Time to give up on Qantas

[bertair]

I had a family bereavement during last weekend and needed to fly to Melbourne on Monday morning.
As luck would have it, it was the morning after the big storm overnight in Melbourne and my flight due to depart at 10.00, was cancelled,then told by a supervisor it would be around three hours before I could get away and to go home and return at 1300. At 1355 the flight departed,arriving in MEB.
My baggage did not came off the carousel.
Went to Lost Luggage and after about 15 minutes, an attendant was convinced that the bag was missing, although I was "warned" that if it was on another carousel to the one I was waiting on because I had been at the wrong one ( I wasn't), I would have to return to Tulla to collect it in person.
In disgust I left to join my grieving family,by this time about 5 hours later than expected.( they were going to pick me up, but rather than wait, drove home. I rented a car and drove myself to their home.
Around about 7.00 pm I get a phone call from the lost luggage guy to say that they were closing the counter, but had found my bag.
Did I want to come and collect it or would I like a Courier to deliver it.?
As I was around 150 kilometres in the country from Melbourne, I opted for the Courier who arrived close to midnight with my bag.(containing my shirt, tie, shoes etc for the next days funeral.
Do I have a legitimate complaint when Qantas knew I had a funeral to attend ?
No, I don't think so and I am pleased that they made the effort.
Out of around a dozen or more flights a year, I average a lost bag about once every two years and each time, I have had the bag delivered within 24 hours of arrival.
It must cost Qantas a few $$ each year in transportation of lost bags.
However, my real gripe is that my ECY fare, which is normally around $200 or so each way whenever I have travelled this route, this time my fare was a whopping $880 ECY rtn and even after asking the operator for a compassionate fare ( I think he said the discount is about 10%).
I might add on an aircraft that was at about 65 -70% capacity.
My return was glitch free although I did notice some sort of drama between a PAX and a crew member over their snack box with voices raised.
Something to do with a vegetarian request it sounded like.??
I have been loyal to Qantas and Jetstar, but you have to wonder what the future is when they cost themselves so much in unnecessary expenses and slug passengers the fares that they do when the booking is made at short notice (48 hours in my case)?
While I am no where near a $800K PA Platinum, I do not even look at my Status Credits, because I know that I will never in my lifetime reach Gold, or above. To me they are meaningless and I would sooner get my Any Seat Award sooner rather than try to rack up credits anyhow.
My near half million FF points seem to getting worth less by the month when I can either not get a seat when I want or if I do find one, the huge amount needed for a short haul is simply not going to be burned when I can buy a discounted seat for peanuts anyway.
Right now my thinking is that I will get a First Class Seat using my points one day and after that, it will be it for me as far as my Qantas loyalty goes.

 

[busissi]

Sadly true

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Sorry to be Pedantic, but you must learn, Grasshopper, that MEB is not the correct coding for Melbourne, Vic, Au.
Its MEL that is the right coding.
MEB is Essendon, which I believe does not have any QF or QFlink flight in or out of it.

 

[eminere]

Sorry to be Pedantic, but you must learn, Grasshopper, that MEB is not the correct coding for Melbourne, Vic, Au.
Its MEL that is the right coding.
MEB is Essendon, which I believe does not have any QF or QFlink flight in or out of it.

Completely not the issue here.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I'll be doing the same: retained WP this year &, as LTG there is no reason to remain with QFF once I lose WP.

This seems to be a VERY common theme. Even non-affers I know switch over after LTG. Such a shame too. I'd love to support QF but there is simply no carrot. And I'm hungry.

 

[maninblack]

...how about sticking around in AFF and learning the tricks you can use to make your flying a really enjoyable experience. I'm putting out a genuine invite to stay, learn the tricks of flying so you don't end up with the crabby crews, the falling apart planes and the flights from hell.

[/rant]

Isn't that trick, don't fly Qantas

 

[bertair]

MEB is Essendon, which I believe does not have any QF or QFlink flight in or out of it.[/QUOTE]

Yes, you are so correct!
I am showing my age & a little dementia too perhaps ?
Pardon an old guys memory lapse, because you see I started my many decades long loyalty to Qantas back when I regularly flew out of Essendon on the Viscounts and Electras, so yes Melbourne has always been MEB to me and I know that most airports can be easily identified by their three letter code.
Anyway, back to the issue, what is your take on what the future holds for ahead for Qantas ?

 

[katiebell]

Have you tried redeeming with the competition???

BA exec club, when it operated inAus was far better

 

[katiebell]

while we can all have complaints about QFF and it can be inconsistent at times I think it stacks up as well as anything else available in the world based on my experiences over the last 5 years ..... I also think the QF experience is getting better not worse!

The cabin crew, on the whole, are getting better but the routes, schedules, aircraft, amenities, food, wine, and FF programme, esp for higher satus are all much worse. I for one cannot rate DXB as either a stopover or tranit point, unlike HKG and SIN

 

[katiebell]

This seems to be a VERY common theme. Even non-affers I know switch over after LTG. Such a shame too. I'd love to support QF but there is simply no carrot. And I'm hungry.

