Priority boarding on QF domestic - what is the story?

[simongr]

Looks like everyone is platinum on this mornings flight...

 

[simongr]

After they announced the small delay everyone walked off and cleared the premium do it sort of worked in the end...

 

[MatF]

Looks like everyone is platinum on this mornings flight...

Yeah, that kind of happened on QF525 last Saturday, BNE-SYD. Everyone seemed to be lining up in the premium line. I was near the front of the line, so I'm not sure if people were "redirected" or not - certainly those in front of me weren't (but of course may have all been J/WP ...)

 

[nlagalle]

Yeah, that kind of happened on QF525 last Saturday, BNE-SYD. Everyone seemed to be lining up in the premium line. I was near the front of the line, so I'm not sure if people were "redirected" or not - certainly those in front of me weren't (but of course may have all been J/WP ...)

My flight yesterday MEL-SYD wasn't too bad. bit of a queue in the priority lane, but the non status queue was bigger

 

[Blackadder]

Flying SYD/BNE on QF 508 on Sat, and BNE/SYD on QF 517 Mon 19/12, so will be interesting to see how the PB is.

 

[aurora]

chuckle

 

[simongr]

It just wasn't clear whether people were in fact queueing in two queues. The message was very though announcing the premium boarding. I also think that people were aware of it as a lot of premium pax lurked left of the main queue.

 

[DC3]

This morning in PER a 767 service to MEL did not have the PB lane open, but there were two standard lanes operating.

When queried, the gate person said the PB lane was not operating because "there's only one door".

Got tears in my eyes now. That's the funniest thing I've seen all week.

 

[wafliron]

PB seemed to be working pretty well on QF456 MEL-SYD this evening. No mention of PB made in the boarding announcement but people generally seemed to be following the signage.

There were two gate attendants scanning BPs, one for each queue - is it meant to be this way, or with two gate attendants are they meant to both serve the PB queue first? Either way, it worked well, and was waaaay better than the previous free-for-all.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

PB seemed to be working pretty well on QF456 MEL-SYD this evening. No mention of PB made in the boarding announcement but people generally seemed to be following the signage.

There were two gate attendants scanning BPs, one for each queue - is it meant to be this way, or with two gate attendants are they meant to both serve the PB queue first? Either way, it worked well, and was waaaay better than the previous free-for-all.

Do you perhaps mean there were two flight attendants scanning BP's as gate agents as a rule don't do the boarding of pax as they're at the counter?

 

[wafliron]

Do you perhaps mean there were two flight attendants scanning BP's as gate agents as a rule don't do the boarding of pax as they're at the counter?

Yes, sorry, was two FAs.

 

[medhead]

Work at gate 13 in SYD tonight for me as well. 3 interlopers were called down as I approached due to an empty queue. They didn't clear by the time I got there, so I did a subtle 'rolleyes'. FA didn't see me, but there was a guy standing on the side monitoring things and marking a sheet, he said something to the FA as I went past. A comment wasn't really needed so I feel a bit bad about it now.

 

[dfcatch]

Work at gate 13 in SYD tonight for me as well. 3 interlopers were called down as I approached due to an empty queue. They didn't clear by the time I got there, so I did a subtle 'rolleyes'. FA didn't see me, but there was a guy standing on the side monitoring things and marking a sheet, he said something to the FA as I went past. A comment wasn't really needed so I feel a bit bad about it now.

Don't feel bad Medhead.

If the Priority line is empty, then the second FA should simply call the next pax in line from the general queue. That way, if a priority pax arrives, they get called first.

Same goes if it's one FA doing it.

 

[reductionist]

there was a guy standing on the side monitoring things and marking a sheet

This fills me with hope.

The worst thing they could do is send a memo to their staff then leave the implementation open to interpretation. Assigning someone to supervise like this is the only way to get any kind of consistency.

 

[simongr]

Work at gate 13 in SYD tonight for me as well. 3 interlopers were called down as I approached due to an empty queue. They didn't clear by the time I got there, so I did a subtle 'rolleyes'. FA didn't see me, but there was a guy standing on the side monitoring things and marking a sheet, he said something to the FA as I went past. A comment wasn't really needed so I feel a bit bad about it now.

Unless people actually give them feedback the service won't improve. They are all learning this and breaking habits of the last 10 or more years.

 

[greenfish]

Just attempted to board my flight to BNE (20:05 ex Syd).

Wandered to the front of the priority queue (one guy in front of me) - stood there for a bit, and the FA checking in the general boarding line hollers out "There's only 1 Flight Attendant, guys" i.e. forget about priority boarding.

Am now sitting back down waiting for the madding crowds to subside.

Good effort there, Qantas.

 

[JohnM]

This fills me with hope.

The worst thing they could do is send a memo to their staff then leave the implementation open to interpretation. Assigning someone to supervise like this is the only way to get any kind of consistency.

After my totally bizarre 'it's a one door aircraft, so no PB lane' :shock: :evil: experience at PER on Monday, my hope diminished. However, for two subsequent flights out of MEL (both single door a/c ) this week the PB lane was working fine .

I hope Red Roo is still monitoring this thread and will feed back these experiences to the relevant people in the company. I wasn't the only one left scratching my head in PER .

 

[ozbeachbabe]

This fills me with hope.

The worst thing they could do is send a memo to their staff then leave the implementation open to interpretation. Assigning someone to supervise like this is the only way to get any kind of consistency.

What, a memo to staff to maybe let them know what's going on? Don't worry there's no danger of silly things like memos or staff meetings happening.

Just attempted to board my flight to BNE (20:05 ex Syd).

Wandered to the front of the priority queue (one guy in front of me) - stood there for a bit, and the FA checking in the general boarding line hollers out "There's only 1 Flight Attendant, guys" i.e. forget about priority boarding.

Am now sitting back down waiting for the madding crowds to subside.

Good effort there, Qantas.

I doubt whether those 'guys with clipboards' realise that there's only one F/A on a 734 (except flights to/from CBR) but at the moment the boarding of such flights in consistent and a bit of a cluster you know what. They need to address this situation asap.

 

[serfty]

Just attempted to board my flight to BNE (20:05 ex Syd).

Wandered to the front of the priority queue (one guy in front of me) - stood there for a bit, and the FA checking in the general boarding line hollers out "There's only 1 Flight Attendant, guys" i.e. forget about priority boarding.

Am now sitting back down waiting for the madding crowds to subside.

Good effort there, Qantas.

That's ridiculous.

Maybe some FA's are resisting the change, aren't aware or are not interested.:evil:

You do need to put in a complaint as the FA is supposed to stop boarding the standard queue and serve those in the priority queue as they arrive.

The FA needs a re-education on a direct level and if you don't put a complaint in, you are denying Qantas the opportunity to do so.

 

[LiamR]

Don't feel too bad folks.

Virgin Australia's Priority Boarding at Sydney today was a complete mess.