Originally Posted by d00t
I'm sure you'll be joining the growing lists of FT's that carry a benefits booklet around everywhere they fly
Here's a tip I've had to use on a few occasions... If the person/security dude/whoever is filterring out non J/F pax and does NOT work for QANTAS, just tell them you are travelling in business/first - it's not like they can prove you're not (ETICKET!)
As long as the checkin agent works for qantas, chances are you won't be turned away, they are very accomodating. I tested this theory once by letting my girlfriend at the time check in at sydney F by herself (she is QFNB) - no problems, and a warming smile when I eventually checked in too.
Keep a benefits guide with you and you'll have great satisfaction in proving those monkeys wrong - although it won't score you any points with the upgrade gods.
Happy flying!
Good tips. I'm not sure if the e-ticket approach will work because they either looked you up on their list or wanted to see your ticket.
I've sent off a letter to Qantas customer care now. I think that a paid for service (being Qantas Club) should be honoured when check-in for all classes is open.
The earlier Perth flight (QF78 departing 19:25) even had Perth only check-in desks open for economy class passengers but still there was no dedicated Qantas Club/Silver/Gold desk open and this was a bit over 2 hours before flight departure.
I think the answer will be along the lines that the dedicated Qantas Club/Silver/Gold desk opens 2 hours before departure and before that Qantas Club/Silver/Gold have to use the 'early' economy class check-in desk.
So is arriving in the window 2 to 3 hours before your flight considered to be too early at SIN?
Another problem was that at the eventual check-in I was told that economy class was about 75% full but I noted that I was not allocated my preferred seating. As I’m 190cm tall and was checking-in early, I asked about securing an exit row seat. I was told only centre seats were available. So I asked if I could possibly have a regular aisle seat with the one beside me blocked (considering the number of empty seats) but was told that the check-in staff were not allowed to do such a blocking. Later, I noticed that my boarding card had my status level printed as Bronze. That seemed strange as I qualified to Silver back in February and the booking was only 3 weeks old. But perhaps it explained the seating allocation problems. On board I sat behind an exit row. Both the aisle and window seats of the exit row were empty and remained so throughout the flight.