Australia’s class system of brands

Yes enjoy challenging them I now deliberately dress scruffy just to test service everywhere I see what class assumptions means and I see how they lose $ because of it

Having worked with Qantas in various capacities I can tell you that they have a unofficial phrase for customers who turn right, and it’s one I’ve heard many people from various depts use at different times, so I would assume it’s a common tag within the walls of Qantas. They call them Self Loading Cargo. So if that’s how they typically refer to their economy customers it might help to explain the class divide mentality.

Great read. But I wonder with flight attendants if it’s to do with the difference between working in economy versus working in business. With the former, you have hundreds of customers in a cramped space that they have to look after. With business, they’re in a roomier space with about 90 percent less customers than in economy. It could all come down to stress and being overworked.
As for the idea behind this article, it’s amazing how many times you get snubbed by staff if you may looked slightly under dressed or not cool enough. I walked into a clothing store the other day the same time as a smartly dressed guy. I was just in skme jeans and hoodie. He was in cool pants, nice tshirt and a fashionable jacket. The woman greeted the smartly dressed guy warmly and gave a quick hello to me. She then proceeded to ask the other man questions about his day and if needed her help. He seemed completely disinterested, while I was actively looking for clothes and sizes. I had gone in to find clothes but walked out because I felt like I was ignored. Brands need to train workers that they shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Tim: It’s the same on Emirates, Cathay, Singapore and even Qantas Premium Economy. The fact is: it’s the ratio of staff to people. Which is a ratio of dollars to seats. Not too hard to figure.
What’s different now is that Qantas inflight staff are far more attentive since the competition kicked in. It’s always been a good service.

I will give a quick personal story about this: I walked in to Mercedes Benz Kingsway one day to have my car looked over for a warranty problem. I had purchased this car from Mercedes Benz Berwick, which is approximately 40 kilometres from Melbourne CBD. The disdainful treatment I received from Kingsway made me vow never to give them my custom. Now I still make the 40 kilometre trip to Berwick for everything. They value you. My friend, a Volkswagen customer even noted this when he visited. As the manager said, “our policy is, regardless of what car you buy now, we want you here for the long haul”. Most brands, or their retail touchpoints, need to be aware of how they treat every customer, because you never know who they are and their future value to the business.

Yes Tim, ‘. . . staff make unconscious judgements’. We all do. That’s life.

Many, many moons ago I was shopping for a very formal dress for a ball. I had about $2000 to spend. Being new to Sydney, I’d asked around and was told to try David Jones on 7.

I guess I wasn’t thinking about the shorts and t tshirt I was wearing, with a woven bag slung over my shoulder. I’d have probably looked more at home in Bali.

I saw a stunning floor length skirt and asked the assistant how much it was. And she replied it was $10,000.

I sighed and said under my breath ” Gee, I could buy a car for that”.

Her response? “Perhaps Madam is on the wrong floor”. And she turned and walked away.

I found a dress. It wasn’t at DJs.

I wore a hoodie & trainers in BA First this week but they still fawned admirably.

On most airlines there are two issues:

1) Western airline staff don’t generally do service as well as their Asian rivals. Some cultural issue here.

2) Even so, there’s a deliberate effort to distinguish the classes: there has to be, if you get great service in economy then what is the point of the premium cabins? If you want business class service then buy a business class ticket.

The bank staff have no excuse as you don’t know how much someone has to deposit even though most books can still be judged by their covers.

“And sometimes, business class customers do travel economy class. Their brand perceptions are formed there too.”

If you get to the stage where you get a shiny card, it doesn’t matter where you sit.

It’s somewhat embarrassing to be sitting with all the Economy passengers mid flight and the head flight attendant come back, welcome you by name, ask if there’s anything they can do for you, and then just walk off again without talking to your surrounding neighbours.

