Is Qantas Actually Listening?

[kpc]

I think pretzels and mixed nuts are acceptable nibbles to serve with a pre-meal drink after departure.

I don't think you would have been pleased with just 2 cashews and the rest, pretzels.

What other airlines offer in J?

AA: bowl of warm mixed nuts
SQ: Ditto
EY: Ditto
MH: bowl of mixed nuts but can't remember if they were warm or not.
CM: bowl of nuts

 

[OATEK]

I stood and watched QF1 lumber over my house the other night as I arrived home. They often come over here after taking off over Kurnell, and looping back over the National Park.

In the past I looked up and tried to work out when my next trip would be on the A380, counting the months/days.

Now I look at it and remember the flights fondly, but with that tinge of regret that I will probably never fly on the QF A380 again unless going to the US. My last QF A380 flight was QF128 in April, and they will be long gone for my next HKG jaunt. And the QF1/2 route through Dubai is just so disappointing on so many fronts, but most of all because QF cut off Asian routes to Europe.

At one stage I hoped to collect all the QF A380s on my various travels, but now know that it will not happen. Was happy to have Nancy Bird last year with all that engenders in terms of a great survival story.

Instead I have a new goal - how many different J offerings can I sample over the next few years when my international travel will be at its highest (and generally self-funded). Already booked to try CX and AY, hope to collect BA and SQ over the next 2 years. My QF spend has gone from about $16k last year, to $1k this year. But my overall spend is rising!

Instead of qualifying QF Gold this coming year, QFF has been enhanced to ensure I do not. So there goes one key incentive to stay with QF. The other was when they gave up on the Asia/Europe routes.

 

[Fantic125]

I sent an email to Qantas following the "Simpler, Fairer" announcement expressing my disappointment and the impact it will have on my personal flying spend and ability to earn SC's. I received an email response a week later stating that they received my email and they were disappointed that I was disappointed.


From January 1 2014 to the end of March (when they announced the changes) I had spent $5,110 on 24 QF flights.

Since the announcement I have spent $876 on 4 QF flights (which I already had booked before the announcement), and $1,586 on 10 VA flights booked following the announcement.


I have another 22 flights planned through to the end of October, and the only ones booked with QF will be paid for by my work, as QF are their preferred supplier.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Hot towels are are sad enhancement

Oh do let us know how Virgin goes when they either sub the A330 for a 737 or you end up on one of the two old Emirates aircraft

The 'old' Emirates aircraft are still a lot better than a middle seat block Qantas A330

 

[RAM]

I think pretzels and mixed nuts are acceptable nibbles to serve with a pre-meal drink after departure.
What other airlines offer in J?

Etihad served a magic bowl of warm cashews, almonds, pecans and a couple of other varieties. Magic - as soon as the cashews were gone more magically appear from the aisle. I normally call it quits after probably about 200gm of cashews with a couple of almonds and pecans for good measure.

 

[mannej]

The 'old' Emirates aircraft are still a lot better than a middle seat block Qantas A330

In J only I would suggest.

 

[RAM]

Someone very wisely said to me very early in my career: "be careful of human resources departments, they'll appear to be concerned about your individual welfare, but at the end of the day it's the company's interests they're here to serve"


Exactly the same can be said for Loyalty.

Sounds to me that the person who told you that was from HR.

I did a brief stint on the funds management side of one of the big 4. It was widely discussed across the bank that the power in the organisation was centered in HR. If any senior exec (up to 2nd from top even) attempted to adjust/threaten HR's power then HR would transfer the deadwood from around the bank to that person's area. Or even better when a new head of area was about to be brought in from outside the bank (but the best people are already here -we chose them) then all other areas would transfer in the so-called 'undesirables' to that area to fill maternity leave, long service leave positions etc and then reclassify them as permanent if any people left.

HR definitely was there for the success of HR - company be damned!

 

[SeatBackForward]

Sounds to me that the person who told you that was from HR.

