Qantas Platinum One experiences?

[New to this]

Re: the greeting thing..
I find the Au-based CSMs are more tuned into the status vibe and always say hello
The UK-based crews are less inclined to do it. I ascribe it to fact that Europeans don’t really bother with the frequent flyer loyalty thing so much.
After all, unless you live in London, you can’t get anywhere on BA so you’re flying minor airlines much of the time

 

[Fergo747]

Re: the greeting thing..
I find the Au-based CSMs are more tuned into the status vibe and always say hello
The UK-based crews are less inclined to do it. I ascribe it to fact that Europeans don’t really bother with the frequent flyer loyalty thing so much.
After all, unless you live in London, you can’t get anywhere on BA so you’re flying minor airlines much of the time

Interesting that you say this as the best / most professional crew I had on the entire trip was my return LHR>DRW flight crewed by UK based crew. Worst was then the DRW>SYD leg as it felt a very junior crew that wanted to make as much noise as possible which is frustrating when it's a 3.5hr flight and you want to get some sleep before landing in SYD at 5am.

Also, very attentive / good service in the LHR lounge. As soon as I showed my boarding pass at the desk, was asked whether I wanted to dine / drink / shower and then was escorted by that staff member to a reserved section.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Interesting that you say this as the best / most professional crew I had on the entire trip was my return LHR>DRW flight crewed by UK based crew. Worst was then the DRW>SYD leg as it felt a very junior crew that wanted to make as much noise as possible which is frustrating when it's a 3.5hr flight and you want to get some sleep before landing in SYD at 5am.

Also, very attentive / good service in the LHR lounge. As soon as I showed my boarding pass at the desk, was asked whether I wanted to dine / drink / shower and then was escorted by that staff member to a reserved section.

I’d agree with your observations about both the LHR lounge and the LHR crew.
Both pre-Covid and now.

 

[New to this]

Well, there you go then!

Just got off QF1 where they forgot to bring me my food. I had to go looking for it.

Must be my aftershave maybe.

 

[Stanley Lambchop]

My recent LHR-DRW flight in J had a great crew, including fantastic CSM who gave a personal greeting (seemingly to P1 and WP pax) and was able to source me an amenity kit when none had been handed out. By contrast the DRW-SYD leg was very ordinary - nearly 2 hrs to serve a bowl of soup and no blankets loaded in J for an overnight leg. I noticed a fairly prominent CEO very politely and respectfully asking for a blanket and the crew having to go and scrounge a couple of thin ones from Y.

 

[defurax]

Just received my first ever P1 invitation to an event. Two opera tickets for La Traviata. Pretty happy with that.

 

[sudoer]

including fantastic CSM who gave a personal greeting (seemingly to P1 and WP pax)

FWIW this is a oneworld standard - see p24 here

 

[levelnine]

FWIW this is a oneworld standard - see p24 here

View attachment 276643

Lots of fun things in that manual. I wonder if a chair next to a phone meets QF's obligations on p23 :

 

[ChrisGibbs]

Took my first long haul international trip for 2+ years on Monday of this week (16/5). It was the QF / AA SYD-LAX-JFK service with the standard service of bags checked through to JFK after retrieving them off the carousel in LAX.

Check in was nice and smooth however things started to go down hill with big lines trying to get through immigration and security. The automated immigration kiosks were turned off periodically to ensure the security processing line didn't get gridlocked. Only 6 of the security stations were running through the 2+hrs it took from collecting the boarding passes to getting to the lounge. It was great to see a number of very familiar faces (including Nestor) in the F lounge.

Delays in screening and loading pushed the QF11 departure back by just over 60 minutes with the arrival into LAX about 49 minutes late - just over 13hrs in all. Getting through LAX passport control took 5 minutes and getting into Terminal 4 for the 09:00am QF3107 codeshare flight was easy as sitting in the Flagship lounge before 8:30am just over 40 minutes after landing at TBIT.

When scanning my boarding pass for the QF3107 the AA staff told me that Qantas had offloaded me (presumably because of the QF11 delay) onto a 1:05pm Delta flight to JFK. The AA staff were very sympathetic and tried to retrieve the Delta booking to get me back onto the 09:00am QF/AA service (which was delayed by 75 minutes in departing LAX for JFK). I called the QF Special Service team and waited 45+ minuted to get an agent in New Zealand who tried to put things back the way they were or get me on another earlier LAX-NYC flight. With a large number of US airlines cancelling flights due to Covid everything was full. So did the walk out of Terminal 4 across to Terminal 3 and attempted to check in for DL323 LAX - JFK to find I had only been waitlisted for the DL service. Another call to the QF team and they inserted the QF ticket number into the DL booking and we were away.... Interesting other piece to note. My checked bags were transported on the original AA flight not the DL flight...

