A tale of Qantas award booking 'consultants'

[seritonin]

I don't normally rant, but today I thought I'd share my experience booking an award ticket through Qantas call centre. I try to avoid calling Qantas phone booking for award flight because of the fee but I had no choice since the website kept giving me error 'Cannot confirm flights. please start over...'. The booking was for simple 2 pax LAX-SFO on AA (Y).
The first phone consultant (as Qantas calls them) threaten me with the phone booking fee before asking me to check my web browser by clicking 'viewing tips' on the bottom right corner of the website to see if my web browser is up to date (5 ticks on technical criteria), mine was not which i was not aware of so I updated the browser and tried to book again, the error still came up.
The second phone consultant flatly refused to believe me when I told her about the error, and threatened to charge me the booking fee if she had to make the booking for me. Eventually, I convinced her to try to book them for me and she encountered the error herself. Without explanation, she then proceed to book the award tix but when I got the confirmation email, I realised she spelled my partner's name wrong!
The third phone consultant was very friendly at first but she hung up on me :evil: after I told her the problem, her colleague (fourth phone consultant) assured me it was an accident.
Finally, the fourth phone consultant resolved the issue and re-booked the whole itinerary ticketed them. A simple booking turned to 2 hours and 4 phone calls, not the best way to spend my Sunday morning!

 

[clifford]

Yes, the Qantas website is one of the worst for booking award tix. And where is the "Any Seat Award" functionality? Consigned to the dustbin, I imagine.

UA, for example, is streets ahead, and the ability to book award flights on Star Alliance members is awsome. UA also does not impose those ripoff "fuel fines".

Note, I am Gold with both QF and UA (lifetime Platinum actually).

 

[Limewood]

Yes, the Qantas website is one of the worst for booking award tix. And where is the "Any Seat Award" functionality? Consigned to the dustbin, I imagine.

Yep thy took it way and left us with the incarnation of a web site we have today, so much wasted space and awkward to use, apparently its an enhancement :evil:.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I don't normally rant, but today I thought I'd share my experience booking an award ticket through Qantas call centre. I try to avoid calling Qantas phone booking for award flight because of the fee but I had no choice since the website kept giving me error 'Cannot confirm flights. please start over...'. The booking was for simple 2 pax LAX-SFO on AA (Y).

What was the final points & taxes cost?

It's always worth comparing the cost of actually purchasing an airfare particularly for within the US as airfares are cheap. You may find it better value to hang on to your QF ff points to use at a later date for an award ticket in a premium cabin.

 

[mrfreeze]

The first phone consultant (as Qantas calls them) threaten me with the phone booking fee before asking me to check my web browser by clicking 'viewing tips' on the bottom right corner of the website to see if my web browser is up to date (5 ticks on technical criteria), mine was not which i was not aware of so I updated the browser and tried to book again, the error still came up.
The second phone consultant flatly refused to believe me when I told her about the error, and threatened to charge me the booking fee if she had to make the booking for me. Eventually, I convinced her to try to book them for me and she encountered the error herself.

Did you then ask her to check her web browser by clicking 'viewing tips' on the bottom right corner of the website to see if her web browser is up to date?
I have had a similar issue with them not accepting my web browser was not showing a menu to change flights, and when they checked they had the same issue.

 

[Traveller1955]

I called Qantas yesterday to book a MASA and my experience with the QF consultant, Cameron was excellent. He knew what I was trying to do as a SC nut and said no fee was payable as stated in the AFF script as booking at Classic rates can only be done on the phone and no fee was paid. I had an excellent experience. So I think it comes down to how you speak to the consultant!

 

[cove]

I have not had a problem in recent times and the ASA staff have been really helpful.

 

[seritonin]

What was the final points & taxes cost?

It's always worth comparing the cost of actually purchasing an airfare particularly for within the US as airfares are cheap. You may find it better value to hang on to your QF ff points to use at a later date for an award ticket in a premium cabin.

16000 points ,no taxes, just 9/11 security fee for $5 for 2 pax, so worth the hassle i suppose..

 

[samh004]

UA, for example, is streets ahead, and the ability to book award flights on Star Alliance members is awsome. UA also does not impose those ripoff "fuel fines".

Yes, but doesn't UA also offer fares for virtually nothing on what seems like an all too often basis, that many people exploit? I'd hardly point to that system as a shining example of one that works.

The first phone consultant (as Qantas calls them) threaten me with the phone booking fee before asking me to check my web browser by clicking 'viewing tips' on the bottom right corner of the website to see if my web browser is up to date (5 ticks on technical criteria), mine was not which i was not aware of so I updated the browser and tried to book again, the error still came up.

I just checked my browsers :shock: all 3 (Safari, Chrome, Firefox) only showed a tick for SSL... but the problem was that all 3 block pop-ups. As soon as you allow pop-ups all 3 pass with 5 ticks. Not a very good metric.

 

[rooboy68]

Trying to book a MASA to Europe for Feb. Qantas website shows classic seat availability with all flights on EK ex BNE. When I phoned the call center they mentioned that MASAs need to be on a QF operated flight (QF metal). Was not ware of this, anyone else had similar experiences??

 

[suparockin]

Trying to book a MASA to Europe for Feb. Qantas website shows classic seat availability with all flights on EK ex BNE. When I phoned the call center they mentioned that MASAs need to be on a QF operated flight (QF metal). Was not ware of this, anyone else had similar experiences??

Definitely needs to be Qantas metal.