Advice re cancelled and changed connecting flights

[Ken1]

Sorry for the long post but I would appreciate some advice.

I have bookings for SYD-PPT in July and PPT-SYD in August booked in J as separate bookings with QFF points. Yesterday I received an email from QF advising me that QF141 SYD-AKL has been cancelled and I have been moved to QF143 that departs SYD at 09:30 and arrives in AKL at 14:35. This is to connect with QF3815 AKL-PPT that departs at 14:55 so that would only give us 20 minutes transit time between flights so of course not possible. (QF3815 is a code share on an Air Tahiti Nui flight TN102).

The only options I see are to fly the day before to MEL, and stay overnight, and there is a MEL-AKL flight QF151 on the day of my AKL-PPT flight that departs at 07:10, arriving in AKL at 12:45, a similar connection time to the cancelled SYD-AKL flight we were booked on. The other option would be to ask to fly SYD-AKL the day before and stay there overnight, but at the moment if you transit through AKL you can't leave the airport. The NZ Covid info states that Australians will be able to enter NZ by July but it's still saying you would have to self isolate on arrival so that is probably risky at the moment without knowing what restrictions will be there in July, assuming NZ doesn't delay the re-opening again and actually opens up to us by July. At the moment I'm thinking that going via MEL may be the best option, although in normal times I would just go to AKL the day before.

When I looked at this booking online I also noticed that there is a problem with our PPT-SYD booking too. We were booked to fly PPT-SYD on Mon 15 August, on QF3816 (TN101) connecting to AKL-SYD QF146 on Tue 16 August with a 2hr20 transit time between flights. However I noticed that the Monday PPT-AKL flight has been cancelled and we have been moved to Wed 17 August, but AKL-SYD is still showing as departing Tue Aug 16. (I checked the TN website and the Monday PPT-AKL flight is no longer operating).

I called QF on Thursday and was answered after 2.5 hours. I decided to just ask about the PPT-SYD booking for now and decide what to do about the SYD-PPT with the short connection later, since a second email from QF stating "We're monitoring your connecting flight and will send an email with your new flight details if we need to make changes." After explaining several times that I need to be moved to QF146 on Thu 18th she eventually said I was booked on QF146 on the 18th, connecting with the PPT-AKL flight. She said she was sending it to ticketing to be re-issued.
I didn't receive an email from QF with a re-issued ticket and looking at my bookings nothing showed up with the changes - it still shows AKL-SYD for Tue 16 Aug and PPT-AKL on Wed 17 Aug.

I called back late on Friday night and explained everything again and asked to be moved to AKL-SYD on 18 Aug. After a few long periods on hold I was told that there is no J availability on QF146 on the 18th but she could put us in Y. I asked her to check again as I was told that I was being moved to that flight when I called on Thu but she said that there were no changes made to the booking so I don't know what happened there. I told her I can see J availability on that flight if I was paying cash and asked to be put us on that since it is not my fault the PPT-AKL flight was changed. She said she could not see any availability in J even for cash bookings, which is strange since I could see them. I then asked if she can move us to QF148 that departs AKL 90 minutes later and she said she could only see Y seats available on that flight too, even though I could see J if I was paying for seats. If we were put in Y we wouldn't be able to use the lounge in AKL. She said she can put us in Y or she can cancel the booking and refund the points and I can book again. I asked her not to make any changes at the moment and that I will call back another time.

I'm thinking I should try to call when I can speak to someone in the Australian call centre to see if I can get this fixed. Does anyone know the best time to call when the Australian call centre is open and you may be answered by someone there? Do they operate on weekends or should I wait and try on Monday morning in normal business hours? Having said that, when my call on Thursday was answered at 2.55pm I didn't get the Australian call centre then.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Was there a special number in the email advising you of the flight changes? It should be a 1300 number. This gets priority, although it may still be answered by Cape Town or Suva. Only having to wait five minutes makes the call a lot less stressful!

In theory because of the misconnect, and that you are flying on Qantas metal, they should accommodate you on another QF service, creating a seat for you from paid inventory.

 

[Ken1]

Was there a special number in the email advising you of the flight changes? It should be a 1300 number. This gets priority, although it may still be answered by Cape Town or Suva. Only having to wait five minutes makes the call a lot less stressful!

In theory because of the misconnect, and that you are flying on Qantas metal, they should accommodate you on another QF service, creating a seat for you from paid inventory.

Thanks MEL-Traveller. No, there wasn't a special number in the email. I received two emails regarding the SYD-PPT flights, the first saying "We've had to make some changes to your flight" "We've updated the details of your flight to Auckland departing on 19 Jul 2022. Review your new flight details. To make your trip as easy as possible we’ve already updated the necessary details, and you'll need to accept these updates via Manage Booking or on the Qantas App." It shows Old flight QF141 departing SYD at 7.25am cancelled. New flight QF143 From SYD at 9.30am To AKL 2.35pm. Making changes to your travel plans. To change your flight, visit Manage Booking or the Qantas App. To review other options available to you, including a Flight Credit or refund, visit Manage Booking. If you've booked through a travel agent, contact your agent for other options, including a refund."

