Downgrading to Jetstar

[sandiefran]

:evil: Qantas are now phoning people with booked and paid flights and bumping them down to Jetstar! This means no frequent flyer points, no in-flight service and for this I was offered a $20 refund on the price I paid.

This was for the Coolangatta to Sydney route - my Qantas alternative was for a morning flight 5 hours earlier or and evening flight 4 hours later!

I was not impressed and advised Qantas of the fact.

At the very least if we have to be downgraded to Jetstar, when we have booked for Qantas in the initial period of re-scheduling these flights we should still get the relevant fequent flyer points.

 

[icemann]

I agree, Sandiefran. I am not one of those who has been unlucky enough to be bumped down to Jet*, and I don't particularly want to be.

I assume (and base my further comments on such) that these people also have no choice in the matter ? If they do, that's different. And give me something to sweeten the deal if I am getting bumped.

Jet* - O.K. - I might be able to use the QC beforehand, but I don't get the FF points, status credits, priority check in etc. I might as well fly VB.

I am not particularly impressed with the way this has been handled and yet, I am not one of the unfortunate ones to be in this, which says a lot.

The impression that I got when this story first broke a few weeks ago (I was watching 7 news) reinforced my opinion - the businessman at MEL who said (quite sternly) when questioned which airline he'd fly with within Australia -

"Qantas. Only Qantas"

I think this has been a bit of a PR disaster. Instead of using a carrot approach to lure people on board, they seem to have used a stick instead.
Give people the choice and they shall vote with their bookings.

This has probably been a really good way (in QF's eyes) to get people on board, but it seems that a great slice of the opinion on this forum (read: customers) points towards people not wanting to fly povvo planes on business trips, for good reason.

 

[shillard]

I agree, Sandiefran. I am not one of those who has been unlucky enough to be bumped down to Jet*, and I don't particularly want to be. This has probably been a really good way (in QF's eyes) to get people on board, but it seems that a great slice of the opinion on this forum (read: customers) points towards people not wanting to fly povvo planes on business trips, for good reason.

Right with you, icemann.

I for one will NOT fly DeathStar under any circumstances, it is as pov as pov airlines get. Expect life jackets to be optional in the event of a crash.

If QF mainline does not get me where I need to go, I will find another way - even Vermin Blue if need be - and send my Vermin boarding passes to Dixon.

QF lurkers take note - SHILLARD, notorious bagger of DJ and champion of QF in many, many forums will fly VERMIN rather than DeathStar.

And I can surely not be the only WP, and certainly not the only QF customer who thinks this way!

Can't wait until DeathStar fails and gets folded back into QF mainline.

 

[arun]

What will happen after June when Jet* takes off. Will QF be still able to bump off passengers who paid and booked to fly in QF, to Jet* and deny FFpoints etc. I would think they will reduce the FF seats in QF and put the FFs who want to use points fly domestic (an expensive option, I know) to Jet*.
It looks like QF is already losing its goodwill!

 

[icemann]

Just to add a little bit more, from a thought that occurred to me just before I hit the zzz's the other night....

In the UK, and in fact, Europe wide, I can't remember any business travellers being sent on any of these povvo airlines like 'easyjet'. In what I've found amongst talking to colleagues from the same industry, Lufthansa and BA basically rule, with a 'not allowed to fly business class' inter-EU, but business class all the way as a minimum on international flights.

Probably because over there, the psychology is a little different. For example, even though Europe is the same sort of comparable land mass as USA / Oz in total, the distances travelled are much shorter, and the psychology is that if you go across the border from France to Spain, 'that's a different country' and it's almost treated / though of like you're flying internationally !