectfully, I don't think we can provide an answer here since people's preferences for standby travel vary greatly. Are you the type of person who can deal with delayed gratification, not knowing when you'll travel? Are you a spontaneous traveller who can drop everything and hop on a flight last minute making reservations as you go? Another key consideration would also be the size of the discount compared to how much you would pay had you bought the ticket early or redeemed miles for said ticket along with whether you would earn status credits, frequent flyer points or have access to Qantas Premium Services (i.e. lounge access if you have Gold or above).

-RooFlyer88

Hey! Quick one… I had been using a friend’s Group A beneficiary but have been downgraded recently to Group E so he could let his mum travel and visit him. What would be the difference between these two groups, and do I now have lower priority?

 

[jb747]

Hey! Quick one… I had been using a friend’s Group A beneficiary but have been downgraded recently to Group E so he could let his mum travel and visit him. What would be the difference between these two groups, and do I now have lower priority?

Yes.

 

[brett-au]

Hey! Quick one… I had been using a friend’s Group A beneficiary but have been downgraded recently to Group E so he could let his mum travel and visit him. What would be the difference between these two groups, and do I now have lower priority?

I thought Mums and Dads were automatically included.

 

[DAC1]

I thought Mums and Dads were automatically included.

Not as Group A.

 

[CaptJCool]

Seems there’s lot of <perks> in the travel industry

I’d like 10% airfares too please

<anyway> AFF helping us all achieve that aspiration

Fly More, Pay Less
Doglegs
Points earners
Etc etc

 

[RichardMEL]

Yeah but remember ID75 and 90 type fares, as I understand it, are discounted off the full fare of the cabin and, probably more importantly, standby.... (happy to be corrected on that)

 

[DAC1]

Yeah but remember ID75 and 90 type fares, as I understand it, are discounted off the full fare of the cabin and, probably more importantly, standby.... (happy to be corrected on that)

This is all broadly correct (and about as much as a public forum needs to know).

 

[QF WP]

Ah yes, the days of QEA and QEB fares - my first wife worked for QF. Whilst the fare prices were great, having to book multiple carriers for international and be acutely aware of loads (to know whether we were likely to get on) - no I don’t miss it.

A number of times after weekends away, trying to get home we were bumped from flights. I missed a number of important meetings (board and clients). Don’t miss that…

Years later, I was going out with a QF Intl FA (Jenny) who I met on a BKK/SYD flight. She was one of the greeters at the front door. The attraction was mutual. I was upstairs in J and she was working downstairs in F, so her FA colleague serving me asked if I wanted to talk with her at the bottom of the stairs during her break. Of course I said yes. Months later, I flew one of her trips (SYD/SIN/PER/HKG/SYD) as a fare paying passenger (in Y) and I was paired with the same colleagues husband (we had organised it). The CSM was Ray Wines, lovely guy and a voice for announcements. He found out during the first leg where I was and came to chat to me. As I had access to F lounge, he asked me to take the colleagues husband with me to the Lounge and be the last to board. Needless to say, he’d tell us where to sit in J on each flight, where we’d be looked after by the crew

That was the closest I came to staff travel again.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Ah yes, the days of QEA and QEB fares - my first wife worked for QF. Whilst the $ was great, having to book multiple carriers for international and be acutely aware of loads (to know whether we were likely to get on) - no I don’t miss it.

A number of times after weekends away, trying to get home we were bumped from flights. I missed a number of important meetings (board and clients). Don’t miss that…

Years later, I was going out with a QF Intl FA (Jenny) who I met on a BKK/SYD flight. She was one of the greeters at the front door. The attraction was mutual. I was upstairs in J and she was working downstairs in F, so her FA colleague serving me asked if I wanted to talk with her at the bottom of the stairs during her break. Of course I said yes. Months later, I flew one of her trips (SYD/SIN/PER/HKG/SYD) as a fare paying passenger (in Y) and I was paired with the same colleagues husband (we had organised it). The CSM was Ray Wines, lovely guy and a voice for announcements. He found out during the first leg where I was and came to chat to me. As I had access to F lounge, he asked me to take the colleagues husband with me to the Lounge and be the last to board. Needless to say, he’d tell us where to sit in J on each flight, where we’d be looked after by the crew

That was the closest I came to staff travel again.

And that, dear AFFers, is how a moderator stared the “love is in the air” thread.

Full of interesting secrets you are @QF WP !

