dave31

I recently took a business class trip to the Philippines and although the onboard service was excellent, the lounge at my destination was deplorable and certainly not the lounge shown in the advertising photos, and because of the amount of time that it took to assist me in Doha, I was unable to use any of the lounge facilities on either the outward or return journeys.
I felt that I was justified in making a complaint about the ground service. I received a fairly typical response thanking me for flying, they will try to do better, hope I fly with them again blah blah blah but no hint of anything tangible. I made several replies pointing out the general nature of their reply rather than directly answering the points raised. They have now stopped communication even though I asked for my complaint to be passed on if I felt the agent was not answering my points.....zero reply.
Perhaps someone has an e mail address where my complaint can be looked at more closely or am I expecting too much?

IAN-UK

I think maybe your expectations are just a tad too high. QR seems seldom to offer cash/avios compensation for mishaps far more egregious than yours.

But what did you want from the exchange? No-ones going to fall on a sword, and they are very, very unlikely to send you any money or, indeed, any avios. You didn't like the Manila lounge, they've apologised for not meeting your expectations and said they'll try to improve conditions ...... and in QR-World, that's about it.

In complaints, if you're chasing "something tangible" then it's best to make it clear what that something is. They'll probably respectfully turn down your request - but at least you'll have it addressed.

dave31

Thanks for your response, I do not wish to bore everyone with specific details but the lounge was Clark and as an example, they could not even provide a glass to drink from.

KingCanute

There are some awful rooms dressed up as lounges around the world. I have walked out and gone to the public facilities instead many times with many airlines because that suited me better. But some people will likely also have enjoyed what was on offer.

QR do not operate the lounges almost everywhere they fly from and are subject to whatever is on offer. So I suspect the best we can do is lodge some disatisfaction and hope that if enough others do too it indicates a trend and QR will take it up with the operator and/or change suppliers. It might be unrealistic to expect anything else

plunet

Agree with the above, you've got an apology, you're unfortunately not going to get anything else here, so I suggest you chalk it up to experience and move on.

SilverChris

Where did you find these photos of the CRK lounge? Best I could do was the oneworld lounge finder. Even there, the official pictures of that PAGSS lounge look truly grim, so I can't imagine how one might expect a luxurious ground experience.

As for the special assistance, it's normal to disembark after everyone else, and be ushered to your next flight early so you can board first. Unless you had a lengthy connection I'm not sure how much time you were expecting to spend in the DOH lounge.

downinit

I would be absolutely shocked if any aspect of any airport in PI was not absolutely awful, including the lounges. Never been to CRK, but MNL is easily the worst major airport in all of Eurasia. You are not going to get a lot of sympathy for a negative experience at a partner lounge in an airport where QR has a very minor presence. Honestly, many second-tier airports like CRK do not even have lounges for many of the major airlines who fly there, partner or otherwise.

burningflames

I flew out of Clark a week ago as well. That lounge (PAGSS) might be a temporary one. It was just a sectioned off area in the middle of the terminal, truely a terrible experience. Barely any seating, no space to even move around, almost nothing in terms of food or drinks. The space was a large as my kitchen at home, maybe even smaller. You would have had much more comfort sitting in the regular terminal areas. I literally took a look and left. Luckily, I had access to the Plaza Premium across the hall, through my credit card (though it was only decent for a Plaza Premium).

I personally don't think it's worth my time to complain, but maybe you can get Qatar to switch the lounge provider.

MichaelSg

Writing a complaint to Qatar is a waste of time, as they never take responsibility for anything. Be it lost lagguage, downgrade from Qsuite or constant change of aircraft or flight time, Qatar always sends a pre-fabricated long winded and meaningless message saying that the problem isn’t theirs, so please don’t waste your time.

KingCanute

There is always an art to complaining.

If there has been been a specific contractual service failure with a specific cost and/or a quantifiable resolution to ask for, then a specific, concise and unemotional account and request will usually result in a resolution.

