Short Trip Report: A QF WP flies DJ

[anat0l]

This is a just a very short trip report about me flying DJ. There are no pictures; this is mainly a review of DJ for someone who usually flies QF.

Don't know whether I should've posted this in the Velocity forum....



As a QF WP, most of my flying domestically (irrespective of how sparse lately) has been on QF. However, last week I had to go to a mine site, and I only got the OK to go the Wednesday the week before.

The mine site was situated at Orange, NSW. Those of you with Googling skills won't have to work hard to find out which mine site it was.

All work travel at our university (with some exceptions, and this wasn't one of them) must be booked through Campus Travel (associated with a much known company called Flight Centre). So we (we = our travel organisers, not the travelers themselves) tell them we need to get to Orange. Needless to say, the systems return ZL flights to and from OAG, with DJ flights between BNE and SYD, which is the "obvious" choice since ZL and DJ interline. Most of us fly QF all the time, unless QF can't service that port, but as I deduced later, QF between BNE and SYD was over $150 per one-way more expensive than the DJ fare (which was also very high, but what did you expect for a late booking).

Like most towns and cities with mining activity near them, OAG flights tend to be well-booked out unless one does so in advanced, thus able to get their hands on a reasonably priced fare. In our case, there were close to nil seats (for our party of 4 people) to fly SYD-OAG. So the decision was made: fly BNE-SYD on DJ, then pick-up the hire car from SYD and drive 3-4 hours to OAG. We could fly all the way from OAG on the return.

 

[anat0l]

Sunday 5 December 2010

Checked in online for DJ the day before, so I had my printed BP in hand. All I needed to do was drop the bag.

Dad drove me to the airport, in the bucketing rain. It was so heavy that visibility was pretty difficult, even with the wipers on full speed. As we drove very slowly down the roadway of the BNE D drop-off area, we noticed a sewer cover being supported by gushing water flowing out of the sewer. The kerbside drains failed to have any effect.

I had asked Dad to drop me off early in the morning so I could use the QF J Lounge and get some work done with some refreshments at hand. Dad dropped me off at 0800h and I rushed inside, lest I get completely soaked.

I've got no status with DJ, but I was relieved to see only 10 groups (i.e. singles or couples or families, but mostly singles) in the Bag Drop line. There were 4 counters open for Bag Drop. Too easy - this will take 10 minutes tops.

How wrong I was. It took 20 minutes for me to get to a counter.

Most of the pax spent between 30 seconds and 1 minute with the CSA. So much for the theory that people want to be able to talk to a human - most that went to the counter didn't look to be saying much at all, except where they were going and answering the Dangerous Goods question. But more seriously, at least it means that I wasn't lining up with a bunch of amateurs, who can sometimes really make a mess of themselves when they check-in, requiring all sorts of executive (and sometimes divine) intervention to get going.

The rest of the time seemed to be spent by the CSAs trying to get the luggage from the weighing machine onto the belt. One CSA seemed to be struggling just to lift some medium-sized backpacks, and when she lifted her hands, she had that kind of "I'm too precious to be doing this!" look on her face and hands.

For my experience, 30 seconds is all it took to get my bag tag and off I went.

Security was fairly quick - not too many people enqueued, although you had the fair assortment of cluelessness. Didn't get swab checked - w00t.

Up the stairs and turn left to the QF side of the terminal. Whipped out the black card and got past the QP and J Lounge desks.

No "full" breakfast this morning. Either it was taken off "early", or it's not a weekend/Sunday thing, or BNE just doesn't have it. The usual machined pancakes, berries, maple syrup and assorted pastries were still on offer.

I got me some fruit toast and a green tea and started work. I had to print some documents so I had to use the new Macintosh computers which can dual-boot for Windows 7 or Mac OS X. I can't seem to right-click on these machines in Windows, even by bias-clicking the right side of the mouse. Whatever...

The all-day menu made its appearance before I left the lounge, so I made myself a nice sandwich and helped myself to some Grain Wave chips.

