Article: Airlines Get Away With So Much By Fobbing Off Complaints

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/airlines-get-away-with-lots/

Airlines Get Away With So Much By Fobbing Off Complaints is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Airlines Get Away With So Much By Fobbing Off Complaints

Airlines are quick to take your money, but often slow to refund it when you're owed compensation. They get away with too much by ignoring complaints.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[Melburnian1]

Agree with much but the AFF staffer could have gone by rail, including overnight, between Rovaniemi and Helsinki. I have. Far more comfortable and scenic! Why fly within western or northern Europe/UK or much of Asia when trains are so enjoyable, and often faster?

As noted elsewhere with Federal Minister for Transport Catherine King's refusal to introduce a proper (or any) compensation scheme, it's one more example of evidence that politicians in Australia are way too close to the airline duopoly, especially QF.

Their Chairman's Lounge much loved memberships plus business class flights for not just themselves but family members (as we're seeing with what is perceived in the community as 'travel rorts' even though it may be within the independent authority's rules) mean decisions involving airlines are heavily compromised.

To add insult to injury, for senior office holders, family flights are uncapped. Since all of us love something that's 'free', that privilege can be abused yet still be within stipulated entitlements). Do FIFO workers who generate huge export income for Australia through mining iron ore and coal receive uncapped return flights to anywhere in Australia?

Politicians are happy to attack Woolworths and Coles that operate on net profit margins of under five per cent with each having hundreds of thousands of Australian-domiciled retail shareholders (of which I'm not one). With airlines, deals are made behind closed doors according to what the airlines regard as good policy. It's often to the detriment of travellers.

 

[John C]

I too had a nightmare experience with Iberia who took six months to pay me $400 - a total of sixty emails took place between me and the airline even though Iberia agreed that they owed me the money . But they came up with every excuse to defer the payment and I am sure they were hoping that I would just give up.........and there was no chance of that happening !! Never again will I travel with Iberia.

 

[snowy150]

Had a similar experience with QF. Flew SYD-CBR and my checked bag turned up with a massive crack in its frame and a broken bottle inside. It had clearly been dropped somewhere along the line.

At CBR I took lots of photos, reported it to the luggage desk and got a case number. I then lodged a request for compensation for the damaged bag and bottle. QF refused, saying something about terms and conditions not covering damage to bags.

I emailed back, saying the damage was clearly caused by their luggage handling, and requesting compensation again. I quoted the relevant sections of the Civil Aviation (Carrier's Liability) Act 1959.

After about 10 loops back and forth, I got tired of their blatantly false standard words text refusing liability and asked them to forward my claim to the legal team. That got me a tad more traction but still a refusal.

In the end, a request for the email or postal address to send a formal legal claim to prompted them to agree. It took six months of intermittent back and forth, and the original receipts for the damaged luggage contents as proof of their worth, but in the end I got the maximum $3000 for damaged luggage contents and $150 for the broken bag.

Moral of the story: the airlines are definitely dodging their legal obligations, but persistence can pay off.

 

[dajop]

Sometimes, the process is so ridiculously difficult, and so time-consuming, that I can’t help wondering if it’s actually designed to make you give up. And sadly, it often works.

What's there to wonder about? Of course they're designed that way. Someone has thought about it and deliberately introduced steps to discourage or at the very least delay compensation claims.

 

[bgh]

Had a coughpy experience with Wizz earlier this year. Back in about Sept last year, we had made a booking for 4 x pax direct from LCA to BUD for May 30th. In Jan, we received email advising that the flight was no longer available, and we'd been rebooked on the same flight on the 29th instead. As this was unsuitable (2 of the 4 pax were attending a wedding on the 29th), we cancelled and rebooked via ATH (only option on the 30th). A few months later I hadn't received the refund on my credit card, so I chased Wizz and was told that we're only eligible for airline credit because we cancelled etc. They completely ignored that they cancelled first and that was that. They closed the enquiry/complaint, despite their policy that stated we were in the right.
I ended up getting the refund via my credit card provider under the "we didn't get what we paid for" type dispute. Who knows if they had any luck with Wizz.
Either way, it was very easy for a Hungarian airline to just fob off a person in Australia when it became an issue.

 

[Carolyn]

Airlines Get Away With So Much By Fobbing Off Complaints is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Airlines Get Away With So Much By Fobbing Off Complaints

Airlines are quick to take your money, but often slow to refund it when you're owed compensation. They get away with too much by ignoring complaints.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

Sadly, after admitting several times that they had made an error with my booking (incorrect outbound date), Qantas refused to fix it suggesting my only option was to cancel and rebook. Confirmed that I had to pay the cancellation fee and that new flights would incur higher QFF points. Wouldn’t it be great if an aviation ombudsman existed!

