QF MEL-PER-MEL & MEL-CBR-MEL
Jul 28, 2004, 1:22 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: IHG Diamond, HH Diamond, BW Diamond Select, Accor Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,232
QF MEL-PER-MEL & MEL-CBR-MEL
On this trip, we'll see the contrast between some lazy, thoughtless staff in MEL and some fantastic, thoughtful staff in PER.
QF481 MEL-PER 332 34AB Tue 6/4/04 1835-2035 (actual: 1915-2042)
The last few Perth flights I'd done had been in J on A330-200s. This trip was my first ever trip in QF Y on this plane, and I was with kdbab64, who uses a wheelchair.
Ground staff in MEL were pretty hopeless. We sat around the gate lounge for ages. Apparently our plane had been late because there are only 2 A330-capable gates. There was no pre-boarding for those who could use it. I can carry Karen to our seats in 1/10 the time required if we use an aisle chair, but having to do it once there are people seated in the plane already is much harder. It's one of those times when fools try to save time by cutting corners and instead achieve the opposite.
When we got to the aircraft door, an FA asked if I would mind waiting until all other passengers have boarded before we boarded. I replied in no uncertain terms that, yes, I would mind. The less people who were between the door and our seats the better and their not having done any pre-boarding was not our fault. He scampered off and discussed it with another FA and then said we could board.
My first impression of the Y cabin was similar to that for the J cabin: unimpressed. 1 video screen per 4 rows, in the centre only. Cheap & nasty.
We received menus and drinks. The beef and pasta dishes were both good, the salad was fair, and a TimTam is always good. The movie, Paycheck, was good too.
We were told the wheelchair wouldn't be brought to the door in PER and it wasn't initially, so we waited a significant time while someone retrieved it. One of the staff later told me that anything that can't be carried with one hand won't be carried up the outer stairs at gates for safety reasons. However, Karen's chair is very light. In Chicago, I've seen it carried one handed up the outer stairs in the snow!
Cab driver took inordinately long, with the meter running, before getting under way, roughly doubling the fare from what it should be. We finally arrived at a friend's place, where we stayed for most of the trip.
For a period of the time, we stayed at the Parmelia Hilton, as Swancon was on there. We'd booked using 100k Hilton points, back before the 6-day award went up to 150k pts. We knew the Parmelia wouldn't be the most lovely hotel to use the points on, but we knew we'd want to stay there anyhow, and money saved is great. However, we certainly wouldn't recommend this Hilton. We asked for a wheelchair accessible room and were told the only one available was near where there would be lots of construction noise during part of our stay. They happily offered us a larger not specifically accessible room to accommodate wheelchair use instead, so we took it.
Little did we realise that what this meant was that they'd use it as an excuse to not give us free breakfasts. After all, we'd got an upgraded room, which means they aren't required to provide breakfast. Apparently, it was irrelevant that the upgraded room was provided because their only accessible room would be unpleasantly noisy. We could have preferred a standard accessible room and breakfast, but we didn't get that choice.
This Hilton has no executive lounge, so no free nibbles, no free drinks, no breakfast. Also, no internet access in most rooms and one of the most disgustingly overpriced business centres I've seen: About $40/hr for net access.
They wanted proof of our booking. We'd printed out what we had off the web site and email, which confused them as Hilton's reward stays always list a room rate. We were told during our stay that we'd be billed the rate listed on the paperwork we'd given them, which was rather a shock. After some stern words from me, they checked with HHonors the following day and gave us a bottle of wine to apologise for the mistake.
Don't get me wrong: The hotel itself isn't bad. It's just not a good use of Hilton points, given how many vastly superior Hiltons there are with vastly better facilities.
After a lovely stay in Perth, we awaited a booked wheelchair cab for the return. Amazingly, an ordinary cab turned up, and from a different company to that which provides wheelchair ones. The booking had been bounced to them because the other company didn't have one spare. Clever.
