Do I expect too much of Qantas?

[glaw]

My wife and I were recently returning to Australia from the UK via New York. We were travelling on a BA Avios ticket from LHR to JFK with a 3 hour connection onto LAX and then BNE on a commercial QF Business Class ticket.
Unfortunately our BA flight was diverted to Boston as JFK was closed due to a thunderstorm. Although we were only on the ground for 90 minutes, we arrived in JFK only 30 minutes before the Qantas flight was due to leave, and given we had to wait for our bags and clear customs needless to say we missed the connection.
There was no QF representation at the airport (in fact in the 3 times we passed though the airport the QF Station Manager was never there – one wonders what he does if he can’t be present for his one departure of the day) so we were dealt with by very helpful BA ticket desk staff.

To cut a long story short, I had to eventually contact the QF premium desk in Australia who told me there were no seats available on flights from the USA the following day, but that there were two Business Class seats available in two days time, but as we were travelling on a Business Sale fare if we wanted to take these seats we would have to pay an additional $5,000 each. In the end we managed to get two seats 5 days later paying just a $250 change fee.

We had missed this flight through bad weather – no fault of our own – we were travelling on 2 oneworld airlines, we had informed Qantas when in Boston we were having problems, we and our bags were through checked, and we are WP and SG with Qantas.
As we were travelling on different tickets (one Avios and one commercial) I understand that both BA and QF were within the letter of the law not to help us, but QF asking us to pay an extra $10k to get us home doesn’t seem like a great way to treat your frequent flyers. And this was the same flight for which QF had cancelled our Chauffer Drive.

Do I expect too much?

 

[mannej]

You were on seperate tickets - that is the risk you take.

Second question - Did you have travel insurance for the trip?

 

[RooFlyer]

Alas these days from the stories we hear, no matter what status, no-one can expect treatment other than the black letter of the T&Cs on Qantas (amongst others).

if you do manage better, then that your lucky stars.

 

[JohnK]

We take a lot for granted and we are at the mercy of the airline and their stupid terms and conditions.

In hindsight even 3-4 hours is not enough connection time if things go wrong on separate tickets. Sometimes it's best to suck it up and schedule an overnight stopover.

 

[glaw]

Annoyingly we had talked about overnighting but decided against it. Assumed travelling business class we'd be be OK if anything happened. Even after 30 years of flying there are lessons to be learned. (but then 30 - or even 10- years ago I don't think you would have been treated like that). I'm a big fan of QF but the way they have treated me this year the loyalty is wearing thin. And yes we always travel with insurance - but it won't cover this particular set of circumstances.

 

[harvyk]

Just to join in the chorus, it's the risk you take by using two separate tickets. Had you spent the extra dollars to have everything on the one ticket you would have been protected against such unexpected events.

Yes it sucks, and furthermore since most of the time dodgy connections payoff it can lull someone into a false sense of security, except of course the one time where it doesn't work like clockwork and you find out where that extra money you thought you'd saved actually goes.

 

[gaz0303]

To put the events another way..
Through a series of events, no fault of Qantas, passengers fail to show prior to the flight. It takes off with 2 empty business class seats but with revenue received for them. Passengers now expect two additional business class seats be provided ASAP and additionally for QF to provide these for free and forego x amount of $ that they could sell them for. What's QF done wrong?

Sounds like what travel insurance was created for - both to the benefit of the carrier and passenger.

 

[bismarck]

Sadly that is always the risk when travelling on separate tickets. However with a robust travel insurance policy you would probably have been fine paying the $5k and claiming back through your policy as it was a weather diversion.

I.e. my policy says:

We will reimburse you for reasonable additional travel and accommodation expenses that result directly from one of the following events:
...
Cancellation or restriction of scheduled public transport services caused by severe weather, natural disaster, hijacking, riot, strike or civil commotion....You must have done everything reasonable to avoid theexpenses, and you must get the carrier’s written confirmation of your claim.

 

[wandering_fred]

While I thoroughly understand the issues of separate tickets, I think one small fact is being overlooked.

It is NOT possible to combine an award ticket with a paid ticket. There are many times when I would have liked to have done so.

The most common area is when you want half of a round trip on mileage and half on the bank account. And not only is impossible to combine, but in many cases you will find you are required to purchase a one way fare which is far in excess of the (half) round trip.

[end rant]

In the case of the OP, had he booked the JFK-LAX seqment with AA, their policies would have been much more generous and perhaps (I haven't checked schedule timings) enough of the delay could have been recovered to the make the LAX-BNE flight. Something to be considered.

