Article: How to Write an Effective Airline Complaint

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/effective-airline-complaint/

How to Write an Effective Airline Complaint is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

How to Write an Effective Airline Complaint

When writing a complaint to an airline, you're more likely to get the desired outcome if you keep it succinct, take out the emotion and clearly state what you want.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[kpc]

I disagree with one aspect...sudoer should not have asked for 5K KrisFlyer miles for the lack of inflight WiFi...I would wait and see what the airline offered, hopefully more than 5K miles which is a pittance tbh.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I disagree with one aspect...sudoer should not have asked for 5K KrisFlyer miles for the lack of inflight WiFi...I would wait and see what the airline offered, hopefully more than 5K miles which is a pittance tbh.

I also picked up on this… but for a different reason.

Wifi is also offered - or available for purchase - on SQ economy and premium economy. So it’s hard to accept someone booked business class specifically and only for the wifi. Not for the seat, service, comfort of convenience? Solely for the wifi?

When writing a letter of complaint I prefer to leave out aspects which may not pass the pub test… or potentially don’t ring true. If something doesn’t resonate with the reader that can detract from the effectiveness.

In a more general nature, the main issue with complaints is often getting it to the right department to action it. Try writing to Virgin Australia… it’s handled off-shore and they refuse to go off script or escalate

Edited to add… as for the example of a non-functioning PEY seat… I believe the QF policy for an in-op seat is a refund of 75% of the fare? So it’s a good idea o research airline policy and any applicable laws or consumer laws when writing. 10k would be a very generous offer by a passenger for an in-op seat, and potentially far below what they’d be entitled to.

 

[aikman]

I'm not familiar with reports of what Krisflyer normally offers as compensation but if he didn't ask for 5,000 then couldn't Krisflyer have easily just offered 1,000 on a take it or leave it basis, or worse, just an apology?

 

[Filchers6]

If airlines receive "tens of thousands of complaints every day" there is something basically wrong with the way they do business.
If our business (obviously much smaller than any airline) received one complaint per month then heads would roll. Customer service is our prime consideration. If we get that right, we keep our jobs and the business makes money.
Perhaps airlines should adopt a similar philosophy. But I guess that's the problem with monopolies and duopolies - it is not customers that come first. It is staff and bottom lines.
Philip

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If airlines receive "tens of thousands of complaints every day" there is something basically wrong with the way they do business.
If our business (obviously much smaller than any airline) received one complaint per month then heads would roll. Customer service is our prime consideration. If we get that right, we keep our jobs and the business makes money.
Perhaps airlines should adopt a similar philosophy. But I guess that's the problem with monopolies and duopolies - it is not customers that come first. It is staff and bottom lines.
Philip

True, but there are dozens of variables in some businesses… some out of their control. Airlines have to deal with governments, weather, public service (ATC). The failings of passengers (packing too much, not selecting seats). They also have to deal with the failings of their contractors… although there’s less excuse there.

And with Virgin having around 8000 employees (per google!), at least one of them is likely to be having a bad day! Staff are people… you can’t have an SOP to force people to smile.

 

[sudoer]

I disagree with one aspect...sudoer should not have asked for 5K KrisFlyer miles for the lack of inflight WiFi...I would wait and see what the airline offered, hopefully more than 5K miles which is a pittance tbh.

So I shouldn't have asked for anything, but also, 5k per person is not enough?!

SQ didn't proactively offer anything, either onboard or in the days following the flight. Had I not raised a complaint I doubt I would've received anything.

Wifi is also offered - or available for purchase - on SQ economy and premium economy. So it’s hard to accept someone booked business class specifically and only for the wifi. Not for the seat, service, comfort of convenience? Solely for the wifi?

Perhaps it was poorly worded, but to be clear, I didn't book business class just to access the wifi. I'm well aware that it's possible to pay for wifi in economy.

I booked business class to 'use the flight time productively' with enough space and privacy to comfortably work on a laptop for a couple of hours. I need functional wifi for my line of work - there's very little I'm able to do offline.

I'm not familiar with reports of what Krisflyer normally offers as compensation but if he didn't ask for 5,000 then couldn't Krisflyer have easily just offered 1,000 on a take it or leave it basis, or worse, just an apology?

I also wasn't familiar with what SQ would offer for non-functional wifi on a regional Asia flight, but 5k was an amount I was happy with, so I suggested it.

 

[VPS]

If airlines receive "tens of thousands of complaints every day" there is something basically wrong with the way they do business.
If our business (obviously much smaller than any airline) received one complaint per month then heads would roll. Customer service is our prime consideration. If we get that right, we keep our jobs and the business makes money.
Perhaps airlines should adopt a similar philosophy. But I guess that's the problem with monopolies and duopolies - it is not customers that come first. It is staff and bottom lines.
Philip

Welcome to posting on AFF even though it's many years after joining - probably best not to have an email address as a user name.

 

[Filchers6]

Welcome to posting on AFF even though it's many years after joining - probably best not to have an email address as a user name.

Yes thanks. I thought that as soon as I saw it today. I'll change it asap
P

 

[Flyfrequently]

Yes thanks. I thought that as soon as I saw it today. I'll change it asap
P

And welcome to posting in this caring AFF community

 

[Dr Ralph]

So I shouldn't have asked for anything, but also, 5k per person is not enough?!

