Qantas Platinum One experiences?

[marki]

It seems to me that the there is a disconnect between the P1 SST and the operations team, for want of a better description. The P1 team always seems to have to contact another department when "stuff" needs to be sorted out. I have experienced excellent service when flights were disrupted, but also received silly calls about seat selection because there is no understanding that aisle or window might be specific to certain aircraft. I do not find the P1 experience seamless.

The GGL experience with BA is a different story. The GGL team is nothing short of excellent.

This is something I will need to look into closely GGL stands for?

 

[TonyHancock]

This is something I will need to look into closely GGL stands for?

Gold Guest List

 

[marki]

If i were to fix one thing and one thing only about P1;

Its fix the shadow thing, its an utter joke and is totally preventable/unnecessary.

3 weeks ago flew back LAX MEL in whY and had a shadow, got on the plane a busload of empty seats around me including bulkheads (which I couldn't pick as they were full) and im stuck with the only non shadow in the upper deck whY, after P1 putting a block in place.

This constantly happens and is the greatest impact to the whole travel experience.

Similar experience full PE during flight walked down stairs empty four seats in a row! In Y ( back of Y)

Great went had a nice kip and felt like first!

 

[Ansett]

dont get me started on how P1 should mean something with EK as well!!!!

Why should P1 matter to EK when it doesn't even matter on ANY OW airline?

 

[UP4014]

These are the real concerns which QF should be worried about. It's the small things which mean the most, and for every voice raised on AFF there are 100 others quietly withdrawing without mentioning a thing.

Many other airlines have confirmed shadows for their top status - including Emirates. In fact every EK platinum I know is always bragging about how well they are treated including what I perceive to be a near 100% upgrade rate.

I know someone who went on their one big trip for the year, never been on EK and went from Y to J without even asking and they are QF Bronze. It just tells me EK sell out Y then need to cascade people up to accommodate more at the bottom.

QF P1 passengers are automatically upgraded by the system every 10th flight or the next one that has a better seat available. Lessor known fact.

 

[Pushka]

EK always seem to sell out Y in Adelaide and then bump Y premium travellers to J and J premium travellers to F. I am good with that.

 

[RichardMEL]

Why should P1 matter to EK when it doesn't even matter on ANY OW airline?

Specially since QF is not there for EK's benefit in the alliance, but EK is definitely there for QF's benefit. EK wants to poach QF pax loyalty and revenue for sure.

I've never had an op up or similar from EK as QF WP/WP1. Just sayin'

 

[Princess Fiona]

I received an invitation to the Human Nature concert next month in Sydney with VIP meet and QFF hospitality.
In typical P1 fashion I will be unable to attend as travelling but a nice gesture none the less.
Hopefully I'll be able to get to the next invitational event

 

[marki]

I received an invitation to the Human Nature concert next month in Sydney with VIP meet and QFF hospitality.
In typical P1 fashion I will be unable to attend as travelling but a nice gesture none the less.
Hopefully I'll be able to get to the next invitational event

You should be able to " in typical P1 Fashion" guest to someone close PF. So not all lost! Congrats

 

[cove]

We enjoyed front row seats in Vegas to see Human Nature and they danced on our bench table. It is worth the opportunity to see them live.
Adele is great too but too many in the crowd want to sing along with her especially the drinkers who mistakenly believe they can sing.

 

[kermatu]

Counting down my final few flights as a P1 -- while I have two more months on my membership year all my August and September bookings at this stage are on VA, SQ and LH. Though have plenty of QF and OW bookings from October on.

scored my first decent P1 upgrade on the weekend -- CNS-BNE. Was very welcome. My other two P1 upgrades have been Mel-CBR so kind of pointless.

I did mention to the P1 team these were my last flights (but didn't say I was flying the competitors). Might have helped secure the upgrade.

I will reflect on my approx 30 months in total as a P1 and share my views with the team in coming weeks.

Can safely say now though that themes / points will be:
- underwhelming in the extreme. Pretty much indistinguishable from the old WP.
- not a single invitation to any event whatsoever.
- SST able to assist maybe 20 per cent of the time I had a problem. Simply not good enough.
- ability to select preferred rows a good benefit and the only solid one for me.
- vastly inferior treatment to CLs (some of whom contribute nothing to QF - though I don't doubt others do).
- in addition to the 3 upgrades, I did receive two instances of preferential treatment in the F lounges (access two spa treatments when otherwise reserved for F pax) and one onboard Y to J upgrade courtesy of F host and CSM - that I doubt would have been achieved if not P1.
- lack of concrete, definite benefits leaves too much to uncertainty or discretion - hence a feeling of being underwhelmed. Particularly reading reports of others who get better gifts or more upgrades.

Cutback the hyperbole and offer more defined benefits (a set number of guaranteed upgrades, store discount, CL access, free alcohol in Y, alternatives to partner platinum or a choice etc). Really not that hard.

I am and still will fly QF a fair bit, but a large amount of business is being directed elsewhere. Part of this is price but part is genuinely because I feel letdown as a P1.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Counting down my final few flights as a P1 -- while I have two more months on my membership year all my August and September bookings at this stage are on VA, SQ and LH. Though have plenty of QF and OW bookings from October on.

scored my first decent P1 upgrade on the weekend -- CNS-BNE. Was very welcome. My other two P1 upgrades have been Mel-CBR so kind of pointless.

I did mention to the P1 team these were my last flights (but didn't say I was flying the competitors). Might have helped secure the upgrade.

I will reflect on my approx 30 months in total as a P1 and share my views with the team in coming weeks.

Can safely say now though that themes / points will be:
- underwhelming in the extreme. Pretty much indistinguishable from the old WP.
- not a single invitation to any event whatsoever.
- SST able to assist maybe 20 per cent of the time I had a problem. Simply not good enough.
- ability to select preferred rows a good benefit and the only solid one for me.
- vastly inferior treatment to CLs (some of whom contribute nothing to QF - though I don't doubt others do).
- in addition to the 3 upgrades, I did receive two instances of preferential treatment in the F lounges (access two spa treatments when otherwise reserved for F pax) and one onboard Y to J upgrade courtesy of F host and CSM - that I doubt would have been achieved if not P1.
- lack of concrete, definite benefits leaves too much to uncertainty or discretion - hence a feeling of being underwhelmed. Particularly reading reports of others who get better gifts or more upgrades.

Cutback the hyperbole and offer more defined benefits (a set number of guaranteed upgrades, store discount, CL access, free alcohol in Y, alternatives to partner platinum or a choice etc). Really not that hard.

I am and still will fly QF a fair bit, but a large amount of business is being directed elsewhere. Part of this is price but part is genuinely because I feel letdown as a P1.

Good to know of your experiences even although they were less than stellar.

I hope QF get a chance to see and act on this feedback.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Good to know of your experiences even although they were less than stellar.

I hope QF get a chance to see and act on this feedback.

226 pages, 5 years of 'exit feedback' and the sentiment feels to be >90% negative aside from op-ups.
Dare I suggest QF look purely at the group of P1s and if the spend is above $x as a total - care factor to change anything = low/nil.

Another thing learned is if you want something - you need to ask.

 

[boomy]

226 pages, 5 years of 'exit feedback' and the sentiment feels to be >90% negative aside from op-ups.
Dare I suggest QF look purely at the group of P1s and if the spend is above $x as a total - care factor to change anything = low/nil.

Another thing learned is if you want something - you need to ask.

A well known problem with QF is that benefits are not always given according to status. It's more about who you know and what you ask, not who you are.
When some non-P1/CLs get significantly more op-ups for example, it shows the whole programme is rotten.

 

[boomy]

Putting the negativity aside for a moment, there is one huge benefit of P1 and it's the 24/7 access SST.
I don't use their services too often but when I do they are always there to help.

Recently connected from QF to EY and my luggage was lost somewhere on the way. The itinerary was EY's so they were the only side responsible but nevertheless when I felt frustrated by EY's treatment and called SST the team went above and beyond to help track my luggage (which was stuck with Menzies in MEL!). Just to be clear, P1 could tell me it's not QF problem anymore and they would be 100% correct but instead they took the opposite approach which is VERY rare in the airline business.

 

[smarty11]

A well known problem with QF is that benefits are not always given according to status. It's more about who you know and what you ask, not who you are.
When some non-P1/CLs get significantly more op-ups for example, it shows the whole programme is rotten.

This is my third year as P1 and most likely will requalify this year too.. and I can say that on balance my experience has been underwhelming too.. There has been occasions of 'above and beyond' but often the on board treatment is worse than WP, as crew somehow keep missing the 'O' in the end FFPO.. I am not the one to make a fuss but once I even raised this on board.. but nothing seems to have changed.

SST to their part are more focused on making excuses or apologizing. In dealings with them there has been only a couple of occasions at most where they have been really helpful.

Of all the stated benefits for P1, only the partner WP is of interest to me (I realize won’t be same for other WP1)

So I doubt if Qantas is listening and perhaps may even drop this whole P1 tier..

 

[mviy]

So I doubt if Qantas is listening and perhaps may even drop this whole P1 tier..

As someone with WP status, and as someone who is unlikely to ever reach P1 I'd love it if P1 was dropped and if some of the P1 benefits were given to those with WP (e.g. better chances of op-ups though with the way that customers are ranked the op-up chances would be unlikely to increase for me, ability to select front row economy sooner etc.), but I can't see this happening. It's in the best interests of QANTAS to encourage some of those with WP status to fly a lot more than what is required to get WP status and to do so on QF flights.

I wonder whether QANTAS will eventually open some lounges similar to the first lounge but for domestic but restrict access to P1 though on the other hand I guess space constraints would make it unlikely they'd want a Qantas Club, Business, P1 and a CL lounge all in the one terminal.

 

[Princess Fiona]

As someone with WP status, and as someone who is unlikely to ever reach P1 I'd love it if P1 was dropped and if some of the P1 benefits were given to those with WP (e.g. better chances of op-ups though with the way that customers are ranked the op-up chances would be unlikely to increase for me, ability to select front row economy sooner etc.), but I can't see this happening. It's in the best interests of QANTAS to encourage some of those with WP status to fly a lot more than what is required to get WP status and to do so on QF flights.

I wonder whether QANTAS will eventually open some lounges similar to the first lounge but for domestic but restrict access to P1 though on the other hand I guess space constraints would make it unlikely they'd want a Qantas Club, Business, P1 and a CL lounge all in the one terminal.

Personally I hope QF keep P1, standardize the benefits that are supposed to be offered and add in a few more eg. top tier in hotels, extra guest in the QF Lounges, especially International (both of these are benefits of BA's GGL). I'd also like P1 to have the ability to pre-book Spa appointments on the morning of departure after the F pax have been allocated bookings the previous day. A small thing, zero cost to QF but a really nice perk for P1. Some of those benefits already existing are extremely useful - Partner Platinum, the ability to request upgrades for family members at P1 priority, no assistance fees for using the call centres for bookings.

I don't think we will see any additional lounges and that's not personally a concern to me.

 

[TonyHancock]

My time as a P1 is over.

Quite frankly I am already missing being a P1. there has been a lot of negativity here, but I had a riot as a P1. I had plenty of international complimentary upgrades, loved being able to select row 4 on the 737 domestic jaunts and received exceptional service onboard on all but one occasion in four years. I did receive invites to events and attended the Boxing Day test twice. (Although I really am not a fan of this benefit and much prefer service related benefits.)

Simpler and Fairer killed it for me. I am now a pretty happy GGL/CCR for the second year running. Why is this better I hear you ask? Well the ability to release 5 award seats when I want to twice a year, and in fact it will be 4 times next year when I reach 7000 TP's in December, is a huge benefit. Being able to upgrade a return award flight using an upgrade voucher is even better. Securing that upgrade months out even better still. So for me the benefits are better.

The BA program gives me far better opportunities to use points and upgrade vouchers. Of course you need to be flying regularly with BA to get the benefits.

Also I get to gift OWS twice and OWE once in a year.

I miss the QF onboard service. I do not miss J on the A380 and shock, horror prefer the BA J seat. I find BA F on a par with QF F, although I prefer the QF cabin crew.

I have come to like the CCR, not because it is spectacular, or has any sort of wow factor, but because the staff know me now. (19 visits so far this year) I always have a laugh at the bar with them and they look after me well.

I will still struggle to get to 35,000 TP's for LTG (Life Time Emerald) because my travel is simply unsustainable, I will hit 13,000 TP's after 2 years. Man alive I want to spend some time at home.

As an aside retaining VA WP gives me row three selection, domestic priority boarding, something QF refuses to deliver, and four comp grades on flexi fares including NZ now. So other than BA codeshares and the less frequent need to use play the upgrade lottery QF will lose the vast majority of my business.

Things may change as frequent flyer programs are enhanced so one day I might be back. I certainly miss the onboard service already.

 

[junbugging]

I stumbled into P1 for around 21 months due to an exceptional combination of work and funerals, and hope never to repeat it again. I was then only in Australia for around two weeks of those 21 months, so had very little chance to take advantage. But it wasn't something I'd aimed for, and QF has only ever characterized it as something that rewards frequent flyers... it's not something (most) people can realistically strive for, nor should they.