Qantas Staff Travel

[Arthur Boy]

Bugs, did you report it??.....its very clear how it works and if there is any fraudulent activity, severe penalties apply.

So if you are sure, report it. Thats how to stop these cheaters. I dont mind whatever the systems, as long as we all play by the rules.....

[rammel]

As I said in my previous post, if you report it and have all the relavent details Staff Travel do follow it up. I know someone that missed out on an upgrade and the person that got the upgrade was not even entitled to it, she was a contractor where the flight was coming from. Staff Travel followed this up and it was acted on.

[Short_Circuit]

And then, there is that dreaded "Sorry Sir, there are no meals left"
If you pay for a J/C upgrade you should at least be guaranteed a meal!

[DeaLMeouT]

I agree with No Idea Either.

I don’t think anyone can complain about their staff travel until they experience staff travel at VB. It is truly an absolute joke. Not only are our uniforms a laughing stock around the world, the same goes for our staff travel policies.

You cannot occupy an exit seat, even if you are paxing. You cannot sit forward of an over wing exit. No upgrade (and I use the term “upgrade” loosely) to premium economy. No one else sits in them. It couldn’t hurt to have a few nicely dressed staff travelers sitting there. It might even help promote the red seats to other pax? The majority of times when I have called staff travel with some Q’s the standard response is… “It’s all online”.

I have had the “privilege” (no sarcasm) to have experienced staff travel with three other airlines in my career. It was a beautiful thing. Unlimited free travel on your own airline. Free automatic upgrades. Free travel on some negotiated “other airlines” Complete online booking systems with to the minute detailed load factor information. The perks go on…………

Most people at VB are oblivious to what staff travel other airline provide to their employees. If only they knew.

As for QF staff at LAX, Fliegenmong is spot on!

I have staffed traveled on QF through LAX no less than six times and I can tell you that they really do treat staff travelers like third rate inhabitants. They seem to have a keen eye to spot airline employee even before you get to the check in counter. And once they verify that you are…its all downhill from there. The whole nonsense of making you wait right to literally the last few minutes before departure can be very stressful and is completely unnecessary. There will be no one else around except a handful of staff travelers waiting to find out if they are even getting on the flight and they completely ignore you until they are good and ready to acknowledge your existence. It is totally uncalled for.

Airlines here in Australia have a lot to learn on how they treat their employees. “We are a family here at Bull****e Airlines”, “It’s the employees that are the heart and soul of this airline”, “Without the tiresome efforts of our employees we would not be able to operate so successfully”, bla bla bla bal!!!

Show us your appreciation and give us real staff travel benifets!!

Just my two cents worth anyway.

[Qantas 787]

Some great comments there DeaLMeouT.

I agree with the comment about knowing where you are in the queue - the US carriers have where you are on the standby list and how many people have been cleared.

Why can't they have a section on the website saying what number you are (no names) on the list. e.g. 30 staff listed, you are number 20. If you know you have no hope, you will change your plans and that seems easier to manage at check in.

[capt_akun]

What does capt, FO and So gets on staff travel in mainline, Jq and QL?

Does FO get international business, while capt gets international first?

[Waghi Warrior]

From my experiences,staff travel is a pain. Now days you can usually get cheaper tickets with VB or JQ if you plan well ahead. At least you are assured a seat.

[rammel]

The main reason staff are left on standby till the last minute ex LAX, is the high fuel uplift required for the sector back to Australia. There shouldn't be any reason that you don't know if you're on or not at 30 mins before departure. The reason for this is that the flight closes at -30mins, so all the no-shows are known then and that is also when the upgrades should be done for those that don't yet have them.

Having said all that LAX is the worst I've experienced. HKG was the best. I thought I would ask at the train station on HKG Island if I could check in there, and I let them know I was staff. Not only was it ok, but got my upgrade and choice of seats in J class, and it was reasonably full. HKG was great, but arrival in MEL was shocking took a good hour and a bit to clear Customs and collect bag. Lucky AQIS didn't want to x-ray my stuff.

[Pedota]

Tongue in cheek!

Just for fun, and with apologies to DeaLMeouT, I substituted the words staff/employee for customer/s in his post above . . . it nearly makes sense and what a different message it sends!! Perhaps another way to get a better staff travel plan is to entice more customers to airline by offering them better value and service?

Cheers

Pedota

I agree with No Idea Either.

I don’t think anyone can complain about their customer travel until they experience customer travel at VB. It is truly an absolute joke. Not only are our uniforms a laughing stock around the world, the same goes for our customer travel policies.

