Best pathway to whinge that might get a positive outcome?

[Mr_Gimlet]

Well, after over a decade here I finally have to blow my top.

I booked a rewards flight a couple of months ago to Canberra for Mrs_G for 7am this morning. Checked in yesterday afternoon.

Got up this morning at 5am to drive to the airport to find a text from QF that came in at 2am telling me that she had been rebooked on a 0605. No way can I make that flight with a bag.

Got through to the call centre quite quickly, presumably in Cape Town by the accent, and got an agent who would only offer me another rewards booking - of course, there are no flights available. No offer for any of the other flights going this morning despite seats being available on both later flights, and I asked several times to be rebooked.

As Mrs_G needs to get to CBR, I have booked her on the cheapest flight I could get, an 11am for $350. So at least she will get there.

Now I have had my rant, what's the most effective way to complain, and (practically) try and get a refund for the new flight?

 

[ChrisMars]

It's a very tricky situation, with call center being useless even in IROPS situation, and I guess airport service desk being reduced in count, and power.

What happened to the award booking? Did you cancel it, or is it a no-show? How many points and taxes did you use for this booking?
When there is a change, usually there is a popup in the mobile or web app to ask you to accept. Did you accept?
Was the 11am flight booked online or via the call center? on Qantas?
What's your QFF status?

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

It's a very tricky situation, with call center being useless even in IROPS situation, and I guess airport service desk being reduced in count, and power.

What happened to the award booking? Did you cancel it, or is it a no-show? How many points and taxes did you use for this booking?
When there is a change, usually there is a popup in the mobile or web app to ask you to accept. Did you accept?
Was the 11am flight booked online or via the call center?
What's your QFF status?

Hi Chris, the award booking was cancelled by the CSA on the phone after offering to rebook the enxt day- was relatively small (10k and $50).

Didn't accept the change, just rang the call centre when we read the text message.

Booked the flight online immediately after the call centre ended the call which cost me $350. Mainly because I wanted to snag a seat.

I am QFF Gold.

 

[TomVexille]

Yes, the call centre is completely useless in any change to awards unless you're WP and get through to HBA. They have a track record of making things worse in IRROPS. This is just another reason why removing ticket desks is an utter failure.

Surprisingly we actually got a result just using the complaints form on the QF website after spending close to 14 hours on the phone with Cape Town.

Good luck in your quest and I'm interested to see what they come back with.

 

[ChrisMars]

Hi Chris, the award booking was cancelled by the CSA on the phone after offering to rebook the enxt day- was relatively small (10k and $50).

Didn't accept the change, just rang the call centre when we read the text message.

Booked the flight online immediately after the call centre ended the call which cost me $350. Mainly because I wanted to snag a seat.

I am QFF Gold.

I see, so really, your out of pocket is $350 - $50 - 10k ~ $200, assuming you value 10k at $100 (valuation can go anywhere between $50 to a few hundreds, depending on how you use them).

Look, it's going to be hard to claim some compensation for two reasons:
1. As Gold, you most likely will only talk to offshore agents with limited experience and training, and poor outcome. You might get lucky, either by hitting Hobart, or an offshore experienced agent.
2. Still, if you speak to the right person, Qantas might state that you cancelled your booking, and made a separate one, and might just not reimburse you unless you push hard, i.e. start legal action. IMHO, the amount of effort could be huge, and not worthwhile, but there are a few threads around legal action with Qantas you can read and post to to get more experienced answers.

What would I do? For $200 I'll try my luck by calling up to 10 times, and see what the agent has to say each time, and be ready to spend 5 hours all up, and give up calling after that. Then I would drop a complain via the web form. Most likely, the complain will never be read nor actioned, but I would have "tried my best within reason".
Good luck.

 

[transpactraveller]

What would I do? For $200 I'll try my luck by calling up to 10 times, and see what the agent has to say each time, and be ready to spend 5 hours all up, and give up calling after that. Then I would drop a complain via the web form. Most likely, the complain will never be read nor actioned, but I would have "tried my best within reason".
Good luck.

Why do we accept this as ok and normal in this country? In other parts of the world when an airline cancels a flight at short notice you would be entitled to a free rebooking, on another airline if necessary, any reasonable expenses covered, plus additional compensation from the airline.

 

[justinbrett]

A bit late now, but you would have been better off not calling and just going to the airport as planned.

As your flight was cancelled you would have been rebooked on any available flight that day. You’re not responsible for a no show on a flight you haven’t accepted when you were notified 4 hours before the flight in the middle of the night.

It’s also possible that if enough pax were moved from the 7am flight to the earlier flight they might have delayed it to capture the reaccommodated pax.

 

[ChrisMars]

Why do we accept this as ok and normal in this country? In other parts of the world when an airline cancels a flight at short notice you would be entitled to a free rebooking, on another airline if necessary, any reasonable expenses covered, plus additional compensation from the airline.

I didn't say that's ok and normal. The reality is, Australia lack proper airline regulation like EU261, and Qantas customer service has become a joke.

 

[Guvner]

A bit late now, but you would have been better off not calling and just going to the airport as planned.

As your flight was cancelled you would have been rebooked on any available flight that day. You’re not responsible for a no show on a flight you haven’t accepted when you were notified 4 hours before the flight in the middle of the night.

It’s also possible that if enough pax were moved from the 7am flight to the earlier flight they might have delayed it to capture the reaccommodated pax.

