Tired of QFF

I think I’m close to the end with QF (plat and LTG). I have persisted with loyalty over recent years, and largely ignored various annoyances and issues that have cropped up.

Current trip is Syd-LHR via Per and QF9. QF9 delayed 5 hours, resulting in an untidy 8 hour layover. The domestic leg IFE not functional. Domestic leg FA’s unhelpful and offhand.

I’m now spending my time onboard educating myself about Velocity, its benefits and Plat equivalency, and opportunities for status match.

I’d be very interested in anyone’s experiences of switching their allegiance.

I have moved in the last few months across to velocity and a few times a week I do phantom bookings for business to.europe and surprisingly with some flexibility there are seats over the next few months. Qantas nothing ,zippo!

Similar position as Away01. Long term Platinum and LTG, now just LTG having just 3 QF flights in the last 12 months. As most of my travel is international and paid for by my company, I look closely at cost, value, quality, reputation and convenience, none of which QF have impressed me with in recent times.

I have had Singapore KrisFlyer Gold for quite a while and really like travelling with them and other Star Alliance airlines. Use of Virgin lounges locally is a bit of a bonus. All things being equal, am tending to go Star Alliance rather than Oneworld now.

@Away01

I've been a regular QF flyer starting in 1980 as a mere child. An unusual thing for someone to have been a regular flyer since they were a kid, but that's how it was for me because of family circumstances. Now as an adult, in a 'bad year' I would do 'only' around 12 flights. In an 'average' year, it would be over 100 flights. To me it was always about customer service, and I've tracked QF's sad decline from the highs of the 90s and early 00s when it was a sheer pleasure to fly QF. The nadir came under the previous CEO: ever increasing fares, lower quality product, the rise of LCC thinking within QF, and dis-empowered staff.

For me personally, it all boiled down to one specific occasion when I tried to make a simple domestic booking online. Up came more than a dozen options, and virtually all of them were JetStar flights! (there may have been a maximum of 2 QF flights, but they were listed literally all the way down at the bottom!). That made my blood boil. This was not during a holiday period, and I knew QF could not possibly have sold out ALL their flights, and neither were my browser settings off! This was for travel between major east coast cities many weeks in the future, and here was QF trying to shove their crappy LCC down my throat. If I wanted to fly JetStar I would have gone to their website. But here I was in supposedly 'premium' QF's website being metaphorically shoved and pushed and dragged into JetStar. I had enough. I switched to supposedly 'budget' Virgin (as it was then) and never looked back in over a decade (current split for me is 90% Virgin flights and 10% Qantas flights). I'm more than happy flying Virgin domestically as a Virgin Platinum, and I get to enjoy their premium overseas partners such as Singapore and Qatar. Best flying decision I ever made in 43 years. Life Plat with QF would never have made as happy as I am now with Virgin.

The main challenge I have with Qantas usually involves the times when I need to deal with their telephone customer service. The latest example is a trip to NYC a fortnight ago when I used my remaining travel credits from Covid towards the flight cost. I spent about an hour on the phone debating with the customer service agent who insisted the credit could not be used on a Qantas multi stop itinerary. I eventually won that debate.

When Qantas eventually sent me the eticket I noticed they had a typo in my name (as such it did not match the ESTA approval for US entry). Back on the phone to Qantas and the agent told me the eticket would need to be cancelled a a fresh booking made. I wound up driving to the international airport in Brisbane where the local Qantas staff fixed it for me. (It was faster to do that then continue to battle with their offshore customer support team), and then had the experience of having my booking on QF4 from JFK to SYD cancelled twice in the same week (technical issues with the 787 flying the route apparently). I'm lifetime gold as well so it wasn't the fact that the flight was cancelled due to technical issues that I found frustrating. That just happens. Rather again it was the same combative experience with the call centre trying to organise an alternative flight home. All the agent would offer was a flight with a 22 hour stopover at LAX and US$200 credit for hotel accomodation. I was flying on a fully paid business class Qantas ticket. The call centre agent simply refused to offer an alternative routing with a shorter layover in LAX, Dallas or SanFran even though I could see on both the Qantas and American Airlines websites there was plenty of availability in Business.

I've been flying with Qantas a lot over the years and the main thing I find is that their customer service (particularly telephone) no longer provides the expertise, problem solving capability, and commitment to customer satisfaction.

But what's the alternative? Air NZ, United or Delta any better ?

Thank you for comments and perspective, food for thought.

Despite the very late departure of QF9, my opinion of QF FA’s was very pleasingly refreshed - the London based crew were totally chalk and cheese to the domestic - professional, kind, friendly, compassionate - and they renewed my enthusiasm.

