No Qantas lounge in Paris - they lied!

[Dr Bruce]

Don't ever fly out of Paris to Hong Kong with Qantas.

They put you onto Air France with a code share arrangement, which would be fine except Qantas is too cheap to pay Air France to give you Air France lounge access.

I am a Qantas Club member (although I won't bother renewing this now) and my card was no good at the Air France lounge. My wife is a gold frequent flier. She could go in, but not take any guest at all. Not me, nor our two young grandchildren.

This would be bad enough except she had specifically queried Qantas on this point when she booked and was assured there would be lounge access for us all in Paris.

This is what really irks - they lied to us. The flight has a Qantas number - QF3976 - but no normal services for frequent fliers or club members.

The Paris lounge staff told us they are constantly turning away Qantas passengers. They don't enjoy it but have no option due to Qantas' refusal to pay.

It is late on Sunday night - there is no food to be bought air side in CDG airport. Our grandchildren are falling asleep in cold chairs with nothing to eat - thanks Qantas.

Worse, they have put us at the very back of the Qantas flight out of Hong Kong. Row 73. Why would you ever bother joining the Qantas club or being a Qantas frequent flier? We have seen the error of our ways.

 

[Dave Noble]

1) Lounge Access. I would contact customer service and complain that you were incorrectly informed that there was lounge access in Paris for members. Given that there is no Qantas Club in Paris , it isn't too surprising but they shouldn't be telling people that they can use the AF lounge if they cannot

2) Benefits. As a Qantas Club member , there are no real special benefits when travelling on Qantas on an international flight anyway other than Qantas Club desk check in ; for seating, the best approach would have been to phone at time of booking and pre-select seats that you wanted. If nothing was pre-selected then likely to end up near the back

Qantas Club membership is only beneficial when travelling from ports where there is a QC; when travelling from HKG, you should have been able to access the lounge with 1 guest. Hardly a flaw with the scheme that cannot use lounges if they do not exist . The reaosn for joining the QF scheme would be that , if flying with QF, can claim FF miles which can be used for flights later. Paris-Australia would earn enough points for a short oneway flight

As far as your wife goes, maybe AF and QF have an agreement to allow Gold/Platinum members in but without any guest privileges. This would be a special agreement since by default a gold member can only access OW lounges and only when travelling on a flight both marketed by and operated by a OW carrier

Dave

 

[moa999]

Dr Bruce,

U/F it appears that an incorrect message from Qantas / travel agent has led you up the garden path here.

Any research would show you that QF does not fly CDG-HKG and a four digit flight number is generally going to be a codeshare.

Lounge locations on the Qantas website shows no lounges in Paris.
Fly - The Qantas Club - Lounge Locations - UK/Europe

Qantas Club memberships have always been extremely limited internationally - only useful QF, BA and AA and when travelling on that metal.

You comment that your wife was SG -- I struggle to see how she got in as AF is not a member of oneworld.

On Row 73 - many couples prefer these seats as the plane narrows to 2 seats together. As your wife is SG you should have been able to call up and confirm seat allocation in advance.

 

[oz_mark]

You comment that your wife was SG -- I struggle to see how she got in as AF is not a member of oneworld.

In terminal 2E (which I think is where the relevant flight leaves from), the Air France L'ESPACE also does duty as the Japan Airlines Lounge.

 

[Dave Noble]

In terminal 2E (which I think is where the relevant flight leaves from), the Air France L'ESPACE also does duty as the Japan Airlines Lounge.

That would still not provide lounge access rights for the Gold member since the AF flight would not be an OW marketed/operated flight

Dave

 

[chrizzz14]

.... QF has zero lounge agreements with AF!

Irregardless of codeshare!!
the only lounge a QC member can use (without having J or F seats) are those of BA, AA and ofcourse QF!

extremely weird that QF said you could use AF lounge!

 

[moa999]

Also ended up on crikey...

