I think most lounges would probably do better without boarding calls. But given it's sort of ingrained into the culture in Australia now, a bit hard to turn back (you're going to get some rude shocks from long standing members).
Having travelled internationally a fair bit to know there are several lounges that don't do boarding calls (and several partner lounges that don't announce boarding of flights which are not operated by the same airline operating the lounge), I've learned to treat boarding calls as a 'bonus' as it were. And I'm prepared to give up lounge time to ensure that I get to the gate on time, because I don't like running for it, nor do I want to be that person who is holding up the flight from closing out and pushing back.
That doesn't disavow the airline of responsibility
if they so choose to make boarding calls, and certainly if they had control over the FIDS (of which they should take the affirmative action to do so), they should be accurate.
Does that mean I miss out on some lounge time? Maybe... especially if I leave at T-20 for domestic flights (longer when in other countries), or T-45 for international flights. Do I stress out that I actually have to time myself to get to the gate? No... I check my watch because I know I have a flight coming up. A lounge just makes that waiting experience more comfortable. I set an alarm if I need to. What if I arrive at the gate and the flight is delayed further than the FIDS suggest? Oh well, so be it; if there's enough time, go back to the lounge. Is it a big deal? Well, delays happen.
I can't count the number of times I've had flights get close to scheduled boarding, but no call has been made, so I've gone to the lounge desk and asked them about the flight status. (I haven't flown enough VA to do this, but QF I've done it plenty of times, and they will happily look up the status and/or call the gate / service desk if necessary).
Is the airline at
no fault? Definitely not! Are they at complete fault? Definitely not...well, maybe, but you have to admit there's always something we can do to help ourselves.
Am I not normal or an anti-FF due to this behaviour I have? Well, I'd have to admit being a bit oppressed if that were the case, but then so be it. I'm sorry if that's the case.
burmans said:
Maybe not but there have been plenty here suggesting this is JohnK's problem, not the airlines. I'm unsure how they can come to this conclusion quite so conclusively if they regard VA behaviouur as acceptable.
Maybe only because there's also a strong subthread which is misleadingly arguing that somehow passengers should never have to worry about missing their flight, because they will always be told (where it is offered), which seems to then lead on that the passenger suddenly has no responsibility.
Whether that is intentional or not, it's working for and against both sides of the argument.
If anything boils down out of this entire thread that is
actually important, it's that airlines need to provide
at least one reliable, up-to-date source of information for passengers to be able to know when to go to the gate and board their flight (apart from the time printed on their boarding pass, which is subject to change - either way!). Whether this be FIDS, ability to ask at the desk (hopefully not this! - very coughbersome), boarding calls or phone alerts - whatever.
As it stands for VA, they don't seem to have the most reliable systems all around. I was tracking my sister's flight on VA the other day (MEL-BNE) on the VA website. My sister had already landed in BNE and gone to gate, yet the website Flight Status still reported "Flight Operating". :shock: Nuts, really.