Priority boarding on QF domestic - what is the story?

[docjames]

1D. I think we loaded the O/H at about the same time. I was a little zombie-like and snoozed the second half of the flight as was dog tired after o/night from SIN. Hope I didn't snore.

Definitely the same people. They were in the priority line right in front of me, and it was definitely, as you say, an issue with the BPs.

Haha, yes, I was glad you didnt recline!!

 

[tuapekastar]

Haha, yes, I was glad you didnt recline!!

I did snore? :shock::shock::shock: Sorry 'bout that.

I never recline on domestic (and ever so rarely on T-T, and then only a smidgin'). I guess if the seat behind me was empty I might.

 

[richie9x]

Some recent examples.

Gate 18 at BNE. They made the boarding call for premium on the right, everyone else on the left. Even though it was 737-800 only one FA came up at the start of boarding time. So all the passengers lined up in the premium lane. A second FA came up later and it just became a mess.


Gate 10 at Melbourne seems to have not one but two premium boarding lanes and no general boarding lane! Now that's real service! It seems that everyone on that flight was a premium passenger.



The third example is gate 3 at Melbourne for a flight to Perth. I didn't take a photo but what happened was that the boarding call was made ok - premium on the left and everyone else on the right. Except the red tape had been moved over and the premium line lead to the gate desk instead of the boarding terminals. A premium passenger in front of me attempted to board via the gate agent. She came out and moved the red tape over. So now there was one premium line and two general lines. The FA on left who should have been serving the premium lane first then started alternating between premium passengers and general passengers.

It just amazes me that Virgin seem to do it fine all the time. While for Qantas it sort of works ok half the time and is a mess the other half.

 

[nlagalle]

My flight home from SYD went without a hitch and worked as it should..

 

[munitalP]

I have had equally good results now on QF and VA. Neither are perfect but both are better than 12 months ago. At the end of the day, the only "real" priority boarding works when there is a separate bridge into the J cabin, otherwise once checked on, you still join the masses just through the glass door.



Sent using a fire, green leaves and blanket creating smoke signals.

 

[Jason04]

Had a fun time last night in MEL QF653 at Gate 11. We were delayed, then moved to a different plane and gate. Massive stampede to get to new gate with a lot of people immediately lining up at the scanners.
I was 1st in line for Premium with a guy channeling his inner Usain Bolt in the left line (regular boarding) attempting to be "first" on the plane. They started scanning both lines at once and he raced ahead of me to then get headphones, so I slipped past then proceeded to walk quite leisurely in front of him I guess he needed to get to row 57 quickly haha

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Worked a treat this morning.
QF565 - T3 (Sydney)
SYD-PER

 

[AirKat]

BNE-Syd and SYD-MEL this week and this did not work. When the priority lane is empty other passengers always seem to fill it, meaning that if you are entitled to use it you face the decision between walking to the front of the line or lining up behind everyone. My disappointment is that QF staff do not seem to police this at all. I just feel they should remove this benefit if they aren't capable of making it work. I get on the plane so much more frustrated than when this didn't exist and I just lined up with everyone else

 

[11sjw]

was well set up and well policed on QF650 PER-BNE this morning.

 

[reductionist]

Worked well on MEL-SYD 414 this morning.

 

[Stephen65]

The third example is gate 3 at Melbourne for a flight to Perth. I didn't take a photo but what happened was that the boarding call was made ok - premium on the left and everyone else on the right. Except the red tape had been moved over and the premium line lead to the gate desk instead of the boarding terminals.

A similar situation on QF621 this afternoon. The red tape was set up at gate 25 at BNE so that the general lane (on the left) led to the single FA doing boarding while the premium lane terminated short on the right at the service desk. What's more the FA had her back to the premium lane (such as it was) as she was checking the BPs of the general passengers so short of moving the red tape myself and then asking her to turn around the premium lane just wasn't going to work. Seeing that there were only half a dozen people in the general lane anyway we just used that.

 

[simongr]

Another good experience on QF409 this morning

 

[Simo]

On Tuesday I did CBR to BNE and no PB at all.

Maybe there is to many WP's in CBR to make it work.

 

[11sjw]

A similar situation on QF621 this afternoon. The red tape was set up at gate 25 at BNE so that the general lane (on the left) led to the single FA doing boarding while the premium lane terminated short on the right at the service desk. What's more the FA had her back to the premium lane (such as it was) as she was checking the BPs of the general passengers so short of moving the red tape myself and then asking her to turn around the premium lane just wasn't going to work. Seeing that there were only half a dozen people in the general lane anyway we just used that.

Experienced the same deal with Gate 25. Gates 24 & 23 seemed to have a better set up at the door. However given the fact that they don't use two entries onto the aircraft the PB has limited effect.

 

[richie9x]

A similar situation on QF621 this afternoon. The red tape was set up at gate 25 at BNE so that the general lane (on the left) led to the single FA doing boarding while the premium lane terminated short on the right at the service desk. What's more the FA had her back to the premium lane (such as it was) as she was checking the BPs of the general passengers so short of moving the red tape myself and then asking her to turn around the premium lane just wasn't going to work. Seeing that there were only half a dozen people in the general lane anyway we just used that.

If I recall correctly gate 25 at BNE is the one right at the end of the Qantas section. And it is a bit unique as it is both a Qantas gate and a Jetstar gate. So they have to squeeze both Qantas BP scanners and gate desk in on the left side and the Jetstar BP scanners on the right of the gate. I think I have had one flight from there since premium boarding was started and it seemed to go ok. Although the queueing at Gate 25 was a bit awkward given the way it is squeeze in there.

 

[Pleb Status]

On my last flight BNE-PER at gate 24 (A330), the dividing tape etc had been moved against the seats on the right hand side of the gate and no premium boarding was used at all, even though it was a full flight.

 

[eastwest101]

On my last flight BNE-PER at gate 24 (A330), the dividing tape etc had been moved against the seats on the right hand side of the gate and no premium boarding was used at all, even though it was a full flight.

Maybe we need someone to go over and cement those bollards for QF priority boarding in place at Gate 24 in BNE, I can bet you that one part of the Qantas Group is paying for the rent/lease for Gate 24 in BNE and it wouldn't be JQ.....

Pleb_status - are you inclined to raise this matter with QF?

 

[TonyHancock]

Worked OK on QF430 MEL-SYD today. Whilst walking from Gate 9 to the international transfer bus the priority boarding announcement at gate 5 was Business Class, oneworld emerald and one world sapphire!!:shock:

 

[amaroo]

Worked OK on QF430 MEL-SYD today. Whilst walking from Gate 9 to the international transfer bus the priority boarding announcement at gate 5 was Business Class, oneworld emerald and one world sapphire!!:shock:

If your next flight is BA10 - enjoy NF

 

[TonyHancock]

If your next flight is BA10 - enjoy NF

I have a sneaking suspicion FT dashboard has an error. I think I'm on GBNLL and it is the old first class.