Agreed: I would like to support an Australian company but when there are so many reasons not to and no encouragement to do so I cannot justify it. If QF stopped messing with the SC earn rates or introduced (an attainable) LTP then there might be an incentive to stay and something to counter the loss of direct flights, poorer timings, DXB as a transit point the degradation of the inflight product etc etc

 

[maninblack]

I for one cannot rate DXB as either a stopover or tranit point, unlike HKG and SIN

But a very pragmatic decision by QF, stopover passengers are an annoyance for airlines. They want as many as possible to go right through. Unfortunately businesses run by unimaginative pragmatists are often doomed to failure.

 

[browski]

I for one cannot rate DXB as either a stopover or tranit point, unlike HKG and SIN

DXB is without doubt the Olympic Champion of travel hubs. It gives Australians one-stop access to more cities in every corner of the planet. Singapore is a great airport, but as a transit hub, DXB is where the big boys hang out.

 

[maninblack]

DXB is without doubt the Olympic Champion of travel hubs. It gives Australians one-stop access to more cities in every corner of the planet. Singapore is a great airport, but as a transit hub, DXB is where the big boys hang out.

I won't be around in 100 years to see which 'economic miracle' is still thriving, Dubai or Singapore. I would put my money on Singapore.

 

[Chucksta]

I was forced to fly SQ between PER-SIN simply because QF deleted the route. After numerous flights on SQ, including long haul to the UK, I have decided that even if QF reinstate the PER-SIN flight I will not fly QF. SQ has 4 flights a day and they have the 777, which is far roomier than the A330.

The funny thing is, I would never have had a reason to try SQ until QF stopped the PER-SIN route. The only downside of SQ is the star gold lounge in SIN, but here’s the thing, the whole experience in the air is far superior. So instead of arriving 2-3 hours earlier to enjoy the lounge, I now arrive last minute at the airport, use StarGold status to check in at the business counters, enjoy priority boarding (hit and miss with QF), far better inflight service, newer aircraft, priority bags delivered first… and most importantly, I have much more flexibility to choose a more suitable departure/arrival time.

 

[Skyring]

One of the best and longest-running threads on this forum is that of "Ask the Pilot", where JB747 patiently gives detailed answers to all manner of questions. What shines through is the professionalism, the dedication to safety and the care taken to get passengers safely from A to B.

To my mind, that trumps everything else. There's not another airline with the same record. That's not a matter of luck. It doesn't happen by itself, neither. That's careful planning and hard work, and we don't see a real lot of that going on when we park our bums in a seat.

The comfiest, best equipped seat on the airways is not much good at getting you safely home by itself. Nor the meals, cabin crew and lounges.

For all the rest of it, Qantas is up there with the best in some aspects and in the second rank with others. Considering the massive increase in competition over the past decade or so, I think they are doing a pretty good job.

Yes, we wince when we hear of "enhancements", but I'd rather wince than see Qantas fold. There are a few Golden Wing folk around who can appreciate that.

 

[Skyring]

I won't be around in 100 years to see which 'economic miracle' is still thriving, Dubai or Singapore. I would put my money on Singapore.

So what's the point? For my travelling lifetime, I'm seeing Dubai as more convenient. And after having the chance to compare lounges, I'll happily park my bum in the DXB Flounge. Apart from the showers. Emirates needs to work on those. A massive great lounge with bugger-all showers, geez.

 

[browski]

One of the best and longest-running threads on this forum is that of "Ask the Pilot", where JB747 patiently gives detailed answers to all manner of questions. What shines through is the professionalism, the dedication to safety and the care taken to get passengers safely from A to B.

To my mind, that trumps everything else. There's not another airline with the same record. That's not a matter of luck. It doesn't happen by itself, neither. That's careful planning and hard work, and we don't see a real lot of that going on when we park our bums in a seat.

The comfiest, best equipped seat on the airways is not much good at getting you safely home by itself. Nor the meals, cabin crew and lounges.

For all the rest of it, Qantas is up there with the best in some aspects and in the second rank with others. Considering the massive increase in competition over the past decade or so, I think they are doing a pretty good job.

Yes, we wince when we hear of "enhancements", but I'd rather wince than see Qantas fold. There are a few Golden Wing folk around who can appreciate that.

Not trying to dispute what you are saying, Skyring but.......
1. These days there are more Qantas wide-body pilots at Emirates than at Qantas. So does that professionalism depart the pilot once they fly elsewhere; I think not.
2. There are plenty of airlines which have not had fatalities. Even if an airline did have fatalities in its history. it would seem to be stretching a long bow to suggest that airlines like Cathay, British Airways, Thai, Singapore, Qatar, Delta, Air New Zealand, South African, Etihad and Air Canada are unsafe.
3. But I agree with your general thrust that safety is the biggy.

 

[drron]

For those of us getting a bit older then a stopover to break up the flight time is desirable.DXB is absolutely last in my preferred stopover points.SIN,BKK, or NRT are my stops now.

 

[browski]

For those of us getting a bit older then a stopover to break up the flight time is desirable.DXB is absolutely last in my preferred stopover points.SIN,BKK, or NRT are my stops now.

.............if your end point is Dubai, that makes sense. If your end point is Paris (or Casablanca)?.....

 

[OATEK]

For those of us getting a bit older then a stopover to break up the flight time is desirable.DXB is absolutely last in my preferred stopover points.SIN,BKK, or NRT are my stops now.

I absolutely agree as a similarly ageing traveller and the need for a meaningful break in the journey, that DXB is last place for a stopover and I would put HKG in drron's mix.