When DYKWIA becomes the full <airline> tanty

[marki]

As most of you know I do it all the time.

TonyHancock can learn a thing or 2.

JohnK the problem is here at AFF we know who you are

 

[RichardMEL]

The thing I find amusing is the amount of juegemental people there out there. Take a look at someone and decide (on whatever grounds) they "shouldn't" be entitled to whatever it is (priority boarding, Business/First class, hotel room upgrade, etc). When I was 20 years younger and had some upgrades and stuff I used to get the stares and even some employees would question if I should be checking in with F and stuff (yes, actually I should be).

but then I realised.. we do it in our own way to from time to time

I guess it's a bit of human nature - an undesireable one.

So yeah when I fly in jeans and a t shirt and am going to board with F yeah, that's perfectly reasonable.

(side gripe - the other day at MEL in the priority security line, because QF had no line minder at this point).. CLEARLY (judgemental much? yes!) non frequent travellers in the line ahead of me with no idea what to unpack or to take their jackets off or even about going through the metal detector.. seriously. I wasn't in a hurry so I just watched more in bemusement than anything else, but had I been in a hurry I would have been pretty annoyed. I think the screeners were quite pleased to see me all prepared push my bag through all sorted (as usual) and walk through because.. you know.. I've done it once or twice before)

 

[Fiches Mouser]

(side gripe - the other day at MEL in the priority security line, because QF had no line minder at this point).. CLEARLY (judgemental much? yes!) non frequent travellers in the line ahead of me with no idea what to unpack or to take their jackets off or even about going through the metal detector.. seriously. I wasn't in a hurry so I just watched more in bemusement than anything else, but had I been in a hurry I would have been pretty annoyed. I think the screeners were quite pleased to see me all prepared push my bag through all sorted (as usual) and walk through because.. you know.. I've done it once or twice before)

But at least you were judging them by their actions, rather than appearance – that's totally reasonable!

 

[anat0l]

We seem to have run short on "DYKWIAs gone raging mad" stories

Definitely can get a decent fill of some which happen to make the news.

As a related note, I know that when SQ PPS members get mad, they get really mad. SQ crew can sometimes find themselves in between a rock and a hard place.

 

[henleybeach]

About 2 years ago , I was flying SYD to LAX on virgin Australia in buisness class.
Priority boarding had been called and I had walked up to the PB line when a male about 60 years old barged his way through. I watched him pushing everyone out the way , so I though stuff him I'm gonna hold my ground , he tried pushing through me , as I turned around to look at him he said " can you move this is line is priority boarding for platinum FFers , you are in the wrong line "
i simply said ah ok no worries and let him in front of me . Anyway he went up to the counter with his boarding pass and something was wrong when they scanned his ticket so he had to stand aside , the lady called me up and scanned mine and I went through . I was in seat 1A having a champagne and about 10 mins later this gentleman walked through and seen me sitting there and his face was classic , mouth was wide open starring at me, I said "hello" ( mainly because he was starring at me for so long ) and watched him walked through the buisness class cabin . I quite enjoyed having the last laugh , he didn't expect a 27 year old 'boy' to be sitting there!

 

[Denali]

More of a WDYTYA than a DYKWIA, but...

A few years back I went to board my local commute. The Priority Boarding lane was empty whilst General Boarding snaked back thru half the gate lounge. I walked straight down to the front of the PB lane (as I was entitled to do) only to have a delightful middle-aged lady part way back the General Boarding queue start shouting profanity after profanity in my direction for "queue jumping".

The QF gate attendants did nothing. I just ignored her, boarded and took my J seat. But when I was settled in, Ms SettingAGoodExampleForHerKids stopped by my seat on the way to hers and gave me another dose of extended profanity. The CSM then "kindly suggested" she take her seat or she may be escorted from the plane.

Oh, I've had something similar.

Priority Lane empty so we walked up, to hear a Bogan voice of "the lines back there, mate", as his Mrs flipped her hair and jingled her new island braids with a "yeah, back there".

Now my husband, the peace maker and always with a smile on his face just turned slightly and said "Not for business class" and kept walking. This is as confrontational as he's ever going to get.

