Priority boarding on QF domestic - what is the story?

[Kangol]

I saw the new signage for the first time this evening - it was up at the SYD domestic gate my flight arrived into (all other gates in the area still had the old signage). Much, much better.

Is it similar to the int signage (but changed to suit domestic policy)?

 

[Flying mermaid]

Yes it is fine... Its the same as if you are traveling with your partner and they have no status.. Would you make them line up on their own?

Just wanted to make sure .....I wouldn't make them line up on their own, but would join them in the other queue if perceived as wrong.....

 

[nlagalle]

Just wanted to make sure .....I wouldn't make them line up on their own, but would join them in the other queue if perceived as wrong.....

Definitely not wrong.. They will be fine..

 

[wafliron]

Is it similar to the int signage (but changed to suit domestic policy)?

I can't recall what the int signage looks like, sorry. But it's essentially the same as the old dom signage except with a black background and white writing - the black really makes it stand out. I didn't notice if they've updated the small sign separating the two lanes too though - just noticed the big banner that sits off to the side of the lane.

 

[papermate92]

This week I did a DSC Run in Business:
MEL > SYD = Priority Boarding
SYD > ASP = None - 1 Girl Checking BP
ASP > SYD = None, but 2 lanes for BP
SYD > CBR (On a 717, very nice) = Priority Lane, but only 1 Girl Checking BP - she checked all priorities before beginning standard lane
CBR > MEL = Same as ASP, 2 Lanes for BP but no priority

 

[OzEire]

Yesterday, Qlink flight MEL to CBR, so many pax had status (all walked in a stream from the QP together !) that the 'priority' line was much longer than the 'regular' queue, but so many of these pax refused to join the shorter queue, I presume because they demand to get their status entitlement.

i was traveling with a non QFF (shock!) so I lined up with my mate in the shorter pleb queue and boarded quicker than the ex-politician that I saw coming out of the CL.

 

[BD1959]

i was traveling with a non QFF (shock!) so I lined up with my mate in the shorter pleb queue and boarded quicker than the ex-politician that I saw coming out of the CL.

NB: There's no such thing as an "ex-politician" ... just check their entitlement list!!

Regards,

BD the Taxpayer

 

[crum]

Yesterday, Qlink flight MEL to CBR.....boarded quicker than the ex-politician that I saw coming out of the CL.

He must have been a magician given the CL is boarded up and currently "gutted" as I overheard one the of J Lounge angels tell a passenger at the desk yesterday

 

[Hvr]

Yesterday, Qlink flight MEL to CBR, so many pax had status (all walked in a stream from the QP together !) that the 'priority' line was much longer than the 'regular' queue, but so many of these pax refused to join the shorter queue, I presume because they demand to get their status entitlement.

i was traveling with a non QFF (shock!) so I lined up with my mate in the shorter pleb queue and boarded quicker than the ex-politician that I saw coming out of the CL.

And this is a problem, the priority queue should be completely cleared before the boarding from the regular queue is commenced.

AA does this as does JAL, CX et al. It's not hard!

 

[BadgerBoi]

Where disembarkation is via the front door it is nice as a J pax not to be pushed off your feet while trying to leave.

Particularly by those Y pax who have left their carry-on in the J overheads on their way down to row 27 on boarding - they tend to make a real run for the front at disembarkation, hate to get in the way of one of them.

 

[RickyT84]

Happy to report that PB worked as intended on my two flights over the weekend (one from SYD and one from MEL). This time though I joined the normal regular queue and so did another SG in front of me. No queue jumping like last time.

Also, there was a specific announcement in the MEL J Lounge/QP inviting WP and J pax to use the PB queue which is located at the right hand side of the boarding gate.

 

[OzEire]

He must have been a magician given the CL is boarded up and currently "gutted" as I overheard one the of J Lounge angels tell a passenger at the desk yesterday

Crum, you are probably right. I saw him coming from that direction and it looked like he had just walked through the door, but perhaps he had just found out that the CL was shut.

 

[medhead]

100% correct, Tony Hancock. Thank you for clarifying that for Mr_Orange.

However, as someone caught out by this in the past, it is misleading for you to say you're using the PB lane as an AA platinum. That is simply where you're crediting the flight. You are, in reality, using the PB lane as a QF plat. However, it's 100% correct that they should challenge you.

 

[mrpooky]

Fail on QF589 (BNE -> PER) yesterday.

Flight was a few minutes late boarding. PB lane was on the right, but was almost as long as the 'normal' lane. From the BPs I could see around me in the PB lane, I'd guess that about 75% of people in the lane shouldn't have been: mainly SGs in Y. FAs scanning BPs didn't say anything to deter anybody.

mrpooky.

 

[samh004]

Figure I may as well update my experiences lately with PB, having done a few flights I've found the PB lane to be relatively empty and on the one occasion I was on a 734 with only one FA at the gate, was served in an appropriate amount of time. It's certainly better than it once was, 3k posts ago.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Fail on QF589 (BNE -> PER) yesterday.

Flight was a few minutes late boarding. PB lane was on the right, but was almost as long as the 'normal' lane. From the BPs I could see around me in the PB lane, I'd guess that about 75% of people in the lane shouldn't have been: mainly SGs in Y. FAs scanning BPs didn't say anything to deter anybody.

mrpooky.

AFAIK all PB lanes in BNE are on the left hand side which is also reflected in the boarding announcements.

Are you sure the right hand lane wasn't the general boarding lane?

 

[Ansett]

Have done 8 domestic flights this week and each one PB has worked perfectly. Have 4 more flights for the rest of the year will be impressed if these all work too

 

[mrpooky]

AFAIK all PB lanes in BNE are on the left hand side which is also reflected in the boarding announcements.

Are you sure the right hand lane wasn't the general boarding lane?

Yes, absolutely positive. Gate 22. PB lane was on the right on this occasion, according to the small sign between the two lanes.

mrpooky.

 

[Hvr]

14 Dec QF468 MEL-SYD lines set up properly and people seemed to be lined up in their line.

However, both lines started boarding at the same time! Priority boarding should mean that pax entitled to board first and who are in line when boarding commences get to board before non-priority pax.

Once the priority line is boarded then start the non-priority line.

I was about 5-6 back in the priority line which meant I was behind 5-6 non-priority pax who were put through before me, albeit in a different line.

It has been repeated here ad nauseum that other airlines can do this properly. Why can't Qantas?

 

[tuapekastar]

14 Dec QF468 MEL-SYD lines set up properly and people seemed to be lined up in their line.

However, both lines started boarding at the same time! Priority boarding should mean that pax entitled to board first and who are in line when boarding commences get to board before non-priority pax.

Once the priority line is boarded then start the non-priority line.

I was about 5-6 back in the priority line which meant I was behind 5-6 non-priority pax who were put through before me, albeit in a different line.

It has been repeated here ad nauseum that other airlines can do this properly. Why can't Qantas?

Gonna disagree a little here. Say when boarding commences there are 6 people in priority queue and 150 in regular queue. Start boarding the PB queue exclusively, when pax 6 is processed another person joins the queue, so they also need to be processed prior to commencing the regular queue. Then as they are being processed another person joins the PB queue...and so on.

Ends up both inefficient (FA staffing general queue sitting there being paid to twiddle thumbs), and potentially incendiary (pax in general queue getting extremely antsy - and rightly so IMHO).

I have been as vocal as anyone else on bemoaning QF's inability to consistently do PB properly, but I don't think the process you extoll is necessarily the right one.

On a positive note, myself and Penegal both lobbed at the gate yesterday at MEL after the lounge announcement to an apparently perfect PB experience and about 5 of us experienced the same at CBR today.