They said that as a result of COVID, they recruited ++ domestically, and now seem to be seeing the flow on effects of that recruitment, and those that perhaps shouldn’t have been employed in the first place.

I will continue to explore the Virgin/Star Alliance option also.

Qantas offshore call centers are abysmal (and I'm being polite using abysmal). Qantas know this but don't care - it's cheaper. To hell with loyal pax.

Same status (QF Plat and LTG) and it's got to the stage I am now 'actively' looking for flights with other carriers for long-haul as I know I'll get better service and value.

Just returned from a trip from MEL to LHR and flew business. Having to travel on A320s to Singapore after the original booking on 787s was changed that are past the use by date; coupled with 5 hour layovers in Singapore is just poor. That's not even mentioning we use to have A380's all the way to LHR. There shouldnt be a significant premium booking a shorter connection time. It's just a poor customer experience.

Qantas is also using 20 year old A330-200s on the MEL-SIN sector, without a proper seatback IFE in economy. An iPad in the seat pockets, without moving map, flight details, etc... Absolutely pathetic, considering the comparison to Singapore Airlines.

Hi all,

I thought I might be able to add something to this discussion. I’m currently P1 and have been a welded-on customer for the past 30 years. I’m just about to retire, so my flying habits will change and I have been thinking of what my travel strategy should be. I read APACPete’s comments with interest and am also considering swapping to Singapore airlines and trying to get a status swap.

I do have a good news story about QANTAS, however. This week I flew from Adelaide to Kingscote return with QF. We were flying in a DASH 8 300. The return flight arrived at 5.30pm and then experienced a mechanical fault. We were therefore stuck at Kingscote airport. I have to say that the QANTAS staff at Kingscote were absolutely brilliant. They initially tried to find accommodation for the 20 passengers who had nowhere to stay. Unfortunately, there was only accommodation for about half of us. We were fed and looked after at Kingscote airport. QANTAS then arranged for a special flight to come to Kingscote to pick us up at around 10.30pm. This special flight involved finding a replacement plane, contacting two pilots and a flight attendant and asking them to come in, delaying scheduled maintenance on the Adelaide airstrip, asking ground crew to stay in late and copping a fine for an arrival after the curfew at ADL. The replacement crew were cheerful and pleased to be there. We therefore got home, albeit about six hours late, which I thought was amazing.

I fully understand other people’s negative experiences with QANTAS – but sometimes they do get it right. And I think this really boils down to their fantastic personnel.

Longtime Platinum and LTG at Qantas with couple of million, useless frequent flyer points…now committed Velocity Platinum/SIA/Qatar, anyone else flyer. Supported and was committed to Qantas for decades, nothing in return. Sad but life on the “other side” is wonderful.😀

I have a similar position to many others. I have been a bolted on loyal QFF for almost 40 years. LTG, endless WP, almost 3 million points on hand, and yet I feel that the loyalty is far from valued by QF. I tested VA last year, VA platinum status matches for me, and VA gold for my wife. We have enjoyed the VA product and are requalified for both. Now signed up to SQ Kris Flyer and HighFlyer.

There are so many issues dealing with QF including the Business Rewards program where there are missing partner points and neither side of will sort it.

Then, there is the pricing. As an SME owner, we are happy to pay for premium product but do want value when we spend on travel. Here are 2 reasons why QF does not get our domestic travel spend - BNE-PER business class, QF are 70% more expensive (often more than double) than VA - same times, same aircraft, same seats. BNE-MEL business class, QF fares are 273% more than VA. Now, there is no justification for this rort other than - 'as a valued and loyal customer of almost 40 years, please bend over and feel our sincere appreciation'.

On international routes, QF is the most expensive and lowest value-for-money offer in the market. It is no wonder the likes of SQ and UA are cutting their grass with better schedules, more reliable service, and better products.

Then you get the call centre "bingo" game. Spin the wheel and hope to get Hobart. If you are not lucky, you will get an inexperienced operator who is more than happy to argue with you or just hang up when they do not have the answer.

QF was once awesome. The priority phone number connected you directly to the WP team. Problems were solved, there was flexibility in changing bookings and the value was good. Remember in the old days when you would receive a travel wallet or something of value with your renewal? Now, you get the same pack year in and year out. No surprises or sign of appreciation.

What we have now is pricing that suggests premium products and products and service that are representative of a LCC.

My final rant. The way QF treated their people is another turn-off for me. Treating staff so poorly in the interests of lining management and shareholder pockets is disgusting.

The QF formula has been management and shareholders before staff and customers. Until that changes, and there is a clear demonstration of value, I am happy with VA and SQ.

I wonder if anyone at QF ever reads this stuff. The insights of so many valuable and loyal customers is invaluable in my view.