A letter to Alan Joyce

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astrokid

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Oct 17, 2011
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Hello everyone

Was hoping to get everyone’s opinion on the letter that I just sent Alan Joyce.
I was so upset about what just happened that I wanted Alan himself to let me know what he personally thinks of the way I was treated this morning at the Qantas Melbourne domestic airport.

Your feedback is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Dear Mr Joyce

First of all, I am sorry to email you with the below. It is with great disappointment that I write to you as a result of what just happened to me at Melbourne airport.

My name is <astrokid: name redacted> and I have been a very loyal customer to Qantas my entire life. Not just a customer, but also an ambassador. I have brought many people on trips with me flying your airline as well as converting many Virgin flyers over to Qantas over the years. Given my profound loyalty, my expectation is that when the tables turn and life circumstances impact my life to a point where Qantas could possibly accommodate me if possible, then I would be appreciative and further encourage me to carry on being the ambassador to Qantas that I have become to be.

I have chosen to email you personally as I would very much like to get your personal opinion on what has happened to me this morning. I would like to know if this is the way you would like the airline that you have worked so hard towards in turning around to address and treat loyal passengers like myself.

I was booked on a Melbourne to Sydney flight at 9am booking reference xx_xx_. I stayed at my friend’s house for the weekend as her partner had to be away, because she has severe epilepsy she cannot be left alone. At approximately 1am this morning she had a seizure that I could not control. I had to call an ambulance and ended up at the hospital all night till about 5am when her mother arrived at hospital after her night shift if work.

I was forced to go straight to the airport with a hope that I would be put on an earlier flight even though I had purchased a red edeal. I thought that perhaps due to compassionate reasons that the airline that I have always been loyal towards could perhaps bend a rule for me and allow me to alleviate the currently congested Melbourne lounge due to the renovations as a result of the confronting situation that I had to deal with overnight.

When I arrived at the airport I approached the service desk to ask if there any spare seats on an earlier flight, relayed my story and was told that I had to pay about $200 to be moved to an earlier flight. It’s actually annoying for a loyal Platinum flyer to hear this because as you may know, Virgin Platinum flyers have this as a scheduled benefit where they are able to fly earlier should they arrive at the airport before their scheduled flight, if there is a spare seat on an earlier flight then they are welcome to it. Even more annoying that I have had many friends and colleagues leave Qantas and move to Virgin as a result of their Platinum benefits being superior to Qantas’. I had no interest in paying a change fee that cost more than my actual flight. This option was given to me by <Staff1: name redacted> at the ticket desk at Melbourne domestic.

I then thought to try my luck at the lounge as I thought they could be more flexible with flight changes especially during busy lounge periods. Especially when Melbourne is experiencing renovations at the moment to the point on not allowing certain member guests in to the qantas club. I dealt with Fiona at the Business Lounge. <Staff1: name redacted> has already placed remarks on my booking so of course, <Staff2: name redacted> was not going to do anything for me after <Staff1: name redacted> displayed no compassion or leniency towards my situation.

I proceeded to check In at the counter, where I was served by <Staff3: name redacted> . I am not always served with a smile or by Qantas staff that are happy to be doing the work that they are employed to do but in this instance, <Staff3: name redacted> greeted me with a huge smile and even asked noticed how exhausted I looked. I proceeded to tell her why and told her about my night. <Staff3: name redacted> decided to change me to an earlier flight, the 6.15am as per the attached boarding pass. Not only was she accomodating, polite and professional. She also clearly acknowledged my continue loyalty as a Platinum flyer and my unexpected personal circumstances of what happened with my friend that I was caring for overnight. For the record, I know her name as I got her to write it down for me so that I could give Qantas positive feedback on her level of customer service.

I proceeded to the lounge feeling valued and appreciated by Qantas.

10 minutes later, the Business Lounge lounge supervisor made an announcement over the PA for me to go to the service desk. He had been instructed by <Staff5: name redacted> that my boarding pass be taken away from me unless I were to pay the change fee. Alan, this has become the most embaraaaig and awkward situation that I have ever experienced on any level of customer service. I was so upset and aggravated that I actually asked <Staff4: name redacted> to tell Paul Thomas that if this boarding pass is taken away from me after being given to me due to compassionate reasons that he would be seriously compromising my future as well as all of my current reservations with Qantas. <Staff5: name redacted> did not care. He proceeded to instruct that my check in bag be removed from the 6.15am and he had my boarding pass cancelled.

Today Qantas has made me feel very little. Today Qantas made me feel very sad. I do not feel valued and feel very embarrassed that I had to make a 2nd phone call to my driver In Sydney to let him know that even though Qantas granted me an earlier flight, it was taken back from me.