I then received another email, also about the SYD-PPT flights, saying "We're monitoring your connecting flight and will send an email with your new flight details if we need to make changes." "We know you have a connecting flight QF3815 to Papeete departing at 2:55PM on 19 July 2022. We’re monitoring your booking and will send an email with your new flight details if we need to make changes. To view your flight details and options (including a Flight Credit or refund) go to Manage Booking or the Qantas App."

Since they said they are monitoring our connecting flight I thought I would see what they offer if I hear back from them soon before trying to discuss this booking on the phone, although if I had been answered by someone in the Australian call centre on the recent calls I would have discussed it then. It was hard enough trying to get the AKL-SYD leg sorted on both phone calls.

However, I have still not been notified by QF of the changes to the PPT-SYD flights that I called up about on Thu afternoon and Fri night - I only saw that the PPT-AKL leg for Mon 15 Aug had been cancelled and that we were moved to Wed 17 Aug when I looked at the booking for SYD-PPT that I had been notified about. It's the PPT-AKL-SYD flights that I've been trying to sort on the phone the past two days.

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[MEL_Traveller]

Yeah… unfortunately I don’t think ‘we’re monitoring your flights’ is an actual ‘thing. A computer might have assigned you a flight that it thinks was suitable, but I suspect there will be no human review.

You’ll need to call

 

[Mwenenzi]

As you have time could try to email QF ff at <[email protected]>

Good chance NZ govt will change the current settings / quarantine-isloation settings. Do not make sense at this time. AKL has (increasing) Omicron, but you can fly AKL to anywhere in NZ without restrictions. But from AU (has Omicron) need isolation on arrival. Even NZ Govt have noted the anomaly.

 

[Ken1]

Thanks for your replies. I will try to call again before sending an email but if no luck next time I call I will send an email. Since I can see paid availability on QF146 and QF148 for AKL-SYD on Aug 18 I'd like them to move me to one of those in J and it seems strange that the QF rep I spoke to said she couldn't see either award or cash seats available on either flight. That's why I'm hoping I can speak with some one from the Australian call centre if possible to see if I can get it sorted. There are Business Flex seats but no Business Saver seats on both those flights so maybe that's why she couldn't see any. Maybe I should wait until Monday to call in daytime business hours when I may hopefully be connected with the Australian call centre.

I'm hoping the NZ Govt do change the current settings so that's why I wasn't in such a rush to sort the SYD-AKL-PPT flights. If I could stay overnight in AKL that would be easier than going via MEL.

 

[Ken1]

This is proving to be very frustrating trying to sort out these flight changes. I've just spoken to QF again at 2pm today and again was not answered by the Australian call centre so I don't know what time of the day to try again. I explained about the PPT-AKL flight on Mon 15 Aug being canceled and that we have been moved to Wed 17 Aug, and that the connecting AKL-SYD flight is still booked for Tue 16th and needs to be changed to Thu 18th to connect with the PPT-AKL flight. I was told that there are no Classic Rewards seats available for AKL-SYD and would I like her to cancel the booking and refund the points. I said no, that we need to travel home and want to keep the booking, since we booked it last year when seats were first released for the date that we booked and that there are no more J seats available. I also told her that when I called at 2.55pm last Thursday I was told that our AKL-SYD flight had been moved to QF146 on Thu 18 Aug and that it had been sent to be ticketed but that I haven't received anything.

I explained that I did not change the flight and that when this has happened in the past we were put on an available flight even if no classic rewards seats were available. She said to wait a few months and there may be more classic rewards seats released then.

This is the third time I have called about these flights since last Thursday when I noticed the change in my bookings. I have not even asked yet about the SYD-AKL-PPT booking in July with now having only 20 minutes between flights after QF cancelled the early SYD-AKL flight and moved us to a flight 2 hours later. The QF reps I have spoken to haven't given me confidence to ask about the SYD-PPT flights when they haven't helped with the PPT-SYD flights.

I will try to call again tomorrow morning and if I still can't get this fixed I'll send an email to QF ff at <[email protected]> as suggested by Mwenenzi.

 

[aikman]

I wouldn't get my hopes up with that frequent flyer email address. I've used that email address to follow up missing points which does get actioned but when I use it for flight changes they do not respond. Good luck.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Unfortunately for those of us without status I’m not sure there is a ‘right time’ to call to be connected to the Aussie call centre. I think by default we will always end up with overseas?