While waiting for a replacement taxi, I rang Qantas. We were, of course, on super-cheap tickets which can't be changed on day of travel. However, always best to tell the airline first if you know you might be at risk of missing a flight. QF res warning me that if we missed the flight, we might be stuffed. However, they said they'd tell PER that we had called. Well, I was surprised when I received a call on my mobile a while later from QF PER. How was I going? ... Well, the cab's just arrived. Okay, he says, they'll print our boarding passes out early and we can just go direct to an unused checkin counter (4?) as soon as we arrive.
Great! We arrive at the airport about 4:50pm, proceed to our designated checkin counter, get seat allocation changed to get some more space (3 seats blocked off in centre for us) and proceed to gate.
QF776 PER-MEL 332 31D-F Mon 19/4/04 1720-2250 (actual: 1744-2046)
The excellent service continued. We were pre-boarded efficiently. Not sure what held up departure, but it wasn't us. One FA, Jane was particularly pleasant and helpful.
Both the ravioli and the chicken stir-fry for dinner were good. The movie, Stuck on You, was almost watchable. I pointed out that we're not particularly partial to the table wines, but that the dessert wine up front is always lovely, and our delightful FA brought us a glass of it later on.
^
A few days later, we went to Canberra for a weekend. Nothing exceptional there, except to remind you all that we still get food in Y on short runs here.
QF812 MEL-CBR 734 8D-F Fri 23/04 1240-1340 (actual: 1258-1343)
On the way to check in from the car park, a QF staff member helped with our luggage. Very nice. Checkin desk was snooty and disinterested in giving us seats anywhere near the front, so I just took what they offered any went to the service desk, who gave us 8D-F. We pre-boarded and sat for ages, because some goon had checked luggage for the flight and not boarded!
Lunch was quite a decent salad roll, bikkies & cheese, Mars bar and water, so I requested for some orange juice as usual.
QF821 CBR-MEL 734 8EF Tue 27/04 2015-2120 (actual: 2025-2120)
The return flight was 2/3 empty. Pre-boarded, had a ham & cheese sandwich, bikkies & cheese and chocolate bar. Quite uneventful.
QF481 MEL-PER 332 34AB Tue 6/4/04 1835-2035 (actual: 1915-2042)
The last few Perth flights I'd done had been in J on A330-200s. This trip was my first ever trip in QF Y on this plane, and I was with kdbab64, who uses a wheelchair.
Ground staff in MEL were pretty hopeless. We sat around the gate lounge for ages. Apparently our plane had been late because there are only 2 A330-capable gates. There was no pre-boarding for those who could use it. I can carry Karen to our seats in 1/10 the time required if we use an aisle chair, but having to do it once there are people seated in the plane already is much harder. It's one of those times when fools try to save time by cutting corners and instead achieve the opposite.
When we got to the aircraft door, an FA asked if I would mind waiting until all other passengers have boarded before we boarded. I replied in no uncertain terms that, yes, I would mind. The less people who were between the door and our seats the better and their not having done any pre-boarding was not our fault. He scampered off and discussed it with another FA and then said we could board.
My first impression of the Y cabin was similar to that for the J cabin: unimpressed. 1 video screen per 4 rows, in the centre only. Cheap & nasty.
We received menus and drinks. The beef and pasta dishes were both good, the salad was fair, and a TimTam is always good. The movie, Paycheck, was good too.
We were told the wheelchair wouldn't be brought to the door in PER and it wasn't initially, so we waited a significant time while someone retrieved it. One of the staff later told me that anything that can't be carried with one hand won't be carried up the outer stairs at gates for safety reasons. However, Karen's chair is very light. In Chicago, I've seen it carried one handed up the outer stairs in the snow!
Cab driver took inordinately long, with the meter running, before getting under way, roughly doubling the fare from what it should be. We finally arrived at a friend's place, where we stayed for most of the trip.
