Flight changes; unsure how to proceed

[JohnK]

I would say that is far from certain... but then we don't know the facts around the cause of the delay.

From what I have read so far in this thread the compensation offered is much better than the previous long thread from November last year and the OP is relatively happy. Has that been resolved yet? I guess confidentiality agreements would prevent the final details from being posted?

 

[Zephyrana]

I've received the $1473 refund for the fare difference, but not yet the "downgrade compensation/denied boarding" payment of US$1100 or the promised extra FF points. I haven't signed or been asked to sign a confidentiality agreement, or read or heard any NDA language in my conversations with Qantas.

(Unless you are referring to the previous thread from November.)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

From what I have read so far in this thread the compensation offered is much better than the previous long thread from November last year...

If the delay was within QF's control, I'd be arguing the starting point for any cash refund (not including 'compensation' or 'goodwill') is potentially higher than the total cash package the OP has been offered so far.

 

[RichardMEL]

7. Is ORC the customer care people? They have been lovely.

My apologies for not being clear. By ORC I meant Original Routing Credit - as in I believe you suggested earlier you got the points and SC's for the sectors (specially LAX-MEL) you booked rather than the QF18 in J you wound up in.

 

[JohnK]

I've received the $1473 refund for the fare difference, but not yet the "downgrade compensation/denied boarding" payment of US$1100 or the promised extra FF points. I haven't signed or been asked to sign a confidentiality agreement, or read or heard any NDA language in my conversations with Qantas.

(Unless you are referring to the previous thread from November.)

I was referring to previous thread. Glad to see you have got a better refund and possible compensation on top. That's how it should be.

 

[RichardMEL]

Re the more general issue of QF F's class being a "token" - it pretty much is. Really QF has 2 core "flagship" routes - to LAX and LHR and they feel they must offer an F product on these routes - partly as Australia's main flag carrier, for some prestiege and partly to compete. In a smilar way to the US flags (bar DL) offering a International First product in select markets (with AA probably being the "best" and UA being a sad 2nd). QF F is MUCH better than either of these.

Does the product compete with other airlines? yes and no. It's NOT up there with the top tier - you're EK/EY/SQ/CX/JL/NH and probably LH products. It's I'd say "mid tier" - compare with BA probably LX, TG, MH etc and much better than the US based carriers, AI and some others.

The seat is very comfortable, the IFE works pretty well and has a decent selection(though same offering to all seats so not really a factor).. the soft product, ie: F&B varies. The wine is VERY good imho, and the food well.. I class it as "fancy comfort food" in general.. not bad.. not the shark fin soup of SQ or some other offerings on the mega premium cabins, but still very good. I'd even say in some respects it beats out EK catering though EK are more generous with options and those little extras like the godivas and the super frefreshing tea offered post a shower (but I digress ).

QF F is not bad at all. I would definitely pay up in points to have the service and privacy/comofrt of the suite on a long haul to LAX/DFW/LHR over J. Would I pay for it? Depends on the price. Some of the sales have been mighty tempting. If I had a choice between CX?EK/EY/SQ for same "price" (be it miles/points/upgrades whatever) I'd probably go one of those others, but everyone's mileage varies.

It would probably make MUCH more sense for QF to drop F all together, but I doubt it would happen anytime soon as I think *not* offering this product, even if it is on what, 12 aircraft? would firmly bring QF back into that middle rung of carriers and send those super mega high yield pax (as opposed to the P1's who may be that, but this is not a US carrier who will upgrade top tiers for nix as a matter of course and/or give out upgrades like candy to the point that is expected rather than earned or an exemption) WILL deflect to SQ/CX/EY/EK etc.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Zephyrana]

I agree that the first class service in the air is very good, but the ground service and general availability is tokenistic. The price is certainly not!

I've booked Emirates for my next trip in September. I'm sure they have issues like every other airline, but it's going to be interesting to compare.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I agree that the first class service in the air is very good, but the ground service and general availability is tokenistic. The price is certainly not!

