Trip Report
A ‘conference’ in Las Vegas, and a few days in NYC.
My first trip report, so please go easy on me. I’m going to try and make this a running trip report.
This trip had a rather stressful start.
First Legs, the original itinerary, all booked seperately:
5 April, MEL – AKL in J on QF.
6 April AKL – NAN – LAX in J on FJ.
6 April LAX – LAS in P on AA.
The reason for booking it this way was two fold – firstly, as I only booked this trip in December, there weren’t any J award seats on QF anywhere – not from MEL, SYD or BNE. Secondly, I noticed that I could get a J seat, all be it an angled lie flat, on FJ for 84,000 points…but the best part was the taxes - NZD$84.60. This seamed like a no brainer to me considering my only other option was in Y or PE on QF and around $500 in fuel fines.
So I booked a QF partner award with FJ. The original schedule had the AKL – NAN leg leaving at 1pm. This meant I couldn’t get to AKL from MEL in time on the same day – an overnight was needed.
I had work on in the morning, so couldn’t grab the EK Business seat on the A380 (bummer), instead opting for QF153 from MEL to AKL on 5 April. Snagged it for $598 in J which I thought was pretty good! I’d booked the Hilton Auckland for the overnight (an easy op to grab a stay credit) and all was well in the world.
Then the trouble began. It all started on the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] of April, four days prior to travel. There were quite a few schedule changes that happened rather quickly one after another. First, it was only incremental delays in departure, then on 4 April it changed from 1pm to 6pm. This was annoying as it would of meant I wouldn’t of needed the overnight in AKL – saving me about 300 bucks.
It was around this time I started getting a few calls from FJ – each time I missed them. The voicemail said there was a schedule change and that they were offering passengers a direct flight with Air New Zealand from AKL to LAX.
My initial reaction was Business Premier on Air NZ – a superior product (from what I’ve seen, never flown) to FJ. I got excited and called back. The agent I spoke to on the phone actually said that it was because the flight was oversold and so they were offering a direct flight on Air NZ – I asked for the flight number on NZ so I could confirm what aircraft it was etc. And said I’d call back. It was NZ18 – they were calling it a direct flight, even though it was via the Cook Islands and on a 767 – it wasn’t lie flat in business and the thought of spending 13 hours in an inferior version of QF Dom’s J class seat wasn’t appealing.
I called Qantas and told them that I decline with thanks. Was told no issue.
5 April, 5:30am. A phone call wakes me, I don’t answer. A voicemail is left advising me of a schedule change to the AKL – NAN flight which will cause me to miss my NAN – LAX flight, and advising I had been accommodated on the 10am Air New Zealand service from AKL – NAN.
I call Qantas to confirm. The Qantas agent told me that I’d been moved to the Air NZ flight and that it was in economy. I wasn’t happy about this and told her so. She advised me to call FJ as even though it was QF ticketed flight, FJ had moved me to Air NZ.
I call FJ. It was honestly the most painful 20 minutes of my life. Imagine the worst Indian call centre you’ve ever encountered. No, imagine that this lady made Citibank look like the BEST call centre you’ve ever dealt with in comparison.
All she kept asking me was did I wish to confirm the flight change, despite me saying no, as it wasn’t in business class. I was told there was nothing she could do as it was a ‘frequent flyer point booking’. I told her that it didn’t matter blah blah but she couldn’t help me.
This was at 1130am. My flight to AKL from MEL was at 4pm.
I call Qantas back. I get Paul from Melbourne. He is a god-send. Truly world-class customer service. He was shocked that I hadn’t been offered ‘like for like’ and that there ‘wasn’t even an offer of compo’ or ‘at least a reduction in points’. He is having a hard time going through all the remarks on the booking due to the repeated schedule changes.
Says he can’t find who’s in charge at FJ but will follow up with a supervisor and call me back in 30 minutes. Promises a resolution.
He delivers. Above and beyond.
He said he couldn’t believe some at FJ said I had to wear the flight change as it was an award booking – he advised that it is considered a paid booking as QF pay FJ for the flight. He offers me two solutions – one I take. He offers travel on 6 april, MEL – SYD on QF in J, SYD – NAN on FJ in J and NAN – LAX on FJ in J. He also REFUNDS my MEL – AKL QF J flight. This also means I can cancel the overnight in AKL saving me more $$.
In his words, ‘we’ll just bill Air Pacific, that’ll learn em’. I was floored, if Red Roo is reading this, Paul from the Melbourne call centre is the reason is a true asset to your company. He truly saved the day and I was immediately relieved.
I pitch up to Dom check-in in MEL and the agent says ‘Oh, we have a problem – I don’t have a ticket here’. 10 minutes and a few phone calls later, it’s solved, and three boarding passes in my hand I head to the Lounge.
No pictures of the Dom J lounge at MEL, we all know what that looks like. A GREAT coffee from this morning’s barista though.