Soon enough, it was time to get out of the lounge and get to the DJ gates in time for boarding. Met up with the 3 others on my flight. I had checked in myself on our PNR, but I didn't check the others in. So we didn't end up sitting near each other; me near the emergency exits, the others near the back.


Flight: Virgin Blue DJ946 Brisbane (BNE D) - Sydney (SYD T2)
Depart: 1200h Sched; 1200h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VOV "Alluring Alice" Boeing 737-800
Class: Economy
Seat: 11A


Boarding started with an invitation for special assistance customers, Velocity Gold and Silver and Etihad elites...bah, to hell with it! Everyone just stood up and rushed the gate. So much for that...

Boarding was pretty quick, though, as one attendant held up a hand held beaming device that shot accurately at each barcode that passed her. I boarded through the jetway, whilst my colleagues took the stairs down to the tarmac to board via the back.

Premium Economy was real on this aircraft, but it was empty anyway, so no one got to partake in some DJ freeloading.

Everyone got settled in - I didn't get a middle block, and looking back, there weren't a lot of empty seats anyway.

Our CSM had a bit of a childish tone in his voice; not my cup of tea but at least he wasn't cracking jokes every two seconds. Our safety briefing was complete (complete with the standard introduction of today's crew members), and soon we were off into the skies. Our pilot and first officer today were male and female and had the same surname. I'll let you do the speculation (or perhaps spot any coincidences).

I didn't get anything from the BOB. Not that the FAs helped - I mean this mostly by the argument that DJ FAs are better looking and much more enthusiastic than QF FAs. Well, certainly they are on average younger, and there's probably more eye candy in the DJ FAs than QF FAs (and how this TR is going downhill at a rapid rate.....).... but more enthusiastic and pleasant? Not in my experience. They weren't rude, but just doing their jobs. Not that they were exuberant with a love for what they were doing. Maybe it's a non-status thing.

I slept most of the flight before we touched down in SYD. Once we were in the baggage claim, it took over 25 minutes for the first bag to hit the belt. Our bags appeared pretty quickly; looks like I'm up on luck today. After that, we headed for the Hertz office and got our car: a Holden SV6. It was coloured orange - so that's two reasons why our car would clearly stand out in a mine site car park!

 

[anat0l]

Orange is a pleasant little town. There are a few motels spread amongst the main drag of the town (i.e. the Mitchell Highway), but there was a major event at the mine which ensued that the motels would be very much booked out for the week. I was unlucky to be one of two of us who couldn't stay in a motel, but fortunately the B&B we had been booked into about 10 minutes away was very nice and the owner couldn't be more pleasant.

We had heard some cases of people needing to switch accommodations every 1-2 days.

Our B&B rooms were very big. There was the odd little fly or bug flitzing around which one quickly kills and thinks no more of. I also saw some boxes of waterproof rat poison behind the bed and in the cupboard. Ah well, country life.

We had breakfast in the owner's kitchen or dining room each day. We sometimes had it by ourselves, or with others. Not too surprisingly, everyone had a connection with the mine.

There is an annoying amount of pot holes on the roads in Orange. We dodged them where we could, but that's not possible when there's traffic approaching in the opposite direction.

Everyday was much the same - we met our other two colleagues at the bakery on Peisley Street, bought lunch on our supervisor's account, then off to the mine. Sometimes our start was at 0830h, and on other days it would be 0630h.

We had dinner together each night. Two of the nights were at my supervisor's motel's restaurant, but we tired of that rather quickly, especially since one of us in the group was a vegetarian. But we found some other places of worthy culinary satiation, including a restaurant in a fairly old building with impressive wine selection, a Thai restaurant and an Italian restaurant.

 

[Hvr]

After that, we headed for the Hertz office and got our car: a Holden SV6. It was coloured orange - so that's two reasons why our car would clearly stand out in a mine site car park!

Love it, a high vis car for a high vis site.

I may have driven that car, I know I have driven several very bright SV6s in my travel and we always use Hertz.

My last DJ trip they tried priority boarding and had much the same result as your flight. Not really sure why they bother announcing it if they wont enforce it.

