QF CSM Gifting Wine

[GladstoneTim]

Travelled with my wife and mother-in-law Iin Y earlier this week on QF....MEL-SYD-BNE. Had the same crew the whole way even with change of aircraft in SYD. The crew were great. The CSM showered the three of us with spare Lindt chocolates and palmed a J bottle of Shiraz to the M-I-L (a teetotaler) as we disembarked. Just wondering, would the CSM be authorized to give such gifts or was he pushing the permitted envelope? Certainly left a very positive impression with us (but I won’t mention the gift on the feedback to QF).

 

[Hvr]

It's not unusual for customers to be given a bottle wine by a CSM so I'm assuming it is legal.

 

[flyingfan]

I've received bottles on a couple of occasions. Enjoy (or give away later on as I have).

 

[Major]

I have also received wine/champagne on the odd occasion. Not sure of the policy but there may be something in this thread

Now Boarding ... Chicken or Beef?

It has been suggested that we have a place where members can ask questions they always wanted to ask Cabin and Check-in crew. We have several cabin crew and check-in crew amongst the AFF membership and this is an opportunity to ask questions related to check-in experiences, in-flight cabin...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Spongbob]

I aways thought the "Now Boarding ... " forum was about airline food.
Thanks Major for the clarification.

 

[zig]

I have certainly seen bottles being pressed upon J guests, I just haven't been a lucky recipient

 

[Aus ATC]

A few years ago now, travelling QF upper deck J to BKK (points upgrade), I was gifted a bottle of red and a bottle of 2000 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne on leaving the plane. I didn't appreciate (at the time) the value of the champagne, but fortunately a google search led me to hang onto it for a special occasion with friends who appreciated it.

 

[samh004]

Heard of the practice, never had it happen to me.

 

[jase05]

Never on QF but on VA we have received bottles numerous times

 

[VPS]

Happened to me a couple of times. I moved seats once to allow young kid to sit next to his dad. Also a couple of times in J when I'm obviously enjoying the bottle they've given me the rest to take home

 

[jb747]

CSM is legitimately able to do this.

 

[DC3]

Got it once or twice some years back, but can’t remember why.

 

[defurax]

I've been gifted a bottle of red once on a trans Tasman flight. Sadly, I missed on a nice bottle of champagne on my birthday because I was continuing from SIN to LHR and I would have lost the bottle at security in SIN.

 

[OATEK]

I was given a bottle wen they ran out of my preferred meal in J, then out of my second choice, the Cheese plate, as well. So received a bottle, wrapped in a napkin as I departed.

 

[juddles]

Travelled with my wife and mother-in-law Iin Y earlier this week on QF....MEL-SYD-BNE. Had the same crew the whole way even with change of aircraft in SYD. The crew were great. The CSM showered the three of us with spare Lindt chocolates and palmed a J bottle of Shiraz to the M-I-L (a teetotaler) as we disembarked. Just wondering, would the CSM be authorized to give such gifts or was he pushing the permitted envelope? Certainly left a very positive impression with us (but I won’t mention the gift on the feedback to QF).

As jb747 has clarified, it is a legitimate thing the CSM can do, but I am also sure that they should only do it in justifiable circumstances. I think your decision to not mention it in your feedback is a correct way, as the last thing any of us would want to do is land a special staff member in any hot water But I do strongly encourage you to praise the staff in the ways that are now measured by QF (feedback)

I have received a few bottles (and chocolates,etc) over the years of so many flights. Sometimes it was as an instant response to a problem (seat not working, IFE inoperable, etc) And I can say from my own perspective this made service recovery much more gratifying than any post-flight attempts at reconciliation! I think it is a valid tool, or freedom, for the CSM to have. I salute you also for being great pax who clearly made the staff want to give you these. QF staff, like anyone in the service industry, are just doing their jobs, which are hard, and that you raised such a blip on their horizon is fantastic and speaks so highly of your family group