I did a brief stint on the funds management side of one of the big 4. It was widely discussed across the bank that the power in the organisation was centered in HR. If any senior exec (up to 2nd from top even) attempted to adjust/threaten HR's power then HR would transfer the deadwood from around the bank to that person's area. Or even better when a new head of area was about to be brought in from outside the bank (but the best people are already here -we chose them) then all other areas would transfer in the so-called 'undesirables' to that area to fill maternity leave, long service leave positions etc and then reclassify them as permanent if any people left.

HR definitely was there for the success of HR - company be damned!

Going off topic here, but in my organisation, the HR function is growing so rapidly, that they're now justifying a need for their own HR department - talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

[The Rok]

We refer to them these days as P&C in my organisation, People & Capabilities!

 

[VA777]

I have an early QFF number 34xx_ and have either had comp QF Club or paid since the acquisition of Aus Airlines.

Essentially stopped flying QF a couple of years ago but kept QF Club for occasions when client had me on QF. Will not be renewing in about 6 weeks

End of a very long relationship but no regrets on my side

 

[rickylee]

I am in a similar situation in that the cuts to SCs earned on O* partner flights will likely dump me down to gold if I remain with QF in my next membership year.

When I travel to North America, I fly AA for my transcontinental hops; when I am in Europe, I use LHR as a base of operations and hop back and forth to different cities on the continent with BA, carrying only minimal baggage. The changes to the QF program means that, for the first time in my life, I may have to consider a status run of some kind in order to preserve my PW status. Not entirely sure yet that I want to make that kind of investment in QF vis-à-vis CX, SG, a Gulf airline, or even another O* airline when QF seems determined to continue to piss off us loyal customers instead of investing in us to regain market share for both QI and QD.

I only wish QF would wake up soon and refocus their strategy on growth and retention of premium customers rather than continuing their Jetstarisation and gifting their loyal customer base to EK (for QI) and VA (for QD).

 

[Colster]

At Qantas HQ they have great nuts and more twists than a pretzel.

Have been inside the new fancy QF HQ quite a few times in the past couple of weeks. It's very clear that whilst making their program and service simpler and fairer, the have actually very much enhanced (in the true sense of the word, not the AFF sense) their own nests. Would have to be in the hundreds of millions range for the fit out and building. It's even got an old Rolls Royce engine at the top of the escalators (not a Trent 900 for some reason) and in the foyer is the Mars rover thingy. Very nice fit out etc... Was interesting to see AJ personally escorting a group of 10-15 Asian business people around.

 

[mattm199]

Quite a breath of fresh air to hear what others think about the progressive "enhancements" that are adding to the feeling of an accelerating, downward spiral.

Planning an upcoming trip from BNE to PDX in Business, and spent ages trying to create multi-city routings with that dratted Sydney-centric online booking engine.

Looked at combinations to try to get to Sydney to visit the F lounge, to try and get an A380 to have a chance at trying to get an upgrade, to try and get the LAX-PDX connection in J rather that Y, to try and find indirect routings for the extra segments.
I got to a stage where I'd be leaving home at about 6am, get about 60 minutes in the Sydney F lounge, wait 14 hours in LAX without lounge access (on an AS connection), and pay an extra $1300 for the privilege, and thought... "No, this is crazy".
I ended up booking a BNE-LAX flight, taking the logical connection in Y and getting to my destination by around 1pm, rather that sitting in LAX. (The Brisbane international J lounge is presumably as cosy and retro as last year, I imagine?) And then after booking heard that the return CD car service was enhanced away.
I will still fly QF if the cost is competitive, but CX cost wasn't too bad, and will be looking at BFOD for future trips.

 

[Pleb Status]

Quite a breath of fresh air to hear what others think about the progressive "enhancements" that are adding to the feeling of an accelerating, downward spiral.

Planning an upcoming trip from BNE to PDX in Business, and spent ages trying to create multi-city routings with that dratted Sydney-centric online booking engine.

Looked at combinations to try to get to Sydney to visit the F lounge, to try and get an A380 to have a chance at trying to get an upgrade, to try and get the LAX-PDX connection in J rather that Y, to try and find indirect routings for the extra segments.
I got to a stage where I'd be leaving home at about 6am, get about 60 minutes in the Sydney F lounge, wait 14 hours in LAX without lounge access (on an AS connection), and pay an extra $1300 for the privilege, and thought... "No, this is crazy".
I ended up booking a BNE-LAX flight, taking the logical connection in Y and getting to my destination by around 1pm, rather that sitting in LAX. (The Brisbane international J lounge is presumably as cosy and retro as last year, I imagine?) And then after booking heard that the return CD car service was enhanced away.
I will still fly QF if the cost is competitive, but CX cost wasn't too bad, and will be looking at BFOD for future trips.