Angry Flyers Lounge-Loyalty schemes that disappoint – Plane Talkinghttp://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/

 

[aus_flyer]

Irregardless of codeshare!!
the only lounge a QC member can use (without having J or F seats) are those of BA, AA and ofcourse QF!

This is not always true.

There are some non-OW, non-Qantas lounges that Qantas Club members can use in some locations.

 

[munitalP]

Don't ever fly out of Paris to Hong Kong with Qantas.

They put you onto Air France with a code share arrangement, which would be fine except Qantas is too cheap to pay Air France to give you Air France lounge access.

I am a Qantas Club member (although I won't bother renewing this now) and my card was no good at the Air France lounge. My wife is a gold frequent flier. She could go in, but not take any guest at all. Not me, nor our two young grandchildren.

This would be bad enough except she had specifically queried Qantas on this point when she booked and was assured there would be lounge access for us all in Paris.

This is what really irks - they lied to us. The flight has a Qantas number - QF3976 - but no normal services for frequent fliers or club members.

The Paris lounge staff told us they are constantly turning away Qantas passengers. They don't enjoy it but have no option due to Qantas' refusal to pay.

It is late on Sunday night - there is no food to be bought air side in CDG airport. Our grandchildren are falling asleep in cold chairs with nothing to eat - thanks Qantas.

Worse, they have put us at the very back of the Qantas flight out of Hong Kong. Row 73. Why would you ever bother joining the Qantas club or being a Qantas frequent flier? We have seen the error of our ways.

LOL



Mr!

 

[markis10]

Must say I almost reconsidered my lounge membership when I was not allowed to use the lounge in Mackay for my code share boat trip out to Brampton Island - :shock:

Seriously what a joke, why waste peoples time, its clear that there was not entitlement to lounge access based on ther programs terms and conditions, which are always the final say, caveat emptor!

 

[medhead]

Seriously what a joke, why waste peoples time, its clear that there was not entitlement to lounge access based on ther programs terms and conditions, which are always the final say, caveat emptor!

Is it clear?

This would be bad enough except she had specifically queried Qantas on this point when she booked and was assured there would be lounge access for us all in Paris.

Seems to me that the "buyer" did in fact check it out and was given false information, on face value. Maybe they should have read the terms and conditions. But then again they did get told directly.

 

[markis10]

Is it clear?



Seems to me that the "buyer" did in fact check it out and was given false information, on face value. Maybe they should have read the terms and conditions. But then again they did get told directly.

Its very clear, there is no listing for Paris under the QC listings or associated lounges and the questions has been asked before:

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/airport-lounges/lounge-access-at-paris-cdg-12215.html

And it specifically states on the lounge access pages at qantas.com:


"Lounges are not available in ports that are only serviced by Qantas codeshare flights."

Maybe a QF staffer did make a mistake and say the wrong thing, or their reply was taken in the wrong context, such as the statement "you will have lounge access when flying on our aircraft", the fact the same post gets repeated on Crikey at the same time tends to make me think there is a hidden agenda at work!

 

[serfty]

...
"Lounges are not available in ports that are only serviced by Qantas codeshare flights." ...

Even that is incorrect - see this thread re AS Boardroom access and SEA:

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/airport-lounges/alaska-airlines-board-room-lax-20503.html

 

[Moody]

Its very clear, there is no listing for Paris under the QC listings or associated lounges and the questions has been asked before:

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/airport-lounges/lounge-access-at-paris-cdg-12215.html

And it specifically states on the lounge access pages at qantas.com:


"Lounges are not available in ports that are only serviced by Qantas codeshare flights."

Maybe a QF staffer did make a mistake and say the wrong thing, or their reply was taken in the wrong context, such as the statement "you will have lounge access when flying on our aircraft", the fact the same post gets repeated on Crikey at the same time tends to make me think there is a hidden agenda at work!

Markis10,

Let's suppose for a minute that every single Qantas passenger does NOT peruse QFF daily, or has instant access to past, present and future lounge access conditions when flying from Paris on QF3976. What are they to do? How about ring Qantas and verify access with the organisation they bought the ticket from?

