Firstly ...
Prior to our flight with Qantas this time
we were given two passes to the Qantas club as compensation for another Qantas
flight which they screwed up. That ‘honeymoon’ flight was somewhat ruined when our allocated seats were ignored
and Qantas reallocated us rows apart.
After I complained to the desk crew they once again reallocated us but
to the last row and by the time catering got to us they ran out of food. Two passes was totally inadequate. Qantas even said that even though one
can book specific seats there is no guarantee that you will ever get them. Misrepresentation and unfair terms all spring
to mind when the ‘fine print’ denied responsibility for advertised benefits
such as seat allocation.
Then ...
This time we had time to spare so we used our two
passes and entered the Qantas club in Melbourne.
The only acceptable thing about the
experience were the women on the front desk who were polite, respectful and
helpful.
Picture a Coles cafeteria of the 1960’s
awash with people and mess. This is the
sight which greeted us. Down market is
an understatement. No available seats,
piles of used plates and mess everywhere.
Still, our passes were now taken away and we persevered until someone
left and we grabbed their table.
We thought that perhaps a glass of bubbly
would be nice only to find just over a glass left in the self serve which was
not replaced for the 45 mins we were there.
No staff!
Try breakfast. There must have been over 100 people in the largish facility yet the hot breakfast options consisted of 6 getting cold tiny sausages,
a small bowl of scrambled eggs which should have been replaced hours before and
slices of warm tomato. That’s it!
We then sought coffee but found a problem
as there were no cups. We scavenged the
entire lounge for cups to find two and tried the machine coffee. It was undrinkable and we left same.
An original Qantas screw up leading to this
‘compensation’ which proved well below any standard. No bubbly, food we couldn’t eat, coffee we
couldn’t drink and all in a dirty space.
One has to ask just what Qantas are
doing. What sort of management lets this
happen? Obviously management were incompetent and needed help if not look for another job.
Move on a few weeks to Qantas club in
Heathrow and the whole experience was vastly different. Good front desk, good staff, a clean lounge,
a snack buffet of fresh food and nice wines served by great staff. Toilets immaculate as were the showers. A good relaxing place my wife and I enjoyed
during our forced 10 hour break between flights.
Pity Melbourne is managed so badly.
Then ...
Our actual flight from Melbourne to
Singapore was barely above Neanderthal with extremely tight seats further
disadvantaged by almost non-existent service.
Cabin crew are wait staff and as such bear a huge responsibility to make
customers feel special and to cater for their every need. Staff chatting in the back of the plane
instead of looking after customers is offensive to paying guests.
The catering offerings were as down market
as the Qantas club. The bread roll was
inedible being nuked too long as was the so called pizza. The blade ‘stew’ was below first year
apprentice standard and the mash had the consistency of yogurt. Absolutely awful.
Then ..
We were told our next flight from
Singapore to London [QF1 on the 20th of December 2018] was running 3 hours late
with no explanation. This meant we would
have missed all connecting flights to Helsinki et alia despite allowing a 2 hour
window. No reason or alternatives were
given despite asking for same. We found
a Singapore flight which would have lobbed us into London with time to spare for
the connection. We asked Qantas to
re-book us on that flight and they did but somewhat grudgingly. We were glad to get rid of
Qantas.
Qantas, just what are you doing?
Qantas, like some others, have developed a ‘commuter bus’
mentality rather than a ‘tourist coach’ mentality. This also applies to the so
called club at Melbourne.
Do Qantas care? Definitely NO! They offer platitudes without substance.
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