I'm guessing it was the same man that as he walked passed us announced "Plebs up the back!"

 

[marki]

About 2 years ago , I was flying SYD to LAX on virgin Australia in buisness class.
Priority boarding had been called and I had walked up to the PB line when a male about 60 years old barged his way through. I watched him pushing everyone out the way , so I though stuff him I'm gonna hold my ground , he tried pushing through me , as I turned around to look at him he said " can you move this is line is priority boarding for platinum FFers , you are in the wrong line "
i simply said ah ok no worries and let him in front of me . Anyway he went up to the counter with his boarding pass and something was wrong when they scanned his ticket so he had to stand aside , the lady called me up and scanned mine and I went through . I was in seat 1A having a champagne and about 10 mins later this gentleman walked through and seen me sitting there and his face was classic , mouth was wide open starring at me, I said "hello" ( mainly because he was starring at me for so long ) and watched him walked through the buisness class cabin . I quite enjoyed having the last laugh , he didn't expect a 27 year old 'boy' to be sitting there!

Assuming always backfires.

 

[Fiches Mouser]

As a related note, I know that when SQ PPS members get mad, they get really mad. SQ crew can sometimes find themselves in between a rock and a hard place.

Sounds like you might have a story anat0l...

 

[leadman]

I once had an "anti-tanty". Had to get to MNL from Taiwan urgently but could only go via HKG. CX in J down to HKG and then across in Y with PR down MNL. CX staff at TPE could not do anything of course for the PR leg but told them they will put a note there to help with maybe an upgrade or seat change. But still got my PR boarding pass at TPE.


Sure enough at the gate the PR staff said I've a seat change, "Whoow" great! They had changed me from exit row to the last row, aisle seat next to the toilet! But I just found it so funny I just could not say anything. That was until the seat belt light went out and their was a permanent line to the amenities!! I just felt you need a great reality check sometimes and there was no complaint from me........

 

[UP4014]

We seem to have run short on "DYKWIAs gone raging mad" stories

Book QF domestic, arrive early and wander down to Tiger check in with latte in hand. Report back.

 

[anat0l]

Sounds like you might have a story anat0l...

I'm not a PPS member, but a couple of times I've had to go to SQ ground services, I've seen the SQ ground staff get an absolute tongue lashing, and the word (letters?) "PPS" have been thrown in there. Sometimes I was just passing, one time I was served later in the line by the same ground staff that got affected. When I commented casually about the person who lost it at them, they might have rolled their eyes a little bit but they otherwise replied nonchalantly, as if this might be normal or those kinds of people were entitled to be demanding.

Usual gripes - not getting an upgrade into Suites or First, IRROPs...

Normally in most anglophone settings, if you raised your voice like that against airline staff, you could have security onto you within minutes.

 

[Fiches Mouser]

Book QF domestic, arrive early and wander down to Tiger check in with latte in hand. Report back.

"It's only 11kgs over! What do you mean I have to check it!?"

"Wait, how much extra?"

"I'm never flying Tiger again!"

 

[Fiches Mouser]

I'm not a PPS member, but a couple of times I've had to go to SQ ground services, I've seen the SQ ground staff get an absolute tongue lashing, and the word (letters?) "PPS" have been thrown in there. Sometimes I was just passing, one time I was served later in the line by the same ground staff that got affected. When I commented casually about the person who lost it at them, they might have rolled their eyes a little bit but they otherwise replied nonchalantly, as if this might be normal or those kinds of people were entitled to be demanding.

Usual gripes - not getting an upgrade into Suites or First, IRROPs...

Normally in most anglophone settings, if you raised your voice like that against airline staff, you could have security onto you within minutes.

Because of the spend required in premium cabins exclusively, I've always thought PPS is a really hard status to earn. It would never excuse rudeness, but I could understand someone spending $50k a year on F and J flights expecting fairly good treatment from the airline.

Would QF P1 be an equivalent? It’s something like 3600 SCs right?

 

[Denali]

"It's only 11kgs over! What do you mean I have to check it!?"
"Wait, how much extra?"
"I'm never flying Tiger again!"

