Flight delayed, missed connection and abandoned by Qantas

Is it time for a class action? OP is yet another on the conga-line of QF cough and has incurred some serious costs here. All because QF wouldn't put him on, presumably, one of the many earlier flights to BNE.
 
When is a missed connection not the fault of the carrier?
Force majure! :)

But the insurer will want to know why the cancellation so they can point to their exclusions to deny a claim. It is that section that I read with greatest diligence. Some policies pretty much exclude every possibility conceivable rendering the policy useless for that event.
 
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Another thing that occurred to me about the OP's situation, is I doubt the computer even looked at MCT.
Why?
Well all those experiences with trips with multiple flights where the computer just moved flights around randomly. My experience was a booking where I was departing my first airport 2 weeks after I'd flown the second leg of the booking.
 
Another thing that occurred to me about the OP's situation, is I doubt the computer even looked at MCT.
Why?
Well all those experiences with trips with multiple flights where the computer just moved flights around randomly. My experience was a booking where I was departing my first airport 2 weeks after I'd flown the second leg of the booking.

I must admit I've had similar however in this instance it looks like the algorithm got it right (technically). OP states that they were moved to a flight departing SYD at 19:35. Assuming this is QF550 then that is due into BNE at 21:05 just coming in the MCT of 90mins for the QR flight departing 22:40. Not the sort of connection I would be happy with either and - unfortunately - the OP's fears were realised when the QF flight was delayed an hour out of SYD.

Regards,

BD
 
In addition to the comments already made on ‘why’ I also think there are also some less favourable reasons… they want the chance for their CLs and platinums to have first crack at all the good seats on other flights and airlines. If they cancelled the flight early everyone would be scrambling for whatever seats were out there and their top tiers could be left unhappy.

Can’t have that!
OP reported approx 30 pax inconvenienced by this mis-connect, I did wonder how many of those might be QF WPs ...

Regards,

BD
 
I always thought there was some regulatory requirement (ie with IATA) in regards to downroute missed connections.

I distinctly remember getting off a BNE-LAX and connecting to JFK years ago and we’d missed the onwards QF LAX-JFK. Staff were at the aerobridge calling out names and handing over boarding passes for an array of airlines (I ended up on Delta direct, a few in the party on UA and others via Dallas on AA). Nobody was happy, but there was absolutely no concern about being abandoned in Los Angeles.

Does concern me a little. I’ve got a SYD-HND/NRT-HEL coming up next year. Was originally a transit at Haneda but AY have switched back to NRT for some reason. I hate to think what will happen if I get stuck in Japan
 
Which is absolutely NOT their policy. I had a flight cancelled a few weeks ago - I could select ANY flight that day regardless of the fare. I didn't even need to speak to an agent - the website offered the change automatically.

Unsure why this happened to OP.
I've had this on a domestic flight and could select an alternative.

I'm in a similar situation to the OP on a QF award SYD-PER-SIN in December. There was 2 hours layover originally. A schedule change has changed it to 70 mins.

When i go to change it doesn't allow me to choose a single leg it shows SYD-SIN and asks for which day. Of course, when i choose another day there is nothing coming up.

I'd be happy to stay over night in Perth at my expense but too scared to call up and change it in case they cancel the entire award. I'm flying QF only not partner airlines.
 
I find myself in an almost identical situation:

MEL-SYD-SIN in September

MEL-SYD: QF430
SYD-SIN: BA16

Originally there was 4 hours between them, but QF has just postponed QF430 by 3 hours, giving me 55 minutes to transit at SYD.

It does not let me choose any alternatives online.
  • We cant find any suitable flights. Contact us to proceed with your change.

Dare I tempt fate with the call centre?
 
Agree. you have no choice. 55minutes is below MCT imo and frankly not doable even if everything went as planned. You must call unfortunately.

According to EF, Domestic -> International MCT is 60 minutes, but anything to BA has a 90 minute MCT. Either way you look at it this is a huge fail and you should be rebooked onto an earlier flight without incident as 0:55 is under the MCT simple as that.

Frankly I would think 90 minutes is the bare minimum I would be happy with but that's just me.

(why this was allowed by the system is bizarre).
 
With 55mins @ SYD, I don't think you have a choice.

Make sure you keep emphasising "involuntary reschedule"

I called last night wanting to make a similar change, and after 2.5 hours eventually got onto a supervisor in CPT who understood what I wanted, that it is an involuntary change, and that he should be able to make the change, but even supervisor access to the QF Res system will not give him the option. I was promised an escalation, but I'm pretty doubtful at the moment. Fact is that if you're not at least a WP, you do not have access to a call centre that can actually do their job.
 
