No more flight announcements in the Qantas Club [Repudiated by Red Roo]

[Pushka]

I can see boarding announcements being replaced with "Mrs ABC your flight is ready to depart so please make your way immediately to the gate"

 

[mannej]

I can see boarding announcements being replaced with "Mrs ABC your flight is ready to depart so please make your way immediately to the gate"

That is fairly common place at the pER QP;-)

 

[JohnK]

Anticipate the replacement of boarding announcements with a large number of ."if Mr/s xx_x xx_xx_xx is in the lounge could they make their way to gate xx your flight is awaiting immediate departure".

I heard this a number of times in SYD and BNE on Monday. Some of the announcements were for the same person/flight.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Don't selectively quote my post then.

Lounges would be much quieter if we did not have to sit through all DYKWIA's conversations on phone barking out instructions to subordinates of what needs to happen and how and when.

All lounges should be mobile phone free zones and if you feel the need to talk then go out into the terminal for a few minutes.

There quiet lounges again.

that would be pointless unless they dump the announcements too. if you want to ban both then by all means, I'm happy with that.

 

[JohnK]

However, do vocal announcements in any QP/J lounge in Australia *really* disturb people to frustration?

I think 2-3 people are disturbed by boarding calls.

Personally I listen to the announcement and if it is not my flight then I ignore it. If I am in the lounge for 30-45 minutes I may hear 5-6 boarding announcements.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

I think 2-3 people are disturbed by boarding calls.

Personally I listen to the announcement and if it is not my flight then I ignore it. If I am in the lounge for 30-45 minutes I may hear 5-6 boarding announcements.

Wow , 2 -3 ... in all of Australia?

I wonder why so many airport lounges in the world have gotten this so wrong by switching to silent lounges and indeed entire airports where no boarding calls are made except at the gate itself.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Lounges would be much quieter if we did not have to sit through all DYKWIA's conversations on phone barking out instructions to subordinates of what needs to happen and how and when.

Not even to subordinates. That slice of society that thinks QP membership combined with the ability to have Skype on their laptop/iPad/mobile entitles them free reign to speak at 120 decibels even in the mobile free area is something I'd like to see resolved way before having restricted boarding announcements. Many a time I have had restraining Mrs 340 from inflicting bodily harm on the ear splitting DYKWIAs.

 

[JohnK]

So, how do people survive at the silent lounges?

(like some CX lounges I've been in)

With a lot of difficulty. Many visits to the sometimes inaccurate screens and then constantly annoy the lounge staff asking if boarding is going to start anytime soon.

From memory the lounges in HKG only have a couple of departure boards and these are located in the most inconvenient places.

 

[JohnK]

Do I get extremely stressed over all of this? No! Which is why I'm having a real hard time understanding why people think this is (or rather, this would be) the worst thing to happen since ATA disappeared.

Because if true that is another benefit that disappears.

And no simongr I am not going to mention the war....

 

[medhead]

Good call !

I went to iPhone Settings / Notifications / Passbook and reset the alert option from BANNER (Boarding Notification disappears after few seconds) to ALERT (which stays until you take some action i.e. cancelling it).

I'd strongly recommend using the passbook function for your boarding pass as it does have an in-built reminder function based on boarding time as continuously (I hope) updated by Qantas.

I think you can tell it to do a sound as well.

I try to limit notifications as much as possible from iphone and keep it on silent about 98% of the time. This doesn't bother me at all, but I do find the passbook notification to be a bit slow, possibly not real time.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Because if true that is another benefit that disappears.

And no simongr I am not going to mention the war....

Or for 2 or 3 people it could be a benefit that is added!

 

[eastwest101]

With a lot of difficulty. Many visits to the sometimes inaccurate screens and then constantly annoy the lounge staff asking if boarding is going to start anytime soon.

Hit the nail on the head there. I always ask the lounge staff in QF and VA lounges when FIDS info is incorrect or absent and if I go to the gate to find an aircraft not even ready for departure, by contining to query the lounge staff this way it will eventually prompt the staff to take the following actions:

1. make public announcements (especially if aircraft delayed or rescheduled)
2. take control of the situation and ensure FIDS boards are correct (be either doing it themselves or ensuring contractors do it properly)

Agree with most of the posters here, I think its been good to see a variety of opinions, if QF wanted to go for quieter lounges then they are welcome to consider it, and seek peoples opinions about it, but they had better make sure that the FIDS are accurate and correct all of the time, not just most of the time or some of the time. Hopefully the official QF rep here also understands these points. The exact same comments apply to VA Lounges and announcements there.

I can sort of see the lounge staff perspective as well - it must be a tiresome addition to their duties chasing up pax whom are running late for flights, but also I understand that this is also sometimes looking after their high value customers and its also worth doing as the cost of late departing aircraft, offloading checked luggage etc is obviously very much higher than the cost of lounge staff paging specific pax, or making general announcements, or heaven forbid, ensuring the FIDS info is correct! :shock:

Other forms of subtle but relaible electronic notification are certainly worth investigating further, especially with the widespread use of smartphones and electronic boarding passes. But I would suggest that in my own opinion that these should be in addition to accurate FIDS information.

 

[JohnK]

Or for 2 or 3 people it could be a benefit that is added!

I understand your point but if you want to go for quiet lounges you cant just stop at boarding announcements.

Put a stop to mobile phone use, loud conversations, people laughing out loud etc.

Personally I feel part of the benefit of me attaining status or paying for lounge access is to have boarding announcements. I know it is difficult to please everyone.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I understand your point but if you want to go for quiet lounges you cant just stop at boarding announcements.

Put a stop to mobile phone use, loud conversations, people laughing out loud etc.

Personally I feel part of the benefit of me attaining status or paying for lounge access is to have boarding announcements. I know it is difficult to please everyone.

I'm firmly in the camp of no announcements except for gate changes or delays.

regular conversations, mobile phone calls, laughter, bottles clanking at the bar, tv... that's all background noise that as humans we are generally pretty good at being able to block out or ignore. or at least we can usually move.

boarding calls on the other hand are designed to grab your attention. they are super loud. they cut over everything and anything else that's happening... and you can't escape them

(as an aside... doesn't the First host come to get everyone anyway? so no need for a call as well right? )

 

[FrankC]

Would something like a buzzer used in pubs be a good alternative? Instead of your food is ready for collection, it buzzes when your flight is ready for boarding

This might just make QP more like a pub

 

[Limewood]

Would something like a buzzer used in pubs be a good alternative?

Possibly one that fits a shirt pocket with an electrical charge, no announcement then required.

 

[simongr]

I think you can tell it to do a sound as well.

I try to limit notifications as much as possible from iphone and keep it on silent about 98% of the time. This doesn't bother me at all, but I do find the passbook notification to be a bit slow, possibly not real time.

I didnt get much information from passbook for the delayed flight last night...

 

[NoName]

Why not send out automated text messages informing passengers that their flight is now boarding?

 

[JohnK]

(as an aside... doesn't the First host come to get everyone anyway? so no need for a call as well right? )

I totally forgot about that one. :mrgreen:

 

[Pushka]

Why not send out automated text messages informing passengers that their flight is now boarding?

They do that if you haven't boarded. MrP received a text when in the queue waiting to board as did the guy behind him.