How to totally waste 60,000 points in 21 hours!!

[JohnK]

Should it be so then that humans should be perfect as a minimum? Let us severely punish or slap around the head those who make mistakes, no matter how minor. Wow...I'm liking this new society already.... (short version: dumb statement and hypocritical)

I am sorry if you feel people who should be providing a "premium service" consistently all the time (perhaps like robots) are allowed to have a bad day anytime they feel like it.

And again I am sorry there is no excuse for bad service. If they are having personal issues and feel they cannot do their job then have a day off sick or take stress leave or paid leave or whatever. Do not take it out on the customer. Not good enough even for us less than perfect human beings.

More like very slow - your argument holds a lot less credence the longer you lodge the complaint from the time that it happened, because it's harder to dig back and do the accountability matching. That someone who complains extremely bitterly about something and do not tell those responsible is also a mistake.

Guilty as charged. And to be honest I am not expecting anything but it still does not take away from the fact that it was one of my worst ever economy flights on any carrier.

 

[anat0l]

I am sorry if you feel people who should be providing a "premium service" consistently all the time (perhaps like robots) are allowed to have a bad day anytime they feel like it.

And again I am sorry there is no excuse for bad service. If they are having personal issues and feel they cannot do their job then have a day off sick or take stress leave or paid leave or whatever. Do not take it out on the customer. Not good enough even for us less than perfect human beings.

Perhaps communication is a problem here.

The way I read your post in contention was that you were implying premium service carriers should be perfect all of the time, or to quote verbatim

A "full service" carrier is not allowed to get anything wrong

"Consistent" does not mean perfect. It does imply it should happen a lot of the time (near 100%), but perfect, a.k.a. how I read your "not allowed to get anything wrong", means 100%. If we expected that of all humans I think that is impossible.

That said, of course there is still something to be said when humans (or airlines) in this case get something wrong. Like I said, it is not because perfect is a minimum standard, but because they could do better and of course something in the delivery of the product has not been made. This is the reason why and it is subtly (but importantly) different to the expectation that every premium service carrier must be absolutely perfect.

Also as I said every cabin crew should be expected to meet a minimum service standard. That minimum does change as a function of airline and customer, but like other loose terms such as 'ethics' and 'freedom' we as humans are good enough to know where service has dipped below a minimum and where it has been exceeded. We can conclude, for example, that it is a minimum that a cabin crew should not be rude to a customer (and let us not get into the short sighted argument that any service deviation can be equated to rudeness, because that's not true).

So I ask the OP: were the FAs rude? If they were, we legitimately have another grounds of complaint. If not then we can conclude that they certainly didn't exceed the expectations of the OP. If the AVOD was faulty but the FAs were not rude, why should the FAs be sacked or reprimanded? Whether you think it is befitting to sack the FAs on account of not providing the OP with a bottle of water is up to you.

If we replaced all the FAs with robots we might have a chance at 100% delivery of appropriate service at good levels. Mind you, what would a robot FA say to you if they couldn't fix the AVOD?

 

[drron]

Well I have had 2 JAL sectors with malfunctioning AVOD.When an AAEXP I automatically got a 15000 Yen voucher,as AA plat a 10000 yen voucher.Both times mrsdrron got a 10000 yen voucher as an AA plat.
Now one can make comments on where this has led JAL but I feel this should be the norm if Legacy carriers do want to prosper.

 

[anat0l]

Well I have had 2 JAL sectors with malfunctioning AVOD.When an AAEXP I automatically got a 15000 Yen voucher,as AA plat a 10000 yen voucher.Both times mrsdrron got a 10000 yen voucher as an AA plat.
Now one can make comments on where this has led JAL but I feel this should be the norm if Legacy carriers do want to prosper.

What class and what kind of tickets (cash, xONEx sector, points, upgrade etc.?)

Not bad compensation but I bet it comes no where near the price of any ticket for either or both of those sectors.

 

[newformula]

I was on this same flight back from JFK-SYD but in Y, and yes, the AVOD sucked. It also failed for me several times on the way over a couple of weeks earlier. However, QF staff were great looking after us both, including blocking off bulkhead on the way out for my +1 and treating her with compassion on the way home when she felt rough.

I wrote to compliment them on their service, as well as have a small moan about AVOD being less than great on both legs, and I received a great voucher in the post, which was completely unexpected. I went from mildly jaded to completely satisfied, so well done QF.

 

[drron]

What class and what kind of tickets (cash, xONEx sector, points, upgrade etc.?)

Not bad compensation but I bet it comes no where near the price of any ticket for either or both of those sectors.

Both on DONE4s,both overnights where i slept.Once didn't even realise the system was down.

