Firstly, it was a smashing event. A lot of fun was had by all, and I left with the impression that there was some very important points raised that hit home with both Simon and Stephanie, which will no doubt get their minds turning and lead to bigger and better things (even if only dealing with small improvements and niggles) for QFF.
Kudos as well to Neil Perry, Trish and the Rockpool Team. The food was divine, and the service impeccible. Neil is also a wonderful and passionate man, who conveys ellquently just how committed both he and his team are to delivering impeccable food service for Qantas and their passengers.
I've just about finished off a short TR which I'll post later, and I have nearly three hours of audio notes to scrub through and write up. I don't envy that one bit.
Thank you
Firstly, a thank you to everyone who enjoyed the livestreaming from yesterday's event. I'm really glad those who followed along enjoyed it, and I've received some wonderful feedback and thanks, there were some great questions which came out from the online chats during and post-event.
I've also finished running the numbers on the online impact of yesterday's livestreaming, and they were significant. 103 tweets were generated using the
#qfflunch hashtag, and at least another 30-50 again which didn't. Interest was high, even from a member of the Canberra press gallery following the discussion, and the photos from the event were salivated over sending my FlickR account to it's biggest day ever on views alone.
Sadly, the CoverItLive stream didn't work as expected - so apologies to anyone who was planning to follow along using this method.
Photos
My photo set from the event is online and avalable at:
www.flickr.com/photos/thewinchester/sets/72157627889203006/
There's also a couple of bonus shots in there, showing where our little detour at the end of the day took us (as in the SYD T2 CL).
Calmer heads
Stepping back about 10pgs quickly, the reason for my post asking for calmer heads to prevail is that some constenation was expressed post-event at some of the forum comments. As you would expect, this thread as well as the online commentary was being observed live by relevant QF staff whom were genuinely interested in what discussion it generated.
I don't mind discussion at all, and we can see that those from the "Gang of 16" who've had & taken the time to post their summaries has cleared up a lot of the questions you had and concerns raised.
Loyalty bonus & broader communications
Something I brought up being the only PS and low-level member in the room is the change to the loyalty bonus. Some interesting points came from Simon in this regard.
His view was that people didn't know or understand what that was nor did they get the value in this, hence in part the changes implemented.
I noted that the adjustment of how the loyalty bonus was calculated acted as a disencentive to lower tier members to keep their custom with Qantas for life.
On the point of members not knowing, I did suggest that was more the fault of the airline for not raising awareness. Considering the large IT and marketing email systems they have, they should be using these to send out emails as members reach milestones to improve engagement. There's nothing wrong with a congratulations email when a member hits a new tier or a loyalty bonus, and it's a good way of keeping members engaged between emails and other loyalty communications from the brand.
Social media
You know this is one of my bug bears, but there was some constructive feedback on how the airline could use this method for engaging with customers (specially the under 25's whom they believe don't even use email for marketing comms anymore). Some talk was had of integration, as well as using data available once a connection has been made to drive ancillary product revenue based on the users preferences, musical tastes, favourite bands, etc.
Now that I've caughted up on 120+ posts, now time to chime in on some of the stuff posted so far. I'd have posted sooner, but have been in a job interview this morning, plus I'm so tired I'm yawning like nobody's business.
With regard to Platinum1 (my recollection and welcome to be disagreed with by other attendees):<snip>
Your summary pretty much nails P1/WP1 to a T.
Some of us were lucky (thanks to Steph and Trevor (Red Roo) in particular) to be granted special access to the Sydney CL after the event. This was incredible, an experience that is totally unmatched in the domestic arena, and I am sure I speak on behalf of all present when I say that this really did cap off a great day. The exception made to grant us access was something unlikely to happen again, so QF - thank you!
Agreed, along with a complimentary epiQure membership this was just the cherry atop the icing on the cake for what was a smashing event. I even ended up giving Trevor (Red Roo) a hug (in a bro's sense) for that lovely gift.
Kudos to the lounge manager (I think it was Matthew) who took the time to provide the crew a tour of the facility. I'd agree with his sentiments that the CL is a MkII INT F Lounge.
Finally -
Lindsay Wilson - we all wanted you to know you were front of all of our minds throughout
How's your blood pressure today Lindsay? Hope you didn't burst a blood vessel reading all the goings on
Oh and we met Neil Perry (he also did two brief Q&As).
I think Neil spent around 30min with the group, and his passion for the brand and especially the food service is without parallel. Had the pleasure of shaking his hand and saying thank you personally just as I got in the escelator, and even though he obviously was in a rush he still stopped to shake hands and thank me for my kind words - a really good bloke.