I've booked Emirates for my next trip in September. I'm sure they have issues like every other airline, but it's going to be interesting to compare.

We've done 3 trips on Emirates all in F and were quite impressed.

 

[Zephyrana]

Also it's two long legs, both in first class, for $13k, compared to $18k on Qantas where only one leg is in first.

 

[RichardMEL]

I agree that the first class service in the air is very good, but the ground service and general availability is tokenistic. The price is certainly not!

I've booked Emirates for my next trip in September. I'm sure they have issues like every other airline, but it's going to be interesting to compare.

You mentioned starting your trip in ADL, so you would have missed a couple of elements of premium F ground handling in Australia (or LA/DFW) - such as the F check in at MEL/SYD which is VERY good. You would have had access to, and used (I presume) the F lounge in MEL and hopefully enjoyed it.

Yes, the "F" experience you had at jFK wasn't. You didn't mention if you used a QF lounge in LAX on the layover or not, but the F lounge there (and J) are pretty nice.

Connecting services yes it's a little harder to enjoy things like the restaurant/spa etc.

As for booking EK that's great-but you didn't have EK as an option for your transpac flights in question to/from JFK-unless you went the VERY LONG WAY AROUND via DXB, and I daresay that may have rivaled QF's F price tag for a much shorter routing.

 

[RichardMEL]

Also it's two long legs, both in first class, for $13k, compared to $18k on Qantas where only one leg is in first.

You're comparing very different markets though with different levels of competition. On transpac, QF pretty much has the F market to itself, and feels it can get away with (and well, sorry but people, like you, are paying for it) charging the higher fares - the competition, such as it is (UA) only fly SYD-SFO with an F cabin, and it's a vastly inferior product.

btw you paid for 2 legs in F, but only received 1.. there is a difference IMHO - and you have been compensated with fare difference of some sort (it may or may not be "fair" but it's something).


Flying to europe or other regions, but I'll assume europe/middle east given you're mentioning EK pricing/bookings, there's a metric boatload of competiton and of similar quality in the space from asian and other ME3 carriers (well EY really). There is more supply and competition on the many routes/carriers offering product. This is going to influence pricing.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[RichardMEL]

As an aside, I'm assuming you're aware that if you've booked Emirates flights with an EK flight# you will ONLy receive QFF points, but not status credits (if this is at all important to you, of course). If you've booked under the QF flight# then you're sweet.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You're comparing very different markets though with different levels of competition.

What's the market? I think for ADL-JFK it's a pretty close call whether you go Pacific or Atlantic. While the QF flights are about 5 hours shorter in total journey time, the QF flights don't leave at good times (6am from ADL and 1845 from JFK). Compare that with EK's double late night departures, much lower cost, and First class product the whole way, and its a pretty close call.

 

[Zephyrana]

You mentioned starting your trip in ADL, so you would have missed a couple of elements of premium F ground handling in Australia (or LA/DFW) - such as the F check in at MEL/SYD which is VERY good. You would have had access to, and used (I presume) the F lounge in MEL and hopefully enjoyed it.

Yes, the "F" experience you had at jFK wasn't. You didn't mention if you used a QF lounge in LAX on the layover or not, but the F lounge there (and J) are pretty nice.

Connecting services yes it's a little harder to enjoy things like the restaurant/spa etc.

As for booking EK that's great-but you didn't have EK as an option for your transpac flights in question to/from JFK-unless you went the VERY LONG WAY AROUND via DXB, and I daresay that may have rivaled QF's F price tag for a much shorter routing.

The Adelaide -> Melbourne -> LA -> JFK route and return has an extremely tight connection schedule and there's no time to go to any lounges except the first one. I had one hour in Melbourne, which is fine for gettng to the international bit and clearing security but doesn't leave anything over for spa treatments. The flight to LA arrived ten minutes late so there was less than 90 minutes to collect baggage, clear customs and immigration, and clear security for the domestic leg. We were all RUNNING for the gate.

