Platy

So it seems some folk really don't care about the cabin's loss of exclusivity and privacy or having to bring their own devices or trying to eat their meal surrounded by economy passengers queuing for a toilet.

Others, however, do have concerns.

The question then becomes should QF cater for those folk that expect exclusivity / privacy and IFE to be fully provided, or use the excuse that some customers don't care and pitch the product to the latter...bearing in mind the premium price being paid for J class.

FWIW the degradation of product offering has me seriously considering giving VA another go...

Blackcloud

You forget the frequent delays and cancellations that I have experienced with EK as well.
Even with all three carriers operating at WLG you will notice that they all cover different airports. There is also a carrier that provides business class out of WLG that is one stop service to Australia as well.....FJ via NAN two days a week...not that anyone in their right mind would use them to travel to an East Coast Australian city.

eastwest101

I do care Platy - and I would expect that some other people care as well, for short haul the QF B737 J product is pretty expensive and barely worthwhile as QF can't be bothered protecting the J cabin from overhead poachers and frequent visitors from Y class. The seats themselves are fine and food and wine maybe slightly better than VA J class.

In the more med-long haul QF's B737 J class is very expensive and again J class cabin not protected (as diligently as VA do) and sometimes completely outclassed and outpriced by other international competitors.

Within the limitations of operating a single aisle J class I think VA do a few things better than QF that don't actually cost a whole lot but do make the appearance of exclusivity on VA J class a little more than what QF do. (I am thinking priority boarding, overhead bins and policing of Y pax out of the J cabin here).

For instance - it costs QF nothing to park the cart at the rear of the J cabin and tell Y pax to "eff off" if they thought that was worthwhile doing, or better yet maybe put some sort of rope or even (heaven forbid) a curtain, to protect the J class cabin!

I understand that airlines want to make money and cost-cutting is the "in thing" - even in J class but there still are some nice inexpensive ways to recognize that people have often paid 2x to 10x more money to fly J class rather than Y. Otherwise people really start to question exactly why they (or their employer) is paying all this money in the first place?

Agree with other posters that with B737s becoming more common that the preference of BYOD for both airlines should mean that we see much more power outlets to recharge all these BYODs, either let us charge our devices or give us back our in-flight IFE!

The problem is that with the B737 fleet so ubiquitous in the QF and VA fleet that that we are seeing them on everything from short hops from CBR-MEL or say ADL-MEL all the way through to 'bum busting' PER-SIN or BNE-PER sectors.

rick253

I think if one is flying business class internationally on larger planes sitting in Business on a 737 is always a bit of a shock initially.
However for domestic and Trans Tasman flights i find the Qantas 737 quite acceptable.
Good wide seats, great service, good wine; food could do with some improvement. Don't always want soup or the cheese platter.
As for a curtain between rows 3 and 4 I never liked it.
Even on Virgin the plastic screen is see through, so no great difference.
Frankly on most flights I have been on the number of Y passengers coming to use the forward toilet has been minimal, with no impact on the amenity of my trip.
As for seat back IFE half the fleet have it, the other half don't.
I always carry my iPad in carry on whenever I fly, so BYOD is fine.

Kiwi Flyer

I care but most of my trans-Tasman flights have no options to switch to something better.

Platy

Failure to alert passengers of need to BYOD / application download

Whether some like it not, it appears QF is embracing the BYOD concept. How is the passenger supposed to know what bring / do before the flight?


Website

If you were to check the description of the domestic business class product offering on the QF website before your flight there is no mention of BYOD or cross link to the Domestic Inflight Entertainment or Q Streaming pages:

http://www.qantas.com/travel/airline...lass/global/en

It does claim "You can experience complimentary inflight entertainment on every Qantas service, enabling you to relax and enjoy your flight".

