Fussy cabin crew demand better lodgings {Qantas}

mpenguin1

mpenguin1

Well-Known Member
Let's see, several of this complaints are legit, or at I agree with:

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1260&storyid=835168

Fussy cabin crew demand better lodgings

February 2, 2004

THEY stay at hotels considered among the world's best -- but Qantas flight attendants have told the airline that's not good enough.

They have delivered a raft of complaints about the four- and five-star hotels they stay in while overseas.

Single beds, poor-quality sheets and holes in curtains are among their gripes.

They have also refused to sleep above traffic lights and recently demanded more English television channels.

Travellers can expect to pay hundreds of dollars a night to stay in the hotels Qantas staff regularly enjoy.

The Flight Attendants' Association recently won a battle for free access to the gym, at the Holiday Inn in Tokyo.

And they forced Frankfurt's sumptuous Mainz Hilton in to order new linen.

The hotel was also asked not to give Qantas staff rooms above traffic lights.

Other gripes from the association's international division have included:

THE lack of English television channels at hotels in Frankfurt and Tokyo;

LONG waits for hotel rooms with fridges in Los Angeles; and

COMPLAINTS about the food served up at airport restaurants.
 
Mommy, mommy, Quantas is making me stay in yet another 5 star hotel again !!!! Waaaaa [whine]





Geez... why doesn't someone call the 'waambulance' ???
 
They come off as sounding a bit whiny, but when you spend literally half your life in hotel rooms, sometimes the little things matter! Take for instance one of our European hotels (I have forgotten now which one), this hotel had specific 'crew rooms' and would not give crews any other rooms. So the outbound crew would check out, and the inbound crew would show up and the hotel hadn't finished cleaning the rooms. They were making our crews wait an hour or more before they could get into their rooms. "Awww, wait an hour, waaaaah" I hear you saying, but after working a 8+ hour flight, you don't want to sit in some hotel lobby picking your nose waiting for your room!

Hotels are famous for giving crews the crappiest rooms they have (like the Milford in NY, you always must ask for an inside room, or else you'll listen to nothing but horns blaring and street noise all night), because the hotels know the crews are guaranteed business, and they figure "well, it's not like they're paying for their own rooms".

Some of those complaints in that article are a bit much though......
 
Amber is right. When you start staying in hotels 12-16 nights a month, you start to get very particular about your accomodations. To an airline crewmember, your hotel room is sort of like your apartment away from home. Coming in after a a long duty day (think like 12 hours) to a messy, unkept, and unclean room really can make a person snap.
 
I've got to say that I'm hypersensitive to the quality of hotel rooms.

Over the past eight or so years, I've come home with insect bite marks, rashes, endured non-flushing toilets, stained bedding, overly "amorous" next door neighors, flea bites, INOP air conditioning/heating, crackheads meandering the hallways, trains, "elevator" rooms, kleptomaniac housekeepers, drippy ceilings, INOP hot water and something that gave me a strange allergic reaction a few times.

Having a comfortable, reliable and safe hotel room where you've been working all day and you need rest in order to perform safely the next day is an extraordinarily big issue.

I just want a hotel chain that understands that crews need a quiet, comfortable room with the amenities in good working order, in a safe, quiet area.
 
I can only imagine just how annoying it is to come to a room that's not in good condition after working all day long. I used to be on the road one week a month, which is nothing compared to you folks. I was lucky. For the most part, I was going to trade shows so that meant that I got a nice room.

Sometimes, though, for client viisits in the middle of nowhere, I'd get stuck in a budget type motel. And I couldn't wait to get the hell out of there!
 
This isn't aimed at you MPenguin, just the author!
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They have delivered a raft of complaints about the four- and five-star hotels they stay in while overseas.


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I think "four star" in many countries means a private bathroom, reception area and food available.

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Single beds, poor-quality sheets and holes in curtains are among their gripes.

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Would be mine too!

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They have also refused to sleep above traffic lights and recently demanded more English television channels.

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I could care less about the TV channels personally, but if you've got a room parallel with a traffic light, you're going to get a ominous green glow, followed by a yellow glow, followed by a red glow, all night long!
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Plus the noise from the cars, buses and pedestrians passing below.

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Travellers can expect to pay hundreds of dollars a night to stay in the hotels Qantas staff regularly enjoy.