 

[anat0l]

Friday 10 December 2010

Our flight out of OAG was in the afternoon, so we still put in a full day's work; in fact, we started at 0630h, and I had a meeting back at the other mine offices in Orange town, so a bit of to-ing and fro-ing was in order today.

At the end of our work day, we went straight from the mine site to the airport. We all changed out of our steel capped boots into regular shoes before we left the mine site, but some of us who had fluoro-shirts waited until we got to the airport to change.

The rental cars don't have a dedicated section at OAG airport; just some spots marked as such. Unfortunately, there were no spots left for us to park our car, so we just parked it in a regular spot. There was no one at the Hertz (or any of the others) rental counter, but there was a key return hole situated at the side of the counter.

OAG is a small airport naturally, and no pre-flight security was in place (since there are no jet flights). ZL (Regional Express, or REX) is the only carrier with commercial flights to and from OAG.

When we checked in, the weight restrictions were strict and enforced as such. 7 kg for cabin baggage and 15 kg for checked baggage. The checked baggage was accepted up to 20 kg, although every kg over 15 kg was charged at $5.50/kg. Heavy baggage was also marked as "standby" baggage, in case the aircraft became overloaded. The only guarantee was that baggage would be sent on the next flight to SYD (i.e. the next day), but after that, no guarantees. Connecting baggage would be considered last, but it was cold comfort for most of the pax on the upcoming full flight.

It took me three attempts before my bags were accepted. My checked weighed initially at 11 kg but my backpack weighed in at 11 kg. I shifted weight over to my checked bag, splitting a couple of stitches on the little luggage in the process, and got my colleague to "hold" a couple of kg for me. Eventually, my backpack was down to 8kg to the satisfaction of the check-in agent. My checked bag was tagged all the way to BNE thanks to ZL/DJ interlining. I was handed a boarding pass that was otherwise blank other than the normal BP information (i.e. no field identifiers, e.g. "Name", "From", "To" etc.).

There's a small airport cafe which sells the basic food and drink (including the iconic Aussie meat pie). I just had an orange juice; after all, it was going on my supervisor's account. Others had a Coke, a LLB, some chips and what not.

Our plane didn't arrive until 15 minutes before scheduled departure.


A few pax deplaned as an empty luggage cart was very quickly unloaded to allow for the plane to be loaded with the outgoing baggage. I assume that people just claim their bags near the airport exit by pulling it off the luggage cart, since there was no belt or dedicated claim counter inside the small terminal building.

We waited for a bit and then the news was dropped: the plane was overweight.

About 70 kg needed to be offloaded from the plane for it to safely fly. I guess offloading one of the pax (oops, probably the heaviest...i.e. me) would have been quicker...... but the airline called for volunteers (particularly those with bags marked on "standby") to come forward and have their bags offloaded. Forms were handed out to facilitate the couriering of offloaded bags to the volunteers. It took two rounds of calling for volunteers before enough bags were taken off the aircraft so we could depart. By that time, the flight was now running at least 30 minutes late.


Flight: Regional Express ZL179 Orange Springhill (OAG) - Sydney (SYD T2)
Depart: 1655h Sched; 1730h Actual
Aircraft: VH-ZLF Saab 340
Class: Economy
Seat: 8C


Our supervisor made a joke with the first officer (who was on the tarmac to supervise the boarding process) whilst we walked out to our plane. "You should have said, 'Everyone do a lap of the airport - the last one will be offloaded'." I had to remind my supervisor that he is a very good runner! "Well," he replied, "I had to choose something that would give me an advantage."

Our little Saab taxiied down the runway and roared off. I've been in a Metroliner 23 before where they offered you earplugs before boarding. Perhaps some people on this Saab could have used some too. Definitely would think about it if you have to often fly this kind of aircraft.

A lone FA offered the simple service for our brief 50 minute flight. Water cuplets were handed out first, followed by disposable cups for coffee or tea later, and a packet of soy veggie crunchy bits. I declined on the coffee and just went for the water and bits. Mints (not unlike Mentos) were handed out near the end of the service just after the start of descent.

Very glad to know we weren't being stuffed around by SYD ATC, so as not to lose more time than we already had.