To think that this has happened to me of all people. After all that I have done for Qantas as an ambassador for you guys breaks my heart. This is why I have emailed you personally. I would like to hear from you and find out what your peraonal take is on this situation and what you think could be done to overcome my disappointment and broken heart that I currently have right now. I say broken heart because Qantas to me is like family.

My entire life I have flown with Qantas. I am almost at 20000 status credits and should I carry on flying with Qantas with current reservations, I will become Platinum 1 yet again at the beginning of June. So as you can imagine, for me to experience this level of service is unfathomable to me. I sincerely to hope to hear from you as I seriously cannot believe that I am even having to write to you about such a humiliating experience with your company.

Best regards

<astrokid: name redacted>
 
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Whilst it's disappointing, the rules are the rules.

The reason QF stopped allowing fly forward for any reason was some passengers would book cheaper flights all the time knowing that they could get moved forward most of the time and this cost QF a lot of money.

You were told no, knew some comments were added to your booking and yet still tried to get a free move to an earlier flight.

I expect for every genuine request like yours there'd be a number where people are trying to get moved to an early flight just to save money compared with booking the early flight in the first place.
 
To think that this has happened to me of all people.

Im glad your friend had you there for her. Im sure you brought her a lot of comfort and it says a lot about you as a person.

For the rest, sometimes we dont get what we really want and it sucks. It would have been nice if things worked out better for you but again, sometimes we dont get what we want.

Your friend will get better/will be home soon, you got to Sydney, no one died. In the scheme of things, its going to be OK.
 
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I hope your friend is ok.

This letter of complaint is not particularly concise and is full of hyperbole. Realistically AJ will forward this onto someone so they can respond. It is long-winded and loses any affect that you were hoping for.
 
Doubt it would even get to AJ for him to read it. I think it was a bit poor to take rhe Bp back after it was issued. But this is Qf....
 
Perceptions of our role in an airline are always something I reckon we like to think are bigger than they actually are. For instance, while I don’t doubt you’re loyal to have earned over 20k status credits, it would be someone who has done that in business seats that is worth more to the airline.

Over and over you mention you’ve been an ambassador for Qantas. Qantas has their own Ambassadors so better not confuse him. There are probably many regular flyers that advocate for them, like yourself. I’ve got my partner, mother and father flying them. However, the way their data works I don’t think they can see who introduced who and further, who they should thank.

And this brings me to how they handle the rest of their data. When you approach a service desk it appears that you are expecting the person behind the counter to know all of your referrals, good deeds, lifetime SC total and number of times you’ve hit each level, among other things. But, that’s not the information they see, so they can only make their decision based on the difference in fare. Maybe they should see that info, ‘to promote goodwill to the right passengers’.

On the subject of the service desk to check-in desk to lounge desk I think that is bad service. That said though, I never go to the service desk to change flights as I very rarely get service. If I’m going to try move to an earlier flight I always ask at check-in. If no luck then that’s life.

I have written Alan myself and received a response from a PA, but I kept to the facts.
 
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Thank you for caring about my friend. She is doing ok!

As for the level of support from here. I’m lost for words. Let’s just leave it at that. #rulesarerules
 
It's a shame you didn't go straight to the check-in counter.

It really is poor the Check-in was reversed. It reflects badly on Qantas.

You may like to run a spell checker over the missive.
 
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Thank you for caring about my friend. She is doing ok!

As for the level of support from here. I’m lost for words. Let’s just leave it at that. #rulesarerules

Regardless of whether we feel that you should have been flowed forward without charge or not, our comments come from experience dealing with complaints. Unfortunately the way you’ve structured your complaint isn’t likely to get the result you are after other than a template response as it isn’t concise but full of hyperbole.
 
Another Suggestion, maybe be more concise. e.g.

- You have been a long time supporter of Qantas over their competitors, like an Ambassador even.

- You had a medical emergency to deal with; as a result you had no sleep and felt you needed to get home earlier.

- You asked to be moved to an earlier flight three times without paying a change fee on compassionate grounds; the first two time your request was rejected. The Third time your request was accepted; bags were checked and boarding pass issued for the earlier flight.

- While waiting for you new flight, you were summoned in the Lounge and asked to pay the change fee. You declined and your boarding pass was then revoked and your bags removed from the aircraft.

- This belittling experience is something you never expected to have from Qantas and after having flown Qantas all you life is making you reconsider your ongoing loyalty.

Also, you need to specify how you feel Qantas may be able to make you whole again.
 
I can see <Staff3: name redacted> getting in trouble for not following the rules.

The letter is way too long. As previously mentioned too much hyperbole and irrelevant material.