Sorry but I find it difficult to accept that a QF WP would use the lounge via ATA and fly SQ as the SQ fare structure is equal to or above that of QF. Maybe it did happen in some isolated cases due to flight unavailability but enough to kill ATA access for ALL QF WPs? Don't believe that was the real reason.
Thanks for the detailed and well put out summary
Febs but I am going to pull you up on this one ..... have you been sucked in by today's spin re: ATA?
Excessive use when flying SQ or EK? Did QF even provide some statistical data on this earlier today or was it just more spin?
ATA has been covered here ad nauseum - and I'm not going to rehash the debate so far. Simply put, to use the parlance of Tony Abbott, ATA in the form we knew it is "dead, buried, cremated".
I'm confident that the issues like those raised by Princess Fiona in respect of ports serviced by QF partners but not QF Group carriers and fair use of guesting privledges when not flying will be given their due consideration by QFF.
However, in the broader context of ATA - it won't be returning and they are steadfast in their resolve. The line was used that they don't want to be giving a free kick to other carriers and conversly members when you're flying someone else other than a Qantas or Oneworld partner. This is a reasonable point to make - and why should non-*O/QF Group or partner airlines benefit from QF's significant investment into their lounge product.
As oft-quoted from Up in the Air,
"there's nothing cheap about loyalty."
The best part was that someone bought up the NPPP's to the man himself. He has assured us, they will make a return to the J lounge after we voiced our disproval of their removal
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Awilcockson - you were a bloody legend bringing this up. I mentioned
bugyavev (I think it was him, and sp?) and I discussed just 15min prior if someone would have the cojones to mention it.
When it was mentioned, the whole dining area broke out into raucus laughter when he did, and I was informed by Stephanie post-event that he was beavering away in the kitchen as we spoke, and she commented a pie recepie would likely be presented to QF within the fortnight.
If there isn't a plaque next to these pies with
Awilcockson's name on it when they join the menu rotation - I think a copyright or moral rights claim might be in order
With a bit more information in from the AFF "gang of 16" I think QF deserve a "well done" for organising this event. I get the feeling that the AFF members were listened to and there was a good deal of interaction.
<snip>
The real positive from the event has been QF's desire to listen and talk to AFF members.
Thanks to jetlag I was wide awake in the UK at the time of the lunch but was able to follow the event via thewinchester's live twitter feed, so a big thanks to him for providing this.
Hopefully QF will continue the interaction, I get the impression, from the attendees' posts, that QF did get some value out of listening to AFF members.
Tony: Thanks for the thanks, and I'm more than confident that QF & QFF has taken away some really good, constructive messages from the day's event.
From what I understand the initial round of P1 members will be based upon the year 1/11/10 to 31/10/11, with P1 membership to be awarded commencing 1 November 2011.** If you qualify based upon that period you will receive P1 membership from 1/11/11 through to 30/11/12.
A clarification on this. I remembered and understood that QF stated:
- P1 will be assessed on the previous 12months of flying before the launch date,
- As part of being as fair as possible, P1 status will be granted to those eligable members until the expiry of their current qualifying year, plus 12 months.
Eg: If your qualifying year ends EOM February 2011, you will receive P1 through until February 2013
Assuming how good my audio notes are, I will confirm this and if incorrect will come back and make the appropriate correction.
Just curious; apart from the QF reps and NP, were the only attendees the AFF16? if so, I have to really commend QF on the fine gesture towards the AFF membership!
I had 2 Qs sent to Red Roo, and have not seen the answer(s) so I will post here to see if anyone asked:
1) Why can’t you book all partner airline awards online, and hence have to ring up the QF call centre where you are then charged 6000 QF points (or $60) for the privilege? In my opinion, if you can’t book the partner award flight online, the phone assist fee should be waived esp. for Plat / Gold FF members.
2) If you book (including award) fares originating from some countries eg Thailand, China, why do you physically have to take your (booking) credit card into the local office within 3 days for verification? At worse, can’t your credit card be checked when you check in for your flight?
thanks
The attendees dining were the "Gang of 16", obv. Simon, Stephanie and Trevor (Red Roo), and Trish from Rockpool. As noted, Neil Perry made two appearances during the course of the meal.
Also in attendance were members of QF's media and communications team, taking notes and also doing photography and post-lunch video interviews with guests. These videos are scheduled to appear on QF's youtube channel (
Qantas's Channel - YouTube) in due course.
On the first question, as drewbles noted while I was writing this post the issue of niggles such as inability to self-service simple requests thus incurring assistance fees was raised constructively. The points were taken on board and I'm confident they will work to improve these as and when strategy, budgets and resources permit.