Rants that fire off in all directions will not yield much. And if there are multiple issues that apply to multiple departments or functions, separate them and send them separately.

If it's a personal preference "I don't like this or that" type rant, it may be better to regard your communication as feedback rather than a specific complaint requiring a specific response. You'll be less angry, and if enough people tell a company that they don't like a particualr thing, and most importantly why, the company may well look to change that once the current supply contract finishes.

Some things can and will be changed or rectified quickly, but many can not. And the ultimate action for repeated disatisfaction with something is probably not to buy it again.

dave31

I would agree with your comments which were of a general nature and were certainly not aimed personally at me. I would like to say that I most certainly do not rant at anyone and I believe my complaint to Qatar was both justified and reasonable in view of expectations and delivery. It was not a question of personal preference.
The onboard service was great and I made that very clear. I was disappointed not to be able to use any of the lounges in Doha as I felt that deplaning was very slow. This was more of a disappointment rather than a complaint although some form of explanation was not forthcoming.
My real complaint was the state of the so called lounge at Clark. It was minuscule in size, certainly not the lounge whose photos are shown in Qatar Airways own worldwide lounges page, the food offerings amounted to very small individually wrapped cookie or muffin plus I believe hot congee. Certainly no waiter service as advertised. There was no alcohol at all so I dad a Coke and asked for a glass. 'Sorry Sir, we don't have'. Polystyrene cups were available! Seating pods? I didn't see any and I dont think that any toilets were available in this sectioned area. It was pretty dire and a far far cry from some of Qatar's wonderful lounges around the world.
I would be the first to say that there are many many far worse things that could happen but I do think that this lounge falls far below the expected level, and the rather bland 'cover all' responses from Qatar leave me somewhat disappointed.

KingCanute

I completely understand your disappointment. I can’t speak for the assistance issues but once you have sampled QR's own premium lounges, the various contract provisions around the world can be very underwhelming. Or worse. There weren't any glasses to drink a beer out of in the temporary contract lounge at SFO either on a couple of recent visits (it still tasted good out of the bottle #classy)

In reality though QR (as all airlines) are constrained by what lounges are available at any airport, what they offer, and which of them can accommodate QR's volume of passengers at that time of day.

It sounds like a very poor experience at Clark. If it was a temporary space as another poster suggested, then perhaps they just didn't have the full facilities available for glass washing, refrigeration, hot food, waiters etc. Hopefully things will improve there once whatever works are completed.

But unless you feel there is some specific service recovery your experience merits (and you have requested it), the customer service agent can do nothing really other than register your dissatisfaction and pass it on to future decision makers. The agent may also not speak English as a first language which may remove some nuance from any reply.

Either way though, having given them the feedback once, it's probably healthiest just to move on. You've done your bit by telling them and hopefully it will help improve things longer term.

HaleiwaFlyer

Using Qatar's website, this is the link of the Clark Airport Lounge. Qatar Lounge at Clark

Priority Pass WebSite lists the following for the same lounge Priority Pass PAGSS Lounge

Was this different?

dave31

The lounge shown for Clark on Qatar's own website was most certainly NOT the lounge at Clark.

Matt4

I was there 6 weeks ago and can confirm that the actual lounge in CRK is just a temporary one, and definitely not the one advertised on QR website. CRK new terminal is still under construction and we can bet the situation will improve sooner or later. This temporary lounge is very small and can barely accommodate 20 to maybe 30 people at maximum capacity, which is not enough considering QR is flying a B787 with 28 J seats to CRK and there are some status passengers too. But well, lounge situation can vary dramatically from one airport to another one and we shouldn’t expect too much from a remote location airport, especially in Philippines, which are well known for bad airports and lounges.

I just had a soft drink (no alcohol offered, not even a San Miguel light) and a small tuna sandwich and patiently waited to be onboard to enjoy some champagne and QR great J service.