A special page for me to the Business Desk. Lounge Angel asks if I wouldn’t mind moving from 1A as she’s trying to seat a couple together in Business. I oblige, doing my good deed for the day. Accept 1D instead. The two gentleman sincerely thank me once on board.
My heart always sinks a little when I get to the entrance to the plane and see it’s an un-refurbished 737. Still, it was a comfortable flight with an enthusiastic CSM. Personally, I prefer the more relaxed approach this CSM took.
Three options for this ‘refreshment’ flight. Bacon and Egg sandwich, cold ocean trout tart with rocket, or fruit salad. All served with yoghurt and berries.
I opted for the Bacon and Egg sandwich, as did my seat mate. Was certainly tasty, though a little hard to cut through on the tray.
In at Gate 3 it was a short walk down to Gate 15 for the transfer to International. A short wait for the bus, and we were underway. Passed a/the JQ 787 parked on a distant apron on the way to T1 – my first glimpse of the plane.
Through the express lane and hardly a wait at Customs, security fine too.
Alas, no one to guest me into the F lounge, so it was down to Business Lounge. Plenty of families about – I guess because of school holidays.
My first time at SYD International since Accor took over earlier in the year. Spread looked decent, though seems much the same as the Domestic lounges.
In addition to all the salads they offer, there was a beef stew with mash potato. I’ve never seen so much oil – I assume it was olive oil? – on mash in my life. It was pooled all over the top of the mash. It was a fresh batch, so maybe that’s just Neil’s style?
Boarding began at 1230 so I schlepped it down to Gate 36. Premium Boarding in operation so managed to skip most of the long Y queue.
Menzies Aviation seemed to be the Gate staff, and no welcome whatsoever, not even a thankyou back when handing back the boarding pass made me appreciate the courtesy Qantas staff seem to give all passengers.
A much more friendly ‘Bula’ and smile when boarding the aircraft from FJ crew.
Seat 3D. 17 Pax on board including a paxing FJ pilot. Two familes with 2 young kids each.
Comfortable seat with good legroom. Lots of little cubbie holes for stuff. Bottle of Fiji water under the middle armrest. Great looking TV. Seat ‘feels’ narrower than QF Dom but probably isn’t. My only other gripe is that the tray table is really hard and awkward to get out and to stow. Didn’t sleep on this flight, so will be keen to see how the angled lie flat goes on the next leg.
Opted for the Sparkling wine as it was after 12
After take off I asked if I could move to a window seat, as rows 1 and 2 were empty. I moved to 2A.
A ‘conference’ in Las Vegas, and a few days in NYC.
My first trip report, so please go easy on me. I’m going to try and make this a running trip report.
This trip had a rather stressful start.
First Legs, the original itinerary, all booked seperately:
5 April, MEL – AKL in J on QF.
6 April AKL – NAN – LAX in J on FJ.
6 April LAX – LAS in P on AA.
The reason for booking it this way was two fold – firstly, as I only booked this trip in December, there weren’t any J award seats on QF anywhere – not from MEL, SYD or BNE. Secondly, I noticed that I could get a J seat, all be it an angled lie flat, on FJ for 84,000 points…but the best part was the taxes - NZD$84.60. This seamed like a no brainer to me considering my only other option was in Y or PE on QF and around $500 in fuel fines.
So I booked a QF partner award with FJ. The original schedule had the AKL – NAN leg leaving at 1pm. This meant I couldn’t get to AKL from MEL in time on the same day – an overnight was needed.
I had work on in the morning, so couldn’t grab the EK Business seat on the A380 (bummer), instead opting for QF153 from MEL to AKL on 5 April. Snagged it for $598 in J which I thought was pretty good! I’d booked the Hilton Auckland for the overnight (an easy op to grab a stay credit) and all was well in the world.
Then the trouble began. It all started on the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] of April, four days prior to travel. There were quite a few schedule changes that happened rather quickly one after another. First, it was only incremental delays in departure, then on 4 April it changed from 1pm to 6pm. This was annoying as it would of meant I wouldn’t of needed the overnight in AKL – saving me about 300 bucks.
It was around this time I started getting a few calls from FJ – each time I missed them. The voicemail said there was a schedule change and that they were offering passengers a direct flight with Air New Zealand from AKL to LAX.
My initial reaction was Business Premier on Air NZ – a superior product (from what I’ve seen, never flown) to FJ. I got excited and called back. The agent I spoke to on the phone actually said that it was because the flight was oversold and so they were offering a direct flight on Air NZ – I asked for the flight number on NZ so I could confirm what aircraft it was etc. And said I’d call back. It was NZ18 – they were calling it a direct flight, even though it was via the Cook Islands and on a 767 – it wasn’t lie flat in business and the thought of spending 13 hours in an inferior version of QF Dom’s J class seat wasn’t appealing.
I called Qantas and told them that I decline with thanks. Was told no issue.
