Award booking cancelled without notice

[serfty]

My interpretation from the first post is that the first booking was ticketed (received via email) and then automatically cancelled.

OP, did you get a ticket in the email (ie. with a ticket number starting with "081-")?

The OP is constructing a *O award as the flight(s) become available.

Firstly booked SYD-xDOH-JRO on QR. They received Confirmation Email (presume this meant it was ticketed).

A week later they called Qantas and added JRO-xDOH-LON to the booking.

About two weeks later OP found the entire booking had been cancelled by QR - Qantas had not performed the "Ticketing Exchange" in time.

 

[Inuniform]

I have been chatting with QF back and forth the past week to work on a solution to my SYD-DOH-JRO/ JRO-DOH-LON ticketing issue. I explained my reservations about the previous alternative offered, QF SYD-SIN. Specifically, I would be arriving at SIN at 10pm and have over 4 hours before our connecting flight at 2am (QF lounge closes at 11pm too). Any alternative to the original flight that left SYD at 9pm and arrived in DOH 14 hours later is a hard pill to swallow. I offered the SYD - DXB as an alternative and connecting flights were added from DXB to NBO with QF (Codeshare EK) and then NBO to JRO with Kenyan Air. Connections between flights were 10 hours. That option was taken on board as well as QF SYD - JNB and then JNB to NBO and onto JRO with Kenyan airways with connection times of over 9 hours.

The second leg of my trip from JRO to LHR I was also given alternatives flying KLM JRO - AMS and then BA to LHR or Kenyan Air from JRO to NBO and then BA to LHR.

I replied via email that I was not very happy with having to chose alternatives that I thought were with inferior airlines and via inconvenient routes when compared to my original booking. I offered the only reasonable solution that I could see and that was for QF to bite the bullet and pay for the lost tickets. I also mentioned this thread and the influential audience that was awaiting a response from QF and hoping they could use this opportunity to appease a very dissatisfied customer.

I am awaiting a response.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

did they explore SYD-DXB on QF, followed by DXB-DOH-JRO? I thought at one stage they had DOH-JRO booked for you on QR?

i think it is unreasonable to request QF stump up for paid tickets for the sake of a four hour transit (SIN). They stuffed up, but four hours isn't worth $5k-6k in replacement fares.

 

[Inuniform]

did they explore SYD-DXB on QF, followed by DXB-DOH-JRO? I thought at one stage they had DOH-JRO booked for you on QR?

i think it is unreasonable to request QF stump up for paid tickets for the sake of a four hour transit (SIN). They stuffed up, but four hours isn't worth $5k-6k in replacement fares.

I can only presume that all options offered are the most direct. A four hour stopover in SIN at 12pm to 4am AEST is far from ideal considering I had a perfectly timed overnight flight booked. Why should I be forced to have my journey increased by 8 hours and change flights in the middle of the night when I haven't done anything wrong?

 

[mannej]

did they explore SYD-DXB on QF, followed by DXB-DOH-JRO? I thought at one stage they had DOH-JRO booked for you on QR?

i think it is unreasonable to request QF stump up for paid tickets for the sake of a four hour transit (SIN). They stuffed up, but four hours isn't worth $5k-6k in replacement fares.

Considering that this thread is over 2 months old, I don't believe it is an unreasonable request.

 

[RichardMEL]

Wait a moment.. QF *offered* tix on Kenyan - a non partner of any sort? I am so confused. Why not get you to DOH via DXB then onto JRO on QR? Or are they saying now QR is out (and who would blame them?) as in DOH-JRO and v/v is no longer an option either?

If QF is offering Kenyan that suggests they would stump up real cash for those seats which is interesting, but the timings are really poor with long layovers as you say and not a great product.

I'm bemused by the whole turn this has taken - if I understand things correctly that is.

(did you mention QF F SYD-DXB????? )

 

[Mattg]

I can't believe QF still hasn't sorted this out satisfactorily. It's really not good enough...

 

[Inuniform]

Wait a moment.. QF *offered* tix on Kenyan - a non partner of any sort? I am so confused. Why not get you to DOH via DXB then onto JRO on QR? Or are they saying now QR is out (and who would blame them?) as in DOH-JRO and v/v is no longer an option either?

If QF is offering Kenyan that suggests they would stump up real cash for those seats which is interesting, but the timings are really poor with long layovers as you say and not a great product.

I'm bemused by the whole turn this has taken - if I understand things correctly that is.

(did you mention QF F SYD-DXB????? )

I had presumed that the other carriers mentioned were part of OW. The CSR is well aware of the RTW Award booking and I have enough points to book that award with only a small amount left over.