 

[medhead]

My last DJ trip they tried priority boarding and had much the same result as your flight. Not really sure why they bother announcing it if they wont enforce it.

DJ priority boarding has worked in ADL everytime since I've had status. Normal the announcement is that they will board the flight soon but inthe mean time PE, gold and etc may board. Sure people rush to the gate with this announcement but only to form a line and don't try to actually board. I just step past them and board. Vastly superior to qantas that doesn't even try to offer the priority boarding that is supposed to be a benefit for platinum.

 

[anat0l]

Landed in SYD, then we were ferried to the landside of Terminal 2 via a shuttle bus which picked us up from the tarmac position.

We all got off the bus and proceeded through the baggage claim area up to check-in. A little annoying that we had to walk across the entire length of the arrivals level to reach the escalators to go up, but such is and not a big deal.

Once we got up to the departures level, we went to a DJ kiosk. I had checked in all of us via mobile at OAG, but Mobile CI with DJ doesn't give a barcode for use at the gate. Instead, all that DJ Mobile CI does is guarantee that (a) you are intending to board your flight, and (b) you get the seat you requested (minus all the operational yadda yadda yadda). You still need to go to a kiosk to get your BP for the gate, and the bag drop queue if necessary. Hopefully DJ implement a more effective Mobile CI soon.

Anyway, the kiosk sprung to life as I proceeded to find our booking. It's useful that that you can look up a booking using your name or the PNR, since I often can't remember the latter off by heart and having to set down your carry bag to pull out your itinerary is a pain. There was quite a pause between the screens of the kiosk check-in, but eventually I managed to get all of our BPs printed and, with interlined bags, we were off through security. The lines for security were quite short, which was rather amusing in some ways considering the capacity of queue tape that was set out for the potential crowds.

Quickly went through security to avoid a swab down, then we all had to make a decision. With about 30 minutes left, where do we go? Gate 33 for our flight? Food court to swing a meal? Or Qantas Club (yes, in the company of non-AFFers, it's probably best not to say QP or its meaning)? Well, my supervisor is WP, and so am I, and I had to remind my supervisor that we were allowed to take guests (2 of them). I also had to break the news to him that next February was when they were stopping the anytime access policy. He didn't seem phased, whilst my other colleagues (who aren't frequent flyers) chuckled that the reason (according to their deduction) was that the access right was being "used and abused". I would respond except being that I was flying the competition and using QF's lounges, I probably didn't have a right to rebuttal.

Inside the T2 QP (flash of the card, no checking names here), we went straight to the bar and ordered some beers. One of our colleagues had been keeping away from the alcohol during the entire trip; mainly because he had to drive (not that the rest of us drank silly amounts anyway), but as a personal choice. However, the allure of free alcohol and the need to not have to drive nor work probably lightened his mood a bit. The un-saving grace from him was that he ordered a VB. Yuck.

Whilst my colleagues took a small dish of bar snacks back with them, I went straight to the main food selection. The food selection is considerably better compared to the last time I walked into a QP in the evening (which admittedly was a fairly long time ago now), with a couple of decent looking salads, a few other fresh selections, cheese plate and two kinds of hot pizza - one vegetarian and one meat.

I took a couple of slices of pizza back to the standing table where we were, and one of my colleagues - again, obviously not a frequent flyer - was very surprised that there was actually hot food available. My supervisor, who wasn't intent on having anything a shade substantial, remarked that the pizza was "too tempting to pass up". Soon, everyone had wandered over to the buffet and returned with a couple of slices with pizza, and my colleague who had earlier got a VB atoned for his sin by returning with a glass of red.

The pizza was actually quite good. The mushroom and cheese pizza base was a little on the soft side and flavour could have been better, but was alright. The meat pizza had some sort of pepperoni or other spiced sausage, which actually had some bite in it. The meat pizza also had a nice crispy base and tasted great. Not sure about "wood fired" for either pizza, but the pizzas still tasted quite good and not like it was simply the boxed pizza you get in the supermarket freezer (even though it just might have been). I think it was the pizza bases that made a considerable impression on me.

