Consensus on points compo for failed IFE

[Moody]

What prompted you to wake up after four months and post that piece of nastiness?

Perhaps it's because I spent those 4 months on Planet Earth???

But really - after dancing around the edges for some time, our complainant goes the full DYKWIA with some pretty condescending and insulting references to fellow human beings. But do you or anyone else pull them up for it? Hell no! But if anyone dares criticise that attititude there are lots of AFF acolytes keen to buy packets of gravel.

But what really puzzles me is how on earth Juddles returned the 10K points. It must have been a trek!

 

[Flying mermaid]

Let me give you some frank advice .... the "half-baked person" won't miss you, the "masses" don't know you exist, and you will not be bothering the pens of any accountants at Qantas. But having principles is important - so don't let me stop you.

Having personal integrity is important, so if he feels he no longer wants to put money Qantas’ way I think that is very sensible. I tend to agree Qantas won’t give a stuff, but it is how you feel within yourself that counts.

PS I have never found Juddles a DYKWIA - he comes across as kind and humorous. Bit of a Qantas fanboi. However everyone has a tipping point and sometimes they can be over quite small things, so the response can seem out of proportion. Unless you are putting yourself forward for canonisation, you must have also had a dummy spit over something at some point.....

 

[MJW Kangaroo]

Hi, we flew Sydney to BKK on EK J class 18 months ago. We had a couple of issues, but one was my faulty IFE. After the flight I emailed Emirates with our concerns and were given 30000 Emirates points each. When boarding the return flight the staff were aware of our previous issues and looked after us like royalty !!!!

 

[BAM1748]

Not sure how to take this. Are they seriously including the points that I would accrue anyway into their "gesture of goodwill"??

I may be way wrong, but I really think that 10,000 points is not enough for suffering a 12 hr flight without IFE. Regardless of whether I am Bronze or P1. The real cost to QF of those points is max 50 dollars.

But what really gets me is the lack of QF's ability to deal with things in a personal way. I feel like I am just one of any of their customers, and they don't care. I buy 10+ return J fares from Australia to South America each year. Qantas has gotten almost all those bookings. This incident (and their followup) will not prevent me flying QF - I am not into the whole "never fly you again" thing. But I will most likely favour Air New Zealand for the rest of the year - will cost QF about 50k in lost revenue. Will make me feel better, but really it is ridiculous.

I think they are pointing out they are giving you a decent chunk relative you earn, nothing more nothing less. But it is poor wording.

So you switch to air New Zealand, when you have a lost bag or no ife again what are you going to do then.

I do understand sometimes it's about getting some satisfaction!

 

[Flying mermaid]

So you switch to air New Zealand, when you have a lost bag or no ife again what are you going to do then.

I do understand sometimes it's about getting some satisfaction!

I can remember the days prior to al this FF points junk. You had TAA and Ansett. One airline would be a bit poor in service or food or whatever, so people would swap to the other one. When enough people did it, the airline would wake up, improve its offfering and try to win people back with a better product. These days they know they have a captive audience, throw a few points and people will swallow anything, no incentive to actually improve.

 

[timster]

I would be furious with 10k. To me, no IFE is equivalent to a downgrade, and we know how appallingly QF handles compensation for those. QF will never give adequate compensation (which should be cash or enough points to be better than cash), so CC chargeback would be where I would go. And to the ombudsman (pointless or not). QF did not supply the service you paid for, and then effectively spat in your face.

I remember the early days of VOD IFE, where QF and BA's systems used to fail regularly, often for the whole plane. I lost track of the times we all waited for the purser to reboot the system and then wait 30 minutes, which rarely worked. BA gave me 50 quid duty free credit once. But you kind of expected the technology to be flaky in those days.

Since it got reliable I've had quite a few times when it has failed just in my seat. I've been moved in the same cabin, or upgraded one cabin several times. So when they say there are no seats, I think you have to be sure that they are not just saying that for your cabin. If they have a seat in J, they should give it to you.

But I took my business mostly elsewhere because of this type of cough that QF try to get away with.

 

[Moody]

I can remember the days prior to al this FF points junk. You had TAA and Ansett. One airline would be a bit poor in service or food or whatever, so people would swap to the other one. When enough people did it, the airline would wake up, improve its offfering and try to win people back with a better product. These days they know they have a captive audience, throw a few points and people will swallow anything, no incentive to actually improve.

Fair enough - customers can be stupidly loyal or stupidly fickle (sometimes simultaneously), but let's get some perspective here. Someone up thread assessed the 10K points as having a value of around $70. If we take this as being accurate the situation is like your standard Netflix account being broken for 12 hours, and to make up for it they credit you 4 months of 4K streaming on up to 4 devices.

I would see that as being overly generous in a sense of pure $ value, but I understand that the context of being stuck in a metal tube for those 12 hours changes the equation somewhat.