Since my last correspondence this afternoon, I have received a reply from QF and have been offered QR SYD-DOH-JRO on a slightly different date. The second leg offered is Kenyan Air JRO-NBO and then BA NBO to LHR.

I have not mentioned QF F to DXB, I am fighting other battles at the moment that makes this option seem insignificant.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Considering that this thread is over 2 months old, I don't believe it is an unreasonable request.

It has, but there are other options which could have been achieved within the first few days. Yes, it might have taken a few hours longer, but because the OP wanted to fly QR instead of QF I'm not sure that warrants QF being required to pay full revenue seats on QR. Yes QF should have ticketed sooner, QR should have given more grace. But I think the alternatives were reasonable, if not ideal, in this case.

 

[fairbasa]

It has, but there are other options which could have been achieved within the first few days. Yes, it might have taken a few hours longer, but because the OP wanted to fly QR instead of QF I'm not sure that warrants QF being required to pay full revenue seats on QR. Yes QF should have ticketed sooner, QR should have given more grace. But I think the alternatives were reasonable, if not ideal, in this case.

I really don't think it's unreasonable for the OP to expect QF to reinstate his original flights. How they do that is up to them. If they have to buy revenue seats, so be it. They need to take it as a learning experience to improve their process. On that note though, I'm surprised QR don't just release more award seats to QF in instances like this. You would have thought what comes around goes around with partner airlines.

I've had seats snatched off me which luckily they were able to get back. I read another person over at Pointhacks had it done 3 times to them on one booking. $5k to them is not much at the end of the day.

I'm speculating, but QF probably don't ticket immediately to minimize their working capital and hence improve their bottom line, therefore that's the risk they take.

 

[Inuniform]

It has, but there are other options which could have been achieved within the first few days. Yes, it might have taken a few hours longer, but because the OP wanted to fly QR instead of QF I'm not sure that warrants QF being required to pay full revenue seats on QR. Yes QF should have ticketed sooner, QR should have given more grace. But I think the alternatives were reasonable, if not ideal, in this case.

There were no alternatives offered in the first few days. In the first instance, QF were trying to get the original flights reinstated. They were not offering alternatives because they believed that they could get QR to reissue the tickets. This dragged on for about 6 weeks with QF insisting on me calling them back to check on the status of my booking. The first alternative of a QF flight was probably about 3 weeks ago, SYD-ADL-DOH and that was without exploring the other connecting flights. The QR flights were the most direct route on OW to JRO, it would therefore make sense for this carrier and route to be preferred over all others. I don't see that as being unreasonable.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

There were no alternatives offered in the first few days. In the first instance, QF were trying to get the original flights reinstated. They were not offering alternatives because they believed that they could get QR to reissue the tickets. This dragged on for about 6 weeks with QF insisting on me calling them back to check on the status of my booking. The first alternative of a QF flight was probably about 3 weeks ago, SYD-ADL-DOH and that was without exploring the other connecting flights. The QR flights were the most direct route on OW to JRO, it would therefore make sense for this carrier and route to be preferred over all others. I don't see that as being unreasonable.

On 16 August I suggested the QF flight to DXB could be requested by you and would have an good chance of being confirmed quickly (as it was a QF error).

SYD-ADL-DOH, one extra stop, also seems reasonable. For me would have negated the argument for QF to have to pay full $$ to reinstate the SYD-DOH.

The QF option direct to DXB would still be an option open to you if you request it. Not sure about the connecting times.

 

[Inuniform]

On 16 August I suggested the QF flight to DXB could be requested by you and would have an good chance of being confirmed quickly (as it was a QF error).

SYD-ADL-DOH, one extra stop, also seems reasonable. For me would have negated the argument for QF to have to pay full $$ to reinstate the SYD-DOH.

The QF option direct to DXB would still be an option open to you if you request it. Not sure about the connecting times.

I had no reason to request a QF flight to DXB given QF were confident of having my original booking reinstated. QR was my preferred option so it made sense to wait for QF to sort it out and travel as originally planned. Below is the flight option offered via DXB, it is the only flight via DXB that has been offered after I requested one be investigated.

Flight number, Dates & Times	Destination From/To	Duration
QF8413 2110-0540+1 à22 JUL17 (Emirates) Connection time 4hrs 45mins QF8719 1025-1425 à23 JUL17 (Emirates) Connection time 5hrs 15mins KQ 436 1940-2040 à 23JUL17 (Kenyan Airways)	Sydney – Dubai Dubai – Nairobi Nairobi – Kilimanjaro	14hrs 30mins 5hrs 00mins 4hrs 10mins

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The one I would suggest asking for would be:

QF1 SYD-DXB 1650-0025+1
QR1003 DXB-DOH 0530-0540
QR1335 DOH-JRO 0835-1425

Not sure if the DOH-JRO is still available... although it was when they initially offered SYD-ADL-DOH-JRO.

