Priority boarding on QF domestic - what is the story?

[MEL_Traveller]

About Carry on Luggage

I took this picture at a lounge in BUD earlier this week. Sorry, blurry photo.
The photo doesn't do justice, but the size of this carry-on was HUGE.
Flight was BUD-FRA, LH. He was sitting in J, in front of me.

looking at the height of each bag - they seem to come to about the same height compared to the chairs. the sizes of both bags seem to be close enough to the max allowable international cabin baggage allowance of 45' (total dimensions). My samsonite carry-ons are the same. The only time I've ever had an issue was on a packed LH flight from MUC-FRA on a CRJ. I couldn't hold check-it because of valuables, so they stowed it in the front coat closet. Mine usually weigh between 11 and 15 kilos, again, never an issue for premium class travel, even on QF.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

looking at the height of each bag - they seem to come to about the same height compared to the chairs. the sizes of both bags seem to be close enough to the max allowable international cabin baggage allowance of 45' (total dimensions). My samsonite carry-ons are the same. The only time I've ever had an issue was on a packed LH flight from MUC-FRA on a CRJ. I couldn't hold check-it because of valuables, so they stowed it in the front coat closet. Mine usually weigh between 11 and 15 kilos, again, never an issue for premium class travel, even on QF.

Just remember as Confucious says " the law may sleep but never dies".

If you fly internationally you may find your carry on weighed at the screening point.

Mine was weighed at BNE Intl prior to catching QF8 to SYD but only weighed 7.6kg so all was good.

 

[simongr]

Brilliant at BNE - small PB sign pointing one way - big PB sign on the other channel...

 

[simongr]

And by brilliant I mean coughtastical

 

[AirKat]

Brilliant at BNE - small PB sign pointing one way - big PB sign on the other channel...

I had the same coughtastic experience out of BNE this afternoon, QF627 to Mel... Very cross

 

[JohnM]

Somehow, I don't think priority boarding is becoming embedded in the QF culture :-|.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

A few weeks ago I flew BNE/SYD on a QF 738 and it was apparent that 3 of the operating cabin crew were delayed on an inbound flight from PER but the flight was ready to board. As they only had 2 F/A's at the time 2 F/A's on airport reserve helped out - one went onboard to assist the other 2 F/A's & the other did the boarding at the gate while a supervisor helped out with the boarding until the 3 operating F/A's arrived.

I don't know how many F/A's are on airport reserve an any one time but it got me thinking that if it worked in this instance, why can't they adopt this practice more often. Even when there are two F/A's to do the boarding the airport reserve F/A could do the 'cat herding' ie check no ring ins are joining the PB queue.

With the extra F/A doing the 'policing' that leaves the other F/A's to just concentrate on scanning pax boarding passes. That way there's no confrontation with pax being in the wrong queue as that would already have been addressed.

There would be not extra cost involved as they would be utilising existing staff more effectively.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just remember as Confucious says " the law may sleep but never dies".

If you fly internationally you may find your carry on weighed at the screening point.

Mine was weighed at BNE Intl prior to catching QF8 to SYD but only weighed 7.6kg so all was good.

lol yes. Nice quote. I'd never attempt to carry more than 7kg in economy leaving from AU - they have that nice person inside the door to immigration who like to weigh your bags!!

Thankfully I've never seen it anywhere else in Asia (well, maybe for LCC but I haven't had the pleasure yet!)

 

[simongr]

Great idea OBB - have you suggested this to mgt?

I am seeing a new campaign coming "get PB right QF!!!"

 

[medhead]

Would using standby FAs that way risk them not being ready to jump on a plane at short notice to fill in?

Yes, it is a good idea.


Sent from the Throne

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Would using standby FAs that way risk them not being ready to jump on a plane at short notice to fill in?

Yes, it is a good idea.

The F/A's would have to be contactable so they could be ready to jump on a plane at short notice. I guess having their mobile phone with them would be the best idea.

 

[amaroo]

Not much different to relief teachers!.....other than the fact that the FA's are actually in the building!

 

[Berlin]

Absolute chaos last Friday at SYD and back from Cairns last night. As far as I can tell, the sole reason for this not to work in most cases simply is the staff who do not want/are not able to/are not being trained to enforce the priority line. If they allow every single pushy bogan to use the line without being entitled to it, then it's no surprise that it will become common knowledge in Boganland that the priority boarding signs are there to be ignored. :evil:

 

[ozmille]

Worked a treat in MEL on Saturday night, empty priority line and about 15 people in the general queue

 

[Sequel]

QF768 tonight - fail!

They had already started boarding people before they made the call that they were boarding by rows.

And the simplest thing which I had seen several times - big sign on the right, boarding call is for priority on right, the the little sign on the divider points to the left - meaning everyone gets confused and spreads the love between both lines.

SURELY IT'S NOT THAT HARD QF!!

I am not one for complaining for complaints sake, but as an engineer, when things dont work because people dont think it through really irks me. And how many months did they trial it for, just to come up with a system that the work experience lad could have done in 10 mins....

Sent from my MB526 using AustFreqFly

 

[JohnM]

QF802 PER-MEL on Sunday - pass.

QF769 MEL-PER today - fail. The gate agent calling boarding was directing premium borading to the left and general to the right. Only problem was that this was the opposite of the signage :!: . I was about third aboard; I didn't linger to see much of the resulting zoo but the queue seemed equally long on both sides.

Will they EVER make it work properly? :shock:.

 

[Sequel]

Only problem was that this was the opposite of the signage :!: .

This seems to be a common cause of failure, and one that they could fix in 10 minutes ... if they really wanted to. My thoughts are that they dont really care.

 

[JohnM]

Too me, it confirms what I said at the beginning of this thread: the signage is a key part of the problem. Ditching what they have and putting up signs with horizontal lettering and bold thick arrows that everyone can actually read at a glance would help immeasurably.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

This seems to be a common cause of failure, and one that they could fix in 10 minutes ... if they really wanted to. My thoughts are that they dont really care.

I'd say it could be done in 10 seconds!

All the gate agent needs to do is simply look at the PB sign & take note of which way the sign is pointing, then in their PB spiel in major cities ADL excluded "we invite business class customers, WP & OWE members to use the PB boarding lane on the right /left hand side whichever is applicable.

Seriously sometimes the easier something is the harder people make it.

 

[Sequel]

Problem is, the call normally matches the side the big red banner is on, however the smaller sign often has the arrows pointing the other way (as it can swivel).

I have seen it many times, pax walk up about to get in the normal line, then see the arrow directing them to the lane they were just told over the PA was the priority lane, they hesitate, and then basically do what ever they feel, which is fair enough as QF has given them conflicting instructions.