re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?
Grateful to QF WP for his feedback back to QF and reporting back to us.
One does what one can for the Community - and I'll admit it is nice to converse with a positive person who is willing to give of their time and engage us. I am looking forward to this being a regular occurrence including others where possible (both on the QF & AFF side)
I would make the observation that what constitutes an "Any Seat Award" going forward is not defined. We can probably book "ASAs" at the call centre till the cows come home, but QF may define them shortly as a category which requires 10x the points as currently. The service would effectively be abolished, but the name would remain.
I'll disagree with you there and no better than to use the words of another member:
It seems to me "the option of Any Seat Awards via the call centre" refers specifically to MASAs, since that's basically what the new number's for...
Regrettably, its come to the situation where one simply can't take Qantas at their word; its spin, spin, spin.
It is always disappointing when two sides of the same transaction lose faith in the words/actions of the other. I don't believe it has got to that point yet. But YMMV.
Also re: . I think "obvious gaps in the knowledge of the call centre staff" is an understatement. What are we - 2 months on? EVERY call should be a success story!
We all think that given a change in policy, all front line staff should be trained immediately and be able to understand and implement the new directions to all client calls. That may be the hope, but one must understand that given the size and breadth of QF's call centres, that requires the training of hundreds of people (full and part-timers, casual, those away on leave [sick, compassionate and long service) cannot be done quickly. I am not aware how QF's training is implemented, but the minimum would be the Q card and I would expect that the supervisors were trained first (and probably had the best knowledge apart from the Platinum and P1 CSA's). If you have ever been trained on something new, the best practice is generally either role playing, dummy bookings in ones own time or live with a client. Given the speed with which this appears to have been implemented, I can understand there are still gaps but they will be closing.
I'm not having a go at you
QF WP 
- I do value your interaction with QF and reporting back; I'm not biting the hand that feeds me (info).
No slight taken RooFlyer. I know I'm merely the messenger and have a modest hide. Debate is healthy and encouraged.
But is there any doubt in your mind that QF is cynically dealing with its customers in shifting on-line mASAs to the phone system, then under-training the call centre operators to make it as difficult as possible to book the damn things? We have been told via multiple sources that there will shortly be a 'review' of the service.
Yes, there is doubt in my mind as I accept what QF have told us was the reason for taking them offline. Now it may not be the only reason, but we need to accept what we cannot change. We can, however, continue to educate them in what we want and see if there is enough groundswell to sway their judgement.
As I questioned before - if there was a NEW charge to be levied on phone access, does anyone honestly think that the phone operators 2 months on would still be allowed by management to be ignorant of levying the charge on callers? Of course not. Yet we are led to believe by Red Roo and others that its "Oops - sorry they haven't been trained enough to waive the mASA booking fee."
Refer to my comments above - I think you're being a little harsh on something that none of us truly understand (unless we work inside a similar sized company). I think our sense of entitlement can get ahead of reality sometimes - and I am as guilty as the next person from time to time
Count me as some-one who has stopped flying QF full stop absolutely because I am pixxed off at the airline because of all this b/s. I did the same when Alan baby grounded his fleet, and fortunately earned top tier status in *A, so I have wide-open choice. For my 6-8 TPACs a year, in paid J, I'm back to Air Canada. They ain't perfect, but at least they aren't Qantas, with the added benefit of not having to go through LAX.
I can relate to your decision as have I for most of this year travelled VA - I only have 80 SC's since 1 March (1 flight in J IIRC), but now that I have re-qualified VA Plat in 7 months, I am back to QF for some of my flying to ensure I re-qual Gold. I see QF's issues on par with VA's Sabre issues. As you said, they ain't perfect - but I have a BNE/MEL/PER/MEL/BNE trip in 2 weeks (in J) [my JASA and the return courtesy of the recent Business class sale fare). I have yet to book a mASA, but when I have sufficient points, I'll be hopping on the phone to try out the Call Centre like every other AFF'er
Phew. That was a glass and a half effort
.
