Ever missed a flight unintentionally?

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swissbignose

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May 5, 2003
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I had to rebook my flight on Wednesday to the same time on Thursday, and had to be waitlisted on the desired flight, while confirmed on the flight beforehand.

Completely forgot about the flight being waitlisted only to be told that I was actually booked on the flight that left an hour beforehand. Having said that though, the QC staff member managed to get me a seat on the flight that I wanted.

Begs the question that if there were seats available on the waitlisted flight, why I was still booked on the earlier flight. It's possible that the seats became available *after* my confirmed flight had departed.

The real reason why I'm posting is to question what happens to FF points (and more importantly, SC) if you miss your flight? You'd have thought that if the airline had kept the fare paid, irrespective of whether the flight was taken, the FF points and SC should be credited. Should I still be eligible for FF/SC if they had to squeeze me on to another flight (given that it was my fault (allegedly)? Why doesn't it appear automatically on my flight history (given that my boarding pass has my QFF number on it!)?

Anyone have this experience?
 
As far as I know (which isn't much), the FF & SC points are not actually credited until after your Boarding Pass is swiped for boarding. I've had everything credited by the time I was due to catch a connecting flight on the same trip but different leg.
 
I have missed a flight (stuck in traffic on the way to Sydney airport). I got rebooked onto a later flight, and as far as I could tell got the SC and points at the rate I should have.
 
Turns out I've had the status credits and points posted. It took them a little longer than normal, but I admit that I wasn't on the flight I was supposed to be!

Just as well! How do they expect me to hit Platinum this year if I don't get every last SC?
 
In the T&C's it states that points and SC's will only be given for flights actually flown. This has no relationship to whether you are on a refundable fare or not.

You have to fly to get points & SC's for flying.
 
In the last year or so, I have missed a number of flights, the funniest was ROK / BNE - I missed that by 1 complete day hehehe. I generally don't answer private numbers on my mobile so I don't even know if Qantas tried to contact me - also I was out near Blackwater with dodgy phone service.

On the argument that I had paid for the fares and should be entitled to the status credits and FF points, Qantas wouldn't pay out - they said "your bum had to be in the seat". This does not seem fair to me but when considering the way the whole FF scheme is now structured, "fair" is a missing word from the corperate charter.

Happy landings
:shock:
 
AFAIK, the only exception to the "bum must be on seat rule" is if you purchase extra seats on the same flight (that is, for "extra comfort").

You earn points for all seats (SC I'm not sure)...
 
munitalP said:
In the last year or so, I have missed a number of flights, the funniest was ROK / BNE - I missed that by 1 complete day hehehe

A colleague of mine didn't exactly miss her flight, but did misjudge timing by a whole week ..........a week early that is :)

munitalP said:
On the argument that I had paid for the fares and should be entitled to the status credits and FF points, Qantas wouldn't pay out - they said "your bum had to be in the seat".

Did you at least get your "taxes" back?
 
What I cannot understand is how legally, the airlines can keep the taxes and fuel surcharges. There is one price for the ticket, but the extras are for services, if not taken, how can the airlines legally keep these surcharges, especially for GST which is a service and goods tax so if the service or goods are not provided, then the tax should not be charged !! And the fuel surcharge. If you do not fly, how can they charge you for the fuel? I would suggest that this would apply especially if you notify the airline that you acre not flying. Also the airport taxes which are charged per head passing through the airport. I notice that Virgin no longer send reminders when you are flying, and I assume it is because this cream from missed flights is extremely lucrative.
 
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What I cannot understand is how legally, the airlines can keep the taxes and fuel surcharges. There is one price for the ticket, but the extras are for services, if not taken, how can the airlines legally keep these surcharges, especially for GST which is a service and goods tax so if the service or goods are not provided, then the tax should not be charged !! And the fuel surcharge. If you do not fly, how can they charge you for the fuel? I would suggest that this would apply especially if you notify the airline that you acre not flying. Also the airport taxes which are charged per head passing through the airport. I notice that Virgin no longer send reminders when you are flying, and I assume it is because this cream from missed flights is extremely lucrative.
The ticket/fare terms and conditions often include a cancellation penalty. This is often a fixed $$$ amount for cancelling the ticket. It is often the case that the refund of the taxes and surcharges is less than the cancellation penalty. So instead of the airline charging the passenger the difference between the refunded taxes/surcharges and the cancellation penalty, they just keep the taxes/surcharges as the cancellation penalty and call it even.

For a fully refundable fare that has no cancellation penalty, the taxes and surcharges should be refunded.
 
I have received taxes & charges back from a BA flight I missed once. That was a few years ago now though.
 
I've missed my fair share of flights. One was SIN-MEL when I just stuffed up the time difference and was sitting in a bar downtown when QF called me... Qantas were amazing about it and once I finally got to the airport they escorted me to the Singapore Airlines desk and got me on one of their flights that had already finished boarding. They even got me in to First Class!

I didn't get any points for that leg, but I wasn't about to complain.
 
My wife and I had a difficult time recently. after three weeks in Canada, we were checking in at Montreal for a Swiss flight to London via Zurich when we realised our passports were missing.
The following evening's flight was full, and we were rebooked direct on Air Canada as replacement involved an overnight visit to Ottawa for both of us to attend the High Commission in person.
It took a much longer time for paperwork than I had been advised, and we left too late and missed that night's flight too. I blame the lack of GPS on the rental car, poor road signage and the lack of service stations near the airport. The fact that I didn't phone ahead might have had something to do with it, too....
We took the next alternative flight, via an overnight stop in Toronto and a daytime flight from there to London.
We were not charged extra on the ticket, not even 'taxes', but I am still awaiting the FF miles to register.
 
I had missed a BNE-SYD flight in August by a few minutes. I missed the train and arrived at the airport 5 minutes late for checked baggage. If I had carry only I would have made the flight easily as I had used OLCI.

No big deal and Qantas were great rebooking me on to a later flight for the $44 change fee only even though I was booked on the cheapest fare class....
 
Lost in Translation when missed the 2000hr QF NRT-SYD.
The +1 miscalculated the clock conversion to 10:00pm & I didn't realise.
Unfortunately QF Y booked solid for "weeks".
Someone with higher status than us got upgraded to J in order that we could fly next night.
Big thanks to Citibank insurance for the midnight marathon with QF in sorting it (not that they accepted the subsequent claim enquiry, but their support was exceptional at the time).
 
Many years ago arrived at Auckland airport at 4.30pm for what I believed was a 6.30pm departure to Sydney (QF44 I think) only to be told by the check in person that if I hurried I could see my flight leaving, and that I had mistaken 1630 departure for 6.30. Anyway QF put me on the same flight the next day, and I was early for that one.
 
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