Agree. you have no choice. 55minutes is below MCT imo and frankly not doable even if everything went as planned. You must call unfortunately.

According to EF, Domestic -> International MCT is 60 minutes, but anything to BA has a 90 minute MCT. Either way you look at it this is a huge fail and you should be rebooked onto an earlier flight without incident as 0:55 is under the MCT simple as that.

Frankly I would think 90 minutes is the bare minimum I would be happy with but that's just me.

(why this was allowed by the system is bizarre).
When I had a similar issue, i was told the system will only move you to the next available flight. It then is reviewed manually, with a list produced for someone to look at. :(
 
What ever is the use of a call centre that can't even do something simple. As far as I can see it is only so QF can say that they answer calls now in a reasonable time. Unfortunately that comes with unreasonable results.
 
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It looks like there was no attempt to change my flight at all, as there is no accept button. The flight scheduled time was just changed, and not outright cancelled.

Given I'm travelling in September, I wonder if waiting a week or two before calling might give them a bit of time to get better at these changes, given this issue has made it into AFF news? Otherwise, if something happens to my BA flight, as a bronze I'd be in strife.
 
It looks like there was no attempt to change my flight at all, as there is no accept button. The flight scheduled time was just changed, and not outright cancelled.

Given I'm travelling in September, I wonder if waiting a week or two before calling might give them a bit of time to get better at these changes, given this issue has made it into AFF news? Otherwise, if something happens to my BA flight, as a bronze I'd be in strife.
I would not wait.

The September schedule change is obviously the result of the latest round of QF cuts they announced a week or so ago in response to higher fuel prices and other <insert excuses here> reasons. Will it hold now is anyone's guess, but I would definitely try to get this resolved because the longer one waits with the new lower capacity it will be harder and harder to find seats the longer one waits I would imagine.

imo.
 
Somewhat OT, but we had a delayed QF flight last Friday from PER-SYD. We were booked on QF644 which was an A330 with an 1100 departure. Quite close to boarding time, the board showed a gate change, where there was another A330 being readied for flight. It turned out that the original aircraft had been on tha tarmac overnight, and when opened up, they found the whole floor of the aircraft covered in water. They tried for 3 hours to clean up the mess using wet and dry vacuum cleaners, but could not get it to a fit state for flight. They were also concerned at what other damage the water may have done that couldn’t be seen. Where on earth would that much water come from? Once onboard the alternate aircraft, we were advised that it had an engineering issue on the starboard side which took almost an hour to be resolved. Whilst we were pushing back, the Captain told us of the issues with the other aircraft, which had by then been grounded, and was being prepared for a tow to a hangar. So we departed 2 hours late, made up about half an hour during the flight, but once close to SYD, were put in a circuit and lost what we gained. Further delays occurred at the gate, and then 2 aircraft loads of baggage were allocated to the one carousel, and the bags all came down intermittenly. After arriving at 1900, we eventually left the airport at 2100. So a short 3.5 hour flight turned into along day in the saddle.
 
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Called up and got Fiji call centre to change my flight without fuss. The agent asked me to double check the details in MMB afterwards, and made sure I had received the updated e-ticket PDF while still on the phone.

That said, it was a relatively minor change in this instance, and luckily there was plenty of U availability on the flight I wanted. I'm not sure what would have happened if there wasn't. All in all, a pleasant experience.
 
When I had a similar issue, i was told the system will only move you to the next available flight. It then is reviewed manually, with a list produced for someone to look at. :(
How has Qantas not fixed its automation! It is so bleeding obvious and would be a huge cost saver to reduce manual processes and calls to the inept call centres. This shows how flawed their systems currently are. The call centre just exposes all the problems
 
I find myself in an almost identical situation:

MEL-SYD-SIN in September

MEL-SYD: QF430
SYD-SIN: BA16

Originally there was 4 hours between them, but QF has just postponed QF430 by 3 hours, giving me 55 minutes to transit at SYD.

Given many domestic bookings occur close to departure date, there must be plenty of unbooked seats two months out. Even if these aren't in the same airline booking (sub)class, you have a need to be switched.

It's not an option for you to travel by another carrier or other means to SYD as this would unfortunately invalidate the remaining 'coupon' (and nor should you have to).
 
Called up and got Fiji call centre to change my flight without fuss. The agent asked me to double check the details in MMB afterwards, and made sure I had received the updated e-ticket PDF while still on the phone.

That said, it was a relatively minor change in this instance, and luckily there was plenty of U availability on the flight I wanted. I'm not sure what would have happened if there wasn't. All in all, a pleasant experience.
It's amazing that this is so easily sorted for some people, but so difficult for others. We're 7 phone calls and a good 5+ hours in to trying to change to flights with plenty of U availability but (SA) computer says no.
 

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