The QFi SYD F lounge is nice but I would not pay any additional fare or elongate my travel time by a substantial amount to use it (or any other lounge for that matter). At the end of the day, most travellers just want to get where they are going as quickly and cheaply as possible. So I think it is hard to blame QF that an indirect routing (which costs QF more to provide) is more expensive and is less convenient overall.

 

[amaroo]

<snip>
Looked at combinations to try to get to Sydney to visit the F lounge, to try and get an A380 to have a chance at trying to get an upgrade,

I always go via SYD. Been really lucky with the upgrade lottery when travelling in the family pack......4 x J>F on QF11 (SYD-LAX) and 4 x Y>J QF1 (SYD-SIN).

The recent QFF changes won't stop me from transiting via SYD - I'll just be doing it with a BAEC Gold card

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Keeping on topic and as a point of interest for RedRoo, QF and other frequent flyers:

Just recently I dropped from Plat1 to Plat - from averaging 3600-3800 sc/year (no double sc) to under 200 QF sc this past year.
When you drop from P1 - A standard QF rep (not P1 or a retention person) calls you to try and understand why the drop in status credits.

On this call (just like on almost every occasion I've interacted with QF previously) I straight up told the agent the exact thing I love about flying QF and what drives me to choose to spend on QF over another airline.
- Upgrades
- Shadows

In the 3 years I was Platinum One - I did not receive any free upgrades. Not one.
This was until my last week of P1 where - on my 'farewell Qantas' trip I had an on-board upgrade.
Overall that brings my P1 upgrade ratio to around 0.7%. I know Silvers and Golds with higher rates!

Shadows: On the 100's of Qantas# flights - shadows are almost non-existent for me. The Gold or Silver behind me will get a shadow, which is fine - but why let a bronze member take 4B when 4A and 4C are both P1?

As a result - this last year I put a stop to paid QF flying and started burning points.
Just this month I completed the switch of my final CC that was earning QFF points over to warehouse them until I find a loving home for them.
Interestingly enough I also found out that if I credited my Citi Select points to Velocity I would have been earning 25% more all this time. Ouch!

I love the QF brand; and overall Qantas does a lot of things really well -- MUCH better than other programs.
However I feel that listening to this customer, and obviously many others in similar boats - is a failure that ultimately is costing the company easy revenue.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I love the QF brand; and overall Qantas does a lot of things really well -- MUCH better than other programs.

really?

seriously, I'd like to know what, exactly, QFFF does 'much better' than other programs?

No confirmed international upgrades, award levels double or more compared to their competitors, horrendous fuel surcharges, almost total lack of premium award space at short notice.

Where is qantas shining in all that?

 

[Himeno]

I don't think they are listening. Every time you ask them a "hard" question, they ignore you or try to get you to go ask someone else.

 

[Bali Belly]

it all comes down to you get what you pay for and with QF sometimes the alternative is better and once tried it is hard to return

 

[frankxinyu]

flew half way around the world in the last 30 days, with QF, EK and BA.

to be quite honest, it is really depressing being on a QF plane these days, even in J.

Crew members were clearly stressed about their job security, it was a BNE-SIN flight on a 744 and you can feel the 'hopeless' energy in the air. after chatting to staff, most of the staff on the plane believes they wont have a job within 12 months.

the flight was in May, clearly QF has given up on the route and it was still using a J menu from March.

in DXB, no QF staff can be found even though all tickets were bought through QF.

on the contrary, EK and BA flights were both amazing (yes i know, even BA). better service, crew were happier and better product.

By flying QFi you get a sense that it is going out of business. AJ, please we all know what you are trying to do with QFi, lets just pull the plug and get it done with so we can all move on to other carriers? it is truly sad to see a brand once so strong being dragged through the torture.