Last week when I was flying to Brisbane I tried to access the Qantas club of which I am a paying member.
I was denied.
My client had booked a Virgin flight (startups saving money, which is good to see).
It gave me the shits. It’s not a perk you get as a part of your ticket. I pay for it and it’s not cheap.
Also, the cost to them is minimal. A cup of coffee, a danish and some power.
If I got in normally due to my frequent flyer status, then I understand since it’s a loyalty thing and I’m not flying loyally. (But even then I think it’s dumb, it just forces people to the Virgin lounge).
Bad brand building to say the least.
So I wrote them an email.
“Hi, I don’t fly enough to get free access but I value the benefits when I do and so I pay for QC membership.
Recently on a work trip my client booked me via Virgin Blue, even though I’d prefer to go Qantas.
For the second time in a year I tried to access the lounge in Sydney but was denied access.
I can understand that you prefer that I fly Qantas every time, but sometimes it’s not possible.
I cannot understand why as a paying member to a club, I am not allowed to use the facilities regardless of who I fly. It’s very frustrating and greatly diminishes my respect for your customer service and the value of the product. This is also considering that to use the lounge is no great cost to you. It’s mainly for a nicer place to sit with ample power points to work from.
I’m very disappointed in Qantas for this and hope that you are able to raise this through management and have it changed.”
And I also pointed to this blog post.
I’ll see if I get a response from the big corporate machine….
UPDATE: January 14, 2009
I got a call from someone in the customer support centre for QANTAS. He clarified the policy, which I was very well aware, and said he would report it to management. I told him I wasn’t clarifying, I was complaining. He said he understood, but couldn’t help me. Let’s see if management are listening. They obviously aren’t on Twitter or the blogosphere.
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Stephen Collins // Jan 11, 2009 at 2:12 am
I’ve thought the same thing on a few occasions and never pulled my finger out to do anything about it. Well done, Mick.
Thankfully, I’m Qantas (or perhaps AirNZ for the extra touches) all the way to the US for my trip in February.
2 Tom Kelshaw // Jan 11, 2009 at 2:53 am
QC membership is a rort, instead I use Priority Pass (http://budurl.com/airportloungepass), which gives you access to around 500 Airport Lounges worldwide.
My girlfriend bought us both passes for work, not cheap, but definitely much better value than Oneworld passes, and you don’t get denied because they don’t ask for a boarding pass.
I’m about to head on a 12 month RTW work trip, so I’ll be blogging every lounge I can make it into on 5 continents.
3 Kate Carruthers // Jan 11, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Yep - I’m with Tom & use Priority Pass, much cheaper if you don’t fly all the time and as long as you have a ticket you can get into a lounge. Qantas = EPIC FAILS on so many levels these days!
4 Mick // Jan 11, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Priority Pass sounds good, but if you are QC member you get to check in via business class desks. This can save you hours on a big trip. I’m assumming PP just gets you in teh lounge?
5 Ed Loessi // Feb 4, 2009 at 11:34 am
Mick, sounds like it’s time for a #tag for bad Qantas policies, one day they will hire someone to do social media management and lo and behold they will find a big pile of comments, BTW, 9 years ago I flew out on Qantas and had to pay $100 for extra baggage and flew back a few weeks later and they wanted $500 to bring the same bag back, since then I have never personally paid for a Qantas flight and I have re-told that story many times ………
6 Simon Nash // Feb 16, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I rung FF yesterday to get a new card as mine as broken. The lady told me it was $25 to replace the card? What the? $25 or 2500 pts to replace a little flimsy card? Now I know there would be some administration behind it however I doubt it would be $25….surely. 5 keystrokes into the computer and I’m sure some computer in India would kick into gear and do the rest!
7 dave hughes // Jun 10, 2009 at 11:09 pm
notice that the qantas club domestic bar now opens at 2pm yet another money saver, the food is always running out, very poor
8 Pieter Peach // Jun 29, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Hadn’t heard of this priority pass, sounds good. Almost too good.
And yes, did notice the 2pm bar policy recently boarding a 2pm flight. Sneaky.
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