FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Slap and a sledge for QF (the sledge is really for BA...)
Old May 31, 2009, 8:14 pm
  #1  
Jackit
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Melbourne Vic Australia
Posts: 35
Slap and a sledge for QF (the sledge is really for BA...)

Guys, would like some thoughts before i send off a letter to Alan Joyce about treatment i received at the BA lounge in T4 on Friday May 29. I am a Qantas Club member (previously Platnium but now lowest of the low) and I wanted to take my wife, 2 1/2 year old son and 13 month year old son into the lounge prior to boarding to change nappies get some milk and generally organise ourselves for 23 1/2 hours of hell flying LHR-HGK-MEL. Was denied entry and told that i could take in an infant and one guest only - so i would need to choose between my wife and 2 1/2 year old as to who i could bring in... Now i know the terms and conditions will probably say i wasnt even allowed to bring in ONE guest let alone a guest and two little boys but I explained to the door policewoman our situation and we too-ed and fro-ed for about ten minutes before i took my family back out and came back in for round 2... Now here is where things got very nasty. I asked to speak with the Manager and after about another ten minutes, the QF rep Mahoorq came down (after probably being read the riot act by the BA lady!) and told me under no circumstances would i be allowed in with my family, they were simply following the rules and it was too bad. I asked for a bit of common sense to be shown and that was when a fellow passenger overheard my plight and suggested that he escort my wife in and i could take in the two boys. The BA reps then said they would not allow this to happen, the fellow passenger should mind his own business and i should accept their decision and leave.

When i asked them if they thought they were being 'unfair and unreasonable' the response was "yes - but life is unfair"!!!! I left because i was getting angrier and angrier and didnt want to cause a scene, but i later learnt that my fellow passenger then went and complained to someone more senior inside who expressed dismay by what had happened and promised to come into the terminal to 'look for me'. Needless to say, that never happened.

The upshot was i took my sons in alternatively and my wife missed out - although in the end she was probably happy that i ended up with two lots of nappy changes!!

So that's the sledge. As for the slap on the back, that goes to the cabin crew on the LHR-HKG leg who were the most responsive, kind and helpful i have seen on a qantas flight for sometime. Nothing was too much trouble and they really bent over backwards to make sure my kids were looked after and we had everything at our disposal to keep them quiet and peaceful. Interestingly they all seemed to have international accents - couldnt detect one aussie accent, so perhaps this is a fully international crewed flight?

Interested in thoughts on all of this.
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