And the lesson for us all ..... always bring a back-up device.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Whilst I would prefer the IFE being available, 10,000 points is fair compensation. The previous comment where it was indicated the 10,000 points equals $70 is fanciful. Qantas is going to value those points at the same price that they actually sell them to customers. So if you check here: Frequent Flyer - Qantas Points and Partners - Using Qantas Points - Top-up Points you'll see that 10,000 points is valued by Qantas at $335. This looks like better than fair value when you consider this.

It's a also a good reminder to make sure you take some of your own entertainment material/devices with you on every flight.

 

[Flying mermaid]

And the lesson for us all ..... always bring a back-up device.

or a book . I always carry one genuine old fashioned paper book (in spite of weight), that can’t fail on me - unless I leave it behind.....

 

[mos72]

I once flew on a points upgrade in First on Qantas from Dubai to Sydney when the IFE was broken (on the whole plane). I wasn’t fussed, and didn’t complain since I was sleeping for much of it and had movies on my iPad.

To my surprise several weeks later I received a $1000 Qantas flight voucher in the mail as compensation, completely unsolicited.

This was about 6 years ago, I suspect they’re not so generous now!

Hi there all,

I just want to gauge what our members feel is correct compensation for a certain shortfall in service. I recently suffered the following: Cash Premium Economy ticket on QF longhaul. 12 hr flight. I am P1. My IFE system did not work for entire flight. Full flight so option of changing seats not available to crew.

Please tell me what you think is fair/real - not idealistic wishes.

Staff on board were great but as flight was full could not move me. I was given a voucher for 10.000 points before getting off flight (I did not ask for this)

Despite the staff being great in handling this, I do not really think 10k points is sufficent.

Ideas?

wa

 

[Flying mermaid]

I once flew on a points upgrade in First on Qantas from Dubai to Sydney when the IFE was broken (on the whole plane). I wasn’t fussed, and didn’t complain since I was sleeping for much of it and had movies on my iPad.

To my surprise several weeks later I received a $1000 Qantas flight voucher in the mail as compensation, completely unsolicited.

This was about 6 years ago, I suspect they’re not so generous now!


wa

about late 2008 Master FM was flying J to Turkey. Qantas to BKK and then Turkish air. On the way back his flight was delayed 24 hours out of Heathrow. By the time he arrived in Bangkok he had been swapped to J in Emirates, arrived in Sydney 1/2 hour later than scheduled and he received a letter of apology with a $600 voucher. Bet it wouldn’t happen today

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Whilst I would prefer the IFE being available, 10,000 points is fair compensation. The previous comment where it was indicated the 10,000 points equals $70 is fanciful. Qantas is going to value those points at the same price that they actually sell them to customers. So if you check here: Frequent Flyer - Qantas Points and Partners - Using Qantas Points - Top-up Points you'll see that 10,000 points is valued by Qantas at $335. This looks like better than fair value when you consider this.

It's a also a good reminder to make sure you take some of your own entertainment material/devices with you on every flight.

The $70 is the notion value Qantas gives to points for the purposes of prizes (regulatory requirements) and for things such as purchases at the QF shop. Qantas may try to argue they're worth $100 (the price they sell them to banks), or they might use the 'top up' price. But either which way, if we take them at the minimum value $70 is still good compensation for a PEY failure of IFE, given the fare paid.

 

[prozac]

Lufthansa SIN-FRA in Y+ with no IFE. Head FA said she was aware of this previously and told me to contact Lufthansa. No offer made on board. Lufthansa did not reply for 6 weeks. It took 3 emails. They offered me a paltry 5,000pts. For this reason (IFE not working) and another onboard issue I will not fly Lufthansa again.

By contrast, SQ SIN-SYD in Y with faulty IFE. One email sent for a return apology along with 10,000pts plus a Bockers & Pony hamper delivered to my home for what SQ said was a delay in responding. SQ gets my vote every time for this sort of customer service.

 

[juddles]

The $70 is the notion value Qantas gives to points for the purposes of prizes (regulatory requirements) and for things such as purchases at the QF shop. Qantas may try to argue they're worth $100 (the price they sell them to banks), or they might use the 'top up' price. But either which way, if we take them at the minimum value $70 is still good compensation for a PEY failure of IFE, given the fare paid.

Mel_traveller, I am not sure I understand what you mean by "given the fare paid" and the relation to $70. A return PEY SALE ticket on QF (as I had) costs $3,600 USD return SCL-SYD. (They are $4,400 full fare, but I got mine on a sale) So that is $1,800 USD each way for me, so $2,340 Aussie dollars for this one sector. $70 compo equates to 3% of the fare.

Forgive me, but I rate IFE far more than 3% of the fare, especially when in the situation of being in a locked metal tube for 12hrs+

And to me an important point about compensation in such situations is that IT IS NOT ABOUT MISSING OUT on the movie service. It is about being trapped where you no longer can seek this service elsewhere. A long haul flight for me is MISERABLE without IFE. I would not willingly book that QF PEY flight if I knew there would be no IFE - I would not even pay half the fare - I would NOT travel!