I agree. Although clearly too late for the OP's wife, I would have rocked up and said "what text, don't know what you are talking about?"

 

[stm1sydney]

The most rewarding and positive outcome (and least aggravating) would be to never fly Qantas again.

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

agree. Although clearly too late for the OP's wife, I would have rocked up and said "what text, don't know what you are talking about?"

As your flight was cancelled you would have been rebooked on any available flight that day. You’re not responsible for a no show on a flight you haven’t accepted when you were notified 4 hours before the flight in the middle of the night.

Yes, after chatting at the airport it appears that looks like that would have happened.

I naively thought that calling to resolve it would end up with a better outcome for everyone - and, of course, we were not presented on the call with the option of going to the airport and resolving it there. Cancel or rebook tomorrow were the only options presented despite me asking explicitly several times to be rebooked onto a later flight today.

I understand cancellations happen, but this isn't inconvenience, it's deliberate malice.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

At least wife or you will get the SC earn, which in my POV is a minor gain.
FlexY or discY?
Granted having to spend an extra $350 is not ideal.

 

[TomVexille]

A bit late now, but you would have been better off not calling and just going to the airport as planned.

As your flight was cancelled you would have been rebooked on any available flight that day. You’re not responsible for a no show on a flight you haven’t accepted when you were notified 4 hours before the flight in the middle of the night.

It’s also possible that if enough pax were moved from the 7am flight to the earlier flight they might have delayed it to capture the reaccommodated pax.

Except that QF at the airport will tell you to call up or use the app... oh wait

 

[jpp42]

and, of course, we were not presented on the call with the option of going to the airport and resolving it there.

This is really where it all went wrong. In the past if there was a problem on the day, call centre agents were authorised to say exactly that - they even have a term for it in the booking system, "airport control." The problem is that Qantas has decimated their service desks at the airport, yet not given their call centres the same training, access or control as airport agents actually have. It's such a stupendous failure of customer service...

 

[serfty]

I booked a rewards flight a couple of months ago to Canberra for Mrs_G for 7am this morning. Checked in yesterday afternoon.

Got up this morning at 5am to drive to the airport to find a text from QF that came in at 2am telling me that she had been rebooked on a 0605. No way can I make that flight with a bag.

Happened to me last week ... at least my new flight was two hours later, but I still got to the airport 2 hours before I otherwise would have.

Cancelled Again!

This may be "Tin Hat" stuff but it has happened to me too regularly this year. I have worked out one way how Qantas are reducing costs - by not flying to schedule. For the fourth of five times this year, my flight on the Golden triangle has been cancelled on the day or the day before. This...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[JohnK]

A bit late now, but you would have been better off not calling and just going to the airport as planned.

My latest experiences at the airport are not much better. The airline has huge issues. They must have lost a lot of good staff who are not coming back.

Booked on a flight, check-in offers fly ahead (2 flights earlier) with bag and golf clubs.

Flight cancelled and put on next flight but can't give me boarding pass and have to head to gate and see if any no shows. Seriously? What about bag and golf clubs? Pot luck.

Original flight only middle seats left. No thanks. How about next flight? OK. Flight delayed further. Bag arrived with flight, don't know which flight golf clubs were on. I went back next day to get golf clubs.

Who thinks this is acceptable? Reminds me of Aegean Airlines cancelling both my flights on a return and offering me a later flight and I waited close to 3 hours each time. They would not let me go on earlier flight even though they had empty seats. Why? My ticket condition does not allow changes. I'm not changing anything. You cancelled my flight. Clueless.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I think QF would be on the hook here. They made a schedule change at the very last minute and so far as I could tell you didn't accept the new flight schedule. In theory you should have been able to arrive at the airport, try checking in (which obviously would fail) and then have the person at the desk put you on a later flight. At a minimum I would expect them to either refund the ticket or cover the money you spent out of pocket to get the new flight. In future though, when this happens, you should have a giant grin on your face since that means QF is now on the hook to get you where you need to go by your rules.

-RooFlyer88

 

[TomVexille]

I think QF would be on the hook here. They made a schedule change at the very last minute and so far as I could tell you didn't accept the new flight schedule. In theory you should have been able to arrive at the airport, try checking in (which obviously would fail) and then have the person at the desk put you on a later flight. At a minimum I would expect them to either refund the ticket or cover the money you spent out of pocket to get the new flight. In future though, when this happens, you should have a giant grin on your face since that means QF is now on the hook to get you where you need to go by your rules.

-RooFlyer88

Problem is that QF now want you to go via their call centre, who don't understand those rules and do not have the ability to do what should happen. It's absolute contempt for the customer.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Problem is that QF now want you to go via their call centre, who don't understand those rules and do not have the ability to do what should happen. It's absolute contempt for the customer.

Fair point. But does this incompetence and ineptitude extend to the Hobart and NZ call centres? If not, one possibility is for an AFFer who has Platinum One status (and thus access to these call centres) to three way call the OP and QFF customer service to get the issue resolved for them.

-RooFlyer88

 

[TomVexille]

Fair point. But does this incompetence and ineptitude extend to the Hobart and NZ call centres? If not, one possibility is for an AFFer who has Platinum One status (and thus access to these call centres) to three way call the OP and QFF customer service to get the issue resolved for them.

-RooFlyer88

The fact that one would even have to contemplate that says volumes, does it now?