lokijuh

Well just got back from a holiday in Southern Africa, all went well but by far the least enjoyable aspect were the long haul flights, an award WHY booking on QF from MEL-SYD-JNB and back. Having not flown long haul (in WHY) since my trip to JFK on QF in March '02 I was a little disappointed, but maybe I was spoilt by the EK flight I had in July from CHC-MEL (also in Y).

With good seating (I scored exit rows both ways) and 12 channel IFE, it was the little (but simple to fix) things that really irked me.

Firstly, but probably less importantly, the dinner was identical to that on East Coast -PER flights (although an there was a "light meal" towards the end as well), which was rather disappointing, and definitely inferior in both quantity and quality to the EK CHC-MEL flight. Also "Snack on Q" should be called "Sample on Q", as it seems that it was made up of a bottle of water plus product samples (mint kit-kat, 100% fruit bar, Jila mints, Listerine pocket pack).

But more importantly the lack of hygiene and passenger comfort was astonishing:
- Only twice in 14 hrs (and not at all on the 11 hr return) did I see staff coming through with water to serve to pax (last time I flew SQ this happened throughout the flight, and on EK they did this twice on the CHC sector and I've seen QF do this twice or more on PER services). I guess that's why you get a 300ml water bottle in the snack bag.
- The cabin was disgusting at the end of the journey, with rubbish all over the floor (a safety issue on landing?). On neither trip did they come through to collect rubbish from our snack-on-Q bags. Again comparing to the EK CHC flight, wouldn't it be simple for them to come through with some garbage bags to collect rubbish towards the end of the flight.
- Toilets were absolutely disgusting - with rubbish overflowing from the bins and the whole compartment just feral by the end of the flight (I found myself cleaning the sink & toilet seat before using them). EK - regular cleaning & even saw DJ FA's cleaning toilets on recent BNE-MEL trip.
- Refresher towels - none at all (cf EK who handed out hot towel on CHC service, and even SA handed out packaged refresher towel on the 2hr flight I flew from CPT-JNB to connect with the JNB-SYD flight).

Also absent was the special welcome greeting & drink I received when I flew as an SG back in '02, where CSM came through and welcomed all high tier WHY pax. Maybe you don't get this treatment as a WP.

A few little things can make a world of difference! Maybe they need to replace an FA or two with some flight safety trained cleaners!

Can anyone else comment - was all this just bad luck, or is this a true indication of how bad QF have got in the WHY cabin?

ghostboy

Unfortunately my experiences in the past have been similar; the crew is always hit & miss (majority of the time is miss), the toilets are very rarely cleaned and along with the cabin, by the end of the flight looking very worse for wear. In comparison, SQ clean their toilets at least every 2 hours and will do a rubbish run throughout the flight and a thorough clean before landing.

The 2 significant advantages flying QF WHY over SQ is 1) the QP and 2) I have a greater chance of getting an exit row on QF (SQ's is usually gone when I do online check-in 48hrs prior). I flew EK in April for the 1st time (had to get back to BNE at short notice) and wasn't overly impressed either. I would risk QF before EK.

I guess it really boils down to what's important to you when flying down the back, and which carrier can come close to meeting those expectations.

Cheers, gb.

Zermatt

I couldn't agree more with your comments. Fortunately, I've only taken 2 long haul Y QF flights in the past year. Both horrible experiences for most of the reasons you cited. The lack of attention to keeping the cabin and toilets clean was most appalling. If SQ, the other airline that I regularly fly, can manage to keep things clean, so should QF.

GBA1975

Can't say I have had any bad experinces with the FA's in WHY in regards to service levels/cleanliness, have a upcoming long haul next week (SYD-LAX) so will have to see what they are like then

NM

That is supposed to be a good reflection on the PER-SYD catering . QF recently made a big issue of providing "international" style catering on their Perth domestic flights.

To ensure I have a good supply of water on flights, I always stash a few bottles of water into my carry-on bag (from the QP fridge of course ). I never rely on the FA's bringing me enough on their "rounds", which as you hav enoted, are sometimes few and far between.