 

[Ken1]

Thanks aikman and MEL-Traveller. In the past when I've had to call QF regarding bookings it always seems that I get better service when I've been connected to an Aussie call centre. I've seen a few different phone numbers for QF posted on several QF related Facebook groups and tried a different one each time I've called this past week, to see if I'm answered any quicker than the usual multi hour waits to be answered . Today I called 1 300 359 115 which turned out to be a number for if you've been notified of a flight change and I was amazed when it was answered in 1 minute, but it still wasn't the Aussie call centre.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks aikman and MEL-Traveller. In the past when I've had to call QF regarding bookings it always seems that I get better service when I've been connected to an Aussie call centre. I've seen a few different phone numbers for QF posted on several QF related Facebook groups and tried a different one each time I've called this past week, to see if I'm answered any quicker than the usual multi hour waits to be answered . Today I called 1 300 359 115 which turned out to be a number for if you've been notified of a flight change and I was amazed when it was answered in 1 minute, but it still wasn't the Aussie call centre.

Yeah… me too. I called the number given to me when I had an actual schedule change… and still got Cape Town. But a lot less frustrating to deal with if you’ve only been on hold for 5 mins vs 2+ hours!

 

[Ken1]

I have bookings for SYD-PPT in July and PPT-SYD in August booked in J as separate bookings with QFF points. Yesterday I received an email from QF advising me that QF141 SYD-AKL has been cancelled and I have been moved to QF143 that departs SYD at 09:30 and arrives in AKL at 14:35. This is to connect with QF3815 AKL-PPT that departs at 14:55 so that would only give us 20 minutes transit time between flights so of course not possible. (QF3815 is a code share on an Air Tahiti Nui flight TN102).

I called QF again this morning and got Cape Town but the operator I spoke to was very helpful this time. I have been re-booked to now fly SYD-AKL on QF145 the day before the AKL-PPT flight.

This is proving to be very frustrating trying to sort out these flight changes. I've just spoken to QF again at 2pm today and again was not answered by the Australian call centre so I don't know what time of the day to try again. I explained about the PPT-AKL flight on Mon 15 Aug being canceled and that we have been moved to Wed 17 Aug, and that the connecting AKL-SYD flight is still booked for Tue 16th and needs to be changed to Thu 18th to connect with the PPT-AKL flight. I was told that there are no Classic Rewards seats available for AKL-SYD and would I like her to cancel the booking and refund the points. I said no, that we need to travel home and want to keep the booking, since we booked it last year when seats were first released for the date that we booked and that there are no more J seats available.

I then asked about our return flights and was again told that there are no J seats available on AKL-SYD QF146 that day but she had a look and said we can fly back via BNE so we are now booked to fly AKL-BNE on QF126 and BNE-SYD on QF553, still all in J. This was not offered by any of the three other operators I spoke to in the previous calls but at least it's all sorted now and the updated bookings are showing correctly under my bookings in my QFF account. She told me that I should receive the updated tickets in around 30 minutes.

The only thing is that when I was sent the updated tickets 90 minutes later they re-sent the original flights before the changes. I called back and was told that it can take a couple of days for the new tickets to come through but at least I know the new flights are confirmed. Previously I've always received updated tickets quickly and have never received old ticket derails after making changes.

We arrive in BNE at 17:45 and the BNE-SYD flight departs at 19:40. We haven't flown international through BNE but I've read that we travel by bsu between the international and domestic terminals like in SYD. I assume that 1hr55 between the flights should be enough time for us to transfer between the terminals.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I called the 1 300 359 115 QF number for flight change notifications again this morning and was again answered in a few minutes and got Cape Town but the operator I spoke to was very helpful this time. I have been re-booked to now fly SYD-AKL on QF145 the day before the AKL-PPT flight.


I then asked about our return flights and was again told that there are no J seats available on AKL-SYD QF146 that day but she had a look and said we can fly back via BNE so we are now booked to fly AKL-BNE on QF126 and BNE-SYD on QF553, still all in J. This was not offered by any of the three other operators I spoke to in the previous calls but at least it's all sorted now and the updated bookings are showing correctly under my bookings in my QFF account. She told me that I should receive the updated tickets in around 30 minutes.

The only thing is that when I was sent the updated tickets 90 minutes later they re-sent the original flights before the changes. I called back and was told that it can take a couple of days for the new tickets to come through but at least I know the new flights are confirmed.

We arrive in BNE at 17:45 and the BNE-SYD flight departs at 19:40. We haven't flown international through BNE but I've read that we travel by bsu between the international and domestic terminals like in SYD. I assume that 1hr55 between the flights should be enough time for us to transfer between the terminals.

With a domestic connection after international they will roll you forward or move you to a later flight depending on what time you get to the domestic connections desk after picking up your bags. I did the Brisbane international to domestic about 5 years ago and I think as long as you clear immigration fairly normally that connection time should be ok