Flight Cancellation on QF Award - no suitable alternative offered?

[DAC1]

Hi all - hoping someone more experienced than I am in these situations may be able to assist.

Iwas booked on a QF Award flight to travel LAX-AKL-SYD early September. It was J all the way through, LAX-AKL on AA and AKL-SYD on EK. AA has recently suspended the LAX-AKL flight for 8 weeks over August-October, a period which covers my flight.


After speaking to QF, I was told that my only options were to cancel or to change to a date once the service was resumed in October.


This doesn't seem right. I would have expected to have been put onto AA73 (in the first instance) or a QF flight or even alternatively (and appreciate this may be a stretch), have the LAX-AKL sector endorsed onto one of the two NZ flights.


Can anyone please let me know if this is right? If it is not, what should I be telling a phone agent?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi all - hoping someone more experienced than I am in these situations may be able to assist.

Iwas booked on a QF Award flight to travel LAX-AKL-SYD early September. It was J all the way through, LAX-AKL on AA and AKL-SYD on EK. AA has recently suspended the LAX-AKL flight for 8 weeks over August-October, a period which covers my flight.


After speaking to QF, I was told that my only options were to cancel or to change to a date once the service was resumed in October.


This doesn't seem right. I would have expected to have been put onto AA73 (in the first instance) or a QF flight or even alternatively (and appreciate this may be a stretch), have the LAX-AKL sector endorsed onto one of the two NZ flights.


Can anyone please let me know if this is right? If it is not, what should I be telling a phone agent?

First out, the tickets won't be endorsed to the NZ flights and as you say, that is probably an unrealistic expectation. You have a oneworld QF award and the partner airline has suspended operations on the route. QF or AA are under no obligation (this far in advance) to reaccommodate you on NZ. (Had this occurred close in to departure, or had you already been in the USA, endorsement to NZ might have been an option.)

As for getting to SYD, you could ask QF 'to send a message to AA to say you would like to be accommodated on the AA flight direct to SYD'. AA can free up award space on their own aircraft if they wish. The process has to go via email and can take a few days. AA is generally pretty accommodating with this from my past experience, although it has mainly been USA domestic itineraries.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

If the ticket has been issued then the issuing airline needs to get it sorted and reaccommodate you at no expense on to alternative flights as this is an involuntary re-route and no fault of the pax.

Was the AKL routing transit only?

I would be specific and tell them that they need to rebook you in business class from LAX to SYD and you'd be happy to be rebooked on AA73 giving them a couple of different dates.

No you don't have to cancel nor wait until AA resume flights to AKL. There would have to be a procedure QF have to follow for other pax will the same dilemma. AA need to make a J award seat available to QF who would then re-issue the eticket.

Maybe speak to QF via the online chat feature that pops up regularly when you hover around the QF website. Make sure you save the transcript as a pdf document as a record of the conversation.

Other options would be to send a private message to QF via Facebook or Twitter with your pnr number making your request brief and sound like it's an easy fix eg "was booked on X, need Y."

 

[DAC1]

Thanks for the help everyone.

As an update, after the first and second unhelpful phone calls, a request was emailed through to AA to open up a U seat on AA73. At the time, they said "we doubt they'll accommodate you."

Checked today, ticket has been re-issued with e-ticket number and I'm on AA73 (which is an all-round good outcome as I was facing the prospect of a 7 hour transit in AKL!)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the help everyone.

As an update, after the first and second unhelpful phone calls, a request was emailed through to AA to open up a U seat on AA73. At the time, they said "we doubt they'll accommodate you."

Checked today, ticket has been re-issued with e-ticket number and I'm on AA73 (which is an all-round good outcome as I was facing the prospect of a 7 hour transit in AKL!)

Excellent result.

Strange the difference in call centre staff. Several I have dealt with recently because of AA schedule changes have been wholly supportive... proactively suggesting the email and mentioning they almost always get approved. And you got a string the complete opposite

 

[serfty]

AA recommendation policy when AA cancel a flight is far better documented and much clearer than Qantas'.

Even for non AA ticketed itineraries.

I am not surprised they opened a seat for you on AA.

https://ssc.aa.com/prmportal_enu/AgencyReferenceFiles/Schedule Change.pdf

 

[N860CR]

There's certainly been quite a drop in standards with the QF staff of late. I was booked to travel BNE-ROK during the recent floods and the flight was cancelled. On first contact, I was told they would charge a $99 fee and id keep the remaining $60 or so in credit. After pointing out the flight had been cancelled, I eventually got a supervisor who stressed how generous they were being by waiving the $99 fee and offering the whole amount as a credit. I had to push again and it took nearly an hour to organise the refund.