In my opinion your only legitimate complaint is having the flight change cancelled on you after it was (incorrectly) issued.

Treat your post here as a vent and move on. Don't send it.
 
Another Suggestion, maybe be more concise. e.g.

- You have been a long time supporter of Qantas over their competitors, an Ambassador even.

- You had a medical emergency to deal with; as a result you had no sleep and felt you needed to get home earlier.

- You asked to be moved to an earlier flight three times without paying a change fee on compassionate grounds; the first two time your request was rejected. The Third time your request was accepted; bags were checked and boarding pass issued for the earlier flight.

- While waiting for you new flight, you were summoned in the Lounge and asked to pay the change fee. You declined and your boarding pass was then revoked and your bags removed from the aircraft.

- This belittling experience is something you never expected to have from Qantas and after having flown Qantas all you life is making you reconsider your ongoing loyalty.

Also, you need to specify how you feel Qantas may be able to make you whole again.

Thanks for the tips. Fortunately bad experiences and me wanting to write a letter of this nature has never happened before with anyone. Nor am I a professional complaints writer. Or a writer for that matter.

Unfortunately I wrote this immediately after the situation unfolded so perhaps I did not write it in the best manner.

What is done is done. Thanks again.
 
For QF to issue the boarding pass - knowing the circumstances - compassionate.

To go to the extreme extent of retracting it - knowing not only the circumstances but also how easy it would be to 'just let it go' once issued - unconscionable.

Whether the complaint to a large company is worded in the best possible way - immaterial.
 
That is a series of unfortunate events. I think they did what they would normally do in such circumstances on a cheap fare, and there isn't a real complaint to be had there. Sadly the person who did issue the early boarding pass now has probably been chastened. To take it back again however is just spiteful. And that is where they erred. They should have treated that as a learning experience.
Thanks for the tips. Fortunately bad experiences and me wanting to write a letter of this nature has never happened before with anyone. Nor am I a professional complaints writer. Or a writer for that matter.

Unfortunately I wrote this immediately after the situation unfolded so perhaps I did not write it in the best manner.

What is done is done. Thanks again.

The older I get the more I realise that writing off an immediate complaint, while angry or upset, is not usually the way to get any action. I craft it while fresh but then re read and correct it a few hours later.
 
I don't know how sophisticated their systems are, but I wouldn't be surprised if the staff member that denied a free fly forward could have somehow subscribed to be alerted to any changes to the booking, saw the free flow forward and moved to get the free change reversed. The staff member that denied the free flow forward probably considered that they did a good job for the company and would be upset if they learnt another staff member sought to overrule their decision.

It could also just be that any such late change would get manually reviewed as a matter of course and the notes stood out.

We may not like the way some things work, but QF is run to make a profit.
 
Another example of QF loyalty being a one way street but the rules are also there for a reason. In reality a call to the WP 1 team may have assisted but unfortunately the letter is an example of - put it in the bottom drawer and leave it there for 24 hours and read it again after you are more calm. It will probably be answered by a PA who in my experience may phone you so they do not have to put anything in writing.
 
This is an absolute shocker.

The Director of Customer Service/Experience/whatever at QF should be made aware of this disaster of a service delivery. There is one golden rule in customer service: Don't promise what you cannot deliver.

Not only in this case did QF promise, they actually delivered a boarding pass and then retracted it in that fashion? Ugh. I'm a fair and honest person. You were a little cheeky trying it on three times, but you eventually got what you wanted. That is not your problem. If one staff member went out of the way to help a loyal customer and give a little, then how on earth should it be the customer's fault? I would hate to think that the staff member who found your circumstances compelling enough to change your flight would receive any discipline at all for her effort.

As it is, it seems like the culture is one of strict enforcement and blame. I would be baying for blood if this happened to me.
 
In reality a call to the WP 1 team may have assisted
astrokid is a WP not a P1 according to the first post in the thread. For those of us who are WP and would find P1 difficult/impossible to reach it would've been nice if WP was still the top tier. Perhaps then some leniency would be extended that's now more likely to only be shown to P1 (if at all).
 
but I wouldn't be surprised if the staff member that denied a free fly forward could have somehow subscribed to be alerted to any changes to the booking, saw the free flow forward and moved to get the free change reversed.
Oh my, that is awful then. Surely they have better things to do!
 
I agree that the letter should be shorter and more concise. Too late as it is sent. I would probably rewrite it and send it again to the head of loyalty.

Beyond that the first few staff were doing their job and whilst I would be frustrated I would understand. They lost credibility IMHO when they reversed their previous decision and put the OP back on the original flight. That is appalling customer service.

So what do you do? Only choice is to see if their is a decent response from Qantas and/or move some/all of the flying to alternate operators.
 
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