5 April, 5:30am. A phone call wakes me, I don’t answer. A voicemail is left advising me of a schedule change to the AKL – NAN flight which will cause me to miss my NAN – LAX flight, and advising I had been accommodated on the 10am Air New Zealand service from AKL – NAN.
I call Qantas to confirm. The Qantas agent told me that I’d been moved to the Air NZ flight and that it was in economy. I wasn’t happy about this and told her so. She advised me to call FJ as even though it was QF ticketed flight, FJ had moved me to Air NZ.
I call FJ. It was honestly the most painful 20 minutes of my life. Imagine the worst Indian call centre you’ve ever encountered. No, imagine that this lady made Citibank look like the BEST call centre you’ve ever dealt with in comparison.
All she kept asking me was did I wish to confirm the flight change, despite me saying no, as it wasn’t in business class. I was told there was nothing she could do as it was a ‘frequent flyer point booking’. I told her that it didn’t matter blah blah but she couldn’t help me.
This was at 1130am. My flight to AKL from MEL was at 4pm.
I call Qantas back. I get Paul from Melbourne. He is a god-send. Truly world-class customer service. He was shocked that I hadn’t been offered ‘like for like’ and that there ‘wasn’t even an offer of compo’ or ‘at least a reduction in points’. He is having a hard time going through all the remarks on the booking due to the repeated schedule changes.
Says he can’t find who’s in charge at FJ but will follow up with a supervisor and call me back in 30 minutes. Promises a resolution.
He delivers. Above and beyond.
He said he couldn’t believe some at FJ said I had to wear the flight change as it was an award booking – he advised that it is considered a paid booking as QF pay FJ for the flight. He offers me two solutions – one I take. He offers travel on 6 april, MEL – SYD on QF in J, SYD – NAN on FJ in J and NAN – LAX on FJ in J. He also REFUNDS my MEL – AKL QF J flight. This also means I can cancel the overnight in AKL saving me more $$.
In his words, ‘we’ll just bill Air Pacific, that’ll learn em’. I was floored, if Red Roo is reading this, Paul from the Melbourne call centre is the reason is a true asset to your company. He truly saved the day and I was immediately relieved.
I pitch up to Dom check-in in MEL and the agent says ‘Oh, we have a problem – I don’t have a ticket here’. 10 minutes and a few phone calls later, it’s solved, and three boarding passes in my hand I head to the Lounge.
No pictures of the Dom J lounge at MEL, we all know what that looks like. A GREAT coffee from this morning’s barista though.
A special page for me to the Business Desk. Lounge Angel asks if I wouldn’t mind moving from 1A as she’s trying to seat a couple together in Business. I oblige, doing my good deed for the day. Accept 1D instead. The two gentleman sincerely thank me once on board.
My heart always sinks a little when I get to the entrance to the plane and see it’s an un-refurbished 737. Still, it was a comfortable flight with an enthusiastic CSM. Personally, I prefer the more relaxed approach this CSM took.
Three options for this ‘refreshment’ flight. Bacon and Egg sandwich, cold ocean trout tart with rocket, or fruit salad. All served with yoghurt and berries.
I opted for the Bacon and Egg sandwich, as did my seat mate. Was certainly tasty, though a little hard to cut through on the tray.
In at Gate 3 it was a short walk down to Gate 15 for the transfer to International. A short wait for the bus, and we were underway. Passed a/the JQ 787 parked on a distant apron on the way to T1 – my first glimpse of the plane.
Through the express lane and hardly a wait at Customs, security fine too.
Alas, no one to guest me into the F lounge, so it was down to Business Lounge. Plenty of families about – I guess because of school holidays.
My first time at SYD International since Accor took over earlier in the year. Spread looked decent, though seems much the same as the Domestic lounges.
In addition to all the salads they offer, there was a beef stew with mash potato. I’ve never seen so much oil – I assume it was olive oil? – on mash in my life. It was pooled all over the top of the mash. It was a fresh batch, so maybe that’s just Neil’s style?
Boarding began at 1230 so I schlepped it down to Gate 36. Premium Boarding in operation so managed to skip most of the long Y queue.
Menzies Aviation seemed to be the Gate staff, and no welcome whatsoever, not even a thankyou back when handing back the boarding pass made me appreciate the courtesy Qantas staff seem to give all passengers.
A much more friendly ‘Bula’ and smile when boarding the aircraft from FJ crew.
Seat 3D. 17 Pax on board including a paxing FJ pilot. Two familes with 2 young kids each.
Comfortable seat with good legroom. Lots of little cubbie holes for stuff. Bottle of Fiji water under the middle armrest. Great looking TV. Seat ‘feels’ narrower than QF Dom but probably isn’t. My only other gripe is that the tray table is really hard and awkward to get out and to stow. Didn’t sleep on this flight, so will be keen to see how the angled lie flat goes on the next leg.
Opted for the Sparkling wine as it was after 12
After take off I asked if I could move to a window seat, as rows 1 and 2 were empty. I moved to 2A.
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