Compo should make reasonable amends. IMHO it is not (and should not be) a concept equivalent to a simple refund for a service or part of a service that was not provided. It is a concept of trying to repair the pain and suffering (disappointment / etc) that the pax felt.

 

[Sara]

This happened to me on QF SYD - HKG in J. I was originally offered compimentary valet parking vouches, and some other duty free discount vouchers whilst on board. My partner and I were also given the use of two Y seats near the J section to watch IFE if we wished. Let's just say I didn't really want to spend my flight in economny when I had purchased a business class ticket. In seat power was also not working.

Wrote a letter of complaint when I got back home enclosing the vouchers as I felt they were not adequat compensation.

In the end I was awarded 5K points and received a travel voucher worth $600.

 

[Haplo]

About a year ago I had a similar incident but it was an overnight flight from Hong Kong to Sydney in business. I was offered a bottle champagne as compensation and I pretty much left it at that as I was sleeping about 3/4 of the flight and used my laptop/phone instead.

 

[juddles]

...... The previous comment where it was indicated the 10,000 points equals $70 is fanciful. Qantas is going to value those points at the same price that they actually sell them to customers. So if you check here: Frequent Flyer - Qantas Points and Partners - Using Qantas Points - Top-up Points you'll see that 10,000 points is valued by Qantas at $335. ....

The value of points is a very pertinent aspect when considering the offered compensation. But I must disagree with your position. I cannot "sell" the points back to Qantas for the $335 you quote. I can only redeem them. The closest I can do to cashing them in is to buy gift vouchers for something like Woolworths or Dan Murphys. Can I get a $335 dollar gift voucher with my 10 k points? No. I can only get a $50 voucher.
.

 

[Dr Ralph]

The value of points is a very pertinent aspect when considering the offered compensation. But I must disagree with your position. I cannot "sell" the points back to Qantas for the $335 you quote. I can only redeem them. The closest I can do to cashing them in is to buy gift vouchers for something like Woolworths or Dan Murphys. Can I get a $335 dollar gift voucher with my 10 k points? No. I can only get a $50 voucher.
.

You appear to have misunderstood what I have written. At no stage did I indicate that you would sell your points. In fact any such discussion is contrary to AFF rules. From the Qantas perspective you were offered $335 worth of compensation. It would be unwise to use those points for gift vouchers as that offers very poor redemption value but that is your choice to make..

I'm also starting to wonder what you hoped to gain from this thread. You asked for a consensus on what the compensation should be for your experience. You've received a number of responses and each time you got something you didn't think was fair you've offered a retort. You clearly already knew what you were looking for from Qantas and aren't happy to accept other view points and are merely seeking support for your increased claim from Qantas. In any case I stand by my first post and do not intend to comment further.

 

[Roberto]

The attitude that you have had from Qantas matches with my experience, although I feel that in many respects my experience was much worse (Medium haul night flight in J - no recline on seat, no eye-shades, no ear plugs & IFE broken). Compensation: ZERO!

Despite filling out a complaint form on the flight and several follow up emails I have only received the "we have noticed you have not been flying with us - any reason" emails. I have responded to those and still not received any response to my complaint.

As a result of zero response from QF I have directed that no employee is permitted to fly Qantas on company business unless there is no reasonable alternative.

One day Qantas might, maybe, wake up to itself and realize how much business it is losing through their appallingly bad handling of customer complaints.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Mel_traveller, I am not sure I understand what you mean by "given the fare paid" and the relation to $70. A return PEY SALE ticket on QF (as I had) costs $3,600 USD return SCL-SYD. (They are $4,400 full fare, but I got mine on a sale) So that is $1,800 USD each way for me, so $2,340 Aussie dollars for this one sector. $70 compo equates to 3% of the fare.

Forgive me, but I rate IFE far more than 3% of the fare, especially when in the situation of being in a locked metal tube for 12hrs+

And to me an important point about compensation in such situations is that IT IS NOT ABOUT MISSING OUT on the movie service. It is about being trapped where you no longer can seek this service elsewhere. A long haul flight for me is MISERABLE without IFE. I would not willingly book that QF PEY flight if I knew there would be no IFE - I would not even pay half the fare - I would NOT travel!

Compo should make reasonable amends. IMHO it is not (and should not be) a concept equivalent to a simple refund for a service or part of a service that was not provided. It is a concept of trying to repair the pain and suffering (disappointment / etc) that the pax felt.

Ok, that's an expensive fare (I note LATAM is currently offering full business class, via AKL, for less than the price of your PEY ticket).

Perhaps consider sending your third paragraph to Qantas, which clearly shows the impact on your travel experience. If they don't know the impact they may not know how to compensate you accordingly.