Thanks for confirming my choice to pay the extra for business class on my last long-haul trip - even though it cost me $3700 out of my own packet.

lokijuh

Yes that was the plan, but I didn't count on taking 2hr 20mins to fly from MEL-SYD (thanks fog!), and by the time I got to T1, they'd already boarded most pax so visiting the QP was not really an option (or so I thought ... we didn't push back for another hour whilst we waited for other pax, but I guess once they scanned my BP at the FCL, they would have sent me to the gate anyway).

On the way back though I made sure I visited a lounge at JNB (first tried the SA lounge which is the surrogate QP, but this was overcrowded and did not have a self serve bar), so popped back to the quieter BA lounge (which I had used earlier in the trip before some BA flights to Vic Falls & Windhoek) and was able to grab a few bottles of water, in addition to the obligatory pre-flight drinks

RickyT

lokijuh, I could echo some of your comments as well. On my recent MEL-HKG-MEL run (travelling in WHY of course), it seems that the crews lacks the inclination to do drink rounds throughout the night. For somebody like me who can't sleep on planes, it is very annoying to go the galley every couple of hours to get a drink.

But the cleaniness of the toilets is fine for both my flights, with the MEL-HKG marginally (most were asleep during the flight), but as other pointed out, it all depends on the crew to some extent.

Ascent

just with the CSD premium meet and greet.

From what ive been told from a friend who thinks they are in the know. Not long ago QF removed another FA from its 744 crew complement, this has forced the CSD into a 'working'/service FA position. So they no longer have the time to do the meet and greets and other niceties.

ghostboy

I got the "meet & greet" last month coming back from SYD (in Y) - 1st time in nearly 3 years! Go figure...

virtualtroy

GBA1975 sorry to hear about such an awful experience on QF. I've been on both sides of the curtain and that's why (thankfully able to) I tend fly in front of it, even though it's not a perk of work.

Should it come as any consolation (and I'm not making any assumptions about how much flying you do), the experience is the same which ever carrirer you choose to fly - it's down to the professionalism of the crew. That said, some carriers attract crews with relatively higher / lower levels of the dedication required.

The conspiracy theorist in me wonders how much universally bad Y service (with some notable exceptions, LH being one that stands out in my mind) is a product of airlines wanting to drive bookings up front.

It's down to airline and route. On the Kanga run these days it's so commodotised that even up in J and F things still go badly wrong, though given the respective premiums attached, they are slightly more inclined to apologise.

I stronly urge you to put your complaint in to QF, not with the expectation that it'll deliver much back than the usual flannel, but the degree of unhygienic facilities you claim to have encountered is inexcusable on any first world carrier; indeed I've found things to be altogether more palatable among carriers which can least afford to stake such a claim.

vt

GBA1975

Not me with the problems, most of my experiences on QF have been satisfactor on long hauls, apart from a couple..as I say it seems to me to come down to luck of the draw with the FA's

nonce

I would say that this is a typical experience based on the 4 or so long haul WHY trips I do a year with QF. As for the CSM coming around, its a nice touch that I no longer get in J, yet alone Y.

CrusadersCHC

Edited.

thadocta

Yeah right, a 15 or 16 year old who piggybacks on Mummy and Daddy's CL membership. Go away and come back when you have grown up.

Dave

martynriddle

[b]Mrs MR[b]'s parents have just landed back in SYD after a J-class Circle Pacific OneWorld excursion. It was interesting to hear their tales and comparissons of the three different carriers they experienced; QF, AA and CX. I am ashamed to say that they put QF last by a long way and CX came out on top!

They said that the service on QF was truly terrible. Knowing that we can all get a dodgy crew now and again I put this down to bad luck but they reminded me that they flew QF twice, SYD-LAX and HKG-SYD and both flights were unsatisfactory with the latter one being particularly bad.

The parents-in-law are not particularly expereinced flyers which I think makes their comments all the more interesting as they have no particular bias. They have now said that if given the choice of carriers again on a future trip, they would wherever possible chose CX.

This makes me wonder ... QF are doing with their international business. From other comments on this board, it appears as though they are now running a long way behind CX, SG and EK. The way that the SCs are structured doesnt really entice you to chose QF (20 SCs for 90 min K flight to MEL or 25 SCs for a 9+ hour WHY flight to HKG).

I am flying on rewards to HKG in March for the Sevens World Cup. I am taking a QF first class up and CX business class back. Will be very interesting to compare the two experiences.