If you do make it to the "Domestic Inflight Entertainment" page there is still no mention of the need for BYOD or application download (indeed there is a nice photo of QF-supplied devices on seat backs branded "Q Streaming"), although there is a link to the Q Streaming page on this webpage.

http://www.qantas.com/travel/airline...bal/en#q-radio

However, if you do stumble upon the Q Streaming page you then find reference to BYOD with a pre-loaded application.

http://www.qantas.com/travel/airline...inment/au/en#/

BUT even then it doesn't make it clear that you will not be access any IFE without BYOD. In fact there is a picture of QF supplied iPad at the top of the webpage with a disclaimer written so tiny it is almost impossible to see.


Email with ticket

I can't see any reference to the need to BYOD / download application on recent emailed booking receipts, including the before your travel checklist in the email.


Manage your booking

I can't see any reference to the need to BYOD / download application on the manager your booking website pages, including the before you travel checklist.


All easy things to fix - but in the meantime examples of very poor customer communication !

ConradS

They email a couple of days before the flight to advise you should download the app

Platy

I received no such email in advance if my last flight a few weeks ago and travelled on a BYOD flight.

ConradS

Well that would appear to be a miss by Qantas.

Platy

..maybe a work in progress...(I have provided feedback to QF that opinions appear to be divided on the new 737 layout and that it may be a good idea to include packing / preparing your device in the "before your flight" checklist)...anyway, once bitten twice shy (I'll know for next time).

soulighter

I don't so much mind the lost of curtain or any hard partition between J and Y cabins, and have mixed feelings on Y passengers using the J toilets. I much rather they don't do it, but my experiences were a curtain doesn't really stop it from happening anyway. I guess it's a toilet is available when I need it as a J passenger, I tend to let it slide; if there were so many Y using J toilet that I had to wait, then I would be quite crossed!!!

Now the seatback IFE, I do mind a lot!!! It seems like I'm one of the rare one who commented here who do enjoy using the IFE and catching up on the latest movies that I hadn't managed to watch in the cinemas. Yes I do bring my own tablet pretty much all the time, but I do want the option of the airline's IFE providing some latest movies. Time passes a lot quicker when I have movies to watch.

The services I received on domestic 737 tend to be above average most of time (probably like 3 out of 4), with below average service about the same frequency as exceptional services. At least the food and wine tend to be very good.

Having not flown trans-tasman Qantas J, I don't have any comment, but if I'm paying I would expect a flat bed type seat (even though there's really no need for one as the flight is so short), but given that the competitors like Air NZ, LAN and EK do, unless Qantas has a real price advantage or I'm redeeming a reward flight, I see no reason to pay for a domestic type J when flying trans-tasman.

Just my 2c.

JDiver

I was mostly satisfied with the hard and soft product on the 737 SYD-PER, as it was significantly better than our similar USA transcon on a 737-800.

I was definitely disappointed by the lack of any advance information about downloading the IFE app to my iPad.

I agree that the experience would be enhanced by assuring overhead bin space is reserved for J cabin passengers, and some attempt made to reduce Y cabin passenger lol traffic, but I recognize that will have to come as guidance from the top and not from the FAs.

I took the A330 back to SYD, and of course that's a different ball game.

SRS65

Recently flew ADL / SYD return J and had a great chat on the return leg with the CSM.
She explained they have the most trouble on Trans C flights with Y pax "breaching" the supposedly J exclusive cabin for both o/head space and toilets.
This arose after she questioned a Y pax as to why they were attempting to use the J toilets. (as all J seats were occupied at the time ) - she was friendly though and allowed the use with an "only this time"
I believe it was a status pax who was in row 4 or 5 but didn't make a point of directly looking.
If you want to use J toilets and o/head space book J IMO!
Her other related comment was that some sort of barrier - either magnetic rope or similar would certainly alleviate this.
Fully understand the FA frustration with this along with J pax who have either upgraded with points, used points or purchased J seats with hard earned cash particularly as it is marketed as a premium service - charged at a premium price.
DYKWIA attitude seems more prevalent on aircraft and in airport lounges as it seems effectively ingrained into regular travellers due to the airlines approach and tier marketing / benefits.