 

[flyingfan]

I'm intrigued by what other things there are that have to stay out of a public forum

I just know there are massive discounts (apparently even freebies in some cases), but it's on standby and people mightn't make it onto a flight at all

Maybe one day I can meet someone in the know and they can let me in on it somewhat

 

[TheInsider]

I'm intrigued by what other things there are that have to stay out of a public forum

I just know there are massive discounts (apparently even freebies in some cases), but it's on standby and people mightn't make it onto a flight at all

Maybe one day I can meet someone in the know and they can let me in on it somewhat

What are you looking to know? It's not confidential nor necessarily secret information.

 

[RichardMEL]

Iirc there's also a general expectation with some carriers to meet a certain minimim dress code - specially for premium cabins - thiugh that may more apply for "Buddy Passes" attached to Staff travel?

I've flown on exactly one pass from a mate in the US over twenty years ago to fly on an airline that no longer exists lol. Armt any rate, he ran me through a lot of do's and don'ts about it, and the flight was half empty, but it was still basically standby til boarding. I got to fly on a fairly rare beast though so it was worth iit!

I know many staff travellers on various airlines who have told variations on thenes of what has been noted by other posts above. On popular routes, you iften need multiple backup plans, awareness of options to get from A to B may be via C, D and E, to be flexible and prepared for a lot of waiting.

Yes, of course, one can often lyck out and get a premium seat and such, but just as much it seems - and specially with lower boarding priorities, and be left behind - specially if weather starts wreaking havoc and the like.

It can be a great perk definitely, but it's not always as easy or glamorous as it may seem.

(My opinions based on experience and knowing a fair number of airline employees doing staff travel over decades)

 

[RichardMEL]

Btw, just remembered, I was on QF MEL-SYD a few weeks back and two guys behind me (yes in J) were quite loudly (well enough for me to hear without trying) discussing options for staff travel. I think they may have been with JQ, but don't know for sure. One was discussing plans to try to get to Oshkosh for the air show and were talking about strategies and options.. eg the 787 to DFW or try the 380 to LAX and on, how many days ahead to try specially as he wanted to take his son, and so on. I didn't catch all of it as I was concentrating on other things, but I did hear one part of a story about trying to get seats for family members allocated together and it was hard but fortunately they snagged middle bulkhead seats in Y for some flight and considered that a massive win.

Point being, it's not always simple. Specially for int.

 

[Eastwick20]

I was speaking to a ( fairly high up ) QF staff member recently and he said for the most part he and the colleagues just wait for sale fares like everyone else and book a revenue ticket ,trying to get staff travel is just not worth the stress and hassle apparently.

 

[dairyfloss]

I've had friends who were at a reasonably senior level within QF, and so were able to access F class at 10%, but in doing so, they also were delayed or got stranded for a period of time on just about every trip they took! They had younger kids at the time, and would take them to visit family in Europe in/around school holidays, and I recall there was one time they didn't get home until about 2 weeks after they had planned, in separate cabins and on separate flights. I couldn't do that; I need to know I'm going out and coming back when I need to - standard delays or operational issues aside. Thankfully as it was visiting family, they didn't have ground/hotel booking issues to deal with at the destination, but still...

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[Daver6]

I was speaking to a ( fairly high up ) QF staff member recently and he said for the most part he and the colleagues just wait for sale fares like everyone else and book a revenue ticket ,trying to get staff travel is just not worth the stress and hassle apparently.

Same experience with my cousin who is a QF pilot. Just too much hassle of rely on staff travel for a family holiday.

 

[Robert K]

Taxes and fees also different depending on your group. Sometimes virgin flights are cheaper than the out of pocket fees.

 

[jb747]

I was speaking to a ( fairly high up ) QF staff member recently and he said for the most part he and the colleagues just wait for sale fares like everyone else and book a revenue ticket ,trying to get staff travel is just not worth the stress and hassle apparently.

Same experience with my cousin who is a QF pilot. Just too much hassle of rely on staff travel for a family holiday.

Staff travel was largely ruined under the last (or is it still current) management. I can still access it, right up to first class, and I even have some long service (i.e. free) flights left. It's such a good deal that I'm looking at forking out $8,000 to Singair.

It's not 10% of the fare either. It's a percentage of a random number that they made up, that they call the fares. If it works, it's good value, but you don't need to be delayed for very long, for the accommodation cost (and probably flights on another airline) to offset any potential savings.