QF social media team being really vindictive

[Daver6]

I'm rather stunned and what my wife has just been told by the QF call centre.

Background: OWE J 280k trip has been booked. At the time of booking my wife was WP and myself SG. There were only Y+ seats for the SYD to JNB sector (30th May). A WP release request was put in but no seats could be released. We were told that we can and should keep trying up until the flight. I mentioned that my wife will no longer be WP but was told they can still do it as at the time of booking she was.

Fast forward to about a week and a bit ago. Called up and yes, they put in a request for J seat release and it came back as no go. We were told to keep trying.

I'm a Twitter user. I also was aware there were at least 10 free J seats so was quite disappointed nothing was released. I posted on Twitter that I was disappointed that essentially paid for J got Y+ on this sector. QF social media got in touch on Twitter with me privately on Twitter after publicly indicating they would attempt to resolve. They went through the spiel about allocation and I again said I found it disappointing given the seats and seemed contradictory to what we were told at the time of booking. It was left at that and I publicly said that I was still disappointed.

Anyway, to the situation at present. My wife decided to call and give it one last try. She got a rather rude individual who just said she couldn't put in the request (even though everyone we had previously spoke to said otherwise). She was getting no where so she hung up and called again. This time she got someone who was much more helpful who read through the history. She could see we had just called and volunteered that there was a note on the file from the social media team saying that they were to not put in further requests and not engage with us on the matter. We were both pretty stunned by this.

I'm sure some people will read this and think we are attempting to get something that we aren't entitled to. Perhaps so, but the beef I have is again, Qantas saying one thing and then doing something else in future. The fact the social media team has put such a note in the file for this booking seems really vindictive to me.

If they had just put in the request tonight and it was denied again, I would still have been disappointed, but now I'm just really angry with what we've found out.

Perhaps the moral of the story is don't say anything bad about QF in public or you may be black listed.

And just to clarify. This is NOT a rant about not getting J seats. Its about the note stuck on the booking.

 

[mannej]

I am trying to decipher from the information you have provided where QF have acted contrary to the advice that they presented to you at the start?

The advice from what I can gather is for you to keep trying to get the J seats released, and from what it seems there was never a guarantee that they would come through.

Whilst the notes placed on your history may not have been complimentary, I think that volunteering that information was also poor form. Whilst it can be considered vindictive, I don't believe sharing that information was particularly warranted.

Also did you figure that the 10 J seats were available from the in unallocated seats on EF, or by loadings?

 

[Daver6]

I am trying to decipher from the information you have provided where QF have acted contrary to the advice that they presented to you at the start?

The advice from what I can gather is for you to keep trying to get the J seats released, and from what it seems there was never a guarantee that they would come through.

Whilst the notes placed on your history may not have been complimentary, I think that volunteering that information was also poor form. Whilst it can be considered vindictive, I don't believe sharing that information was particularly warranted.

Also did you figure that the 10 J seats were available from the in unallocated seats on EF, or by loadings?

They suggested at the time of booking if there were a bunch of unsold J seats that they would likely be released upon request. I'm aware there was no guarantee, but was disappointed, but accepting.

Agree. Releasing the information about the note was the height if stupidity in my opinion. At the very least, humour the customer, don't insult them and appear vindictive. Love for QF right now is some negative value.

Both by loadings and QF themselves agreed that there seemed to be a lot of unsold seats at the time of the call a couple of weeks ago.

 

[mannej]

That doesn't answer my question though of where you got the figure of 10 unallocated seats?

 

[Princess Fiona]

This is a pretty daft cough up by QF. Promise much and deliver little except perhaps too much information by the last Rep on the telephone.

It looks as if you and your wife were never going to get those seats released, especially as a WP release at the time of booking was denied. To be honest I wouldn't have bothered engaging further with QF on this after that failure and if it wasn't acceptable to me I'd have re-routed, re-booked onto something that was or accepted the W seats if that wasn't possible.
I cannot see how the Social Media team on Twitter could ever have any influence over QFF and Yield Management and perhaps the comments about not engaging further with you were due to that cold hard fact. If so the message could and should have been delivered better IMO.

 

[Daver6]

That doesn't answer my question though of where you got the figure of 10 unallocated seats?

I'm unsure of the exact terminology. Someone (a friend) with access to the information provided it to me showing availability of 9 in the J bucket and another 2 in another business class bucket.

 

[amaroo]

I hope you haven't got that last agent the sack.

Somethings should remain private...

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I imagine there are also pax with a higher tier status than SG with points upgrades to J in the system pending so while from your perspective it may appear there are '10 spare seats' (or whatever the true figure is) that they won't release 2 of to a SG pax, the airline may see it as 2 less J seats available to WP pax to upgrade on points.

It's also quite possible that the amount of pax requesting J upgrades exceeds the amount of J seats available for upgrade so not everyones request may be successful and that the airline may be reluctant to further reduce the number of people to miss out by another 2 seats.

 

[Daver6]

This is a pretty daft cough up by QF. Promise much and deliver little except perhaps too much information by the last Rep on the telephone.

It looks as if you and your wife were never going to get those seats released, especially as a WP release at the time of booking was denied. To be honest I wouldn't have bothered engaging further with QF on this after that failure and if it wasn't acceptable to me I'd have re-routed, re-booked onto something that was or accepted the W seats if that wasn't possible.
I cannot see how the Social Media team on Twitter could ever have any influence over QFF and Yield Management and perhaps the comments about not engaging further with you were due to that cold hard fact. If so the message could and should have been delivered better IMO.

