BA Cancelled segment of award - QFF charged fee to fix! [Fee now refunded]

[Waypoint]

OW award for August 2020 booked through Qantas. Segment ARN-DUB via LHR, BA cancelled LHR-DUB flight and put us on an earlier flight which left before ARN-LHR (another BA flight) arrived. QF did not notify us of this change.
I have been charged a change fee to correct this, and was not even advised this charge would be incurred.
It took hours to get the flights fixed, with the CHAT people giving me incorrect times and flight numbers. I copied their first offer of new flights, they agreed, but stuffed up the second leg flight numbers and it all got very confusing. They eventually booked me with the correct LHR-DUB flight, but the wrong ARN-LHR flight. I rang this time, and got a very helpful person who just fixed it. Fine, but my points instantly hit with the change fee. I have emailed Customercare, but I am not sure they even read these emails. Any advice???

Also - There was an even better flight - the next one after the cancelled flight, but no award seats available. I would have thought that becomes irrelevant, and you should be put on the next available in the same class (J) regardless of award seats on that flight. Are there any rules/customs about this??

 

[DC3]

OW award for August 2020 booked through Qantas. Segment ARN-DUB via LHR, BA cancelled LHR-DUB flight and put us on an earlier flight which left before ARN-LHR (another BA flight) arrived. QF did not notify us of this change .... They eventually booked me with the correct LHR-DUB flight, but the wrong ARN-LHR flight. I rang this time, and got a very helpful person who just fixed it. Fine, but my points instantly hit with the change fee. I have emailed Customercare, but I am not sure they even read these emails. Any advice??? ....

I find that emails to [email protected] are usually answered within several days, to a week. If nothing after a week, I send a follow-up emai. However, others have said that they normally phone the Call Centre with issues.

Edit: Regarding cancelled flights, my understanding is that QF is ultimately responsible for getting you to the next destination(s), for the Qantas OneWorld Award bookings. Many flights will have no award availability, especially closer to departure date, so the award bucket should be irrelevant. Having said that, the carrier airline would need to approve this I guess, and QF may have their hands tied to some extent.

However, the Call Centre should be able to phone the carrier to get approval, probably while you are on hold. Perhaps, a “lazy” CSO.

 

[ftm]

You should absolutely not be charged a change fee for an airline schedule change, regardless of which airline had the change. An airline initiated change, at no request of the pax is an airline problem to fix. QF ticket, QF as the booking agent, QF fixes it. Quite amazing that they have made it so hard for you.

 

[Waypoint]

They didn’t seem to grasp that the new flight they assigned did not connect with the previous leg. Just gave me the blurb about safety, op requirements etc. leg 1 arrived 9:05am LHR, reassigned leg 2 already departed at 8:25am. I’m at a loss why they thought that would work! Their position was that I requested the change to a flight that would connect - they didn’t seem to think there was any need.

 

[DC3]

They didn’t seem to grasp that the new flight they assigned did not connect with the previous leg. Just gave me the blurb about safety, op requirements etc. leg 1 arrived 9:05am LHR, reassigned leg 2 already departed at 8:25am. I’m at a loss why they thought that would work! Their position was that I requested the change to a flight that would connect - they didn’t seem to think there was any need.

I recall AA changing my flights due to their revised schedule. The connecting flight was to depart prior to the incoming flight landing. .

I think that sometimes these things may be computer-generated and no-one is actually checking. Quickly resolved by a phone call in that case. However, the response to your situation is pretty crazy.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The change fee should not apply for involuntary changes. An email to the QFFF centre will get this reversed. Keep it simple - 'BA schedule change produced a missconnect in London. While fixing this the agent inadvertently charged a change fee. Can you please refund this.'

 

[Waypoint]

The change fee should not apply for involuntary changes. An email to the QFFF centre will get this reversed. Keep it simple - 'BA schedule change produced a missconnect in London. While fixing this the agent inadvertently charged a change fee. Can you please refund this.'

Thanks, great wording

 

[Waypoint]

I recall AA changing my flights due to their revised schedule. The connecting flight was to depart prior to the incoming flight landing. .

I think that sometimes these things may be computer-generated and no-one is actually checking. Quickly resolved by a phone call in that case. However, the response to your situation is pretty crazy.

 

[ftm]

They didn’t seem to grasp that the new flight they assigned did not connect with the previous leg. Just gave me the blurb about safety, op requirements etc. leg 1 arrived 9:05am LHR, reassigned leg 2 already departed at 8:25am. I’m at a loss why they thought that would work! Their position was that I requested the change to a flight that would connect - they didn’t seem to think there was any need.

Oh dear. Someone needs to go back to training!

 

[Waypoint]

DC3, thanks so much for this, Contacted them via online Chat today, and got it sorted very quickly with Sherlyn who was very interactive, transparent and fun. It's amazing the difference having the right terminology makes. There is still the issue that they think only currently available award seats can be used for a carrier induced change. In the end, the changes to just available award seats give us a sleep-in in Stockholm instead of a 5 AM airport trip. We can handle a 4 hr LHR turnaround in J Terminal 5.

 

[Nisho]

Oh dear. Someone needs to go back to training!

Unfortunately, no level of training can replace basic common sense.

 

[Waypoint]

Thanks to DC3 and others. I find it very frustrating that just using the wrong word to describe your issue can result in vastly different outcomes. Once I used the words DC 3 suggested, it was no problem!!
Lesson for me is to check here before calling QF if you have the time. (Ad the forum responds much faster than the QF call centre!

 

[stoney]

The whole issue here is the lack of rights and responsibilities. The customer, regardless of status, should have the right to have the company fix the issue and if there is problems then there should be adequate compensation. I have a RTW trip coming up in June and it is a worry to read the lack of customer service by Qantas. It is conceivable to think that my trip could collapse along with thousands of dollars in accomodation, connection travel and tours. Consumer rights must be strengthened in Australia. How is this going to happen if the ACCC has no interest or teeth? A sad industry!

 

[Waypoint]

Stoney:

The whole issue here is the lack of rights and responsibilities. The customer, regardless of status, should have the right to have the company fix the issue and if there is problems then there should be adequate compensation. I have a RTW trip coming up in June and it is a worry to read the lack of customer service by Qantas. It is conceivable to think that my trip could collapse along with thousands of dollars in accomodation, connection travel and tours. Consumer rights must be strengthened in Australia. How is this going to happen if the ACCC has no interest or teeth? A sad industry!

Don't get too worried about your RTW in June. I've been on three of them so far and they have been very enjoyable. 2017 we did have an Air Berlin route cancelled on a OW award, involving several flight and route changes that we had to negotiate with Qantas. AB were close to the eventual collapse and I checked with Qantas what would happen. They told me then that it would be their responsibility to get us to our intended destination regardless of award availability. With this current booking I was unhappy to start with, it got resolved very quickly once I got help from the forum with the right words. If it had been a cancellation that could not be replaced using existing award seats I'm sure it would have been escalated to someone more experienced and resolved.
I do agree however that we need better protection clearly spelt out.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The whole issue here is the lack of rights and responsibilities. The customer, regardless of status, should have the right to have the company fix the issue and if there is problems then there should be adequate compensation. I have a RTW trip coming up in June and it is a worry to read the lack of customer service by Qantas. It is conceivable to think that my trip could collapse along with thousands of dollars in accomodation, connection travel and tours. Consumer rights must be strengthened in Australia. How is this going to happen if the ACCC has no interest or teeth? A sad industry!

The issue here isn’t really one of consumer rights. It’s a combination of airline schedule changes (normal), computers automatically reassigning flights when schedule changes occur (also normal, and in most cases actually an advantage to the affected passenger, but not always), the long hold times to get through to get it fixed (not good).

The agent was also misinformed in charging the change fee, but that was easily rectified. Well, it was rectified once it got to the right person.

Major schedule changes happen a couple times a year for the winter and summer timetables. Always worth keeping an eye on your bookings to see if they are affected. Sometimes it can work in your favour with better flight options opening up. Sometimes it doesn’t.

It’s better to have the computer at least try to arrange alternative flights as it saves thousands of people calling.

 

[Matt_01]

This seems to be a case based on the operator you were talking to in the first place may have not been that experienced. I have a RTW trip in April and one leg from JFK to NRT was changed to HND. In brief I did not like the departure time and QF who send a request to JL, changed JL3 - JL5, no questioned asked. Next part as I was now I arriving at HND I advised QF I did not want to travel HND-NRT to connect to QF80 and requested release of seats on QF26 which I was given, no charges, points or cost incurred. When QF announced the other other day that QF80 would now depart HND, I called up and asked to be put back on that flight as it was direct to MEL which I was originally on, again changed without question or cost.

With the recent JL changes (opening up slots at HND) also impacted another set of flights that made connections impossible. I was lucky that CX had a good alternate available and changed to that without charges, points or cost.

All these changes were a result of JL changing a number of flights from NRT-HND but booked with QF points.

 

[Ktan89]

I have a RTW trip in April and one leg from JFK to NRT was changed to HND. In brief I did not like the departure time and QF who send a request to JL, changed JL3 - JL5, no questioned asked. Next part as I was now I arriving at HND I advised QF I did not want to travel HND-NRT to connect to QF80 and requested release of seats on QF26 which I was given, no charges, points or cost incurred. When QF announced the other other day that QF80 would now depart HND, I called up and asked to be put back on that flight as it was direct to MEL which I was originally on, again changed without question or cost.

Hi @Matt_01 I was in the same situation, original booking was JL3 as part of JFK - NRT - TPE. Now with the Tokyo airport change I am flying JFK - HND- NRT - TPE. I was notified by QF via email to call them to accept the change. When i was on the phone with them, i didn't know there was a JL5 flight so my only request was for them to find HND - TPE in J. There was 1 seat available but I was not prepared to separate from the missus and sit in economy (or maybe i should make her sit there ).

Would I have been able to push them to open up seats on JL5 AND a flight from HND to Taipei?
Is it too late to do it now since i have already accepted the booking?

This is my flight now ...it went from a 3 hour layover to 13 hours.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It’s not too late to contact qantas and ask. Explain when you initially called about the change you were not informed of the options available, and chose from the options presented by the agent. Now you have additional information and would like to see if you can get something better. If you get a good QF agent they will understand and be happy to help. I did this on a booking two weeks after accepting a change and they were like ‘yup, sure, the higher class has now opened up on another flight and we’ll change it for you’.

 

[stoney]

Stoney:


Don't get too worried about your RTW in June. I've been on three of them so far and they have been very enjoyable. 2017 we did have an Air Berlin route cancelled on a OW award, involving several flight and route changes that we had to negotiate with Qantas. AB were close to the eventual collapse and I checked with Qantas what would happen. They told me then that it would be their responsibility to get us to our intended destination regardless of award availability. With this current booking I was unhappy to start with, it got resolved very quickly once I got help from the forum with the right words. If it had been a cancellation that could not be replaced using existing award seats I'm sure it would have been escalated to someone more experienced and resolved.
I do agree however that we need better protection clearly spelt out.

Thanks Waypoint, I guess it will all be OK. DC3 certainly knows how to simplify a difficult situation, a gift few people have.

 

[stoney]

The issue here isn’t really one of consumer rights. It’s a combination of airline schedule changes (normal), computers automatically reassigning flights when schedule changes occur (also normal, and in most cases actually an advantage to the affected passenger, but not always), the long hold times to get through to get it fixed (not good).

The agent was also misinformed in charging the change fee, but that was easily rectified. Well, it was rectified once it got to the right person.

Major schedule changes happen a couple times a year for the winter and summer timetables. Always worth keeping an eye on your bookings to see if they are affected. Sometimes it can work in your favour with better flight options opening up. Sometimes it doesn’t.

It’s better to have the computer at least try to arrange alternative flights as it saves thousands of people calling.

I hear you but consumer rights only kick in when something that is wrong is not fixed and it is then that protection should also kick in. Unfortunately the QCC is absolutely terrible to contact and I have struck some operators that are not worth talking to. The chat option is a joke. Writing a letter is a waste of good time. I do agree that a good operator (few and far between) are worth gold. Thanks for your comments I appreciate them.