I like to be proactive, and now usually carry a few items that I can give to staff on a good flight. Many on AFF do similar. I traveled internationally on a Christmas once and took enough bags of Colombian chocolates for everyone - even for the bus driver on the SYD international to domestic shuttle. It cost me a few dollars, but the reactions I got from crew was fantastic. Have never, ever, been so pampered on flights

My best score was many years ago, when at the end of a QF Tahiti-Sydney flight the CSM, with great ceremony, gave me and my brother a bottle of Jack Daniels. There were no seat or IFE issues that flight. Simply they said that we were the most fun and nice pax they had ever had (they said they would have given us a bottle each, but we had drunk the rest already)

That memory remains not for the Jack, but because it awoke in me the reality that in Life you get what you deserve, and that being nice is always the best path. I constantly trip and fail, but they gave me that guiding light....

 

[blackcat20]

I’ve had a few, from a hand grenade for non-working IFE in Y to a bottle of Champagne to celebrate our wedding from an international flight (also travelling Y).

 

[Aus ATC]

I think your decision to not mention it in your feedback is a correct way, as the last thing any of us would want to do is land a special staff member in any hot water But I do strongly encourage you to praise the staff in the ways that are now measured by QF (feedback)

Certainly agree with this - positive feedback for the staff (without mentioning the gift) is the best response.

 

[whughes3]

Some years ago, in QF international Y, I was given a bottle of Piper-Heidsieck as a sweetener after an FA accidentally spilled some tea on me. Was just before Xmas, and went down very well!

 

[JohnM]

I've had a few over the years.

A bottle of Comtes in F LAX-MEL. My IFE failed about 2h out of MEL. I rarely use the IFE, except to look at the flight path, and I only informed the CSM to log it for the maintenance people to check. She was very apologetic and out came a bottle of the Comtes. One potential problem was that I was carrying three bottles of wine in my checked bag, so I had to declare everything. Questioned on the value, I said I didn't know as they were all gifts . Bottles inspected. "Is that one sparkling champagne?" asks the Customs agent. Umm, yes... I think I also had a white and two reds. Anyway, long story short, they got assessed on a formula for white and red wines. About $16.50 duty all up .

Another time SYD-DFW in F, I was telling the CSM about how I was going to be visiting @juddles in Colombia, that I'd never met him before, how we had contact through AFF, how his younger daughter had a QF J PJs-dressed doll called Rebecca (and which used to feature frequently on AFF (I may have even managed to show the CSM a pic.), how @juddles - despite at that time not knowing me at all apart from the AFF connection - had bought me an airfare or two on a smaller Colombian airline for internal flights when that airline's booking system wouldn't accept my Australian credit card ("Pay me when you get here." he says), how MrsJuddles liked Champagne, that the family were huge QF flyers and that I had been invited to stay with them in Medellin despite having never met me.

Anyway, the upshot was: a bottle of Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill Champagne and a couple of sets of F PJs. (PS: I meet Rebecca in post #127 here: Let's mix it up and fill in some experience gaps: RTW 2015).

I think I've had another occasion or two in QF J in the deep past, for reasons I can't recall. My most recent was in J MEL-PER a couple of weeks ago when I discovered a large moth in my 'fresh, seasonal' NP salad. One bottle gifted. When I showed the CSM the hilarious live AFF traffic in the 'View from my Office' thread of the incident, after ROFL, she promptly gave me another one.

Not QF, but many years ago on a Delta flight AMS-ATL in whY (my only ever flight on a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, I recall), I got chatting to the FA in the latter part of the flight. There was no problem. He must have like the Aussie, so ended up giving me a bottle of French red to take away. I lugged it all over the place for the next several weeks and arrived home to open it.

It was corked... .

 

[bertflyer]

I helped one of the FA’s mum on a recent QF MEL-SIN flight. Her first time on a plane, showed her where the IFE, table etc are stored in the PE front row seat, where to plug in the headphones and how to drive the IFE. Had a lovely chat with her too. She was so proud of him! On arrival in SIN the CSM offered me a bottle of wine for looking after her on the flight. I declined as I felt that’s just what I should do as a frequent flyer. A truly enjoyable flight watching her with so much pride, watching her son doing his job