A couple of take aways / notes for others. The QF A380's SYD-LAX morning service looks to run late due to delays in loading baggage. The evening QF17 service looks to run on time. The 787 services look to get away on time. The Minimum Connect time in LAX is 2hrs - if you're on the A380 service its probably worth stretching the 2hr MCT to 3hr MCT. I do miss the QF 787 LAX-JFK service that managed the delays off the inbound Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane flights.

If you're travelling through the US prepare for a number of flight cancellations. The DL flight crews were saying Covid is stretching their numbers. Masks in Airport terminals are required. Masks on flights are not required. Along with other parts of the US NYC is seeing a surge in cases...

I'm not sure if we will ever see service levels back to pre-Covid times. I would anticipate things at QF will need to lift once AA, UA, Virgin, DL and others come back to fully service the Aus - Nth America routes.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

@Fergo747 thanks for the comments, especially about the LHR lounge. Myself and Mrs 340 are on QF2 in July (oh yay i cannot wait) and of course my immediate action at LHR T3 is to go to CX F. But if the staff at QF is good then I may be tempted. I may also be tempted by CX only operating one flight a day from LHR but that is another story.

 

[Fergo747]

@Fergo747 thanks for the comments, especially about the LHR lounge. Myself and Mrs 340 are on QF2 in July (oh yay i cannot wait) and of course my immediate action at LHR T3 is to go to CX F. But if the staff at QF is good then I may be tempted. I may also be tempted by CX only operating one flight a day from LHR but that is another story.

Not a problem. Re the CX lounge - unless you plan on getting there nice and early, the CX lounge closes at 17:30. Given the 21:05 departure time of QF2 and the fact that I was coming straight from the office, I was well and truly after this time

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Not a problem. Re the CX lounge - unless you plan on getting there nice and early, the CX lounge closes at 17:30. Given the 21:05 departure time of QF2 and the fact that I was coming straight from the office, I was well and truly after this time

CX F was my salvation at T3 and always has been (I'm a LHR-PRG regular). We shall see what happens in July as we'll be spending most of the day in Hampstead pubs before heading to Heathrow anyway.

 

[Fergo747]

Second P1 invite ever. Have been offered tickets to Mary Poppins at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in June. My first and only other invite was to the cricket back in late March 2020 with the event being cancelled due to Covid.

In terms of other recent experiences - was in the US last week for work flying into / out of DFW. Flight over the crew were exceptional and felt very looked after. Less so on the return, however was the only person offered a drink pre supper being served.

 

[defurax]

In terms of other recent experiences - was in the US last week for work flying into / out of DFW. Flight over the crew were exceptional and felt very looked after. Less so on the return, however was the only person offered a drink pre supper being served.

It always amazes me how slow QF cabin crews are for international service. BA manage a bar run in Y less than 20 minutes after seatbelt sign is off.
Even when using the call button in J to ask for a drink after departure it can take forever.

 

[Daver6]

It always amazes me how slow QF cabin crews are for international service. BA manage a bar run in Y less than 20 minutes after seatbelt sign is off.
Even when using the call button in J to ask for a drink after departure it can take forever.

What amazes me is there is always an announcement along the lines of if there is anything we can do to help and make your flight more pleasant, please don't hesitate to ask. After departure while waiting forever for the initial drink/food I've pressed the call button to ask for a drink. Usually I get a rude response that they're busy and will be around soon. Well which is QF?!

 

[defurax]

I flew LAX-BNE last month with QF and the CSM told me I was the only P1 in the cabin and that they would do everything to make my flight more enjoyable....they didn't even manage to give me my choice of meal! They were apologetic, but how disorganised can they be.

 

[Daver6]

I flew LAX-BNE last month with QF and the CSM told me I was the only P1 in the cabin and that they would do everything to make my flight more enjoyable....they didn't even manage to give me my choice of meal! They were apologetic, but how disorganised can they be.

QF have a massive problem when it comes to setting expectations. Why say such a thing when they can't deliver on it.

 

[RichardMEL]

Hmm wonder if a new thread should be started as "QANTAS VIP Team Experienes"?

Anyway I had a good one yesterday that can only link to being P1 and QF being very proactive. Indeed I do not remember this happening for quite a few years (last time QF Premium were in BNE iirc).

