Priority boarding on QF domestic - what is the story?

[Buzzard]

I guess when my status drops, my benefits won't

 

[Daver6]

Flying pig ? Can you explain ( Pauline Hanson here)

The saying that something will happen when pigs fly. Ie, it is never going to happen. Sorry, humour fail on my behalf there

 

[michaele]

Another fail on QF503 this morning out of Brisbane - the J line was on the closer side, so naturally everyone went there. It was longer than the standard line. Very frustrating.*

*However, my colleague and I were Op-Up from oversold Y to J at the gate so I promptly stopped my grumbling!

 

[Doctore1003]

QF768 from PER to MEL yesterday was a shambles. Walked out of the serene new J lounge to confront two massive queues for boarding - and ended up at the back of the "priority" line surrounded by a group of overexcited school kids. Took forever to board. The two pieces of signage indicating which queue was which had arrows pointing in the opposite directions for the priority line. What a mess. Come on Qantas, it shouldn't be that hard.

 

[TheInsider]

QF768 from PER to MEL yesterday was a shambles. Walked out of the serene new J lounge to confront two massive queues for boarding - and ended up at the back of the "priority" line surrounded by a group of overexcited school kids. Took forever to board. The two pieces of signage indicating which queue was which had arrows pointing in the opposite directions for the priority line. What a mess. Come on Qantas, it shouldn't be that hard.

Everyone needs to complain to the Airport Managers on the day of departure, if possible. Because it seems like going through the official channels isn't doing much at all.

 

[Doctore1003]

Everyone needs to complain to the Airport Managers on the day of departure, if possible. Because it seems like going through the official channels isn't doing much at all.

I thought about going up to the staff boarding the plane to ask what was going on, but I was worried I'd look like a tool. I noticed the other people who were in the J lounge just lined up patiently at the back of the queue... I was surprised they didn't look more bothered - perhaps they fly more often and are used to it.

 

[opusman]

Amazing it has been over 5 years since they started offering DOM priority boarding and they still can't get it right.

 

[TheInsider]

I thought about going up to the staff boarding the plane to ask what was going on, but I was worried I'd look like a tool. I noticed the other people who were in the J lounge just lined up patiently at the back of the queue... I was surprised they didn't look more bothered - perhaps they fly more often and are used to it.

The staff boarding the plane are cabin crew, the majority won't care.
The staff behind the desk are ground staff, you could speak to them about the issue and/or get them to get someone to speak to (but the majority of them won't care either sadly).

Also with some flights, quite regularly, you can easily have over 60-90 people eligible for that queue on a B737 flight.

 

[kermatu]

I think someone made the point upthread as well that domestic boarding are cabin crew, whereas International is mainly ground crew. International works well in my experience, perhaps in part because of much bigger gate areas that can be roped off.

I presume cabin crew aren't that fussed or well-trained on priority boarding enforcement. And until QF actually makes that a priority and gets some consistency in announcements, signage and queue management - it won't really change.

Personally I'm happy to wait in a queue and get onboard a bit late - but I rarely use the overhead lockers so I appreciate others differ. Lack of enforcement of priority baggage is a similar and equally frustrating, but ultimately first world, problem.

 

[UP4014]

the boarding call should be windows seats first.........the would speed things.

 

[Quickstatus]

I would not be surprised that the most important goal during the boarding process is to complete it as quickly as possible notwithstanding any published PB benefits.

 

[jackthomas]

Interesting PB in SYD today going to MEL..One person in the normal boarding line while priority was banked up almost the whole way.. Considering J was nowhere near full and there were all empty middle seats in the first 4 rows of economy, I gather it wasn't a hugely premium heavy flight.. I jumped right over to the normal line and cut the queue.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Until QF have ground based crew manning the gates, and flight crew not facing disgruntled passengers, there is no way it'll get resolved.

More chance of retina scanners checking your status as you board...

 

[SeatBackForward]

QF409 this morning. Granted this is prime business flying time, the general queue was significantly shorter than premium. But didn't see the general side being used to draw Premium pax across.

No guessing which side I headed down.

 

[michaele]

Until QF have ground based crew manning the gates, and flight crew not facing disgruntled passengers, there is no way it'll get resolved.

Mate mentioned today the response to PB line completely full and him only one in normal line (as a WP) was (from a ground person manning the gates) "It is the flight attendants decision on queuing and ground crew dont make that call.."

???

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Mate mentioned today the response to PB line completely full and him only one in normal line (as a WP) was (from a ground person manning the gates) "It is the flight attendants decision on queuing and ground crew dont make that call.."

???

Let me guess - only one FA doing boarding on the left hand PB side so everyone lines up in the left hand lane?

The FA is hardly going to redirect pax to a lane that's got nobody manning it.

The most efficient way would be to have two ground staff do the boarding. One person doesn't cut it due to the sheer volume of pax eligible to use the PB lane.

If you're only going to have one person doing boarding then yoy'd have to do it the AA way ie board all PB pax first then start general boarding afterwards.

 

[Captain Halliday]

PB worked a treat in DRW today. There were two staff, one FA and the other appeared to be an airport staffer.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

PB worked a treat in DRW today. There were two staff, one FA and the other appeared to be an airport staffer.

That sounds about right as you only have four cabin crew on DRW flights and three must remain on board.

If there is a dedicated ground staff member boarding pax that's fine however if the ground staff helping to board is the same one overseeing the departure of the flight there will be a number of interruptions that will drag them away from the boarding process.

There is always other stuff to do like taking confiscated oversize hand luggage down to the plane, reprinting boarding passes for people whose phone has gone flat or who have misplaced their paper one, chasing up fail to board pax or offloading them if they aren't located etc.

 

[Daver6]

QF 584 yesterday, PER to ADL fail. Departing from an air bridge on the old Virgin terminal. Only one line manned by one person. Another two staff members faffing about by the gate though. Some signage that could have been use wasn't. No reason they couldn't have had priority boarding here.

In fact, if you paid for J you have legitimately not received part of the service you paid for and no excuse.

 

[Milefest]

They need to have a system that alerts gate staff when a non-entitled pax attempts to use the priority lane.