I have had enough.... [Offloaded after Flight not called in VA lounge]

[lovestotravel]

I'm not advocating there be no lounges. I'm simply saying, lounge or not, its upto each individual to be at the gate on time. If the majority of travellers can do it, why are those sitting in lounges any different?

If you are sitting at the departure gate and you miss your flight I'd say you have more problems than just missing your flight...........

 

[Conrad_S]

The boards at T2 are showing the QFlink flight to PQQ as boarding through gate 31. I asked at desk if it had switched teams but they assured me 58 and all was well

 

[JohnK]

The boards at T2 are showing the QFlink flight to PQQ as boarding through gate 31. I asked at desk if it had switched teams but they assured me 58 and all was well

Is that a case of some oxygen thief getting paid to do an inadequate job?

I do not quite understand what mechanism , if any, is used to update the boards and why it is so difficult to keep them up to date.

 

[Conrad_S]

Is that a case of some oxygen thief getting paid to do an inadequate job?

I do not quite understand what mechanism , if any, is used to update the boards and why it is so difficult to keep them up to date.

Well it is hard to see how it would be acceptable to have your flight boarding through your main competitors gate. I wondered if there were people sitting over there waiting to board. It would be a sprint once you realised.

 

[JohnK]

Well it is hard to see how it would be acceptable to have your flight boarding through your main competitors gate. I wondered if there were people sitting over there waiting to board. It would be a sprint once you realised.

If that was my father he would have no idea which gate was for which airline. So if he was on your flight he would be waiting at gate 31 based on those boards.

Anyway some people think everything is fine and everyone should know what to do with incorrect information displayed.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Anyway some people think everything is fine and everyone should know what to do with incorrect information displayed.

Well, when a plane full of people are at the wrong gate, or rather a plane full of people are NOT at the right gate, im sure the correct information will flow.

Alternatively, we can just blame the Gubbermint for all our woes.

 

[lovestotravel]

Well, when a plane full of people are at the wrong gate, or rather a plane full of people are NOT at the right gate, im sure the correct information will flow.

Why ?

We have already established that the majority of people wait at the gate and don't have lounge access

 

[SeatBackForward]

Why ?

We have already established that the majority of people wait at the gate and don't have lounge access

Your point is what exactly? They can be waiting at the wrong gate. If enough people are at the wrong gate I'm sure even the airlines get worried.

 

[JohnK]

Well, when a plane full of people are at the wrong gate, or rather a plane full of people are NOT at the right gate, im sure the correct information will flow.

Alternatively, we can just blame the Gubbermint for all our woes.

I have absolutely no idea what point you are trying to take.

My father is not a frequent traveller and relies on the information on the boards to be correct. He is not as smart as you and one time waited at the gate that was mentioned on the boards when he arrived at the airport. At some point in time he realised that something was wrong and asked and they informed him that there was a gate change.

It is not that much to expect the boards to be up to date. All the time. And yes I know not everyone misses their flights but there are a lot of close calls.

If there is someone employed to keep these boards up to date then they have failed and need to employ someone who will do the job they are paid. Working at the airport is not a social activity as some airport staff think. It is actually a very serious job with may responsibilities.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I have absolutely no idea what point you are trying to take.

The point I'm making is, that, if the indicators are showing the wrong gate, then it is likely that the majority of passengers will be waiting at the wrong gate also. The airline is likely to notice that the plane load of people that should be at the correct gate, arent actually there. At that point they are likely to take the corrective action. Be it changing the indicators, making announcements or walking over to the wrong gate and making the announcement.

I'd say its highly unlikely the airline would simply shrug their shoulders and say "hmm most of them are no-shows"

My father is not a frequent traveller and relies on the information on the boards to be correct. He is not as smart as you and one time waited at the gate that was mentioned on the boards when he arrived at the airport. At some point in time he realised that something was wrong and asked and they informed him that there was a gate change.

Whats not smart about that? I'm sure he wasn't the only one that happened to on that occassion. Even if I was somehow particuarly smart, I probably would have done the same thing as your father. In fact I'm certain in the past I *have* done the same thing.

It is not that much to expect the boards to be up to date. All the time. And yes I know not everyone misses their flights but there are a lot of close calls.

If there is someone employed to keep these boards up to date then they have failed and need to employ someone who will do the job they are paid. Working at the airport is not a social activity as some airport staff think. It is actually a very serious job with may responsibilities.

Most jobs come with many responsibilities....I highly doubt someones sole responsibility is to monitor the indicators, they are likely to be all fed off some computer system, which can be updated or manually overridden as required. How reliable are they? fairly reliable ?, I wouldn't say 100% reliable, which is why you need to use other indicators to confirm their accuracy. A gate without a plane load of people waiting to board is a good one.