That should work, shouldn't it????

And what is the hidden agenda about which you speak? Could it be that the poster was just seriously aggrieved at dealing with 2 hungry grandchildren in a deserted terminal when they had been assured that this would not be the case.

What is YOUR agenda here?

 

[bambbbam2]

i suppose the other way to look at it: If the QF staffer had NOT said there was a lounge, the traveller would have been just as stuck as if they HAD said (and turned out there wasn't one)

 

[markis10]

Markis10,

Let's suppose for a minute that every single Qantas passenger does NOT peruse QFF daily, or has instant access to past, present and future lounge access conditions when flying from Paris on QF3976. What are they to do? How about ring Qantas and verify access with the organisation they bought the ticket from?

That should work, shouldn't it????

And what is the hidden agenda about which you speak? Could it be that the poster was just seriously aggrieved at dealing with 2 hungry grandchildren in a deserted terminal when they had been assured that this would not be the case.

What is YOUR agenda here?

My agenda is to defend companies who take steps to keep people informed of their entitlements, on joining you get an access guide and a regular update each month as to changes, such as this one back in 2003 :

"Qantas announced that its Paris flights via Singapore would operate to and from a different terminal at Charles De Gaulle Airport from Tuesday, effective 28 October. Qantas Group General Manager Sales, Rob Gurney, said the change - from Terminal One to Terminal 2A - will provide a much improved airport experience. Qantas Club members will be able to use the American Airlines Admirals Club which boasts extensive lounge and bar seating, nine work stations and other business facilities."

Companies have a responsilbity to keep their cusotmers informed, but we all have the responsilbilty to vlaidate the information we receive, I would have thought a doctor would be doing this more than anyone else!

I still find it odd that the OP was done at the same time as the complaint popped up as an article on Crikey - maybe I am too used to seeing something happen and no news pick it up two weeks later, the fact there has not been another post by the OP just reinforces my doubts!

 

[Travel Guru]

What is YOUR agenda here?

I don't know what his agenda is, but I sure know what YOURS is! :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

TG

 

[medhead]

Maybe a QF staffer did make a mistake and say the wrong thing, or their reply was taken in the wrong context, such as the statement "you will have lounge access when flying on our aircraft", the fact the same post gets repeated on Crikey at the same time tends to make me think there is a hidden agenda at work!

sorry but a staffer giving out the wrong information (if we accept the OP at their word) makes the situation unclear. You can hypothesise all day about what they may of may not have been actually told and/or how they interpretated the information. But I have no way of proving or disproving those arguments, so I can only ignore them.

I don't think there is any agenda at all except to highlight that incorrect information was (may have been) provided and to spread that message widely. If the OP doesn't put in another post, I'll probably change my mind on this point.

i suppose the other way to look at it: If the QF staffer had NOT said there was a lounge, the traveller would have been just as stuck as if they HAD said (and turned out there wasn't one)

Or the traveller would have made alternative plans that didn't involve lounge access and hence not been stuck as experienced.

 

[markis10]

sorry but a staffer giving out the wrong information (if we accept the OP at their word) makes the situation unclear. You can hypothesise all day about what they may of may not have been actually told and/or how they interpretated the information. But I have no way of proving or disproving those arguments, so I can only ignore them.

We are only getting one side of the story, its quite possible they were misguided by a QF staffer, but to be also told that a SG could go in with no guest ? How many SG's are flying around unclear about their lounge access or the rights to seat preselection??

 

[drron]

Actually Dr Bruce and Crikey may owe QF an apology.Check out this FT thread on the AF lounge at CDG.It appears the AF lounge dragons use exactly the same terminology when excluding Elite members of other star airlines programs.
Star Alliance Lounge at Paris CDG - FlyerTalk Forums
Then again on Crikey Dr Bruce is identified as being from NZ.If true maybe the reason QP is not that great any more.