 

[taswegian77]

Thanks for the help with the refreshments. I would like to know if my limited experience in F is common. As WP I already have access to check in, luggage, F lounge etc. The walk to the galley was after my call button was ignored.
I don't want any financial compensation from Qantas, but my points were wasted on this particular upgrade. I would like to know if this was a one off or should I just stay back in J and save my points for domestic upgrades?

I can honestly say I have flown F on QF many times and never experienced anything like you mentioned so I would say it was a) one off and b) crew member who had a bad day maybe. Trust me for a F passenger they woudl find a bottle of water somewhere. but i always drink bubbles which never run out.

 

[JetLagged]

I can honestly say I have flown F on QF many times and never experienced anything like you mentioned so I would say it was a) one off and b) crew member who had a bad day maybe. Trust me for a F passenger they woudl find a bottle of water somewhere. but i always drink bubbles which never run out.

A bad personal day should NOT interfer with their working day, taswgian - I have to agree with you regarding the normal level of service in F - regardless of whether I have been there as a paying or a points upgrade passenger, I have NEVER found the service to by anything but impeccable.

 

[taswegian77]

A bad personal day should NOT interfer with their working day, taswgian - I have to agree with you regarding the normal level of service in F - regardless of whether I have been there as a paying or a points upgrade passenger, I have NEVER found the service to by anything but impeccable.

Yes totally agree about having a bad day, not acceptable. I woudl still provide feedback to QF about the experience, I woudlnto demand anything but just let them knwo you rdispleasure in a nice way. I find I always get a personal phone call back thanking me and sometimes get a reward. Once the AVOD did nto work but just on my seat only, can you beleive it weird and the plance was fulyl booked so I icould nto be moved, so they gave me a $250 flower drum voucher, I was impressed.

 

[markis10]

Why dont people escalate any issues to the CSM if they are not happy with what happened rather than sitting there fuming, in my opinion thats what the CSM is there for and on behalf of Qantas is probably the best person to make a judgement on corrective action. Worst case is your complaint will be documented, best case is your problems are dealt with before their magnitude grows.

 

[taswegian77]

Why dont people escalate any issues to the CSM if they are not happy with what happened rather than sitting there fuming, in my opinion thats what the CSM is there for and on behalf of Qantas is probably the best person to make a judgement on corrective action. Worst case is your complaint will be documented, best case is your problems are dealt with before their magnitude grows.

Well I would have assumed they did and nothing changed for them. I know from personal experience I always make sure I am known to the CSM, well in F they normally seek me out for a nice chat and hello. Even in J and PE and soemtimes in Y I have had the pleasure of them coming to me and saying hello etc. I always seek them out if I have an issue. I fly QF at least 80+ sectors on average a year and maybe I experience about 2-3 issues per year. I think that is a good ratio. Mayeb some peoples expectations are so much higher than mine.

 

[markis10]

I am not saying the OP did not escalate it to the CSM, it is just something that never gets mentioned on the many complaint threads when to me its the logical way of trying to solve a problem.

 

[taswegian77]

I am not saying the OP did not escalate it to the CSM, it is just something that never gets mentioned on the many complaint threads when to me its the logical way of trying to solve a problem.

agreed and so true actually. I guess a chain of thought (one I do not subscribe to) is that if they get a CSM involved it could make their trip even worse if the CSM takes action that causes that attendant to get worse because they received a complaint. I agree you need to talk to the CSM, then follow that up with a comment to QF that is non emotive.

 

[JetLagged]

Why dont people escalate any issues to the CSM if they are not happy with what happened ...

In my experience it is the CSM who, especially with the IFE systems, is busily trying to reboot it, etc etc etc - have had instances where only a few seats were affected - thankfully the A380 uses a more advance system which seems (to date, touch wood) to have a much better success rate (and so it should being so new!)

 

[markis10]

In my experience it is the CSM who, especially with the IFE systems, is busily trying to reboot it, etc etc etc - have had instances where only a few seats were affected - thankfully the A380 uses a more advance system which seems (to date, touch wood) to have a much better success rate (and so it should being so new!)

Same goes for me, and if its not fixed, again ask the CSM to note it against your seat number unless its the whole flight, its other issues related to service etc that I was referring to where the CSM rarely gets a mention.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

To the OP.... the AVOD was a problem that should be redressed with compensation. I would say a minimum of $250.

Otherwise - the 60K upgrade was delivered as promised with all the other benefits. Sometimes little things like water bottles can run out - that's no biggie.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I can honestly say I have flown F on QF many times and never experienced anything like you mentioned so I would say it was a) one off and b) crew member who had a bad day maybe. Trust me for a F passenger they woudl find a bottle of water somewhere. but i always drink bubbles which never run out.

Taswegian, as a Glaswegian I agree with you. Thanks to the many people who replied to my post. I have decided to accept this under par service as a one off. From now on I will stick to the bubbles!