Gets awkward in coach when they bring you wine, snacks etc from the business class cabin

A couple of years ago my partner and I were looking to buy a particular 90s super-car.
We drove down to Sutherland from Sydney to look at one that a dealer had.
We asked how much it was, and they dealer simply didn’t take us seriously. He said a stupid, unrealistic price and basically laughed at us.

Needless to say we didn’t even bother trying to negotiate a price and were happy to spend further time and effort to find one elsewhere.

I suspect it was because we are two young(ish) men and were wearing shorts.

Also, I have a friend who goes out of his way to dress in old track pants when he goes shopping in luxury clothing stores, just so he can surprise the staff when he buys things.

Yonks ago I was skiing with Kurt Keller (from Kurt Keller Motors) who sold prestige cars.

I asked him if it ever happened somebody walked in wth his arse hanging out of his shorts, looked around and ultimately plonked down the cash for a car or two.

“ALL THE TIME” said Kurt. He went on to say his Staff were trained that, if ever they saw someone looking like a Hobo, they were to pay extra attention.

It paid off.

I have a saying “when you’re the real thing, you don’t have to bullshit anymore”.

So, WHO ELSE but a rich dude can stride into Cartier or First Class or Scuderia Veloce looking like they just came from gardening?

(I must confess, at times when I am caught ‘underdressed’ I can be heard to mention I “just came off the boat”. Two can play the sneer game!)

So…what I take from this is, act important and you’ll get treated well? noted

It’s an interesting, if rather obvious article.
The same thing happens every day all over the world with gender bias. I now live in Singapore and the obvious way service staff and most of society treat the male as the only person worth addressing when you are with your wife / girlfriend is terrible.
God help women with kids who travel in economy class. Surely at the bottom of the service pyramid?

Sadly, I feel like I have to agree with Good Moron above – it just makes sense to treat people a bit differently, at least on an airline. Why on earth would you be just as attentive to someone who has paid $1000 for their airfare as you are to the person who has paid $6000? You should always be polite and responsive, but jumping up to ask someone what they want should likely be reserved for the premium customers.

As for the other scenarios such as a bank, a car dealership, or a retail store…well, it’s just stupid for them not to teach their staff to be a little more aware of their biases, fully agree that the wealthiest people often look borderline homeless because they stopped giving a crap once their bank accounts hit 7 digits.

Hey Zenith. You make a good point about bank accounts. Mine hit 7 digits. Pity about the decimal point though.

Shiny cards, super cars, skiing with Kurt Keller, BA First, Mercedes Benz. Just as well the ad business isn’t smug or class conscious.

I had a great experience at a furniture shop on the weekend.

Being the weekend I didn’t see the point of changing my track pants as I madly dashed around ten different shops looking for a decent sofa.

100% leather, which meant upward of $5k, wife has impeccable taste so it had to be unique / designer, and I have a bad back which meant I could easily spend into the 10’s or 20’s for the right one.

And I found it. Beautiful leather, comfy, and looked like it belonged in a house in Como with a supermodel draped over it.

When the assistant came over as I was checking it out, she said ‘Can I help you with anything?’

I said ‘Actually I…’

She cut me off ‘$8,000. But there are many other furniture shops near here if you think that’s a bit rich’

To which my lovely wife said ‘What about this man makes you think he’s not earning at least four times your salary?’

The real bummer is, I want that couch, but my wife won’t let me near the place. And it’s a one-off.

Thinking of paying someone to copy it for about half the price.

Such is the price of rude service.

BTW – if you ever look around Double Bay, Mosman, Vaucluse etc, the really rich blokes are wearing fleecy jumpsuits and the only ones who actually dress up are the ones trying to snag a rich bloke.

Not that I’m rich, just an observation.

As a single mum with two kids, I can tell you that we’re at the bottom of the heap with everyone.. not just in economy class on Asian airlines.

I walked onto a car lot once, with my two boys, and asked if I could take a car for a test drive. The sales assistant looked me up and down and said “No.. it’s too difficult to get off the lot”. There was NOTHING blocking it in.

