Shamrock55

Just back from lots of flights from NZ to Europe via Cathay, Europe to Taiwan with Emirates and Hong Kong to Wellington with Qantas. Am Qantas Gold.

Cathay didnt say or do anything special, but wasnt expecting anything.

On the Emirates flights I was personally welcomed by both the purser and nearest flight attendant, and given priority passes for Dubai immigration. Welcomed in Dubai lounge by the duty manager. Great attentive service from Emirates.

On Qantas nothing but a "welcome back" at the cabin door, was then asked was I a nervous flyer when I inquired about the typhoon near Manilla on the news...I mentioned I was a Qantas gold frequent flyer so obviosuly travel quite a bit.

Weird that the welcome and service from a partner airline was way better then the airline my loyalty program belongs to.

og

Not as thrilling as a (lack of) greeting I got on an AA domestic flight a year ago where the FA "guarding" the entrance door ignored everyone and continued reading her magazine

djsflynn

I flew Emirates Sydney-Hamburg-Sydney last week, on all flights got the expected personal greeting (as a QF Platinum) but on two flights the purser was clearly targetting Qantas Platinums... he approached me and a few others in the J cabin and went through the same spiel of noting we were QFF Platinum, "thanks for flying with Emirates, how often do you fly with Emirates, had you ever flown with Emirates before the QF/EK alliance, what do you think of Emirates, are you a member of Skywards?"

Kocama

I have started flying Emirates on code share so they see I’m a Platinum One. In the last two months I have been upgraded from Y to J twice when traveling by myself and once when traveling with my PA. I have only ever been upgraded once on Qantas in two and a half years as a P1.
And yes they are always very attentive and much more welcoming on board. They ask me what I would like to eat and drink before they start the service which is great. I recently flew as a paying J on Qantas across the Tasman they cabin was half empty and two of the pax where QF staff, they apologised when they got to me as they had run out of breakfast options! Offered me something from the Y cabin.

Shamrock55

If only Wellington would upgrade its runway so that Emirates could fly here, I'd never use Qantas again

seat_4D

I find CX to be better than QF in relation to looking after WP's in Y. A couple of months back when I flew with my wife to HKG they did an excellent job of making her feel special, including giving us breakfast and lunch prior to anyone else. This certainly got some interesting looks from the pax around us.

On the other hand I have had QF ask for my breakfast order in row 4 of the 73H and say she will bring it straight back only for the trolley to appear 25 minutes later and be asked what I want!

I think if you are going to offer something follow it through, or don't offer it at all.

RadioGirl

In general I find the service on EK better than QF. However,

As an EK Gold in EK Y, I get a greeting and offer for "anything you need" about 3 out of 4 flights, but there is no actual follow through. The first few times I didn't ask for anything at the time, and never saw the purser again during the flight or had any further special assistance.

More recently I've asked, when greeted at the beginning of the flight, for advice on choosing between the Y meal choices to avoid a particular food allergy. I've been ultra-polite - I'm not asking for a J meal, just some advice in advance to choose the least problematic option. In both cases the senior FA earnestly promised to (a) find out more about the sauces on the meals, (b) let the FA serving meals know about my allergy, and (c) try to find an alternative if necessary. Then, .... nothing. Meal was served with a "chicken or lamb, just pick one, don't waste my time" attitude. And the senior FA was long gone - nowhere in sight.

So I'm not convinced the greeting is that big a deal. I agree with seat_4D - if you make an offer, follow through.

On the other hand, QF makes no mention of my EK Gold (or QF Silver ) status.

og

I'm very used to the "if you want anything .....please don't hesitate....". Yes, it's rare for a follow through (can't remember it ever happening). The QF crew member that does "the speech" looks most uncomfortable saying it when I (we) can hear the same words given to others further up the cabin. I actually prefer the LA FAs doing "the speech" as they do a nice intro chat up then hit us with the hard words - then they gracefully float further down the aisle. It's a nice place on LA long haul.

TaipeiWang

get the greeting every time but only once was offered a drink back in Y, ordered water - didn't get it but later she seemed to remember and brought me the water like 20 minutes into the flight or so

Shamrock55

Taipeiwang, part of my trip was 3 days in Taipei, can I just say what wonderfully welcoming people the Taiwanese are, and what a lovely clean, green city Taipei is. We really enjoyed our trip and the food was great

Blackcloud

Evidentially the UAE (read EK) has used up all its Trans Tasman rights so will have to negotiate more, which probably will not be too hard with the way the three governments hand them out.

For me I do not care too much about the welcome at the or greeting by the crew for f&b service as I like others it lacks a genuine quality about it. This is on all airlines.

The exception though is in fact the Jetconnect crews, mostly WLG based but a couple of the AKL too. After flying QF(NZ) for nearly 10 years I and some of the crew, mostly senior, know each other by sight. When we greet each other it is with warmth and they and I remember personal details to ask about eg. family members or recent holidays. There is no need to look at flight manifests for names and I get great service especially in WHY flying with Mrs Blackcloud and Little Miss Blacklcloud. We get asked about pre-dinner drinks with snack packs supplied, or offered a regular meal straight away (this helped by the fact we are sitting in the last row as it is difficult to tell a 3 year old to wait to go to the toilet because the drinks and food trolley are in the aisles) about 80% of the time.
Some crew members even know my favoured drink and supply it without asking, or given spare Business Class breakfast pastries or dessert/cheese platters once again without asking for it.
I also receive warm welcomes from WLG and while flying to/from AKL the lounge staff as well. I also get warm greetings from the SYD First Check in staff and lounge staff there. Does Nestor know all First Lounge frequenters by sight?^
For me it is the circumstances that provide the opportunity for some crew members to get to know their passengers that means I get this service.
The closest I receive on other airlines was a few NZ domestic flights where some crews always seemed to do the same early morning rotations as me, or the lounge staff at DUD^ but it is limited to warm greetings on sight but the is little else that could be done.
I know I am not the only NZ based QFFer with this experience, I remember times with Kiwi Flyer when I was just a NBQP and the welcomes he received, the presence of royalty!

Traveloguy

I'm not sure about this obsession with the often fake personal greetings. I would prefer good overall service rather than something forced.

It's fairly obvious EK is targeting QF flyers. AJ made a conscious decision allow the fox in the chicken coop, so this is the result.

Airvan00

On two recient flights ( back to back ) I got a great welcome on QF and nothing on EK. So it depends on the individual crew members

bensyd

+1

It's so contrived. I don't really feel special because someone walks through the cabin with a roll of names and introduces themselves to everyone in the cabin.

seat_4D

Yep, all they seem to do is interrupt a conversation or movie for something they are obligated to do and not want to do. If they just walked by and handed me a bottle of water and a smile I would be happy....