[simongr]

Hi all

I am just wondering whether I am getting too picky with QF. There were a couple of incidents on my QF136 flight down from NRT on Friday night. As is typical with Qf the service ranged from excellent to awful.

There was one member of the made everyone aware that she was ex-Ansett who just made me feel uncomfortable for the entire flight. I guess compared to the rest of the cabin I was not either as old or perhaps as neatly attired (I wear Polo Cargo pants and a Polo Shirt when flying now for comfort and the passport/BP fits neatly in the front of cargo pants pocket) so perhaps she didnt think I was deserving of her attention (I was also travelling incognito as a lowly QF SG).

There was first the slightly disparaging comments in the galley area about the fact that this was an Airbus rather than a Boeing - not sure the point she was trying to make but if it was to make customers comfortable it wasn't working (I actually prefer the Airbus in a no-F config as the overhead bins fir my rollaboard end on and the cabin feels fresher and newer). Obviously this is not worthy of a complaint in itself.

My main complaint was the food service. I had read the menu and decided on the Chicken with a Tzatziki dressing - trying to avoid more beef. Firstly when they served dinner it seemed to be missing the Soup course which was listed on the menu. I mentioned this and the cabin crew went back to the galley to check and reported that it hadn't been loaded. I then pointed out that the chicken was missing the Tzatziki dressing - she took it away and brought it with dressing applied. My main issue was that she had no idea that the soup was missing or that the dressing was missing. Shouldnt she have known what was on the menu?

I could understand on a busy flight but there were only 8 people in J in total.

I am tempted to email QF about the lack of soup - not a big deal but just a bit lazy on QF's part. I am just wondering whether I should mention the attitude I got from her. It was finally compounded for me when I heard her saying goodbye to all the other pax by name and not me (acampbell is probably chortling now at me complaining that someone got obvious preferential treatment over me and that annoyed me ).

On the flip side some of the other staff were great, pleasant and helpful - perhaps the ex-Ansett chick is carrying a grudge still that she has to work for QF as opposed to her beloved Ansett?

Any thoughts - is my hyper-critical nature taking a step too far?

S

P.s. I really was looking forward to that soup!

[Yada Yada]

Originally Posted by simongr

Any thoughts - is my hyper-critical nature taking a step too far?

No, I'd feel the same. When you (or your employer) are paying for J or F, I think you are entitled to expect good service and good meals/beverages. Especially given the spruiking the airlines do about the special level of service in these cabins.

I am surprised about the ex-AN crew member's behaviour. I used to fly AN within Australia and in my experience, they were always a cut above the service you'd get on TN, which seemed to have a real old-fashioned public service "take it or leave it" mentality. Maybe she is still carrying a grudge.

Definitely worth writing to QF about, IMO.

[Travel Guru]

I agree, i'd certainly be making my feelings known to Qantas.

Irrespective of what you choose to wear on a flight (incidently i wear something similar) they have no right to judge on appearances.

If you don't complain QF can't hope to do anything about it.

TG

[aubs]

Or could we put it down to this thread:

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/comm...ber-11286.html (Movember)

[JohnK]

I would definitely send feedback to QF regarding your experience.

It is just not good enough to advertise something that should be included in the service you paid for and then find that is is not available.

If people don't send in feedback of issues with their flights then QF won't find out about it.

[Homer]

My wife and I consider ourselves "super consumers". Or rather that's a polite term we use to describe the fact that we are super sensitive to bad service/attitude. The behaviour you describe is shoddy at best.

If I were you I would be advising Qantas. You'll know that you are speaking to the right person if they are genuinely interested in what you have to say and thank you for telling them. If not I usually ask to speak to someone with a last name as I find that people without last names (eg "Welcome to Qantas, you're speaking with Jo") usually aren't skilled at taking customer complaints seriously and seem to be more worried about getting their mates into trouble than anything else.

