Originally Posted by
soulighter
Hi all, just want to hear what your experiences are when requesting upgrade at the Qantas lounge for domestic flights.
i fly mostly from Cairns so I can only speak of my experience from here. .
I have extensive experience travelling out of Cairns over the last 14 years, notably to SYD and BNE, with emphasis on BNE in more recent times, almost entirely as a Platinum and for one year as a Platinum One.
There was a period when there would be multiple empty seats in business class despite requesting an upgrade. Eventually, the truth came out - QF were disinclined to load catering to cover the possibility of an upgrading customer, so basically f--k off customer: we're QF and we're gonna save a few measly dollars by not risking over catering a flight whilst totally pissing you off and denying you op[portunity to use up your points...(bear in mind that the liability of those QF points only shows on the books when you actually redeem the points so QF has little incentive to let you redeem).
More recently, I've watched the loads carefully up to flight and have paid the $500 for business class anyway CNS-BNE just to avoid the stupidity of it all...(CNS has enjoyed healthy competition with the aggressive pricing of VA bringing a CNS-BNE fare down from an arrogant QF rip off $1000 odd to around $500 one way business! Thank you VA.).
...now the pattern is that when there are empty seats they are
invariably taken by staff...
...when I was P1 I would book into the front row and was pretty sure they'd keep an empty seat free next to me in row 1: more often than not a staff member would end up sitting next to me - typically half the cabin is staff....(this is a mental practice by QF - why oh why not price the seats to fill the cabin with paying passengers?!)
...so, here's your twofold problem...(1) the airline caters to the minimum spec sand would rather travel with a seat not going to an upgrading passenger to avoid a few dollars of meal cost, and (2) lets staff on before upgrading customers on many occasions...
...the system was supposed to have changed a few years ago...others can claim or counter claim...but I have personally observed staff being checked onto flights well in advance of the time that they were supposed to be (thus denying customers first access)...
...for a while, being such as regular traveller, I "befriended" one or two of the more established lounge staff and they were most excellent in using their magical powers to solicit complimentary upgrades, so I put their names forward for customer service awards.
...bottom line...depending on your sector, certainly the CNS-BNE is very well priced in business anyway (just pay for business anyway) and obviously if QF ain't meeting your expectations, VA also has a very respectable lounge in CNS and equivalent timetable.
..and sometimes giving the lounge "dragons" the benefit of the doubt can pay off (not that I'm suggesting you are anything other than politely professional) - the local staff I have spoken to are usually on the side of the customer in the face of the asinine management policies of the airline which are far from customer friendly and a certain CEO doesn't win any favours with his dismissive and rude attitude towards the local staff at CNS from what I've been told.
Note all my comments refer to Cairns per the OP's specific situation - I make no comment about PER, etc...and before the QF sycophants get their self righteous noses out of joint in a rush to defend the airline, I know the difference between duty and non duty staff