- Joined
- Aug 21, 2011
- Posts
- 15,665
- Qantas
- Platinum
- Virgin
- Platinum
- SkyTeam
- Elite Plus
- Star Alliance
- Gold
Priority boarding is an advertised benefit for Qantas Business, Platinum and Gold customers (and their Oneworld equivalents). Yet, as we all know, Qantas makes no effort to actually implement an effective priority boarding system for domestic flights. It's a common source of frustration every single time I fly with Qantas domestically. And it's a shame because VA is able to do it very well.
The reasons it doesn't work - and in turn the solutions - seem so obvious yet Qantas doesn't seem to have even attempted to fix this. As far as I can tell, the problems are that:
FWIW, after my latest Qantas MEL-SYD flight - where the priority line was longer than the general line and I was one of the very last to board - I complained to QF customer care and was promised 5,000 Qantas points as compensation. If you've had a similarly frustrating experience with priority boarding not working, perhaps you might want to complain to Qantas as well. The points aside, if enough people complain they might actually be compelled to do something.
The reasons it doesn't work - and in turn the solutions - seem so obvious yet Qantas doesn't seem to have even attempted to fix this. As far as I can tell, the problems are that:
- Boarding from the general queue and priority queue takes place simultaneously. The solution would be to board everyone in the priority queue and then start boarding in the general queue. It's just common sense and common practice at pretty much every other airline; I don't understand why this doesn't already happen.
- The flight attendants rarely actually check to make sure those in the priority queue are meant to be there. The solution is easy - turn away passengers that shouldn't be there (like VA does). I get that some flight attendants might not want to do this because they're going to see the passengers again on board, but it's necessary if priority boarding is to work.
FWIW, after my latest Qantas MEL-SYD flight - where the priority line was longer than the general line and I was one of the very last to board - I complained to QF customer care and was promised 5,000 Qantas points as compensation. If you've had a similarly frustrating experience with priority boarding not working, perhaps you might want to complain to Qantas as well. The points aside, if enough people complain they might actually be compelled to do something.