Qantas Premium Economy and International Service. What Service???

I recently had the worst experience ever flying with Qantas. I booked economy and then used my points to upgrade to premium economy as my itinerary changed and I realised that I had a connecting flight to follow my flight and might need to be a bit rested at the end of my 15 hour flight. The boarding experience was fine, they Whilst there is a little more leg room I am not sold on the seats. It was a morning flight and they fed us about an hour after take off. Premium economy has approx 35 seats and 2 staff members to look after you but they were not to be seen on our side of the plane other than for that first meal. In fact, after more than 10 hours of no water or food, I managed to climb over the top of the person sitting next to me to search out an attendant, they were both hiding in the galley having a chat and a feed. I was anxious, shaky and very dehydrated and told them I was unwell and needed some fluids and something to eat. They said they would bring something out.

Never arrived it wasn't until an hour before landing when a new attendant arrived (she had been working in first class, I don't know where the two regular staff were), with breakfast and noticed my distress, she asked what was wrong and was horrified when I told her that we had not seen an attendant let alone been offered fluids for so long. She followed up with the staff and they told her we should have rung the bell, which she was told was on front of the seat so we both looked for it and found no it was above us and impossible to see in the dark. The helpful attendant found the head steward and he wrote a report.
I have spent 2 months going round in circles trying to get the points I paid returned to me as I believe I did not get premium service, in fact, it was substandard and I believe the duty of care they have towards their passengers was not present at all. What if I suffered from diabetes or some other condition that would require regular water. Irregardless no one should go with out fluids for such a long period of time its not healthy.

I was so anxious and worried on my return visit that I ordered 2 bottles of water before we even took off. I do note that the staff did walk the isle on my return trip.

Qantas customer care treat you similarly to the on board staff, so I took it to the airline advocate and basically Qantas came back to them and said we will offer you 1/3 of your points back, you got to where you wanted to go didn't you, case closed. Not this is not the standard and we are sorry for your distress.

I have definitely been scarred by this experience, my husband and I fly with Qantas domestically at least 12 times a month and have done for the past 6 years, (which is a lot of revenue to Qantas) because we live regionally and that is the only option to get to business timely. So the fact that I am a very regular flyer and the amount of money we spend with Qantas does not matter to them, nor does ensuring that they provide a quality and safe service.

In short, do I feel I had a premium service definitely not. Am I totally dissatisfied - yes. Do I feel they give a hoot about their customers welfare -definitely not. Does Customer Service care about customers - definitely not. Would I recommend spending the money for premium economy definitely not. Will I fly long distance with Qantas again -definitely not.

TLDR: Couldn't find the crew call button, therefore didn't get the crew's attention.

Agreed. This is a long rant to say that you couldn't find the call button

On the contrary - one of my best flights ever was a Premium Economy flight on QF - JFK>LAX>SYD.

Its like anything, sometimes you get good service sometimes you don't. As you've mentioned you take a minimum of 12 QF flights a month, and you've only seen reason to complain about one of them. I'd say that's pretty damn good. 1 out of 864

I'm really interested by this experience. Having flown Qantas in Premium Economy on numerous occasions, I have never encountered the issues that you mention. A bottle of water is usually handed out at the start of the flight and the flight attendants have always walked down the aisles every hour or two with a tray full of cups of water and other refreshments.

I'm assuming from your reference to a morning departure and a 15 hours flight that you were flying to the US from the east coast of Australia. The first meal service usually goes for two hours on these flights and then the second one starts about two hours before landing. By my calculation, you went to ask for food and drink about 12 hours into a 15 hour flight. That would usually be when the crew would be starting to get the breakfast service prepared. Maybe they meant that they were about to serve the second meal service when they said that they would bring you something? I am very surprised that they would not offer you some water immediately it you were shaking and distressed when you went to the galley. Why did you not ask for the water immediately so that you could take it back to your seat?

Can I also ask if you were awake for the whole time? You said you upgraded to premium economy to get some rest. Could it be that you missed seeing the attendants walking around with water at some point while you were sleeping? Furthermore, there is no way I would have been able to stay seated for 12 hours without going to the bathroom or stretching my legs. Surely the person sitting next to you would not have minded letting you out a couple of times. Wasn't this person your husband anyway because you make reference to “we”.

Sorry to sound somewhat sceptical of your experiences. I just really find what you are writing hard to believe and am trying to offer some possibilities that you may not have considered.

Surely this forum is not for random rants about someone trying to find a call button!?!
I enjoy this forum because it's usually interesting or tricky questions about business travel.
For random rants, I'm sorry, but look elsewhere.

This is not the place for logic and reason, RW

Assuming this happened as written, I think the offer of a 1/3 points back is about right. Having an attentive flight attendant is not worth 100% of the upgrade. If you are that anxious and scarred by this experience, then I don't think travelling is for you... Things often aren't what is expected or let you down.

Agreed, this isn't the forum for a rant. If it were I would rant about people that use made up words like “ Irregardless “

yes same

Nah I'm enjoying this (popcorn emoji)

Use of the "word" "Irregardless" means all credibility is gone!

Maybe we need some code to cross-post this to a more appropriate rant platform (looking at you AFF...) and then auto delete from Et...

I'm fairly confident that every plane in the qantas fleet with a premium economy cabin also has a self-serve snack bar.

I think Grinda may well of had a rant but she has a valid point. This sound like the service failed to meet expectations. How would we feel if it was us?