The flight to New York was then delayed, so all that running was unnecessary, but there were no announcements about this so we all stood there waiting. The flight from LA to Sydney (my "replacement" flight home), was several hours late so I could have visited the LA lounge, but we were given updates at ten-minute intervals so it didn't seem wise to leave the gate.

Flying trans-Pacific takes 25 hours if everything goes right. The Emirates flights are two 13-hour legs and a 3 hour stop-over in Dubai, so 29 hours but with a lot less faffing about. I think the big time-spend is going to be customs and immigration at JFK, which can be ... interesting. And those prices are for those flights: $18k for Qantas trans-Pacific, $13k for Emirates trans-whatever that's called.

 

[Zephyrana]

I'm not comparing markets, I'm comparing my experiences and my bills. Maybe the Emirates trip will be horrible and I'll reassess Qantas.

I'm also not saying Qantas should be doing anything differently, I'm saying -I- am doing something differently.

"btw you paid for 2 legs in F, but only received 1.. there is a difference IMHO - and you have been compensated with fare difference of some sort (it may or may not be "fair" but it's something)."
What I mean is that the flights from Adelaide to Melbourne, and LA to New York, are in business class on Qantas. And I am absolutely not complaining about the compensation for the missed first class flight; I am very pleased with the outcome and how it was handled, and with the lovely assistance from you all here on AFF.

 

[TheRealTMA]

As for booking EK that's great-but you didn't have EK as an option for your transpac flights in question to/from JFK-unless you went the VERY LONG WAY AROUND via DXB, and I daresay that may have rivaled QF's F price tag for a much shorter routing.

Just a note here. We've now done 'the long way round' three times on EK F to NA destinations, and while it's slightly longer (so? It's in F, isn't that one of the points of the trip for AFFers?) it's only one change, on the same airline and avoids the wonderful experience of LAX. Plus, it is actually $5K cheaper on full F on EK rather than QF where only the SYD LAX is in F. (Unless they've swapped the 380 for a 747)

But one can't book EK flights to NA through QF since they don't have an agreement to NA destinations.

 

[Zephyrana]

As an aside, I'm assuming you're aware that if you've booked Emirates flights with an EK flight# you will ONLy receive QFF points, but not status credits (if this is at all important to you, of course). If you've booked under the QF flight# then you're sweet.

Qantas status credits aren't important to me; I booked directly with Emirates.

Can I gift my status credits to someone else?

 

[JohnK]

Qantas status credits aren't important to me; I booked directly with Emirates.

Can I gift my status credits to someone else?

You don't have to credit to Qantas. You can earn Emirates SCs and points.

 

[RichardMEL]

My apologies then. I made some assumptions that were incorrect. bad me. Thanks for clarifying

Well, 29h vs 25h is definitely not that big a deal specially, as you say, there can be delays and tight connections (2 for QF, 1 for EK) and the all F service makes it more of a no brainer definitely.

minor q.. does EK provide the chauffeur drive option ex-ADL and NYC for these flights? I'd imagine so, and think that is a great extra benefit compared to QF - score one for ground handling.

I also did think QF SC's would not be of interest to you. If one is prepared to pay retail F fares then such things are likely not of any concern I just made the comment just in case - some folks do get caught by this - so I was just trying to be helpful

Enjoy your EK flights. Their F product is brilliant, specially the 380 showers! It does make a lot of sense ex-ADL as you've explained.

*humbly going back to corner*

 

[TheRealTMA]

minor q.. does EK provide the chauffeur drive option ex-ADL and NYC for these flights? I'd imagine so, and think that is a great extra benefit compared to QF - score one for ground handling.

My understanding is that CD is available in ADL within 40km of airport and is definitely available in NYC.

Enjoy! Btw: I recommend a night in DXB airport hotel on way home if schedule requires delay in DXB. Usually we pick the longer connection to take a 380 so 8-10 hrs in DXB. The hotel is good being above the F and J lounges, it's very convenient to go to lounge for dinner and breakfast before flight.

We look fwd to the TR!