When I use to watch the airline show Tiger was on, the paxs that would swear black and blue that they didnt have a single cent or card on them to pay for anything extra use to amuse me, now all I can do is read their facebook rants where "I arrived only a few minutes late and you wouldnt check me in and forced me to pay for another ticket!"

 

[anat0l]

Would QF P1 be an equivalent? It’s something like 3600 SCs right?

PPS is a spend based qualification. I believe it's SGD 25,000 minimum per year, based on paid prices without taxes, in Business and First only. Much more difficult than QF P1.

The thing is though, the way it seemed like it, some of these members were expecting an upgrade for free, like they had someone on the inside who was supposed to give them a leg up. As for IRROPs, well sometimes **** does happen. The staff can only scramble so fast to get everyone into good hotels. Even then, maybe you can nail the airline to the wall for their planes going tech, but blaming them for weather related delays is another thing, unless the airline is God.

I suppose "rudeness" can be subjective depending on, amongst other factors, culture.

 

[Fiches Mouser]

When I use to watch the airline show Tiger was on, the paxs that would swear black and blue that they didnt have a single cent or card on them to pay for anything extra use to amuse me, now all I can do is read their facebook rants where "I arrived only a few minutes late and you wouldnt check me in and forced me to pay for another ticket!"

It's highly amusing. I always have to bite my tongue when non-FF friends/colleagues complain about Tiger and other LCCs. Those cheap flights have to be paid for somehow!

But at least these aren't DYKWIA rants. They're often just naiive.

 

[opusman]

I believe it's SGD 25,000 minimum per year, based on paid prices without taxes, in Business and First only. Much more difficult than QF P1.

$25k doesn't seem that much of a target, even without taxes that's only two F AU/EU returns each year which wouldn't get you close to WP1.

 

[RichardMEL]

Just all this talk of Tiger reminds me of a mini-tanty just 2 weeks ago on NYE I witnessed - not really a DYKWIA but more a general rant.

I was flying QF MEL-SYD in Y (row 5). Jam packed 73H.

First amusement was the kid on the other side of the cabin yelling "I wanna fly Jetstar! I wanna fly Jetstar!" (and later during taxi when we passed a JQ bird "JETSTAR!!!!" which got a chuckle from people in my area)

but anyway back to the tanty so it was a pretty warm day in MEL - let's say 35C or so, and the a/c was hot. I mean really hot. The APU obviously wasn't on and ground power was just not doing it. OK us FFers all know the drill when the APU is on and post take off it will kick in, but it was uncomfortable - I won't sugar coat that.

Well this couple behind me in row 6 with a small kid were complaining amongst themselves.. loud enough for the vicinity to hear without trying. Now I get it. Like I said it wasn't the most fun environment but what made me want to burst out laughing was the exclamation "THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN ON TIGER!" from these flyers of note!

Then various comments worthy of A Current Affair etc "This is child abuse" "QANTAS are treating us like s**t!" and so on, and then as if they realised maybe people were listening decided to change their conversation to Greek. Now i don't know a lot of Greek, but I do know some of the more choice swear words - those were in abundance

I really wanted to turn to them and say Yes I know it's uncomfortable but don't worry after we take off and the APU is engaged it should get better pretty quickly.

I would say QF didn't help because the staff didn't really make an effort to make an announcement to that effect, but at least the FA handing out lunch(pretty good box meal IIRC) gave extra waters out without prompting, which I thought was a lovely thought.

 

[DrA]

This has occurred on more than one occasion...

I order a VGML on all my flights due to a food allergy. I know due to many years of flying that special meal requests need to be made in advance, so the requests are always made at the time of booking, rather than at the last minute, and I check that it's still in the booking 48 hours before I fly to be sure. However, I have seen one too many occasions where my neighbour cracks it when I get my meal first, or when they see that my meal looks more appetizing than theirs and they demand the same. Occasionally resulting in a full on tanty when they're told no by the cabin crew because they didn't have any spares on board. On a couple of occasions, I have actually heard the dreaded DYKWIA come out of the mouths of some supposed elite level frequent flyers. IMO, if they were actually frequent flyers, you'd think they would know that special meals need to be pre-ordered.

 

[JohnK]

We seem to have run short on "DYKWIAs gone raging mad" stories

I haven't even started with any of my stories.