Qantas last minute QF9 cancellation / bumping

[encryptededdy]

This is a bit of a vent from me, but I thought I'd share it here along with some questions.

My friend visiting from Berlin (who has featured previously in my post about bad advice from Qantas staff at LHR/DRW regarding having to pass customs to transit Sydney Airport, and in my post in the Qantas Call Center thread about changes to their flight not ticketing in time) is leaving Melbourne tomorrow (Friday) afternoon on QF9, as you can see in this E-ticket previously issued.


Just then (8pm the night before the flight), he received this email in his inbox along with no other communication from Qantas;


He's been rebooked to fly to Berlin on EK.... on Sunday, arriving Monday afternoon. What the hell? This also seems to be issued as a manual ticketing job.

As you can see, he's getting this email 18 hours before his flight tomorrow. Of course this EK flight doesn't work for him, as he needs to be in Berlin for work on Monday (the original flight arrived Saturday morning).

Given QF9 seems to be operating tomorrow, I assume it has been overbooked and he's been bumped off.

He's currently waiting on the phone to speak with Qantas (using the flight change priority number that usually takes you to the SA call center) trying to be put on an earlier flight. 30 minutes on hold so far, no idea how long this is going to take. Had this email come through any later, he would've been in for a huge shock tomorrow morning!

A few questions though: Due to the last minute nature of this change (<24h from original flight departure), what should he ask for / be entitled to? Can he ask to be put on the next possible flight out (probably SQ)? Hopefully whoever picks up at the SA or Fiji call center tonight knows what they're doing, or we get HBA/AKL.

Other Notes;
- Status is NB
- He had not done OLCI for QF9 yet (was planning to do it in the morning)
- No other contact from Qantas that we can see
- MMB just shows the new flights. No sign of the old flights or the usual "Accept/Change/Cancel" option displayed when you get a flight change.
- The complementary lounge pass I sent him is probably now wasted, since it was linked to this flight which he can no longer take

 

[MEL_Traveller]

the terms and conditions are the ‘next available qantas service’. Nothing more. (or a refund, but they would take out the one way and refund almost nothing)

We have no protections here in australia. If this had been in reverse EU protections would have applied.

I would press for routing on another carrier, no harm in asking, or an earlier flight.

 

[encryptededdy]

Well here's an update: 1h15m on hold, picked up, gave agent the PNR, they said they'd look into it and put us on hold... 5 minutes later they hung up on us. Lovely.

I suspect tonight will be a late night.

 

[AIRwin]

Try asking to be rebooked on QR which flies direct to BER...

 

[dylarr]

Looking at tomorrow's QF9 on EF, the inventory has been zeroed out but flight not formally cancelled yet.

Those Amadeus itinerary e-mails are triggered by a human after they've made changes to a PNR, which is probably why you're not seeing the accept changes button in MMB. Also the details with it coming from "Qantas Commercial Operations" looks like the change is the handy work of somebody in the operations centre (usually it will say "Qantas Contact Centres" if triggered by a call centre agent).

Some speculation on what has happened:

* The flight is about to be officially cancelled but they're mopping up some of the PNR's first before pulling the trigger
* They may need to shed some weight due to expected weather
* Oversold

 

[exLXCXFF]

* The flight is about to be officially cancelled but they're mopping up some of the PNR's first before pulling the trigger

Putting @Melburnian1 at notice regarding QF9 tomorrow - might be something to report about.

 

[justinbrett]

QF1 is zeroed out as well, suspect they are saving room to accommodate people from QF9 if it is cancelled

 

[TheInsider]

I would say severely weight restricted out of DRW.

 

[jrfsp]

I would say severely weight restricted out of DRW.

This has been happening for months with people being rebooked on ek at the last minute to reduce weight if conditions are unfavourable

 

[encryptededdy]

Try asking to be rebooked on QR which flies direct to BER...

Thanks for this excellent suggestion. Qantas kept wanting to put us on Emirates, which was suboptimal due to it arriving too late for work.