Out of interest, what other sources of information do you expect to be 100% accurate. All the time?

 

[JohnK]

Out of interest, what other sources of information do you expect to be 100% accurate. All the time?

My bank account balance. So if i have AUD22,000 available to withdraw the ATM does not decline my withdrawl with an insufficient funds message.

And yes it has happened to me many times and on some of these occasions I actually needed the money and then needed to find alternate sources. Not good especially when you are overseas.

I am sure you can think of other situations without me prompting you....

 

[robd]

IMO, this dissatisfaction with flight information should be directed at whomever controls the FIDS. I am a lounge newcomer and still suffer non-lounge OCD in terms of arriving at the gate as stated on my BP. I have noted in a couple of VA lounges, the lack of boarding calls, but in others, constant information.

A couple of weeks ago, I was picking up Jnr#1 at MEL on a Jetstar flight from MCY and wanted to greet her at the gate. I stood in the centre of the gate access paths watching the arrivals board to see which gate to go to. The flight actually landed (shown as landed on the FIDS) but no gate shown. I took a punt and headed down one of the paths and she phoned me having de-boarded to tell me where she was. The FIDS was never updated as to gate number.

Surely accurate information is the responsibility of the FIDS controller. Can't ATC have a minion in the room to update all of this information?

 

[The Rok]

My bank account balance. So if i have AUD22,000 available to withdraw the ATM does not decline my withdrawl with an insufficient funds message.

And yes it has happened to me many times and on some of these occasions I actually needed the money and then needed to find alternate sources. Not good especially when you are overseas.

I am sure you can think of other situations without me prompting you....

Oh how I'd love to withdraw $22,000 from an ATM in one hit!

I realise your post was not meant that way!

 

[JohnK]

Oh how I'd love to withdraw $22,000 from an ATM in one hit!

I realise your post was not meant that way!

No. I had that much funds available and I could not withdraw AUD1,000. Sad really....

 

[Conrad_S]

The boards at T2 are showing the QFlink flight to PQQ as boarding through gate 31. I asked at desk if it had switched teams but they assured me 58 and all was well

Turned out the Q300 was at 31 (virgin gate and board at least kind of accurate). We boarded through 58 and bussed to the plane as usual. I presume everyone figured it out. I really don't know what to say?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I do not quite understand what mechanism , if any, is used to update the boards and why it is so difficult to keep them up to date.

I was hinting at this some number of posts back. I know the VA SYD lounge boards were correctly displaying the delayed boarding call where the lounge didn't know.....so how are the boards updated? There has to be some updating method, that I thought (perhaps foolishly) it may have been linked to the gate door latches. When latched open, boarding commenced. Is that too simplistic?

I do remember back in '96, I tendered (and won) the electrical services for the BNE QP refurb. Those flight information displays were not small change, so VA and others including us pax do have the right to expect them to be correct......all of the time.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

He is not as smart as you and one time waited at the gate that was mentioned on the boards when he arrived at the airport.

It's not just your father either........I can recall not so long ago leaving the lounge and heading off down to the satellite at BNE because that's the gate my baording pass stated. Unbeknown to me, there had been a gate change and it was now at the gate just outside the lounge doors. By the time I got to the (wrong) gate, stood and waited for a family who had no idea about the boarding process (aren't I calling the kettle black with that one), kindly informed I was trying to board a PER bound flight instead of CNS and retraced my path back down the satellite arm, they were madly paging me with a tone that was scolding me as a recalcitrant DYKWIA.

Let's face face it..........bad days happen to all and I'm sure they would have had that gate change noted on the boards.......but I didn't look!

 

[irv]

The boards at T2 are showing the QFlink flight to PQQ as boarding through gate 31. I asked at desk if it had switched teams but they assured me 58 and all was well

This has happened to me more times than I can remember travelling back home to PQQ, I now have the opinion that if the board shows any other gate lower than 55 it is wrong, and 95% of the time I am correct. The problem is you might be sitting at the posted departure gate and they change it with no announcement, then you are hotfooting it to the correct gate at boarding time

 

[SeatBackForward]

My bank account balance. So if i have AUD22,000 available to withdraw the ATM does not decline my withdrawl with an insufficient funds message.

And yes it has happened to me many times and on some of these occasions I actually needed the money and then needed to find alternate sources. Not good especially when you are overseas.

I am sure you can think of other situations without me prompting you....

The example you just gave is a case where it wasn't 100% accurate at all. You had *some * of the information. But not enough information to know there was a withdrawal limit.

So it turns out you did need to rely on additional information to improve the accuracy.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

But not enough information to know there was a withdrawal limit.

That's not what JohnK posted, but I love your ability to misquote. You don't work for Rupert do you? :mrgreen: