My travel pattern may be different to others - mostly LHR-SYD-LHR in F. I'm not sure how much of this is due to P1 v. fewer people in F, but on my past few flights, I've seen a positive difference. This may sound odd, but I've been treated more like a person. The thing that most annoys me about flying is getting fake excuses when things can't be done, so I find this really refreshing.
Some examples are:
- Being recognised by name without the assistance of a boarding pass or iPad ("see you again soon LM" when I'm leaving the aircraft)
- Having two ladies basically shut down F check-in to help me with my bags because the porter had left for the day
- When we arrived back at (the now unstaffed) check-in with my bags, directing the other people in the queue that had built up to the business check-in while the two of them both checked me in
- And then having one of them personally take my fragile bag to the oversize area because "the machine doesn't really handle fragile items properly "
- Preparing meals for me in minutes in the F lounge when I'm running late and the restaurant is full
- Preparing different meals for me on the flight because I don't like most of the QF meals (I prefer breakfast)
- Recognising that I don't like to be artificially "fussed" over during the flight
- Telling me about themselves rather than always enquiring about my life
- Telling me to come back to the galley for a chat if I get bored
- Setting the cabin temperature to a reasonable level rather than pretending it can't be done
- Remembering things that I'd asked about earlier in the flight and checking they were still OK
Of course I still get the usual QF inconsistencies - being told to ring a non-premium number to find out about a delay as opposed to the SST proactively ringing me, getting invited to events when I'm clearly not in the country, etc.
But overall I think it's a definite improvement.
I'd much rather be P1 than not P1