Was able to push the agent to put him on QR MEL-DOH-BER on Saturday, arriving midday Sunday. My friend hung up before the e-tickets were issued which caused my heart to skip a beat (since he saw the flights show up in MMB and thought that was good enough). Thankfully the e-tickets issued successfully a few minutes later.

Looks like Qantas paid for full fare Economy (Y) tickets - that means free exit row seating!


I understand the need to change flights sometimes but jeez, a fresh e-ticket out of the blue (for 2 days in the future!) the night before the flight really isn't the way to do it.

I assume my friend would be eligible for a nights accommodation and meal voucher for the extra night he has to stay in Melbourne as per Qantas Policy, since he was informed less than 72h before his flight? Hopefully it's not too much trouble getting it...

 

[dylarr]

That's a pretty decent outcome all things considered! Curious - do you know which call centre the agent was from?

 

[encryptededdy]

That's a pretty decent outcome all things considered! Curious - do you know which call centre the agent was from?

Best guess SA (yeah, I'm surprised too).

 

[justinbrett]

Ah, just checked the NOTAMs, there is a displaced threshold in Darwin for the next two days due to runway works.

 

[levelnine]

These DRW-LHR flights seem to be causing QF a lot of problems at the moment. I'm actually a bit surprised they haven't tried to bring forward the resumption of PER-LHR.

 

[renatts]

Glad it worked out for your friend, QR Y will be far better than QF. Shame about the delay though.

This is somewhat scary for me. We are flying QF9 next Friday on a OWA to start our honeymoon. I'll be ropeable if we get shafted. Hopefully we are insulated by being in U class. That said, if we got BNE - DOH - HEL on QR in J instead I'd probably accept that

Got an email this morning about AY131 on the way home having another schedule change, heart skipped a beat. Luckily we still have 2h10m in SIN even with the change, so our flight home hasn't been destroyed.... yet..

 

[AIRwin]

Thanks for this excellent suggestion

Another suggestion for your friend to check out the giant teddy bear in the airport if he hasn't flown through DOH!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Glad it worked out for your friend, QR Y will be far better than QF. Shame about the delay though.

This is somewhat scary for me. We are flying QF9 next Friday on a OWA to start our honeymoon. I'll be ropeable if we get shafted. Hopefully we are insulated by being in U class. That said, if we got BNE - DOH - HEL on QR in J instead I'd probably accept that

Got an email this morning about AY131 on the way home having another schedule change, heart skipped a beat. Luckily we still have 2h10m in SIN even with the change, so our flight home hasn't been destroyed.... yet..

My friend was in the AY->QF connection at SIN. The AY flight was running late and missed MCT by five minutes, all connecting lax transferred off QF to JQ Bit of a downgrade for business class.

Of course the incoming AY pax had oodles of time to make the QF flight… but rules are rules.

 

[AIRwin]

Was able to push the agent to put him on QR MEL-DOH-BER on Saturday, arriving midday Sunday.

Looks like the MEL-DOH flight is now full... Hope he is upgraded!

 

[renatts]

My friend was in the AY->QF connection at SIN. The AY flight was running late and missed MCT by five minutes, all connecting lax transferred off QF to JQ Bit of a downgrade for business class.

Of course the incoming AY pax had oodles of time to make the QF flight… but rules are rules.

That would suck. Especially being an overnight flight.

It seems weird though, I've had ultra-delayed flights through Changi and Abu Dhabi in the past with only 30ish minutes between arrival and departure and we were just rushed onto the plane - which obviously departed late due to waiting for connecting passengers. They were the same airline though, perhaps the difference.

To miss the minimum connection time by 5 minutes still gives you 55 minutes, plenty of time - I'd really have to contain my rage I think.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Looks like Qantas paid for full fare Economy (Y) tickets - that means free exit row seating!

Comes through as Y but airlines have pre-negotiated rates for these scenarios which are usually organised at the operational level - known as flight interruption manifest (FIM)