Qantas Club Guest Pass

[MattinCBR]

There is just a point where I find QF to be frustrating beyond measure.

Having grown bored of having to choose which of my staff I like more, or which parent/friend I wish to spend time with in a QF lounge at an international airport, I finally decided to buy a Qantas Guest Pass so I can have a second guest in an international business lounge.

Anyway , I spent the $320 to get this magic piece of plastic on the 14th April, it hasn't been delivered yet, so I rang Qantas to see if it was on it's way. Apparently there have been delays with issuing cards due to NGCI, a bit annoying, but you get that. Asked what the expiry date was going to be, and was told April 2012.

I pointed out that it was already May, that they hadnt sent the card yet, and that I had paid for a year - just recieved a blank oh well kind of response.

Asked to be put through to a supervisor - more explanation about how easter crippled their card production process, and again an oh well kind of response, and then an offer of 2 QC Guest passes as "compensation".

I would have considered a change of expiry date as the right thing to do - but now feel a bit insulted that I was offered two QC guest passes (which seems a bit silly given I was buying a guest pass so only useful if i wanted to take 4/3 guests into a Dom/Intl lounge).

I guess one important note about the guest card is that it is only usable with the actual card, there apparently isn't a note on your QFF record or anything, but rather you need to present the card.

My QFF year just finished, I did over 5000 SC's in the year, I am LTG, and all I really wanted was a piece of plastic with a validity period that I paid for.

To be honest, it annoys me that I need to buy the damned thing anyway, but had come to terms with it when I made the purchase. If we were back on the old coupon guest pass system I would be buried in the things - but to be told that the magic piece of plastic was in fact only going to be useful for less time than I had paid for makes me even more annoyed.

BTW - I believe at some point in the past I _could_ take 2 guests into an international Business Lounge, when did that change, or am i just imagining this?

 

[TheInsider]

$320 for a 'guest pass'? Don't you mean Qantas Club membership?

If so, it would be hooked up with a QFF number.

 

[MattinCBR]

$320 for a 'guest pass'? Don't you mean Qantas Club membership?

If so, it would be hooked up with a QFF number.

No I mean an Annual Guest Pass, so no number, no notation on my account, just a shiny card that allows a bonus guest into QP's and Intl Business lounges - and thus only useful if you have the shiny card.

See http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/qantas-club-membership-types/global/en#jump3

 

[JohnK]

How about if the card does not arrive until June or July with April 2012 expiry?

Personally I would push Qantas about the expiry date and ensure that you get full 12 month use out of the annual guest pass.

 

[NYCguy]

How about if the card does not arrive until June or July with April 2012 expiry?

Personally I would push Qantas about the expiry date and ensure that you get full 12 month use out of the annual guest pass.

Yup, I'd be a full-on PITA about the dates.

Go hard. Get the full value of what you paid for!

 

[MattinCBR]

Yup, I'd be a full-on PITA about the dates.

Go hard. Get the full value of what you paid for!

With some reflection, it seems to me that the real flaw is that they treat this purchase like they would a QC membership - that is the "membership" is active from the date of purchase.

That would be fine if, like a QC membership, you got the benefit from the day you paid the money. As a general rule, if anyone is thinking about paying for one of these things, they should do it at the start of the month - because then, maybe, you have some hope of getting it.

As for the question of what if it took a month or two or three to arrive, well, maybe then they would send you 4 or 5 guest passes

 

[Taezar]

I received mine (QC card) 54 weeks before it expired - all benefits too. They didn't even charge my CC till the 52 weeks. Mind you I did pay $30 extra for a rush job to be sure I got it, but I was pleased with the service.

 

[samh004]

Can you use a guest pass to take more into the F Lounge, or do they specifically stop you from doing so?

 

[reductionist]

Can you use a guest pass to take more into the F Lounge, or do they specifically stop you from doing so?

My understanding from reading the QC terms was that it's only valid at lounges where QC memberships are valid (i.e. not domestic J or international F).

I'd love for someone to tell me otherwise as I actually have one of these guest cards too.

 

[MattinCBR]

My understanding from reading the QC terms was that it's only valid at lounges where QC memberships are valid (i.e. not domestic J or international F).

I'd love for someone to tell me otherwise as I actually have one of these guest cards too.

Thats my understanding - only valid in QP's and International Business Lounges (including QF/BA and QF/AA lounges, and I am promised, the TBIT Lounge).

So in effect you can take three guests into a QP, and two into an international lounge if you have the card.

If only there was one for the F Lounge (or if it was an option at 2400, 3600 or 4800 SC's).

 

[MattinCBR]

Ok, so heres an update.

Piece of plastic still hasn't arrived, called Qantas on Wednesday night, promised that a supervisor would call today (thats after the same supervisor promised to call me earlier in the week and didn't), called in this evening having not got a call.

Upshot, they offered to either cancel the transaction all together or reissue the card, showing a May Expiry, and express post it to me by next week.

I was pretty angry during the call, I think I have been pretty poorly dealt with by the QFF/QC service centre, I think it is pretty appalling that they failed to return calls as promised on two occasions, and I made the point to the supervisor that if she wasn't the supervisor I would be asking to speak to one.

It is amazing how one or two incidents dealing with CS staff can change your view of a business - I am always impressed when dealing with AA phone agents at how empowered they seem to be to make my life easier (particularly I have no AA Status), how they genuinely appear to live up to the advertising slogan "We know why you fly", wheres this particular set of interactions with QF makes me feel almost the exact opposite - that my 50-100K of business is not really of any importance to them, and that I was not even worth calling as promised.

For the first time I am really considering moving some business to Virgin, I think my threshold will be when they have released all of the information about the changes to their FF program and their Cabin Service. I am kind of annoyed with myself for having accepted a gold match following the "oops" gold offer, when I sense that now (or very soon) they have a product that might be able to compete.

I just wish that QF understood the stunning impact on perception a single interaction can have on a customer relationship...