We had enough time for a small chat, a couple of drinks each and a few snacks before it ticked past 1900h, which was probably a good time to start moving towards the gate (T-30 minutes). Quite a few of the QantasLink flights were delayed according to the FID board inside the QP, but I didn't expect the DJ flights to be quite so delayed.

But they were.

Our plane had just arrived when we left the QP, along with another plane which parked at a gate adjacent to ours. I found out later that this other plane was also bound for BNE, and I believe it was considerably late since the flight number was "less than" ours (if that makes sense).

Boarding didn't start for at least another 15 minutes once we arrived at the gate, and when it did, the same mindless scrum occurred at the gate as it did in BNE, with no enforcement of priority boarding, even for special assistance passengers and even though priority passenger boarding was announced. Additionally, the gate agent announced that there were issues with Web CI printed BPs, which had to be verified at the agent counter rather than the regular BP readers, which created additional mental strain (not for us seasoned travelers, of course).

I think priority boarding is mostly farcical when announced because most people don't know what elite status is, or even understand that it exists. So they just go forward because all they understand is "boarding", not "Velocity Gold" or whatever like that. Maybe some of them are trying to push the equality argument (i.e. elite status is a farce, a customer service travesty, a point of discrimination and a violation of a human right or something along those lines), but mostly from what I could see, it was pure inexperience. And it never helps when the staff at the gate don't enforce priority boarding or provide clear demarcations. Hope this is something that both major domestic carriers in Australia can fix up.


Flight: Virgin Blue DJ985 Sydney (SYD T2) - Brisbane (BNE D)
Depart: 1930h Sched; 1937h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VOM "Little Blue Peep" Boeing 737-800
Class: Economy
Seat: 29C


I specifically selected my seat so I could be near the rear door and use the airstairs. Certainly made it easier to get the aircraft registration, and was almost as quick as trying to board through the airbridge with the most forward (non-middle) seat I could get with no status.

The FA who greeted the pax at the rear entrance didn't seem all that glad to be there and seemed to have some trouble putting up a smile. Probably had a long day like some of us. Dryly, I was directed to my seat. One thing is that DJ seem to put up (or their pax seemed to like doing this) the armrests, only to tell everyone that these must be lowered before take-off. In the USA, they seem to put them up as well, but seem to have no qualms if they remain up.

We taxiied to the third runway and was on our way to BNE. It was a very turbulent ascent particularly as we were going through the clouds, and we probably didn't see the seat belt sign turn off until well after 35 - 45 minutes into the flight. I wonder if it's just me or do DJ pilots hit the accelerator a bit more than QF. I noticed our taxi seemed rather speedier than my experience with QF. I noticed this both times (BNE/SYD and SYD/BNE flights) but perhaps seating position in plane had something to do with it.

Irrespective of the turbulence and the seat belt sign, the cabin crew sprang to life as they prepared to wheel out the service carts. I did wonder whether it was a good idea or not to offer the service during turbulence. I noticed one of the parked carts rocking laterally and dangerously; I almost thought it might tip over and fall on some aisle pax, but it thankfully didn't happen.

I didn't buy anything, but the lady next to me parted with $13 to get a bag of mixed nuts and a gin and tonic. Since the cart was parked a few rows away, the FA served her selection back to her on a small tray not much bigger than a magazine. Once again, our cabin crew were certainly younger than the average QF FAs, but as far as service goes they were not spectacularly better than QF. The same FA who greeted the rear boarding pax in particular seemed enthusiastic only to see through this flight. She must've been pretty tired - poor girl.

As the FAs finished the service, I couldn't help but overhear their conversations in the galley (since it was a mere 2 rows away from me). I'm sure we've all heard FAs mouth off pax before. We never hope to actually hear it, but I certainly did. Not the most pleasant impression anyone would like to take away about an airline's crew for sure.

As we descended into BNE, the CSM gave a seemingly standard plug for the rental car companies (and a reminder that all car rentals can earn Velocity points), but we landed with a considerably rough bounce in BNE, and before long we had parked at our gate a mere 10 minutes behind schedule.