You are probably right. However, each time we requested they strongly encouraged us to try keep trying. That's the reason for pursuing it, plus it does make some logical sense that at close to time of flight, perhaps if there are many unsold J seats they may release more. Had they just said no way from the start, I would have accepted it. Call it false hope.

There was no other way to get to JNB for us and not unhappy with Y+ given that it's a day flight.

As I said in the original post. My unhappiness with QF is not about being in Y+. It's the comments passed on to us, that to me, seem vindictive.

 

[Daver6]

I imagine there are also pax with a higher tier status than SG with points upgrades to J in the system pending so while from your perspective it may appear there are '10 spare seats' (or whatever the true figure is) that they won't release 2 of to a SG pax, the airline may see it as 2 less J seats available to WP pax to upgrade on points.

It's also quite possible that the amount of pax requesting J upgrades exceeds the amount of J seats available for upgrade so not everyones request may be successful and that the airline may be reluctant to further reduce the number of people to miss out by another 2 seats.

I totally agree with you and that exact thought had crossed my mind.

To reiterate though, my grumble here is not about not getting J seats.

 

[medhead]

I'm unsure of the exact terminology. Someone (a friend) with access to the information provided it to me showing availability of 9 in the J bucket and another 2 in another business class bucket.

The thing is that availability shows a maximum of 9 seats in any fare bucket. There are 4 business fare buckets. Even if all show 9 all you know is that there a 9 seats that might be sold of any one of the 4 fare buckets. Basically the fare buckets are not coughulative.

Doesn't make the note on your booking right. But I always assume qantas will mark my card. It doesn't stop me commenting on their failures.

 

[Alanslegal]

This time she got someone who was much more helpful who read through the history. She could see we had just called and volunteered that there was a note on the file from the social media team saying that they were to not put in further requests and not engage with us on the matter. We were both pretty stunned by this.

That is pretty nasty from Qantas. The social media team weren't happy that you maintained your 'disappointed' stance so they decided to make your life miserable. Maybe it's time to ditch Qantas - tell them to shove it in a place that the sun doesn't shine - and send your business elsewhere. I know they won't care either as they have a majority of 10 million members who blindly will continue with them anyway.

 

[jpk]

Call centre agents telling you to try again later is usually their way of trying to get you off the phone without p1ssing you off - leaving some positive hope for the future, even if they know the situation is unlikely to change. Kinda like IT telling you "ring back after you've turned it off and on again".

Like Princess Fiona said, once it failed the first time, situation was unlikely to ever change. Sorry to hear of the fallout though, I can imagine how unpleasant that was for you. Without knowing their side of the story, it is slightly worrying to hear...

 

[N860CR]

Qantas are great at pulling the "try again later" or "I'll ask somebody else to call you IF they can help" in order to get you off the line.

Interestingly... I've had the opposite. Social media telling me one thing and then customer care having a go at me for daring to go above them.

The social media "angles" can be variable in their competence

 

[Kangol]

I hope you haven't got that last agent the sack.

Somethings should remain private...

QF are probably saying the same thing to the agent...

 

[mannej]

I'm unsure of the exact terminology. Someone (a friend) with access to the information provided it to me showing availability of 9 in the J bucket and another 2 in another business class bucket.

The loadings aren't coughulative, so J9I2 doesn't necessarily mean that there are 11 seats available.

That is also the reason why counting unallocated seats on a seat map doesn't tell you how many seats are still for sale, as it doesn't take into account things such as those who haven't selected seats yet.

At a minimum QF were willing to sell 9 seats, but it is a guide and not exact.

The point has been made, but unless you are in Yield Management, it can be very hard to understand their rationale at times.

 

[Daver6]

Thanks for the explanations on the loadings. I wasn't actually sure what they all meant. However, QF phone reps didn't disagree when I suggested there we many available J seats. Regardless, that isn't the point or my bone of contention.

I wonder what other black marks I have against my account now too. I'm going to guess it means I'm back of the queue for any op-ups and the like in future too. As Bruno might say, "I've been schwartz listed".

Someone suggested taking my business elsewhere. It's tempting and something I will consider. It won't make any difference to QF, but giving my money to a company that will insult me to my face really irks me.

My other options are, just let it go and move on. Tweet to QF that I'm well aware of the comments they made in regards to the situation (probably result in some more nasty comments). Email AJ (well aware he wont respond and probably nothing will happen).

As someone has said, the media team weren't happy that I maintained my disappointed stance and have made my life miserable. Pretty rubbish feeling for a start of a month long trip tomorrow. I can't say I feel like stepping aboard a QF aircraft (even thought its J to SYD and then Y+). Thankfully the rest of the trip is with other OW carriers and I can just put this nasty and disappointing business behind us.

 

[blackcat20]

Regardless of whether or not the seats were ever going to be released, it seems very unnecessary for such a comment to be put against your booking. Rather childish really and not a great look for Qantas.

 

[opusman]

At a maximum QF were willing to sell 9 seats, but it is a guide and not exact.

Actually 9 is the minimum, not the maximum

 

[N860CR]

For interests sake, what date is the flight?