Priority boarding on QF domestic - what is the story?

[trippin_the_rift]

Saw this on twitter today...

QantasAirways Qantas Airways

Currently Domestic Priority Boarding is based on a PA system. We are currently working to improve the process.

 

[Danger]

What is meant by "PA system"? Are they referring to the public address system? If so, perhaps they meant to say 'priority boarding is based on our staff taking the time to provide the benefit we advertise and use the PA system to announce priority boarding'.

 

[goldy]

What is meant by "PA system"? Are they referring to the public address system? If so, perhaps they meant to say 'priority boarding is based on our staff taking the time to provide the benefit we advertise and use the PA system to announce priority boarding'.

What is so hard about perhaps configuring the BP scanners to only accept valid BP's during the priority boarding phase? this would make it easier for the boarding staff to disallow non eligible members from boarding. HOWEVER... what happens when there is a conflict between the operating airline and OW? eg: SG's dont get priority boarding but as OW sapphires they do....


On a slight tangent.... what are peoples thoughts on the non provision of advertised benefits? I know most are "displeased" but are you displeased enough to consider a "breach of contract" action?? or is that going too far?

 

[oz_mark]

On a slight tangent.... what are peoples thoughts on the non provision of advertised benefits? I know most are "displeased" but are you displeased enough to consider a "breach of contract" action?? or is that going too far?

Can you quantify the loss you have suffered from this alleged breach?

(I actually struggle with the level of angst this is causing people!)

 

[Simo]

Can you quantify the loss you have suffered from this alleged breach?

An extra Glass of Red or another beer.

My liver would not complain if it missed one.

 

[simongr]

On a slight tangent.... what are peoples thoughts on the non provision of advertised benefits? I know most are "displeased" but are you displeased enough to consider a "breach of contract" action?? or is that going too far?

I think the case would be dead before it started for being a trivial matter.

Can you quantify the loss you have suffered from this alleged breach?

(I actually struggle with the level of angst this is causing people!)

I don't think this is a major issue for me (not one I would switch carriers for) but it is one of my biggest annoyances having moved to a more frequent domestic flier from being a semi frequent international flier. I am used to just walking on board - the concept of queuing behind 200 people is unpalatable.

 

[goldy]

Can you quantify the loss you have suffered from this alleged breach?

Im not going down this path again....except to say that if you bought your fare from QF for X/Y/Z reasons and Z is not delivered, does it matter what loss you have "suffered", or is it more a case of you not getting what you paid for which IMO, means there "could be" a breach of contract.

I concede this is different to an IROP, where you might be delayed or rerouted as these are covered by various T&C's but I don't see how those same T&C's cover the non provision of clearly defined benefits (like lounge wifi, priority boarding and luggage)

Im just asking.. so please can we keep it civil and not turn the question into something that it is not.

 

[oz_mark]

Im not going down this path again....except to say that if you bought your fare from QF for X/Y/Z reasons and Z is not delivered, does it matter what loss you have "suffered", or is it more a case of you not getting what you paid for which IMO, means there "could be" a breach of contract.

I concede this is different to an IROP, where you might be delayed or rerouted as these are covered by various T&C's but I don't see how those same T&C's cover the non provision of clearly defined benefits (like lounge wifi, priority boarding and luggage)

Im just asking.. so please can we keep it civil and not turn the question into something that it is not.

The point is when you buy a ticket, you buy a whole package of benefits. Now when some of those are not delivered (e.g. a meal, IFE broken, etc) one can quantify the loss in one way or another, and Qantas have been known to compensate. My question is about how material it is in terms of the overall package of benefits.

 

[simongr]

Its not included in the ticket price as it is a status benefit isnt it?

 

[goldy]

Its not included in the ticket price as it is a status benefit isnt it?

i suppose so... but you would have considered those status benefits when making your purchase, knowing that if you booked with X you'd get them and if you booked with Y, with whom u have no status, you wouldn't. This is a tough one..... Grrr

 

[opusman]

HOWEVER... what happens when there is a conflict between the operating airline and OW? eg: SG's dont get priority boarding but as OW sapphires they do....

Generally it seems Qantas treat their own members by their own rules, not those of OW. For example, OW Sapphire are allowed entry to any member airline's business lounge (when travelling with a member airline), but for QFF members you have to be Platinum, not Gold, for domestic J lounge access.

 

[mark299]

What is so hard about perhaps configuring the BP scanners to only accept valid BP's during the priority boarding phase? this would make it easier for the boarding staff to disallow non eligible members from boarding. HOWEVER... what happens when there is a conflict between the operating airline and OW? eg: SG's dont get priority boarding but as OW sapphires they do....


On a slight tangent.... what are peoples thoughts on the non provision of advertised benefits? I know most are "displeased" but are you displeased enough to consider a "breach of contract" action?? or is that going too far?

Well Said mate.

Obviously, someone in Qantas needs to be bothered enough to take the steps to look at options and then possibly implement the solution you have touched on. It shouldn't be too hard to list the Platinum, CL, and First members on a flight and set the scanners to only accept those numbers; during the initial priority boarding call.