You did nothing wrong. A very good letter of complaint.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Perhaps it was poorly worded, but to be clear, I didn't book business class just to access the wifi. I'm well aware that it's possible to pay for wifi in economy.

I booked business class to 'use the flight time productively' with enough space and privacy to comfortably work on a laptop for a couple of hours. I need functional wifi for my line of work - there's very little I'm able to do offline.

I might have made that a ‘triple’ then!

‘We specifically booked SQ because of the advertised wifi, and chose business class so we could use our time productively for work.’

compensation therefore to make up for lack of wifi, lost productivity, and reminding them that you have a choice of carrier: next time you might fly someone else!

 

[Youfah Mizzum]

Interesting article, and timely.
I've just returned from a quick ski dash to Japan for a week and departing SYD, QF59 was delayed 3:45 hours. Scheduled to leave at 12 noon and didn't roll from the gate until 3:45 pm.

It made me miss connecting shinkansen, buses and a hotel booking. Out of pocket several hundred dollars.

For just a delay of almost 4 hours, is this worth a complaint to Qantas? I mean, a cancellation I get but just a few hours delay, not sure? Currently have a claim to travel insurance for the OOP expenses yet to be finalised.

It was a whY booking, on Classic Plus points. Maybe worthwhile just asking for maybe 5,000 pts per pax? More?

 

[lovestotravel]

Singapore Airlines, like most airlines don't offer much in terms of compensation. Trying to fight a foreign owned airline is also next to impossible.

Asking for 5,000 miles were a perfect request.

I find Singaporeans follow the rules and/or not question things too much

I booked an outdoor event last year in Singapore. We turned up, commenced the event in the rain, turned into a typical Singapore thunderstorm so we were told to leave, 5 mins after starting.

Was refused a refund, they said you can rebook for another day. Manager same thing, but said I'd get an email back in the next few days with my refund request.

Email back - Denied, said to attend another day instead. Told them I had left the Country as I was a tourist, never got a reply.

Initiated a credit card chargeback - Full refund (minus FX fees)

 

[Warks]

Some of you may have read of my baggage battles in the Travel Mistakes thread on my recent NZ trip. I was booked to walk the Milford Track which extremely difficult to get on - it sells out in minutes every year and I'd been trying on and off for ten years. So when I checked my backpack as a VA WP on my SYD-ZQN flight I expected it to show up pronto at the other end. Well it didn't turn up at all and I spent 24 hours trying to work out how to replace all my hiking gear that was lost for the time being or forever, I didn't know. I have done other Great Walks in NZ and sometimes I've departed on the walk the day after landing. Thankfully this time I'd allowed an extra day to purchase food items and to allow time to drive to Te Anau. But if it didn't turn up that day I was going to have to spend a small fortune in a rush to replace everything, also knowing that my bag may show up later and I'd end up with two of everything. I wasn't going to miss this walk given it was so hard to get on.

So I was greatly relieved when my bag did show up 24 hours later. Here's the thing though: I logged the missing bag and did everything by the book that I knew of but was never contacted at all about the whereabouts of my bag until after I retrieved it. I wasn't going to take it further but I have to say it wasn't good service, the complete lack of information from their side. They would have known the bag was on the flight, they also would have know it was located before that. But I didn't get anything and was in a state of mild panic until it finally showed up.
So as I said I wasn't going to take it further but reading this article has made me think I should send them some form of complaint. I've written ranting style complaints to various banks, airlines and telecoms in the past and recently I've found that ChatGPT has been good to rewrite my complaint toning down the angry parts. Something it's good at.

 

[Dmac59]

Some of you may have read of my baggage battles in the Travel Mistakes thread on my recent NZ trip. I was booked to walk the Milford Track which extremely difficult to get on - it sells out in minutes every year and I'd been trying on and off for ten years. So when I checked my backpack as a VA WP on my SYD-ZQN flight I expected it to show up pronto at the other end. Well it didn't turn up at all and I spent 24 hours trying to work out how to replace all my hiking gear that was lost for the time being or forever, I didn't know. I have done other Great Walks in NZ and sometimes I've departed on the walk the day after landing. Thankfully this time I'd allowed an extra day to purchase food items and to allow time to drive to Te Anau. But if it didn't turn up that day I was going to have to spend a small fortune in a rush to replace everything, also knowing that my bag may show up later and I'd end up with two of everything. I wasn't going to miss this walk given it was so hard to get on.

So I was greatly relieved when my bag did show up 24 hours later. Here's the thing though: I logged the missing bag and did everything by the book that I knew of but was never contacted at all about the whereabouts of my bag until after I retrieved it. I wasn't going to take it further but I have to say it wasn't good service, the complete lack of information from their side. They would have known the bag was on the flight, they also would have know it was located before that. But I didn't get anything and was in a state of mild panic until it finally showed up.
So as I said I wasn't going to take it further but reading this article has made me think I should send them some form of complaint. I've written ranting style complaints to various banks, airlines and telecoms in the past and recently I've found that ChatGPT has been good to rewrite my complaint toning down the angry parts. Something it's good at.

Definitely worthy of "feedback" @Warks, otherwise they'll think everything is working fine.
Communication works both ways.