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[aaflyer]

American Airlines have a very generous connection policy on mis-connects when coming to or from another Oneworld flight:

AA to/from AA or a oneworld® Carrier
If a customer is holding separate tickets on AA or another oneworld carrier, customers holding separate tickets where travel is on oneworld airlines should be treated as through ticketed passengers. In the event of a disruption on the originating ticket, the carrier responsible for the disruption will be required to reroute the customer to their final destination. The ticket stock of the second ticket must be of a oneworld carrier, eligible under the Endorsement Waiver Agreement. You may contact AA Reservations 1-800-433-7300 (U.S. and Canada) or outside the U.S. and Canada, reference Worldwide Reservation Numbers for additional information if the separate ticket is for travel on a oneworld carrier.

I am not able to post a link as I have not been here long enough though. It is on the aa website though.

 

[medhead]

Question for the separate bookings crowd: How do we get an award flight and a cash fare on the same booking?

To put the events another way..
Through a series of events, no fault of Qantas, passengers fail to show prior to the flight. It takes off with 2 empty business class seats but with revenue received for them. Passengers now expect two additional business class seats be provided ASAP and additionally for QF to provide these for free and forego x amount of $ that they could sell them for. What's QF done wrong?
.

Business fares with Qantas generally allow changes before and after departure, as per the conditions for the current sale fares from LAX. The OP contacted Qantas before departure, but were well within the conditions to contact them after departure to change the booking. As such I can't see the relevance of your question.

 

[Pleb Status]

Yes, you are expecting too much of QF.

You booked two separate tickets on two separate airlines. You booked the cheapest J airfare with limited availability. You chose a transfer time which was going to be tight if any delays were encountered. You were transferring at airports which are not the best for speedy transfers at any time. The event causing the delay was completely out of the control of QF. The flights were obviously during a busy time of year meaning reaccommodation in J was going to difficult.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

My wife and I were recently returning to Australia from the UK via New York. We were travelling on a BA Avios ticket from LHR to JFK with a 3 hour connection onto LAX and then BNE on a commercial QF Business Class ticket.
Unfortunately our BA flight was diverted to Boston as JFK was closed due to a thunderstorm. Although we were only on the ground for 90 minutes, we arrived in JFK only 30 minutes before the Qantas flight was due to leave, and given we had to wait for our bags and clear customs needless to say we missed the connection.

Did anyone get off in BOS or did everyone have to stay put until JFK? If people had been allowed to get off there it may have been possible to jump on a flight BOS/LAX and still make your LAX/BNE flight.

When you say your bags were through checked, do you mean they were tagged LHR/JFK/LAX/BNE (of course still needing to collect them & clear US Customs in JFK) & you received all your boarding passes for the BA & QF flights?

 

[glaw]

No-one was allowed off in Boston. Yes our bags were through tagged and we had all our boarding passes.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Yes our bags were through tagged and we had all our boarding passes.

Did you speak to BA Airport staff at JFK at all about rebooking you on alternative flights? No doubt they would've had to reaccommodate other pax with missed onward connections and they were the accepting carrier at LHR & the airline 'at fault' if you like that made you late resulting in you missing your onward flight on QF.

 

[glaw]

Yes we spent 90 minutes with the BA staff who tried to be very helpful. They were quite happy to rebook us providing QF authorised it. However there were no QF staff at JFK as I mentioned in the original post, the BA staff got no answer from the 1-800 number they had for Qantas in USA, and when I got through to the Premium desk in Australia they would not authorise this.

 

[juddles]

...... I understand that both BA and QF were within the letter of the law not to help us, but QF asking us to pay an extra $10k to get us home doesn’t seem like a great way to treat your frequent flyers....
..?

And booking through anyone but Qantas doesnt seem like a ¨great way¨ for those ¨frequent fliers¨ to treat their ostensible loyalty program.

Hey, I know why you did it, I do the same when applicable. But you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

 

[dougieboy]

Thanks for sharing your experience though. We all like to push a little to see how much we can get away with, but it never is any fun when the music stops and we have no business class chair to sit upon because they are already taken. It's frustrating when you spend a fair amount for a premium travel experience and are disappointed be it aircraft/cabin crew/dark and stormy weather causing delays or diversion. I've learned a few things and like AAs missed connection policy. Good to know as it influences my decision making for future travel bookings.

 

[Ansett]

I do not think that your expectations were too high tall and its sad that QF didn't seem to want to help.

I am wondering why the travel insurance didn't cover you?

 

[glaw]

And booking through anyone but Qantas doesnt seem like a ¨great way¨ for those ¨frequent fliers¨ to treat their ostensible loyalty program.

Hey, I know why you did it, I do the same when applicable. But you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

Take your point but if I have avios left over from flying done many years ago when in the UK, plus earned from some UK spend - perhaps you have a way unknown to me I could book these through Qantas? Just about all my other flying (up to now) has been booked with QF.

The AA connections policy is a new one to me and has obvious attractions when trying to juggle various booking types. What a shame it couldn't be adopted by all oneworld airlines