I went to a different dealer, bought the same brand new car, and then went back to the original dealership and asked to speak to the Manager. He was very embarrassed.

Not sure anyone makes unconscious decisions. Perhaps sub-conscious.
My own experience is that if you have staff making specific judgements about any customers based on perceived wealth, class, fame then they’re probably doing it wrong.
Surely the ideal is to treat everyone well enough that they become regulars.
In the case of air travel wouldn’t it make sense to give passengers more of a taste of business and first, rather than less? People’s circumstances change and a “non-experience” in economy doesn’t make anyone feel loyal for the time they then start using business.

It only takes a little bit extra to be above average.

I think you’ve touched on a truth for any business, especially service businesses. When did companies transition from earning (and valuing) your business to being entitled to it? It has changed the way they operate.

Working in hotels was a similar experience, many staff disliked serving Americans as they were perceived to be arrogant – the reality was they had a different expectation of service (confused for arrogance).

On the plus side, they also have a different perception on tipping good service.

Asked for a debit card at a credit union a few years ago as I was about to travel overseas (hello, it’s MY money !), and the teller called the security guard to escort me out immediately, no questions asked. True story.

I have flown with Emirates, pretty much exclusively for 5 years. I flew economy for the first couple of years, and always had a brilliant experience – the staff were always extremely polite and went out of their way for my ott requests (yes, i’m one of those). As a result, in 2012, I had a good paycheck and treated myself to a business class flight with Emirates (Sydney-London return) and I haven’t flown economy since. I see the value flying Business Class, and will recomend it to all (as long as the cash is available!). I also got involved with the Emirates Platinum Rewards Card with Citibank, which has helped me with and additional 50k air miles. No matter what, I only fly Emirates (unless they don’t go to the destination of choice)… I suppose I now class myself as an unofficial Emirates brand ambassador. They treated me well from the offset, and are now reaping the rewards.

I really believe that with Economy passengers on Airlines, they should treat everyone as if they will book their next flight on Business Class. People can afford to fly business class, but I don’t believe they see the value – thus do not want to take the risk…

I just wish to say that I do mostly work in the premium cabins but the job can put me in any cabin at any time during the flight and that I find it insulting when ppl generalise. As much as you find it demeaning to be “treated” according to some preconceived label so du we in the business. And all of you whom claim it is so and so across the board are committing the same error as the ppl you accuse of judging you for what cabin you travel in. Let me just say that neither myself nor my colleagues that I have worked with treat people according to their pocket! When a costumer boards our aircraft they are not only our costumers but also our guests! If any of you have any civil know how it means you treat people with respect no matter what they wear or what cabin they come from. To see ppl comment and say that crew automatically class and treat ppl based on what cabin they travel or how they dress is not just insulting but plain out ignorant. Is that how YOU treat ppl out in society? I should hope not! Be it economy, premium, business or first, we are taking care of PEOPLE, I love my job and do what I love with care and pride so pls in the future defer from putting us all down based on some personal experience. Im not alone there are thousands of caring an responsible crew out there, doing our very best to make your journey safe and enjoyable! To assume we treat based on wallet is to assume we have no RESPECT for a fellow person, and that is just not true!

I’ve got to respond, as Qantas cabin crew who has worked in all cabins, I jump to a passenger because I care about doing a good job. Regardless of the cabin the passenger comes from they all deserve respect. Many frequent flyers travel business for work but economy for family holidays. Obviously in economy during busy periods there are time constraints on individually attentive service. At 4am there is no reason that a good crew member wouldn’t provide the same level of service in any cabin, with whatever resources have been provided. It’s not about money. It’s about the right people in the right jobs.

Before long we’ll be served by robots anyway… The problem is, they’ll probably offer better service to a customer based on their actual bank balance. I don’t know what’s worse, at least for now you can fake it.