777
Established Member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2009
- Posts
- 2,781
I am a silver velocity member currently a few thousand points short of gold. I Fly DJ regularly and they are my preferred airline by a long shot, i am a lounge member, and a loyal DJ customer whenever i have any choice. I flew back from Brisbane to Melbourne last night and decided to take up the offer for the PE upgrade "tester" that DJ has been spruiking. Unfortunately i have to say that i was pretty underwhelmed with the experience.
The first problem came with the upgrade process itself. You have to call the DJ phone number between 3 hours and 45 minutes before you fly to purchase an upgrade. When you call the number, it is not entirely clear which option is the right one. I can't remember the exact options but none of them clearly indicate the right menu option to choose (is it a "new" booking? is it changing an existing booking? do you use the P/E line even if you haven't yet got a P/E booking?) - it would be great if this was clearer!
Second problem, having got through to an operator i landed one who had never heard of the P/E taster promotion. He first tried to sell me a full P/E fare and not the $50 upgrade. It took several minutes to convince him that the option existed. He put me on hold several times while he tried to figure it out and then left me on hold in silence (hold music wasn't working) for about 5 minutes before i eventually hung up. I spent a little under 15 minutes on that call and still failed to make a booking.
Attempt two went a little smoother. I got through to someone who had heard of the promotion, who was very nice despite my obvious grumpiness and managed to complete the process in about 8 minutes. I still spent a couple of minutes on hold in silence but i managed to insist on giving the guy my number in case it dropped out again so i was reassured.
The upshot was that it took me about half an hour out of my meeting to make what i thought would be a quick call for the upgrade. I stepped out of a meeting to make the phone call and by the time i returned my colleagues were less than impressed. That is totally rediculous for anyone, like me, who is interstate for a day or two of work meetings. Had i known it would be that complicated there is no way i would have done it.
The final problem was the actual flight. One of the main reasons i went with PE was free live to air - i figure i pay for L2A and couple of drinks on each flight so a $50 PE upgrade (on the two hour BNE-MEL flight) is not a massive extra expense.
Unfortunately i ended up in seat 1C with no choice in the matter (it was a chockers flight) and was the only person on the plane who COULDN'T watch L2A at take off and landing due to the configuration of the screens (they have to pull them out after take off and stow them for landing). I am actually a slightly nervous flyer at take off and landing so i spent both looking around enviously at all the other non P/E people who had something to watch or read while i couldn't even reach for the mag, my bag or a screen. I know some people love these seats, but for me they are the worst seats on the plane and i was given no choice in the matter.
On the upside, the staff on board the flight were excellent, the service was great and i managed to extract some of the value out of food and beverages.
Maybe i'll chalk it up as a learning experience and try it again (i know which seats to request next time) but i'd have to say that i was pretty disapointed. I'd love to rave about it but it was actually a lot of extra hassle, a lot of wasted time, for what ultimately turned out to be an inferior experience to what i usually get in economy.
Maybe i was just unlucky.
The first problem came with the upgrade process itself. You have to call the DJ phone number between 3 hours and 45 minutes before you fly to purchase an upgrade. When you call the number, it is not entirely clear which option is the right one. I can't remember the exact options but none of them clearly indicate the right menu option to choose (is it a "new" booking? is it changing an existing booking? do you use the P/E line even if you haven't yet got a P/E booking?) - it would be great if this was clearer!
Second problem, having got through to an operator i landed one who had never heard of the P/E taster promotion. He first tried to sell me a full P/E fare and not the $50 upgrade. It took several minutes to convince him that the option existed. He put me on hold several times while he tried to figure it out and then left me on hold in silence (hold music wasn't working) for about 5 minutes before i eventually hung up. I spent a little under 15 minutes on that call and still failed to make a booking.
Attempt two went a little smoother. I got through to someone who had heard of the promotion, who was very nice despite my obvious grumpiness and managed to complete the process in about 8 minutes. I still spent a couple of minutes on hold in silence but i managed to insist on giving the guy my number in case it dropped out again so i was reassured.
The upshot was that it took me about half an hour out of my meeting to make what i thought would be a quick call for the upgrade. I stepped out of a meeting to make the phone call and by the time i returned my colleagues were less than impressed. That is totally rediculous for anyone, like me, who is interstate for a day or two of work meetings. Had i known it would be that complicated there is no way i would have done it.
The final problem was the actual flight. One of the main reasons i went with PE was free live to air - i figure i pay for L2A and couple of drinks on each flight so a $50 PE upgrade (on the two hour BNE-MEL flight) is not a massive extra expense.
Unfortunately i ended up in seat 1C with no choice in the matter (it was a chockers flight) and was the only person on the plane who COULDN'T watch L2A at take off and landing due to the configuration of the screens (they have to pull them out after take off and stow them for landing). I am actually a slightly nervous flyer at take off and landing so i spent both looking around enviously at all the other non P/E people who had something to watch or read while i couldn't even reach for the mag, my bag or a screen. I know some people love these seats, but for me they are the worst seats on the plane and i was given no choice in the matter.
On the upside, the staff on board the flight were excellent, the service was great and i managed to extract some of the value out of food and beverages.
Maybe i'll chalk it up as a learning experience and try it again (i know which seats to request next time) but i'd have to say that i was pretty disapointed. I'd love to rave about it but it was actually a lot of extra hassle, a lot of wasted time, for what ultimately turned out to be an inferior experience to what i usually get in economy.
Maybe i was just unlucky.
) had to quickly fill them out in the terminal.