Bags took only 5 minutes to start being fed to the belt - very good.



I know some people fly a considerable amount of DJ, but from my assessment of two flights with them?

The service I received was as expected for any decent airline. The staff did their jobs, and did it without a bad attitude. Perhaps my QF status greases some wheels, so to speak, when I fly with them, but there were still some little things with DJ even if I discount any favouritism that elite customers receive.

Most of my issues that I had with DJ had to do with the professionalism of the staff. And of course there was the unfortunate overhearing of some gossip from the FAs on the SYD-BNE flight which should be delayed until off the aircraft and not within a passengers' earshot. I think everyone - FAs included - on the SYD-BNE flight was tired so not a big deal even if the FAs' dispositions were a bit errant, and I think this applies (or could apply) to any airline (perhaps less so in the premium classes).

Loyalty is a genuine pull for many flyers, and I'm no different, so my WP status will naturally bias me to fly QF even at additional expense (as I'm sure it also does for Velocity elites). But DJ is definitely not on my "no fly" list; I certainly don't have a good reason (apart from attitude, but it would take considerably more flights to come to that conclusion) to strike them off. Were they miles better than QF? From the two flights I had, no. I realise the sample size is too small to make any blanket judgement, plus experiences are based on the person and are very circumstantial. But, based on my two flights, I hereby submit my assessment.

Maybe one day, DJ.........

Fin

 

[yohy?!]

Well written as always and an interesting perspective that is sure to be useful for many in the future.

Agree on the cabin crew professionalism issue mentioned, that should not be happening and in my experience is not the norm.

 

[anat0l]

Well written as always and an interesting perspective that is sure to be useful for many in the future.

Agree on the cabin crew professionalism issue mentioned, that should not be happening and in my experience is not the norm.

Thanks yohy?!

It was mainly that a lot of the crew (and some ground staff) seemed to have a childish disposition. I don't know why - and I can affirm it has nothing to do with their youth (and relevant appearance).

The overhearing in the galley is notwithstanding this, which is why I mentioned that professionalism might be an issue. But, I'd need more experience to write this fact as that. I'm glad to hear from others that this is not common.

 

[froggerADL]

DJ priority boarding has worked in ADL everytime since I've had status. Normal the announcement is that they will board the flight soon but inthe mean time PE, gold and etc may board. Sure people rush to the gate with this announcement but only to form a line and don't try to actually board. I just step past them and board. Vastly superior to qantas that doesn't even try to offer the priority boarding that is supposed to be a benefit for platinum.

I'm never there when they do the priority boarding, always in 'The Lounge'. If it was real priority boarding they would have a separate priority line that I could join when I get there. Same as QF though. No, I'm not usually the last one on.

Or am I doing something wrong as far as priority boarding goes? Should I just go to the front of the queue waving my Gold card around?

 

[medhead]

I'm never there when they do the priority boarding, always in 'The Lounge'. If it was real priority boarding they would have a separate priority line that I could join when I get there. Same as QF though. No, I'm not usually the last one on.

Or am I doing something wrong as far as priority boarding goes? Should I just go to the front of the queue waving my Gold card around?

My trick is to make sure I'm at the gate about 10 minutes before boarding is due to commence, qantas or virgin. I wouldn't suggest going to the front of the queue and waving around your gold card.

For me the key difference is that qantas doesn't even bother with priority boarding for platinum in domestic flights.

 

[nlagalle]

For me the key difference is that qantas doesn't even bother with priority boarding for platinum in domestic flights.

The only time i have seen it is when they are using an A330 with two aerobridges.

 

[samiam]

The only time i have seen it is when they are using an A330 with two aerobridges.

Frequenting the MEL-PER route, I have to say it's a bit hit and miss, although it does happen as described above (A330, dual airbridge) on occasion. If I'm flying Y on that day, I just join the J queue- I've never been questioned or asked to move to the Y queue (whether priority boarding has been announced or not)- so, using my above logic, any passenger could join the J queue without being challenged= no such thing as priority boarding on QF domestic (in my experience).