For a period of the time, we stayed at the Parmelia Hilton, as Swancon was on there. We'd booked using 100k Hilton points, back before the 6-day award went up to 150k pts. We knew the Parmelia wouldn't be the most lovely hotel to use the points on, but we knew we'd want to stay there anyhow, and money saved is great. However, we certainly wouldn't recommend this Hilton. We asked for a wheelchair accessible room and were told the only one available was near where there would be lots of construction noise during part of our stay. They happily offered us a larger not specifically accessible room to accommodate wheelchair use instead, so we took it.
Little did we realise that what this meant was that they'd use it as an excuse to not give us free breakfasts. After all, we'd got an upgraded room, which means they aren't required to provide breakfast. Apparently, it was irrelevant that the upgraded room was provided because their only accessible room would be unpleasantly noisy. We could have preferred a standard accessible room and breakfast, but we didn't get that choice.
This Hilton has no executive lounge, so no free nibbles, no free drinks, no breakfast. Also, no internet access in most rooms and one of the most disgustingly overpriced business centres I've seen: About $40/hr for net access.
They wanted proof of our booking. We'd printed out what we had off the web site and email, which confused them as Hilton's reward stays always list a room rate. We were told during our stay that we'd be billed the rate listed on the paperwork we'd given them, which was rather a shock. After some stern words from me, they checked with HHonors the following day and gave us a bottle of wine to apologise for the mistake.
Don't get me wrong: The hotel itself isn't bad. It's just not a good use of Hilton points, given how many vastly superior Hiltons there are with vastly better facilities.
After a lovely stay in Perth, we awaited a booked wheelchair cab for the return. Amazingly, an ordinary cab turned up, and from a different company to that which provides wheelchair ones. The booking had been bounced to them because the other company didn't have one spare. Clever.
While waiting for a replacement taxi, I rang Qantas. We were, of course, on super-cheap tickets which can't be changed on day of travel. However, always best to tell the airline first if you know you might be at risk of missing a flight. QF res warning me that if we missed the flight, we might be stuffed. However, they said they'd tell PER that we had called. Well, I was surprised when I received a call on my mobile a while later from QF PER. How was I going? ... Well, the cab's just arrived. Okay, he says, they'll print our boarding passes out early and we can just go direct to an unused checkin counter (4?) as soon as we arrive.
Great! We arrive at the airport about 4:50pm, proceed to our designated checkin counter, get seat allocation changed to get some more space (3 seats blocked off in centre for us) and proceed to gate.
QF776 PER-MEL 332 31D-F Mon 19/4/04 1720-2250 (actual: 1744-2046)
The excellent service continued. We were pre-boarded efficiently. Not sure what held up departure, but it wasn't us. One FA, Jane was particularly pleasant and helpful.
Both the ravioli and the chicken stir-fry for dinner were good. The movie, Stuck on You, was almost watchable. I pointed out that we're not particularly partial to the table wines, but that the dessert wine up front is always lovely, and our delightful FA brought us a glass of it later on.
^
A few days later, we went to Canberra for a weekend. Nothing exceptional there, except to remind you all that we still get food in Y on short runs here.
QF812 MEL-CBR 734 8D-F Fri 23/04 1240-1340 (actual: 1258-1343)
On the way to check in from the car park, a QF staff member helped with our luggage. Very nice. Checkin desk was snooty and disinterested in giving us seats anywhere near the front, so I just took what they offered any went to the service desk, who gave us 8D-F. We pre-boarded and sat for ages, because some goon had checked luggage for the flight and not boarded!
Lunch was quite a decent salad roll, bikkies & cheese, Mars bar and water, so I requested for some orange juice as usual.
QF821 CBR-MEL 734 8EF Tue 27/04 2015-2120 (actual: 2025-2120)
The return flight was 2/3 empty. Pre-boarded, had a ham & cheese sandwich, bikkies & cheese and chocolate bar. Quite uneventful.
