Gold/Platinum status devalued

[ferntree]

The post-pandemic decision to open lounges at regional airports such as Hobart only one hour before QF flight departures has seriously devalued the value of gold/platinum status for people like myself. With schedules being trimmed to the bone in most cases, Jetstar is in more often than not a more realistic option - when the Qantas Club is closed.

I suspect that this isn't just a HBA issue, but likely applies at other airports outside the golden triangle.

No doubt this policy saves Qantas $$$$. But it comes at the cost of devaluing customer loyalty.

Ironically, it was lack of a Virgin lounge at HBA which was the main reason I switched to Qantas about 15 years ago. Now that that competitive advantage is effectively neutralised, the grass starts to look a lot greener on the other side ....

 

[DC3]

The post-pandemic decision to open lounges at regional airports such as Hobart only one hour before QF flight departures has seriously devalued the value of gold/platinum status for people like myself…

Rather disappointing. From memory, the HBA lounge was nothing special, although much better than nothing. Are the loadings or flight numbers really that bad in HBA?

 

[CaptJCool]

Oh so they’re still putting the CLOSED sign on the QF Club in Hobart (was going on in Dec 2017 when I last visited)

All airports outside the east coast triangle suffers this. Not a lot of incentive to chase status when half your flights are in the general lounge or worse, you get the LOCKED door....

 

[ferntree]

Rather disappointing. From memory, the HBA lounge was nothing special, although much better than nothing. Are the loadings or flight numbers really that bad in HBA?

Yes, it is spectacularly unspecial, but infinitely preferable to the general concourse.

As an example, tomorrow there are 7 Qantas flights (which tend to be in clusters, very early morning, late afternoon), 8 Jetstar flights (of which one will coincide with lounge opening hours) and 8 Virgin flights.

Many if not most QF flights are now economy class only, which again pushes the business traveller towards Virgin.

 

[ZigZagWanderer]

That is despicable. How are you supposed to abuse a lounge properly in only one hour? Heck, 30 minutes really, because boarding starts then.

I usually like to go for afternoon departures and arrive a good three hours beforehand, just to get nicely blotto (assuming I'm not driving soon), and don't eat all day to maximise food benefits. Especially for international flights, when you often get really good stuff.

 

[ozmouse]

same same... we were there last sunday. morning flight to melbs. 1030ish. lounge closed. no sign. no times.

there 2 flights within the hour. and a jetstar flight was cancelled!

theres the value.... i was lucky enough to fly on flight i have booked ... albeit 30 min late.

 

[jase05]

Many if not most QF flights are now economy class only, which again pushes the business traveller towards Virgin

VA missed a trick not getting even a basic lounge in HBA but I guess at the end of the day I’d rather spend an hour at a cafe for a J seat home than have lounge access and be stuck in Y

 

[RooFlyer]

personally I don’t think the HBA Lounge is better than the general concourse when it’s close to flight time and absolutely chockers. I’ll happily find a seat on the table out in the concourse somewhere and read and have a drink and wait to the flight. A packed lounge is not a pleasant lounge.

and of course the shortened lounge hours is not the only point of devaluation of Qantas gold and platinum membership.

 

[Quickstatus]

Platinum is the new bronze

 

[drron]

Platinum is the new bronze

But bronze has also been devalued although we get to wait hours on the phone wondering which OS country we may get to speak to today.

 

[Quickstatus]

bronze has also been devalued

Bronze is the new paper Tier

 

[ChrisFlyer]

I saw a post recently from a VA Platinum member saying the Perth lounge doesn't bother opening for the red eye flights to the east coast, because there's such a gap in flight schedules from about 6:30pm until the red eye. So Qantas actually opening their lounge an hour before each flight sounds better than VA's approach of not bothering in that case - albeit an isolated issue.

Of course, whether that's an issue depends on whether you fly from PER. Just flagging that it's not all sweet and peachy on the other side!

 

[ferntree]

Of course, whether that's an issue depends on whether you fly from PER.

Thank you.

My point is that is that one of the theoretical advantages that Qantas has over Virgin f or me is that it has a larger regional lounge network, including at my home airport, Hobart. This of course needs to be balanced against other factors such as fare levels (Virgin J usually no more than 50% of Qantas) and call centre accessibility.

That particular advantage doesn't really carry much weight if more often than not the lounge is closed when I want to use it.