Priority boarding on QF domestic - what is the story?

[Luke B]

I had a jet connect flight BNE-CHC in J a couple months ago, of course the boarding was hopeless. By the time I got to the front the ground agent was very apologetic regarding the priority boarding, I'm a SG on QF and WP on VA, VA 99% of the time get priority boarding done right, why can't QF?

 

[PaulST]

I had a jet connect flight BNE-CHC in J a couple months ago, of course the boarding was hopeless. By the time I got to the front the ground agent was very apologetic regarding the priority boarding, I'm a SG on QF and WP on VA, VA 99% of the time get priority boarding done right, why can't QF?

Interesting. I've always seen it well enforced on international flights.

 

[kermatu]

Interesting. I've always seen it well enforced on international flights.

Me too - though I haven't flown international out of BNE. And if coming from the lounge after boarding call most pax are already onboard so a bit hard to tell. It is also a bit dependent on the gate setup - but as others have said, most other airlines manage to get it right.

 

[Pushka]

Interesting. I've always seen it well enforced on international flights.

New Zealand flights have a very different feel to them. Unlike other Qantas International flights. Have found the J crew quite well, rude. Like we are a bother.

 

[cambriamarsh]

New Zealand flights have a very different feel to them. Unlike other Qantas International flights. Have found the J crew quite well, rude. Like we are a bother.

The NZ J crew are rude or the others?

 

[blackcat20]

I've always found the JetConect J crew to be amazing.

 

[kermatu]

I've always found the JetConect J crew to be amazing.

Me too. Some of the best I've come across. Consistently good. J and Y. Regulars and newbies. Even on the red-eye where they'd expect most pax to sleep (this is often QF not JetConnect).

 

[Mr_Orange]

I've always found the JetConect J crew to be amazing.

Me too. Some of the best I've come across. Consistently good. J and Y. Regulars and newbies. Even on the red-eye where they'd expect most pax to sleep (this is often QF not JetConnect).

Ditto for me.

 

[Pushka]

Maybe I was unlucky. She was servicing the cabin on her own. NZ crew.

 

[kermatu]

Maybe I was unlucky. She was servicing the cabin on her own. NZ crew.

We are getting OT, but it is only 1 J cabin attendant for the bulk of the flight these days. Occasionally the CSM will spend the first period of the flight there too and help with first drinks etc - making things a bit quicker - but not always.

 

[Deleted member]

New Zealand flights have a very different feel to them. Unlike other Qantas International flights. Have found the J crew quite well, rude. Like we are a bother.

Whereas I have the exact opposite experience. (With Jet connect)

 

[Danger]

If the ground agent was truly a ground agent and not one of the FAs, this is very odd. I can only imagine such an agent pointing you out to the CSM for a negative reason, not to tell them to offer you an apology. Very good of the CSM, in any event.

I should clarify. When I said ground agent I meant the staff member scanning. It may have been an FA. However, I suspect it wasn't as when the CSM raised it with me he suggested that one of the reasons for the ongoing trouble is the difference between ground staff and FAs.

 

[Pushka]

Whereas I have the exact opposite experience. (With Jet connect)

That's nice to hear. Different experiences. Different crew.

We are getting OT, but it is only 1 J cabin attendant for the bulk of the flight these days. Occasionally the CSM will spend the first period of the flight there too and help with first drinks etc - making things a bit quicker - but not always.

Actually now you mention it the CSM did come into the cabin later and seemed to try to make things a bit more pleasant. I thought maybe the crew was short staffed and that was the reason for the experience.

 

[kermatu]

When the service in Y is complete the CSM (and other crew) come back up front. Sometimes the service actually drops off as they are ready to rest/chat etc. The service in J continues to be very slow with one attendant. Even in row 1 the gap between entree and main is ridiculous (and I'm a very slow eater). Unfortunately the service on the A330s is also usually very slow in my experience.

Mind you I was on EK AKL-SYD the other day in J and the food arrived before I'd even had a chance to take my first sip of a bloody mary. Maybe I'm just hard to satisfy.

Back on-topic, the other thing that annoys me about priority boarding in some ports (certainly CBR) is the priority lane often uses the mobile scanner which is usually slower and seems to play up a fair bit.

 

[kermatu]

I should clarify. When I said ground agent I meant the staff member scanning. It may have been an FA. However, I suspect it wasn't as when the CSM raised it with me he suggested that one of the reasons for the ongoing trouble is the difference between ground staff and FAs.

No worries. Though I'd have actually thought ground staff rather than FAs would (should) be better at enforcing priority boarding than FAs.

 

[La Mouette]

Going SYD-MEL on an evening flight recently, there were dragons at the priority check-in desk queue, priority security queue, J lounge, and priority boarding queue at the gate. I nearly expected to see one guarding the loos!

I didn't see anyone turned back, but the check-in queue dragon was quite rude to me until I produced an appropriate status card. When I did and she realised her mistake, she then switched to overly polite. The other dragons were all friendly.

The result was the right one, I guess - all the queues were empty, despite the time of day. But IMHO there was a bit of a service trade-off to get there, as my main memory of the experience is the rude dragon. There's a difference between turning away people who shouldn't be there and being rude to everyone just in case, when most people do the right thing.

 

[Pushka]

Hong Kong does priority boarding very well. A few years ago as a newbie SG by virtue of MrP flying I was standing in the normal queue. Someone checks each BP while waiting. He looked at me aghast and brought me to the front. Guess that doesn't happen very often.

(An OT question. If the service is so slow in J across the ditch then how can you say it's good? That was one of my issues. I was in 2A seat and desperately needed to go to the bathroom. I waited and waited for plate clearance. In the end I just had to ask the nice guy next to me with apologies that I simply had to go. The FA rushed up and said I had to wait. I just looked at her and said 'No. I can't wait any longer'. (I usually don't need to go on flights less than five hours but our domestic connection was late and had to dash through immigration to get there - boarding as I arrived and no time to pre visit. HLO. The CSM took a look at all the others waiting to have their plates cleared and got to work and cleared them. )

 

[kermatu]

That does sound poor if you were told not to go to the bathroom. Only legitimate reason for doing so would be if the coughpit door was open for the pilots to be served or to use the bathroom themselves. But the crew usually block the area with the trolley if that's the case.

Service would definitely be better with 2 FAs in J for the entire flight. Pretty sure I had 2 on a few flights 3 or 4 years ago. Remember being very well looked after by Alison and Melissa in J on a couple of flights. Haven't seen Alison for a while and I know Melissa has left QF.

Anyway, we have a separate Trans Tasman thread so will post this stuff there.

 

[Fifa]

PB fail in MEL this morning.
As soon as the QF420 boarding call was announced in the lounge we headed to the gate (no dallying).
On approach there was no-one in the PB lane and a staff member walked up to the passengers waiting in the general queue and ushered them into the PB queue!
We had missed the opportunity! I imagine most behind us (from the lounge) were entitled to PB but very few of us received our benefit :shock:.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I gave up worrying about Qantas PB years ago. I have seen it done perfectly all over the world, but it all seems to be too hard for Qantas. Works sometimes, doesn't others, don't even think about it anymore.