Also, with regards to your second question, it is a breach of the trades agreement, as you have advertised something and not delivering it. I guess like most people, i like Qantas and sometimes go out of the way to try and book a Qantas flight even if other airlines have better tickets and routes. I would like this to be fixed soon by Qantas and avoid more priority customers getting frustrated.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Generally it seems Qantas treat their own members by their own rules, not those of OW. For example, OW Sapphire are allowed entry to any member airline's business lounge (when travelling with a member airline), but for QFF members you have to be Platinum, not Gold, for domestic J lounge access.

I could be wrong here but I recall reading on the OW website that QF Domestic J Lounge is excluded from the OW agreement for lounge access and is only available to OWE / WP and those travelling J ?

 

[QFMEL]

Can you quantify the loss you have suffered from this alleged breach?

(I actually struggle with the level of angst this is causing people!)

Think it's more in the loss of chance space than a quantifiable breach.

 

[pshepvic]

I could be wrong here but I recall reading on the OW website that QF Domestic J Lounge is excluded from the OW agreement for lounge access and is only available to OWE / WP and those travelling J ?

I think you're right. Maybe Qantas should rename it's lounges - call them the Platinum lounge (ie. the current Int Flounges and Dom Jlounges - and restrict to OWE, WPs, F PAX for international or J PAX for domestic) and rename the QP to Gold Lounge (for SGs, QP members, and J International PAX).

Would align better with OW and remove ambiguity. Considering the J lounges were built for WPs and QF are doing their best to remove F from all but two routes, they may as well name them based on who is in there rather than the class of travel.

 

[bucketlist]

Well Said mate.

Obviously, someone in Qantas needs to be bothered enough to take the steps to look at options and then possibly implement the solution you have touched on. It shouldn't be too hard to list the Platinum, CL, and First members on a flight and set the scanners to only accept those numbers; during the initial priority boarding call.

Also, with regards to your second question, it is a breach of the trades agreement, as you have advertised something and not delivering it. I guess like most people, i like Qantas and sometimes go out of the way to try and book a Qantas flight even if other airlines have better tickets and routes. I would like this to be fixed soon by Qantas and avoid more priority customers getting frustrated.

Only concern I see with scanners determining priority boarding is the varying status levels within my travel group. IE. On leisure with fam. 1 x WP, 1x SG, 1x PS (child) etc. I'm sure it can be addressed, but still needs a human touch. Something I always want anyway to differentiate from bus/train/jetstar travel.

 

[QF WP]

The priority boarding at PER Gate 14 today for QF802 to MEL

View attachment 3460

- two lines and the LHS one said "Economy & Business" and the RHS "Economy".
[sorry, no photo of them, was in a hurry to board)

I'd rather have seen "Business, Plat or Gold" and "Economy, Silver & Bronze"

 

[Princess Fiona]

Only concern I see with scanners determining priority boarding is the varying status levels within my travel group. IE. On leisure with fam. 1 x WP, 1x SG, 1x PS (child) etc. I'm sure it can be addressed, but still needs a human touch. Something I always want anyway to differentiate from bus/train/jetstar travel.

I don't think you need scanners to determine priority boarding IMHO, just a pair of eyes, it works perfectly well with AA. It's also usually obvious to them if it's a family group

 

[ozbeachbabe]

What is so hard about perhaps configuring the BP scanners to only accept valid BP's during the priority boarding phase? this would make it easier for the boarding staff to disallow non eligible members from boarding. HOWEVER... what happens when there is a conflict between the operating airline and OW? eg: SG's dont get priority boarding but as OW sapphires they do....

If anything I think it would make it harder for the boarding staff eg when you get an eligible priorty boarding like a WP travelling with a non-eligible pax such as a NB spose. It's just making things way too complicated. The FA could end up letting the NB spouse through without scanning then forget to board the pax manually later once generally boarding was ok for the masses & you'd be searching for what looked like a fail to board pax but wasn't.

Obviously, someone in Qantas needs to be bothered enough to take the steps to look at options and then possibly implement the solution you have touched on. It shouldn't be too hard to list the Platinum, CL, and First members on a flight and set the scanners to only accept those numbers; during the initial priority boarding call.

I think that's just asking for trouble.....what if the scanners got stuck in that mode? You'd end up having to manually board pax & would end up getting a delay on the flight.

Only concern I see with scanners determining priority boarding is the varying status levels within my travel group. IE. On leisure with fam. 1 x WP, 1x SG, 1x PS (child) etc. I'm sure it can be addressed, but still needs a human touch. Something I always want anyway to differentiate from bus/train/jetstar travel.

What about other legitimate pre-boarders like someone on crutches or elderly. I don't see a problem with FA's looking at the boarding passes & accepting/denying boarding on the face value of the boarding pass. That concept is simply making an easy job hard.

 

[tuapekastar]

Generally it seems Qantas treat their own members by their own rules, not those of OW. For example, OW Sapphire are allowed entry to any member airline's business lounge (when travelling with a member airline), but for QFF members you have to be Platinum, not Gold, for domestic J lounge access.

I think for OW purposes, the QP is a (the) business lounge. QF just decided a few years ago to build extra lounges in a few ports (still only 4 I think - MEL, SYD, CBR, BNE), called the J lounge, and only J pax and QF WP/OWE have access. So OWS do not get access, same as QF Gold (who are also OWS) - no difference.