 

[flyingfan]

Moral of the story: the airlines are definitely dodging their legal obligations, but persistence can pay off.

Welcome to posting and I admire and salute your persistence!

 

[VPS]

A lot of first time posters on here - welcome all

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

Airlines are bad, but some travel insurers are even worse!

 

[Greg555]

Why no mention of Qantas in your article....probably THE worst offender when it comes to failing to refund/reimburse. Why the soft touch for a truly disgraceful company??

 

[Ian Duckworth]

Airlines Get Away With So Much By Fobbing Off Complaints is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Airlines Get Away With So Much By Fobbing Off Complaints

Airlines are quick to take your money, but often slow to refund it when you're owed compensation. They get away with too much by ignoring complaints.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

Last year, I was booked on a Virgin Australia flight out of the Gold Coast (OOL) to Canberra (CBR) and, in the hour or so between check in and departure, a massive storm passed over OOL. All flights were delayed while the storm passed and, while guests in the Virgin Lounger were waiting for their delayed flights to be re-scheduled,, a bit of a murmur started circulating about this luggage cart , full to the brim, of passenger luggage, that was standing in the middle of the tarmac getting saturated and totally without any cover. Many of us took photos.

My flight eventually got away and, when I picked up my luggage from the baggage carousel in CBR, it was nearly double its normal weight and, yep, completely water logged!!! Interestingly, they had closed the baggage counter near the carousel with a sign saying "This counter is temporarily closed - please direct any enquiries to the check in counter on the upper level". I was in little doubt that they knew they were going to get bombarded with irate passengers with water logged bags and decided to "HIDE".

I had to purchase fresh underwear and some T-shirts and shorts , and I went to a laundromat to put my wet clothes through the dryer.. I could have been spent more but tried to keep my costs to a minimum. I contacted VA to make a claim and they rejected it - stipulating that it is a passenger responsibility ensure their luggage is waterproof!!!!!!!

I'm usually pretty tenacious - but I decided for the amount involved to let it go. Maybe I shouldn't have..

 

[AuSammy]

A few years back now, I arrived in SIN to find my flight BA SIN-LHR had been cancelled without any prior advice and nobody from BA to assist. I had paid extra for legroom exit row seats.

Thankfully I had the forethought to quickly rush to the transfer desk and was near the front of the queue and a very helpful lady rebooked us on QF1 due to leave about the same time apologising that she would have to place us where ever there was a spare seat on a heavily booked plane. I heard later a lot of people ended up stuck in SIN for an extra 24-36hrs

Due to others also getting rebooked there wasn't a spare seat on QF1 when we took off.

On arrival in LHR I approached the BA "service" desk and was told they are not there to help people who had already flown and there was nothing she could do. She also advised nor was there any phone number I could call to ask about a refund for the extra we had paid for exit row seats. "Go on the website and look for complaints or refunds or something like that, there is no other method".

Well I lodged a request for a refund and emailed several times and was totally ignored. After a couple months I sent all the documentation to PayPal and lodged a complaint against BA. PayPal paid me back into my bank account a few weeks later.

Months later I got an email from BA basically say stiff cheese no refund would be coming.

 

[PumaPilot]

I don't muck about, I go straight to the top and write a letter (not email or online chat) to the CEO pointing out the issue and what I believe they owe me. works 99% of the time. I'm still fighting the idiots at BA for a cancelled Biz class flight within UK a couple of years ago

 

[cutz]

Yes Qantas are notorious for asking you to lodge a complaint by email and never ever responding. Although I did have a recent experience where chasing a credit and they replied but kept asking for an additional item of information, then when I provided it, asked for something else. Did this about 4 times which felt like they were fobbing me off, but then offered a refund less a $250 change fee of full amount as a credit. I took the credit, but when it came through only had 2 months expiry on it and also has a $125 change fee to use the credit. Not ideal, but at least they did respond and came through a with a credit of sorts.

 

[AFF Editor]

Why no mention of Qantas in your article....probably THE worst offender when it comes to failing to refund/reimburse. Why the soft touch for a truly disgraceful company??

Qantas does get a mention in the article:

Many Australians will remember the ACCC’s legal action against Qantas for selling “ghost flights” during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Qantas was forced to remediate affected customers.