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Yeah, but airlines negotiate pretty deep discounts on rooms. Like I think we get the Westin Horton in San Diego for about $70/night throughout the year, but the standard rate is $179-plus in season.

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The Flight Attendants' Association recently won a battle for free access to the gym, at the Holiday Inn in Tokyo.

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Exercise is very important. You've got to combat deep vein thrombosis, blood clots and some of the international airlines might have weight regulations for the flight attendants.

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And they forced Frankfurt's sumptuous Mainz Hilton in to order new linen.

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I stayed there and didn't see a big problem. But boy do they have a kicking breakfast buffet!

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LONG waits for hotel rooms with fridges in Los Angeles; and

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Waiting for rooms is a big problem overseas. Sometimes you'll fly 11 hours to an international destination, take about a 40 minute ride to the hotel, and then wait 30 minutes to 1 hour for your room because it isn't done being cleaned yet. Kristie and I bummed a ride with the flight crew from Frankfurt to the hotel and we begged for an early check-in when we made our reservation.

We all get to the hotel, we immediately check in and the flight crew went to sit in the reception area until their rooms were cleaned. We went to our room, unpacked, freshened up, Kristie took a quick shower, went back downstairs to go explore Mainz and the crew was still downstairs waiting for their rooms and they looked like death warmed over at this point.
 
One of the best hotels I've ever stayed at is our long MIA hotel. It's on North Beach, and it's an exclusivly airline hotel. Which means every other guest you see walking around is a crew member from yours or another airline. The hotel knows what crews want, and they deliver! You walk out the back door, and there's a huge balcony overlooking the pool & ocean. There's a enormous cooler full of beer and soda that's on the honor system (you take a beer, you put in a couple bucks). Those overnights go SO senior it's not even funny. The only reason I got one of those trips was because I was on reserve.

Funny thing about a hotel full of crew members, you don't have people running up and down the hall all night, crank callers, or door-slammers!
 
In IAH last week, we had screaming teenagers until about 4am in the morning slamming doors and playing in the elevator.

On a 9 hour layover, ARGH!

It's a double edged sword, if you poke your head out and scream "SHAATTHE*BLANK*UP!!!", you're guaranteeing yourself crank calls and slamming doors. If you call downstairs for security, if the hotel even has it, same thing.
 
Qantas,

Man, and to think I thought I had it bad. Wish I could shut that outbound artillery up!
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Qantas,

Man, and to think I thought I had it bad. Wish I could shut that outbound artillery up!
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Walk out there in your PJ's and slippers, tap the guy on the helmet and say "'scuse me... excuse me please!" in a Woody Allen-like voice.
 
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Over the past eight or so years, I've come home with insect bite marks, rashes, endured non-flushing toilets, stained bedding, overly "amorous" next door neighors, flea bites, INOP air conditioning/heating, crackheads meandering the hallways, trains, "elevator" rooms, kleptomaniac housekeepers, drippy ceilings, INOP hot water and something that gave me a strange allergic reaction a few times.

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Back in my married days, my family and I were traveling through South Carolina (compliments of the U.S. Marine Corps, and PCS orders) and we chose to stay the night in what appeared to be a nice, clean, well-kept hotel. It was nice enough, until I was awakened by the biggest, nastiest, most disgusting cockroach crawling across my face!!!!
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You'd better believe that we were dressed and out of there in like 3 minutes!!!
 
Realtors call those "Palmetto Bugs" down in Florida!
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Only the realtors or people with family in town!

I had six of these in Melbourne, FL in my hotel bathroom:

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I didn't discover them until I was brushing my teeth the next morning.
 
Ah ha! It's all a scheme to make more money off the airlines. They knew you'd be like, there is no way in hell I am going to rinse my mouth out with water from this tap after you saw those bugs. So, they've got the conveniently placed bottled water (at $5.00 a pop, of course) right there for you.

I knew it!

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Good lord Doug. Its a lizard. Pick it up and hang it from your ear. Thats what we did as kids. They are everywhere. I don't think you can get rid of them in Florida.
 
DUURRR I know it's a lizard, Shooter!

But when there's a lot of them and they're scurrying about the bathroom like cats when you're opening a can of moist kat phood, it gets annoying.
 
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