[drb1979]

Similar thing has happened to me recently. I've flown sin/bkk to lhr in First 3 times in last few months and on every flight there has always been at least 1 item(normally more) that I have asked for and the response has been "sorry sir, it hasnt been loaded".

Nothing major, and the crew have been very polite and apologetic but my last flight from BKK included 1 main course choice, 1 of the desert options and the cheese plate all not loaded...and they ran out of water bottles towards the end of the flight which happens all the time.

Interestingly, I've also noticed that QF never mention the arrivals lounge available at Heathrow anymore, not sure why as F/J pax are still entitled to use it.

[AnonymousCoward]

Originally Posted by Homer

If not I usually ask to speak to someone with a last name as I find that people without last names (eg "Welcome to Qantas, you're speaking with Jo") usually aren't skilled at taking customer complaints seriously and seem to be more worried about getting their mates into trouble than anything else.

Surely people in a call centre answer the phone according to a script (for all the various quality assurance palaver)? They probably have no control over what they say to you as a greeting, and they're probably even given fake names so that they all appear to be unique :-)

[Homer]

Originally Posted by AnonymousCoward

Surely people in a call centre answer the phone according to a script (for all the various quality assurance palaver)? They probably have no control over what they say to you as a greeting, and they're probably even given fake names so that they all appear to be unique :-)

Re-reading my post I realise it was a little obscure and not meant to be entirely serious. You're right about fake names - I hear that's pretty common. What I meant was that supervisors/managers/senior people usually give you both a first name and a last name because they are working at a level where that is the practice, whereas people on the front lines generally just give you a first name. Scripted or not, if someone introduces themselves using their full name then you generally know that you've reached a level of accountability above that first response level. As I said though...just a tounge-in-cheek post and not to be read too literally.

[tuapekastar]

Originally Posted by simongr

Hi all

I am just wondering whether I am getting too picky with QF. There were a couple of incidents on my QF136 flight down from NRT on Friday night. As is typical with Qf the service ranged from excellent to awful.

There was one member of the made everyone aware that she was ex-Ansett who just made me feel uncomfortable for the entire flight. I guess compared to the rest of the cabin I was not either as old or perhaps as neatly attired (I wear Polo Cargo pants and a Polo Shirt when flying now for comfort and the passport/BP fits neatly in the front of cargo pants pocket) so perhaps she didnt think I was deserving of her attention (I was also travelling incognito as a lowly QF SG).

There was first the slightly disparaging comments in the galley area about the fact that this was an Airbus rather than a Boeing - not sure the point she was trying to make but if it was to make customers comfortable it wasn't working (I actually prefer the Airbus in a no-F config as the overhead bins fir my rollaboard end on and the cabin feels fresher and newer). Obviously this is not worthy of a complaint in itself.

My main complaint was the food service. I had read the menu and decided on the Chicken with a Tzatziki dressing - trying to avoid more beef. Firstly when they served dinner it seemed to be missing the Soup course which was listed on the menu. I mentioned this and the cabin crew went back to the galley to check and reported that it hadn't been loaded. I then pointed out that the chicken was missing the Tzatziki dressing - she took it away and brought it with dressing applied. My main issue was that she had no idea that the soup was missing or that the dressing was missing. Shouldnt she have known what was on the menu?

I could understand on a busy flight but there were only 8 people in J in total.

I am tempted to email QF about the lack of soup - not a big deal but just a bit lazy on QF's part. I am just wondering whether I should mention the attitude I got from her. It was finally compounded for me when I heard her saying goodbye to all the other pax by name and not me (acampbell is probably chortling now at me complaining that someone got obvious preferential treatment over me and that annoyed me ).

On the flip side some of the other staff were great, pleasant and helpful - perhaps the ex-Ansett chick is carrying a grudge still that she has to work for QF as opposed to her beloved Ansett?

Any thoughts - is my hyper-critical nature taking a step too far?

S

P.s. I really was looking forward to that soup!

Nearly got me there simongr...nice wind-up!!