You cannot occupy an exit seat, even if you are paxing. You cannot sit forward of an over wing exit. No upgrade (and I use the term “upgrade” loosely) to premium economy. No one else sits in them. It couldn’t hurt to have a few nicely dressed customer travelers sitting there. It might even help promote the red seats to other pax? The majority of times when I have called customer travel with some Q’s the standard response is… “It’s all online”.

I have had the “privilege” (no sarcasm) to have experienced customer travel with three other airlines in my career. It was a beautiful thing. Unlimited free travel on your own airline. Free automatic upgrades. Free travel on some negotiated “other airlines” Complete online booking systems with to the minute detailed load factor information. The perks go on…………

Most people at VB are oblivious to what customer travel other airline provide to their customers. If only they knew.

As for QF customers at LAX, Fliegenmong is spot on!

I have customer traveled on QF through LAX no less than six times and I can tell you that they really do treat customer travelers like third rate inhabitants. They seem to have a keen eye to spot airline customer even before you get to the check in counter. And once they verify that you are…its all downhill from there. The whole nonsense of making you wait right to literally the last few minutes before departure can be very stressful and is completely unnecessary. There will be no one else around except a handful of customer travelers waiting to find out if they are even getting on the flight and they completely ignore you until they are good and ready to acknowledge your existence. It is totally uncalled for.

Airlines here in Australia have a lot to learn on how they treat their customers. “We are a family here at Bull****e Airlines”, “It’s the customers that are the heart and soul of this airline”, “Without the tiresome efforts of our customers we would not be able to operate so successfully”, bla bla bla bal!!!

Show us your appreciation and give us real customer travel benifets!!

Just my two cents worth anyway.

[lowerlobe]

staff travel is a privilege

Well N-BW,this is where the company and it's collaborators have it wrong...

When I started it was part of the employment package.....included in the advert for the position was the phrase.."and a generous staff travel package".

A friend of mine who when finishing uni was offered two positions with different companies.One was with our mob and the other was with a large computer software business...

The pay with us was substantially lower than the position with the software business.When he mentioned this he was told that it was lower but that with the airline he would get a "generous staff travel package".

Now,of course the company will tell us all now that it is a privilege and not a right....

As for last minute 'stressful' boarding moments - it's part of the deal albeit not nice....its like Jetstar PAX who pay $59 to Maroochydore and expect caviar and Dom on board!!
Keep it real...

How many times have we done this and when we get to the aircraft we find it only half full.....what was the need to do that?

I keep thinking it is a game to some of the ground staff and that they like to watch staff run for it....

This is all very similar to the banks when they started to install ATM's.They told us that they could reduce staff to save money and give their customers better and more efficient access to their money.

Now they are charging us to use them......

Sound familiar?

N-BW....I think it's you that should keep it real...

[ampclamp]

Firstly I wish to say "cheap" staff travel is a great thing but there are drawbacks too.With kids in tow I've elected to drive interstate rather than endure the stress of being bumped & stranded.QF hardly fly anywhere domestically worth a holiday anyway these days.
it is a lottery on whether you'll get out of it cheaper or not being stranded in a strange land. carting your partner and kids around without knowing you'll get on would be best described as "an adventure".

I used it domestically for the first time in ages recently and paid for the upgrade. Surely it would not be too much to ask if looking at the loads and listings and upgrade status that even a basic meal is available for a flt of around 4 hours?!
I feel for the crew explaining they've run out of meals.
It was bleeding obvious it was going to be a full ship both ways so why cant the tight ar$e$ actually cater it properly. We are filling empty seats for goodness sake.

Just a note to thank the cab crew who bent over backwards in papering over the cracks left by check in and catering.

Anyone tried using the phone for international travel? 2 hours on the blower. Lets just say not everyone does it from home.

I do think that planning farther ahead is the key and use of commercial tickets when discounts are there. Join the frequent flyer scheme , put all your credit card stuff and groceries on it.If you cant beat em join em.

AJ could certainly revamp the scheme.Quite a few I know dont use it and would trade it off for a small increase in wages or simply the availability of a guaranteed seat once or twice a year at a discount subject to loads as now.

[the rim]

staff travel

no meals left....well have you seen a cabin crew member wander past j-class on their way down the back with a oven tray and a tea towel covering meals "that were not avail"...i guess they are going to feed some y class pax's mmmmm as for the travel part i have been at qf for a bit and have seen lots of thing happen but mostly i am ok with it as long as they fix up the rourts that check in staff sometimes do like bumping long time staff and upgrading ones with less service ...lets face it that is one reason for staying ..you go up the scale

[DeaLMeouT]

I don’t think anyone will dispute the fact that you have to accept the risk of being bumped whenever on staff travel. That’s a given. But that has nothing to do with being treated so disrespectfully buy anxious check in staff that takes their one ounce of authority and then run a mile with it. There is no valid reason to be treated so poorly. Obviously not every gate agent or check in chick behaves like this, but in my experience a lot do.

Furthermore I don’t see what’s wrong with comparing US airlines and their staff travel policies versus Australian airlines. At the end of the day it’s up to the individual airline to present policies and negotiate other airline deals. In my opinion and in the opinion of many of my colleagues, what deals and policies present by a given airline directly reflects the appreciation or should I say “the lack of” for their staff.

Again, with respect to staff travel, Australian airlines have a lot to learn from US carriers.

[indamiddle]

if you know someone on the ground who has access to the P/ and S/ (confirmed and standby) list and can give you a hard printout or email it to you can be a great tool when you check in for staff travel. just make sure you place it on the counter where they can read it. they become very nervous but also ensures no person jumps the queue. the last time when i did this the check in staff asked me where i got the list from. i replied "same place as you do". yep, no drama getting my upgrade and in the right sequence.

[Jet-A-One]

I think onload category should be based purely on years of service. I don't see why a person that's been there a year should get on before someone with 20 years service just because they use an "annual leave trip".

I agree, it would be good to know your ranking in the stand-by list too.

And has anyone noticed the availability on the staff travel website doesn't show by how much a flight is over booked. It used to read into the negatives which is handy when choosing between 2 heavily booked flights when stuck somewhere.

[the rim]

yes inda i agree it is nice when you see where you sit on the regrade list ....in my experance its mostly domestic where the problem is[and syd international] remembering back to the days of the merger if you said upgrade instead of of regrade they knew you were international staff and you dropped to the bottom

[jungle juice]

well have you seen a cabin crew member wander past j-class on their way down the back with a oven tray and a tea towel covering meals "that were not avail".

What a load of rubbish.How do you know what meals they are?
No crew in economy will be eating while the meal service is still going on in Business class so why would they be carrying back food?.

Fiction is a lot more interesting than reality isn't it?

[the rim]

hey jungle lay of the juice .....i have seen many times cc going down the back with j-class meals covered with a tea towel and this is after the j-class meal has been severed and it happens on dom and int and i have done a lot of travel for a lot of years....i dont have a problem with cc eating meals as long as your choise was avail when asked ......i have taken the cold meal when no hot ones left then seen a tray of hot ones go aft

[Pegasus747]

When you see Cabin crew going down the back with a tray of meals covered by a tea towel or cloth it is their crew meals.

And no they should never ever give it to the passengers. It would be like going into their wallet and shouting them a meal in the terminal. They might work 4 legs and get the opportunity to eat the one meal provided to them and if there is not enough meals loaded for passengers then that's too bloody bad.

Crew meals are the same as money in the pay packet. Just as you wouldnt give that to a punter who had been short changed by management decisions, neither should you give up your crew meal.

Plain and simple. If a passenger misses out on a meal because the company deliberately short caters to save money then it is "management" that has to compensate them, not the crew with their salary or meals provided under their EBA entitlement.

Crew are sick and tired of constantly apologising for the tight ass management decision not to fully cater. I dont care in the slightest anymore. These decisions are made way above my head and i dont give a tinkers cuss if some fat ass misses out on a meal on a 4 hour flight. i might have done a 12 hour day and they are certainly not getting my meal and i am not shouting maccas in the terminal for them.

When a patient dies the doctor doesnt go to the funeral. Its called professional detachment. A few of my colleagues have got it down pat.

What i can do i give 1000%. What i cant do i follow company policy apologize and move on to the next sad sack who is waiting for their apology

[jungle juice]

i have seen many times cc going down the back with j-class meals covered with a tea towel and this is after the j-class meal has been severed

the rimless,I know what has been severed and it wasn't the meal service.

What makes you think they were J/C meals?

As Pegasus has said what you have seen are the CREW meals being taken down the back from where they are stored.

I have one question and that is

"what aircraft were you in and where were you seating when you saw the crew walking through with these meals after you missed out on your choise"?

By the way it's on domestic flights usually that you have a choice of a hot or cold meal.On international flights there are a number of hot meal choices.So normally you would not miss out on a hot meal although you might not get your choice of which hot meal.