 

[Inuniform]

The one I would suggest asking for would be:

QF1 SYD-DXB 1650-0025+1
QR1003 DXB-DOH 0530-0540
QR1335 DOH-JRO 0835-1425

Not sure if the DOH-JRO is still available... although it was when they initially offered SYD-ADL-DOH-JRO.

My original request to fly via DXB was on QF1 that seemed to marry up well with the QR flights like you suggested. For whatever reason, the flights I posted earlier were the ones that were offered.

 

[Flying mermaid]

If you do end up in J with Kenyan Air, I wouldn't be too worried about it. We did Kenyan in J from JNB to NBO and it was terrific - good service and food - left SAA for dead. Planes are old so you probably wouldn't want to do long haul, but 4 hours or so would be fine. Anyway good luck in getting what you want - unbelievably bad service. Qantas should have been phoning you back with solutions early on, not expecting you to phone back all the time. As for the person telling you she would sort it out and then going on holiday for two weeks! I have been telling Mr FM the saga and he has been shaking his head in disbelief!

 

[N860CR]

If you do end up in J with Kenyan Air, I wouldn't be too worried about it. We did Kenyan in J from JNB to NBO and it was terrific - good service and food - left SAA for dead. Planes are old so you probably wouldn't want to do long haul, but 4 hours or so would be fine. Anyway good luck in getting what you want - unbelievably bad service. Qantas should have been phoning you back with solutions early on, not expecting you to phone back all the time. As for the person telling you she would sort it out and then going on holiday for two weeks! I have been telling Mr FM the saga and he has been shaking his head in disbelief!

Qatar also only operate narrowbodies on the majority of the DOH to North/Central Africa routes.

I'd imagine Kenya is a 737 which won't be all that different to the QR A319/20/21.

I'm doing a similar route (SYD-ADL-DOH-NBO) and ended up booking via ADL as I couldn't get on the SYD flight. It's probably the most direct method of getting there and still gives a long leg to DOH to sleep on.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Yes pretty sure it was a 737

 

[RichardMEL]

It has, but there are other options which could have been achieved within the first few days. Yes, it might have taken a few hours longer, but because the OP wanted to fly QR instead of QF I'm not sure that warrants QF being required to pay full revenue seats on QR. Yes QF should have ticketed sooner, QR should have given more grace. But I think the alternatives were reasonable, if not ideal, in this case.

I'm a bit out of column A and a bit out of column B on this.

For me the real issue is that, again, the original acceptable booking made in good faith was cancelled by QR due to QF's admitted error in not ticketing the segment(s) in time.

It turns into a case of having a reasonable expectation that the booking would be honoured and having it removed through no fault.

to me QF have tried to take the easy route out in responding to this failure of their making. Clearly QR are not easy to deal with or this would have been resolved between QF and them in a few days.. but again, this shouldn't be the concern or problem of the booker. I'm not saying QF should purchase revenue seats on QR but it just seems that to me that QF could have done more for service recovery.

I understand what you're saying ie why not just ask for QF to DXB and on from there but I also wonder - why should the customer be the one making the suggestions? why should the customer have to be flexible after they chose flights and booked them, again with the reasonabe assumption that once "confirmed" they would stay that way (outside of schedule changes, a/c swaps etc).

I still feel QF have handled this poorly and it's gone on so long. The flights may not be till next June, but this should have gone on like a 3 ring circus for so long, including the apparently responsible CSR taking leave for 2 weeks(absolutely their right mind you ) yet not handing the issue over to someone else to cover.. it just comes across that they just don't care enough to make appropriate efforts to recover the situation that they caused.

anyway I've already harped on enough with my opinions - everyone's vary

 

[fairbasa]

I too find the handling in this particular case very poor.

As I mentioned, I had the exact same thing happen to me a few weeks back when adding a flight to my booking. The CSR was straight onto it, rang me back and actually advised ME of the problem, what steps they would take to rectify it and when they would contact me next.

Sure enough, I got a call two days later as promised with an update, seats were reinstated within 3 business days along with another call to tell me they had done so. That's customer service (shout out to Kyle!).

I fear the OP's problem got exacerbated by a CSR who wasn't quite on top of it.