Qantas and China Eastern

6 replies

alansu

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 22 Jan 2015

Total posts 88

Is it just me (perhaps it’s just because it’s a mainland China airline thing), or is the implementation of thr QF/MU reciprocal benefits very poor?


For one on MU boarding passes, no QF status is displayed, and no lounge staff outside Shanghai/Beijing even know about Qantas (they think in Chinese it’s Macau Airlines) or their partnership (and even in Beijing you have to jump through hoops to get to their lounge)

Priority boarding and baggage are hit and miss at best as again, they can’t see status in their system, and have little understanding of English, so your shiny Qantas card is as good as trash.

Wonder if Qantas displays MU status on their boarding passes, and if so, who drew the short end of that stick then..?

Snail

Member since 16 Jan 2018

Total posts 23

I have often used MU in mainland China and never had any issues getting into the lounge or use their members check in service.

My better half speaks a bit Mandarin might helped but there's a webpage indicating things that's written in Chinese. I'm not sure if I could post links here. (Looks like I couldnt)
Just show the check-in in person that and you should be fine.
They have QF in their system.

Last editedby Snail at Apr 14, 2019, 11:19 AM.

alansu

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 22 Jan 2015

Total posts 88

Yeah we just had lots of trouble getting status recognition in Kunming. Being a Mandarin speaker and showing them the exact Chinese web page didn’t seem to make a difference. They ended up having to call the head office in Shanghai and even then they were still confused. In the end they just gave up and let us in, 20mins before boarding.

moa999

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 02 Jul 2011

Total posts 835

Fairly common on non-alliance codeshares and partnerships unfortunately, so a much bigger issue with Virgin Aus.


I suspect not many MU elites posting here about the experience the other way.

Last editedby moa999 at Apr 14, 2019, 03:28 PM.

jianga

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 07 Feb 2015

Total posts 144

My Dad flew from Shanghai to Melbourne on MU late last year in economy and had his QFF (bronze) attached to the booking. When he went to check in at the airport in Shanghai, the staff said because he has QFF, he's entitled to use all the extra services, priority checkin, boarding and luggage, as well as lounge access. My Dad knew it's only for higher status QFFs but took advantage of the situation by not saying anything.

He was lucky in this instance but it just shows how ignorant some MU staff can be about this QF/MU partnership. Mind you some QF staff may not know much about Eastern Miles (MU FF) either.

Chris C.

Member since 24 Apr 2012

Total posts 1,116

Flew China Eastern the other week and can confirm that QFF status appears on the boarding pass, but as a single letter ('C' means Qantas Club, for example). Having said that, Qantas does encourage travellers to keep their actual QFF card with them, if needed.

alansu

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 22 Jan 2015

Total posts 88

The C they confirmed means “regular traveller” when I was in Beijing and also Kunming, they have to manually update to S/G/P at check-in it seems.


Someone else travelling with me was a Bronze FF but also had “C”, and myself a Platinum FF had “C” as well.

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