Priority boarding on QF domestic - what is the story?

[puppysparkes]

6 flights last week all were as to be expected. CSM on QF 611, 15 JAN even enforced the oversize carry on rule with 2 pax.

 

[medhead]

QF743 23 jan 2014. Gate 6 SYD. Premium lane blocked off. Ask the desk agent - "There is only one person scanning". Got ignored when I said so what, one person can scan 2 lanes. FA scanning mentioned there had been a few people complaining and said they'd follow it up.

 

[puppysparkes]

They had single lane scanning on QF611. The desk agent stopped the general boarding lane and processed about 8-10 pax in the premium lane. She thanked pax in the general lane for their patients and re-commenced scanning their passes. One of the few times I've seen single lane scanning work well on a day where the long line was snaking.

 

[Vim Fuego]

did Perth to Melbourne Tuesday and came back last night, both times has a priority lane and the staff were enforcing the use of it. I'm not eligible to use but definitley managed well.

 

[QF WP]

Boarding now QF632 MEL Gate 10. Premium boarding done and us Plebs left to board

 

[TonyHancock]

QF423 SYD-MEL worked well for me. QF842 SYD-DRW at the gate next door not so much. The call was - As there is only one person boarding Business/WP/OWE can board at their leisure. :shock: I wonder if this is the norm? Perhaps VA is employing multi tasking gate attendants?

As an aside MU had no problem, with one gate attendant, implementing PB.

 

[JohnM]

Something that also may help enforcement is for QF to adopt a policy, such as LAN's where they print 'PREFERENTE' in about 24 point bold caps on the BP.

Not only does it make it very easy for the gate agents/enforcers to see at a distance, it is also offers a pretty visible message to the surrounding pax looking on - which reinforces the education process. The culture when boarding flights such as LAN and AA is that pax self-segregate well (also aided, of course by very clear and properly-placed signs).

 

[basso]

Something that also may help enforcement is for QF to adopt a policy, such as LAN's where they print 'PREFERENTE' in about 24 point bold caps on the BP.

I can just see it. At airports across Australia, WPs in discussion groups, WPs on google, WPs on AFF, trying to find out what PREFERENTE means!

 

[CaviAck]

Complete utter mayhem today on QF926 SYD-CNS.
One FA doing the boarding as it was a 73H and one guy standing by the microphone doing nothing. When boarding started they tried to do it by row numbers but gave up when everyone just surged for the gate. No policing of the line which I doubted would have done much as most of the pax were tourists with minimal English or once a year travellers. Which is a problem QF needs to contend with. However the implementation and execution in this example was extremely poor.

 

[ReLoad]

Complete utter mayhem today on QF926 SYD-CNS.
One FA doing the boarding as it was a 73H and one guy standing by the microphone doing nothing. When boarding started they tried to do it by row numbers but gave up when everyone just surged for the gate. No policing of the line which I doubted would have done much as most of the pax were tourists with minimal English or once a year travellers. Which is a problem QF needs to contend with. However the implementation and execution in this example was extremely poor.

I've found PB is hardly used on weekends, the little signs just get pushed out of the way.

 

[Deleted User]

View attachment 23644

Complete utter mayhem today on QF926 SYD-CNS.
One FA doing the boarding as it was a 73H and one guy standing by the microphone doing nothing. When boarding started they tried to do it by row numbers but gave up when everyone just surged for the gate. No policing of the line which I doubted would have done much as most of the pax were tourists with minimal English or once a year travellers. Which is a problem QF needs to contend with. However the implementation and execution in this example was extremely poor.

PB worked well in Perth on Friday. ... that photo of QF926 looks like total chaos...

 

[CaviAck]

I've found PB is hardly used on weekends, the little signs just get pushed out of the way.

If it's hardly used on weekend then why make the announcements? I can understand why the signage is there. If the service is advertised or an announcement is made, it should be done like any other day regardless of what day of the week it is. If it magically doesn't work on weekends then QF have a consistency issue and that's also a big problem.

PB worked well in Perth on Friday. ... that photo of QF926 looks like total chaos...

And that was just after boarding for rows 17 onwards was called. No one listened and everyone just surged for the gates...

 

[ReLoad]

If it's hardly used on weekend then why make the announcements? I can understand why the signage is there. If the service is advertised or an announcement is made, it should be done like any other day regardless of what day of the week it is. If it magically doesn't work on weekends then QF have a consistency issue and that's also a ...

Just sharing my experiences, not saying it's the right way to go.

 

[sydneyboi]

Did a status run yesterday
SYD-BNE-TSV-BNE-SYD
only Syd-Bne had both lines open, the rest of the 3 flights was a joke especially in TSV it was a complete free for all....

 

[nlagalle]

Did a status run yesterday
SYD-BNE-TSV-BNE-SYD
only Syd-Bne had both lines open, the rest of the 3 flights was a joke especially in TSV it was a complete free for all....

to to be fare, Townsville was a joke with VA as well.. No PB lane and it's not the easiest to set up..

 

[CaviAck]

to to be fare, Townsville was a joke with VA as well.. No PB lane and it's not the easiest to set up..

The one time I flew VA out of TSV, while there was no dedicated line for priority, it worked perfectly for an ATR service... The difference between VA that one time and QF in my general experience was night and day.

On that occasion, the general boarding line lined up perpendicular to the scanner and priority pax could just walk straight up to the scanner directly, this was at the gate at the top of the escalators.

 

[nlagalle]

The one time I flew VA out of TSV, while there was no dedicated line for priority, it worked perfectly for an ATR service... The difference between VA that one time and QF in my general experience was night and day.

On that occasion, the general boarding line lined up perpendicular to the scanner and priority pax could just walk straight up to the scanner directly, this was at the gate at the top of the escalators.

When I was there it was gate 2 down the corridor and the only reason it didn't get caught in the scrum was I was ready at the gate.. Was a PB fail...

 

[woodborer]

When I was there it was gate 2 down the corridor and the only reason it didn't get caught in the scrum was I was ready at the gate.. Was a PB fail...

One side fails more than the other!!

 

[eastwest101]

As a TSV local I can say that due to the poor design of the upper level of the airport that TSV is a bit of an anomaly. I have found that VA only try about 50% and succesfully do PB about 25% of the time and even then its difficult, in TSV I have rarely even seen QF attempt PB at all (again due to the stupid design of the airport I would infer) - they dont have the signage and just dont even try - and I can see why in the particular case of TSV.

But in most other major places SYD/MEL/BNE/ADL that I am familliar with - I would say that VA have maybe a 85-95% success ratio for PB and QF seem to vary anywhere between a 10-80% success ratio for PB, depending on if the signage is present and set up correctly/incorrectly, the time of the flight/day of the week/time of year, the particular airport and gate, the number of cabin crew, how late or on-time the flight is, how full the flight is, the mood of the ground agents at the time, the amount or lack of enforcement etc etc etc

These are my observations - and exclude QF Link Dash 8 and VA regional ATR flights of course.

 

[Danger]

I spotted this interesting sign at Sydney alongside gate 7 this morning: