Changing flights - Same day

[Reeldeel]

I'm interested to hear anyone elses experience or take on this.

A few weeks ago I got held up on the road and missed my flight. So I got on line and booked the next flight on points. (did not use the change option)
Before I even reached the airport a consultant from QF premium rang me and let me know that they had refunded my points and had put me on the next flight without cost. I thought that was great and QF really do look after WP.

However, last week my employer asked me if I could get to work early last minute [same day] so I got myself to the airport and enquired about getting myself on the earlier flight, which had plenty of seats. The bad news was I had to pay the FULL fare and there was no change option. So paid full fare reluctantly and blew the fare on the later flight.


Not complaining really. just confused by QF inconsistency. Or is this another enhancement for status pax?

 

[mannej]

QF will flow forward pax when it suits them. They don't have a formal benefit like VA does.

I'd suggest that the two situations are chalk and cheese, as the former is a case of QF being proactive, the latter they are sticking to the fare conditions you purchased.

 

[Reeldeel]

Agree. Thats my point, "when it suits" is confusing.

The fare conditions were the same, both red e deals by the way.

The way it was handled was chalk and cheese.

I have no issues with terms and conditions, just frustrated with differing levels of flexibility.

 

[RooFlyer]

That's exactly why they say about Qantas : "Consistently inconsistent"

I'm astounded (but pleased) at your initial experience.

 

[RichardMEL]

You've come across the situation of 2 different agents clearly. One proactive and kind to help you out in a situation where, really, there was no reason for them to - kudos to them - and one where an agent was adhearing to the rules down the line without discretion.

I am happy to be corrected, but I believe only P1 and CL get same day change free regardless of fare class/rules (and to this I have never had a knock back or issue with this)

now I would think agent #2 should have shown some discretion given status, flights under airport control and capacity - no question.

It leaves the usual QF impression of consistently inconsistent.

 

[gaz0303]

My last fly forward on QF required 3 attempts at different desks. Sometimes playing along with the inconsistency pays off. I'm happy for there being some discretion though. Booking an off-peak flight and expecting a free change to a peak hour flight might be pushing it, but the other way round should be fine.

 

[ajd]

As a very infrequent J flyer, I was very impressed last time I flew in J on SYD-CBR on a points upgrade from a flex Y fare, the automated check-in kiosk offered me a fly-ahead with no human intervention. I realise this probably isn't hugely impressive for a lot of people here but it impressed me

I declined and guested my Y-flying colleague into the J lounge instead...

 

[greyyy]

I don't really see a problem here.

Policy and fare conditions is very clear, and as long as you don't expect anything more than that, you'll be fine. You can always ask to fly forward, and those are "surprise and delight" situations that are exceptions to the rule, but should never be expected.

(For what it's worth, as PS, Qantas allowed me to fly on an earlier J DOM flight to my international connection when I asked. Was expecting them to say no, but I was pleasantly surprised when they let me spend more time in BNE J lounge as opposed to SYD DOM lounge).

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Tried to 'fly ahead' on a 6pm Red eDeal arriving at the airport around 1:30pm this week as an afternoon meeting was cancelled. No dice, so I made the busy Qantas lounge my office for the next four hours, despite the fact that my flight was showing Y0 and the flight I wanted to move to was N9 Q9 etc... so they could have freed up a seat on a full/oversold peak flight in favour of moving me to an empty off-peak flight, but chose not to. Thanks for all the wine and food in the lounge, and then the dinner service with wine rather than the snack + non-alcoholic drink on the flight I wanted to move to, Qantas!

 

[RichardMEL]

As a very infrequent J flyer, I was very impressed last time I flew in J on SYD-CBR on a points upgrade from a flex Y fare, the automated check-in kiosk offered me a fly-ahead with no human intervention. I realise this probably isn't hugely impressive for a lot of people here but it impressed me

Yes, this is a nice feature and usually works out if the fare class (U in this example) was open so the software doesn't have to think too hard about it.

Although one time this didn't quite work as expected. I had a 1910(I think) MEL-BNE flight on a busy Friday night booked in I class during a long prior sale. I decided to leave work earlier and try for the 6pm flight which was only showing like J3 or something. Well I rocked up to the kiosk and it helpfully did offer me an earlier flight (this was around 4:45) but it was MEL-CBR, CBR-BNE which put me into BNE only 20 min or so ahead of the original flight time. EF showed both flights had I class so that's why). I declined, took my original flight BP, walked to the J lounge angel and 2 minutes later had my BP for the 1800 flight with a smile and no issue.

I don't really see a problem here.

Policy and fare conditions is very clear, and as long as you don't expect anything more than that, you'll be fine. You can always ask to fly forward, and those are "surprise and delight" situations that are exceptions to the rule, but should never be expected.

(For what it's worth, as PS, Qantas allowed me to fly on an earlier J DOM flight to my international connection when I asked. Was expecting them to say no, but I was pleasantly surprised when they let me spend more time in BNE J lounge as opposed to SYD DOM lounge).

This is one of those situations where it is a smart move. After all if your original flight is delayed or whatever that potentially affects your international connection so they probably have a more liberal policy to get people to gateways sooner rather than later to avoid crunch situations. I mean if you're going BNE-SIN or something, your options are a whole lot less than say BNE-CNS.

Tried to 'fly ahead' on a 6pm Red eDeal arriving at the airport around 1:30pm this week as an afternoon meeting was cancelled. No dice, so I made the busy Qantas lounge my office for the next four hours, despite the fact that my flight was showing Y0 and the flight I wanted to move to was N9 Q9 etc... so they could have freed up a seat on a full/oversold peak flight in favour of moving me to an empty off-peak flight, but chose not to. Thanks for all the wine and food in the lounge, and then the dinner service with wine rather than the snack + non-alcoholic drink on the flight I wanted to move to, Qantas!

Probably a poor choice, but within the rules of the fare. Again these are situations where discretion and the ability of some agents to do some things and not ohers can come into play. Technically that was the right call.. obviously practically not really. I believe some agents have more authority than others to make calls to override fare rules and class restrictions etc in such situations while I have heard agents can and do get audited on such things from time to time.

 

[Reeldeel]

Thanks for the replies.
I will add though the original booking was on a chockers peak time flight. I had to cough up the full fare on a half empty flight.
Anyway I look forward to more of QF's positive discretionary service.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

despite the fact that my flight was showing Y0 and the flight I wanted to move to was N9 Q9 etc... so they could have freed up a seat on a full/oversold peak flight in favour of moving me to an empty off-peak flight, but chose not to.

On a related note, Qantas will apparently adopt the http://www.australianfrequentflyer....lantio-flex-schedule-excess-demand-83864.html by October.

Would be interesting if that platform has an impact on Red eDeal flow-forwarding possibilities during peak times.

 

[vandy]

The inconsistency can be annoying. I've been moved to a later flight on a red e-deal once before with no additional charge from a lovely agent, but then other times I've asked to change to earlier flights they tell me a straight out no, or give me a huge price to pay for it. I think there may be some discretion if you're running late (eg due to traffic or other things out of your control) and can't make your original flight. . I wonder if there's a really complex algorithm behind the decisions or whether it's just agent discretion. In my experience Qantas has some great people who go out of their way to create memorable customer service, but there's the majority who couldn't care less and are just there to do the minimum required for their next paycheck.

 

[flyingfan]

I've read here that agents themselves do not have the discretion to change red e-deals unless they are flow-forwarding across a range of flights due to weather or other factors - or it may be they can change it but will get a please explain so will need a very good reason to do so.

 

[RichardMEL]

The reality is pretty simple. Know your fare rules and measure your expectation from that. Obviously status plays a part, and those with the higher status levels have more chances to have such conditions waived (as I noted earlier as P1 I've never had a question or an issue with anyone). However, expect what is published, and anything more is a bonus in my book.

There's zero harm in asking, and circumstances (eg: weather delays or forecast weather) can definitely help motivate QF to relax such conditions, but if you know what you're entitled to per your status and fare conditions, then refusal shouldn't offend but flexibility and good agents being proactive or giving customer service exceptions are to be appreciated rather than expected.

Not saying anyone in this thread behaves otherwise mind you. this is just a statement about how I approach such things.

 

[JohnK]

I've had limited success with flow forward and even flow backward in recent times.

Booked 6:35pm BNE-SYD flight for myself for this Friday a long time ago. Booked an award for wife and daughter on the 7:35pm BNE-SYD flight as the flights were too expensive and no award availability. At the airport I will ask if they can move my wife and daughter forward or move me back to their flight.

Fully prepared to travel on our booked flights and will check in all bags and stroller to my flight but it doesn't hurt to ask. The inconsistency is sometimes in our favour.