QF Tweet & Eat (MEL) [13th April 2013]

[Princess Fiona]

I'm on the train

 

[ChrisFlyer]

I'm on the train

Morning Princess! I'll be leaving for the airport soon, though I'm very glad not to be on the 7am departure! zzzzzzzzz

 

[anat0l]

About to board VA308 soon. MEL here I come.

Hope it's not terribly cold or blustery down there; I didn't bother to pack a jacket...

 

[simongr]

Three of us on QF409 brettmcg got an OpUp! Deka is down the back somewhere...

 

[Boogs]

In the BNE j lounge. At least the coffee is good!

 

[Princess Fiona]

I'm now in the VA lounge, will NOT be waiting for the flight to be called

 

[ChrisFlyer]

With Boogs in the BNE J lounge - without trying to, we actually have seats together (myself in 4A, and Boogs in 4C)... Naturally we have a communal shadow taking 4B off our hands!

 

[Simo]

I'm now in the VA lounge, will NOT be waiting for the flight to be called

Glad you are feeling better today.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I'm now onboard. As I left the dep board went from "go to gate" to "final call".
I asked the staff if they had called the flight and was advised that they had.
Strangely enough I didn't hear it

 

[ChrisFlyer]

We're all now in the MEL J lounge waiting for the Uber app to find a driver - it's been a good 20 mins now with no results! (showing 'no cars at the moment')... Hope one pops up soon or a few of us might have to get a cab instead!

 

[ChrisFlyer]

We have a car!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Just left the lunch and on my way to MEL. It was a fabulous treat and a real privilege to be there
The event turned out to be a small and intimate affair (approx 35 diners plus QF guests). Started with signature coughtails in the Spice Temple bar followed by a sit down 3 course Asian Banquet with impromptu presentations by Neil Perry, Terry Higgins and Samantha ( head of Crew training at QF).
As I write the others are still wining and dining It was a pleasure to catch up with the large AFF contingent and meet some new faces.
Here's to the next one

 

[markis10]

Any chance someone travelling QF can check the inflight mag for the Epiqure discount code and post it in the Epiqure thread please.

 

[Boogs]

Hi Markis10, the code for the $59 membership (includes a rare tawny or tat NV) is GIFT59AW.

 

[Boogs]

To everyone who was there today ( most of from which was AFF at least 16 out if 21!!) thanks for making me a welcome member of the AFF 'family' especially chrisch, princess Fiona, simongr, anatol, Ronaldh, drewbles and travelling smithy.

The lunch was fantastic. What I appricate is the passion for The food, the service and on the whole QF. It has been mentioned on previous threads that NP is a fanatic, all I can say is YES. He and the rockpool group are passionate about food and the QF service as a whole.

Heres to the next QF / AFF function!! Boogs.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Well, I had a fantastic day!

I had hoped to tweet and cross-post to AFF during the event, but the phone coverage was miserable, so I had great difficulty (I've caught up now on Twitter though)! I've shared a few pics (as have many others), though this is probably my best photo (of the dessert no less)! For those playing at home, that is actually a Qantas candle holder (with the candle inside, behind the QF logo) - they did look pretty cool on the table!



I don't (or rather, can't) often make it to AFF functions (my schedule is all over the place), so it was nice to see a few familiar faces from the inaugural Tweet & Greet, and to meet a number of you for the first time! Even though this was a QF function as opposed to an AFF do, I believe AFFers scored 18 of the 21 available Twitter invites (17 have identified themselves in this thread, and there was also one other who attended but has not shared this online)... nice work everybody! Hopefully this doesn't lead to an AFF ban on future QF Twitter events haha!

Boogs & simongr - I believe I owe both of you a few $$$ (the cab back was only ~$54 incl tolls, but you both put in $20 before I Amex'd it). Kindly PM your details so that I can reimburse you (I can't ask others to pay more than their share). Otherwise, I'll shout you both a drink when next we meet!

Anyway, a *big* thanks to Qantas, and of course Neil for organising and hosting such a great event. Hopefully they got the social media publicity that they were looking for!

 

[DJVA]

These events Qantas puts on are really quite special.

To those who have attended one or both events, it might be time to step back and let others attend. The numbers are so limited and sought after, well beyond the AFF bubble. If it's the same handful of people attending each time, Qantas is less likely to do more of these because, well, they want to get something out of it too.

Social events and meet-ups are awesome but maybe for the next one in Queensland let some new blood go and just organise some AFF drinks some place else.

 

[Brettmcg]

These events Qantas puts on are really quite special.

To those who have attended one or both events, it might be time to step back and let others attend. The numbers are so limited and sought after, well beyond the AFF bubble. If it's the same handful of people attending each time, Qantas is less likely to do more of these because, well, they want to get something out of it too.

Sorry, but the Rockpool lunch was an event QF organised specifically for AFF and was open to all members here who had been subscribed for more than 12 months. RedRoo choose participants based on the quality of questions submitted in a competition.

The TweetUp was also open to the general Twitter public. It just so happened that many invitation recipients are also members on here.

Qantas get a lot out of these types of events, probably even more so when AFF members attend. The reason being that many of us spend a vast amount of our time and on their planes and in their lounges and airports (also we make sizeable contributions to their coffers). The very engaging Cabin Crew manager with whom I had quite a long conversation yesterday remarked that she was amazed how much we knew about the minutiae of so many aspects of service delivery and what a discerning bunch of travellers we are. She said she would take this feedback to an Executive Forum she will attend on Monday with AJ. Some of us were lucky enough to be shown crew manuals and have the RED iPad app explained to us. Win win for both parties - QF get insightful feedback on their customer experience and we develop an understanding of what they are doing to improve it.

What point is there in going to the effort of putting on a themed lunch at Spice Temple to publicise the brand new SIN lounge to a once- or twice-a-year traveller who probably doesn't have access anyway? Furthermore, there were a number of professional attendees at yesterday's gathering, some of whom had also been invited to Dubai, SIN Lounge launch etc. Should they be stopped from attending in future?

Seems to me like a little bit of envy.

 

[penegal]

Sounds great, I am quite jealous! I saw some updates and photos surface on various social media. Glad you all had a good time


Now when will an airline ever have an event that I can actually make it along to?

 

[DJVA]

I was there yesterday mate and I'm Gold on QFF. I just think it would be good if those who have attended all of them to date step back and let other's have a chance at the opportunity.