Anyway so I was booked (in J) CNS-SYD-MEL - because A330 J and why go direct when you can connect etc...

well morning of I, as is mny want, was looking at the inbound flight from SYD and saw it was taking a delay of around an hour or so to depart . While I'd factored in a reasonable connection for SYD-MEL of an hour (and when originally booked, it was also an A330, so I presumed it was the same metal flight, so that should work fine - it of course got nuked and moved to another service 30min later, but I kept the booking as was anyway).. Anyway with the delay into CNS, and even allowing for a generous ground time in CNS of an hour scheduled it definitely looked like the departure would slip and thus put my MEL-SYD into some jeopardy potentially.. and we all know how crazy SYD can be during peak time.

So I looked at EF and CNS-MEL's in 737's were showing 0 in J and I was just pondering a BNE connection as one possible option when the phone rang and it was QF. He mentioned that SYD was "a bit of a mess" when I said to him that I'd literally just noticed the likely delay. He then said to me "We've "found" you a seat in Business on the CNS-MEL direct. Would you like to take it?" Well, giving up an A330 J is hard, but this would get me into MEL around 90min ahead of original schedule, and who knows what would happen if I attempted to keep my original itin and misconnect in SYD (probably a Y seat on a later flight, neither of which appealed).

So I was quite surprised and said yes, I'll take it. Within minutes the app updated with the new flight and it all worked out great.


As it was, the original A330 (QF923) arrived in SYD after boarding had started for my 1730 SYD-MEL (QF475 IIRC) so I probably would have been booted before then. The A330 itself (which may have ended up being my refuse) arrived in MEL near 2030 (an hour late) while I landed in MEL around 1745.

So that was a great win. Great CSM and crew on board the 703 and getting home well before I would have was a nice bonus.

I just hope I didn't bump someone for them to "find" that J seat for me on a supposedly full flight, but I'm very thankful.

so good proactive domestic service and an example that SOMEONE monitors domestic flights still...

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

As nice as it sounds, let's be real it was probably crew. I've had multiple colleagues kicked off rev J flights to accomdate crew in recent times. They are bronze so I've been safe touchwood but QF can always make room in J where required.

 

[dairyfloss]

Hmm wonder if a new thread should be started as "QANTAS VIP Team Experienes"?

Anyway I had a good one yesterday that can only link to being P1 and QF being very proactive. Indeed I do not remember this happening for quite a few years (last time QF Premium were in BNE iirc).

Anyway so I was booked (in J) CNS-SYD-MEL - because A330 J and why go direct when you can connect etc...

well morning of I, as is mny want, was looking at the inbound flight from SYD and saw it was taking a delay of around an hour or so to depart . While I'd factored in a reasonable connection for SYD-MEL of an hour (and when originally booked, it was also an A330, so I presumed it was the same metal flight, so that should work fine - it of course got nuked and moved to another service 30min later, but I kept the booking as was anyway).. Anyway with the delay into CNS, and even allowing for a generous ground time in CNS of an hour scheduled it definitely looked like the departure would slip and thus put my MEL-SYD into some jeopardy potentially.. and we all know how crazy SYD can be during peak time.

So I looked at EF and CNS-MEL's in 737's were showing 0 in J and I was just pondering a BNE connection as one possible option when the phone rang and it was QF. He mentioned that SYD was "a bit of a mess" when I said to him that I'd literally just noticed the likely delay. He then said to me "We've "found" you a seat in Business on the CNS-MEL direct. Would you like to take it?" Well, giving up an A330 J is hard, but this would get me into MEL around 90min ahead of original schedule, and who knows what would happen if I attempted to keep my original itin and misconnect in SYD (probably a Y seat on a later flight, neither of which appealed).

So I was quite surprised and said yes, I'll take it. Within minutes the app updated with the new flight and it all worked out great.


As it was, the original A330 (QF923) arrived in SYD after boarding had started for my 1730 SYD-MEL (QF475 IIRC) so I probably would have been booted before then. The A330 itself (which may have ended up being my refuse) arrived in MEL near 2030 (an hour late) while I landed in MEL around 1745.

So that was a great win. Great CSM and crew on board the 703 and getting home well before I would have was a nice bonus.

I just hope I didn't bump someone for them to "find" that J seat for me on a supposedly full flight, but I'm very thankful.

so good proactive domestic service and an example that SOMEONE monitors domestic flights still...

Don't forget your original routing credits!