Gold yanked - thoughts?

[hughevans]

Hi there. I’ve been a Gold FF for a few years, but last year I flew less and fully expected to be downgraded at the end of June. However, when I logged into qff on the 3rd of July I was presented with:



Sweet! And there was nothing to suggest otherwise. I proceeded to book a domestic flight with a Sydney connection, choosing slightly longer layovers so we could use the lounge. The flights get ticketed, 3rd of July:



That’s the main E-Ticket itinerary.

I probably would have booked this with another airline to save money if I wasn’t Gold and could enjoy the lounge with my family (and earn the extra points).

Anyway, here’s where things start to go off the rails. A few weeks later as I was routinely deleting some of the mountain of FF spam I get from Qantas I noticed one of the mastheads had silver and not gold, so I quickly log in to qff and sure enough it has me down as silver. I’ve been back and forwards on this with them via support email, but their not budging, I’m silver now and that’s that.

One interaction I had they did apologise for any inconvenience caused by an error appeared in your online account but my understanding that the ticketing is done in a more core system so I don’t think that claim isn’t entirely true.

I’ve found this whole experience incredibly frustrating and wondering if anyone on here could relate and provide me any advice? I honestly wouldn’t have minded being downgraded, but to give with one hand and take away with the other is blow I’m having trouble accepting. Am I being unreasonable asking to be restored to Gold like they communicated to me on the 3rd of July that I was?

 

[opusman]

Just one of those QF IT things that it's best not worry about. You don't really have grounds for complaint imo since you didn't requalify and they didn't specifically tell you you were being comped.

 

[mviy]

QF generally allows a bit of time for status credits from flights on partner airlines to come through before downgrading. Personally I wouldn't feel sure a comp has been received till getting the new membership card. Comping used to happen taking into account a 3 year rule (if the previous 3 years including the year you failed to earn enough to retain averaged at least as much as what is required to retain status).

Now generally if QF is going to offer to retain status they'll typically require you to hand over some points to take up the offer (e.g. 80,000 points to keep SG or 120,000 points to keep WP) rather than handing it out for free.

 

[RichardMEL]

unfortunately it is well known status shows a few days past the rollover date while they get their *#@)#@* together (a batch run of some sort I assume) and it can be very confusing.. though I do agree the "Congratulations" message is confusing for sure.

 

[blackcat20]

It’s a quirk of the system, I had a congrats on retaining WP message but am very solidly gold....

 

[hughevans]

Just one of those QF IT things that it's best not worry about. You don't really have grounds for complaint imo since you didn't requalify and they didn't specifically tell you you were being comped.

Thanks, I’m not sure what you mean by comped though sorry. I did think the message Congratulations Hugh, you’™ve retained Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold status was pretty specific!

 

[serfty]

Sadly, this is normal.

See this thread: For those who have been comped status

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks, I’m not sure what you mean by comped though sorry. I did think the message Congratulations Hugh, you’™ve retained Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold status was pretty specific!

Welcome to your first post on AFF . 'Comped' means that Qantas gives a status level which was not earned. Short for 'complimentary'.
Yes, the message you received certainly indicated that you were 'comped'.

This was evidently a mistake, and they took it away. Your frustration and annoyance is understandable, but I'm afraid it will just have to be swallowed, unless you want a protracted, equally frustrating and probably unsuccessful contest with Qantas.. Glitches (and worse) in Qantas' IT are legendary.

Unfortunately, 'comping' is getting rare these days.

Sadly, this is normal.

See this thread: For those who have been comped status

I don't think you meant it was normal for a 'congratulations' message to be sent out, though (the post immediately before yours)? 'Lingering status' I think you mean?

 

[RichardMEL]

As a Silver you should have got a lounge invite included (electronic) which you can apply to your booking for use in Sydney during the layover. I know it's not what you wanted or expected, but it's something

 

[hughevans]

Welcome to your first post on AFF . 'Comped' means that Qantas gives a status level which was not earned. Short for 'complimentary'.
Yes, the message you received certainly indicated that you were 'comped'.

This was evidently a mistake, and they took it away. Your frustration and annoyance is understandable, but I'm afraid it will just have to be swallowed. Glitches (and worse) in Qantas' IT are legendary.

Thank you for the explanation. I’m honestly surprised again though by the responses here. While I do appreciate them all and they’ve helped me understand the whole situation, I can’t help but feel they demonstrate a bit of conditioning, to put it politely. I guess they don’t call it a loyalty program for no reason! A hotel chain for comparison would not be able to get away with misleading behaviour like this.

 

[opusman]

Meh, you get used to QF's foibles. Moaning about it is often cathartic but doesn't really help in most cases. If you want to play the game you have to play by their rules unfortunately!

 

[RooFlyer]

Again, I understand your position . You might call it 'conditioning' - I would probably describe it in terms of 'long and weary experience' (personal and many experiences such as yours recounted on the forum).

Qantas isn't alone in stuffing up, screwing customers etc and then stonewalling any attempt of redress. Unfortunately a situation with many around the world.

There are avenues to seek redress, but it comes down to time/effort Vs likely outcome. One of the benefits of this forum is that you can learn some tricks to at least try to anticipate and work around the system.

The term 'loyalty' has been much debated here. My position is that Qantas wants loyalty from its customers, but offers very little in return.

 

[mannej]

Thank you for the explanation. I’m honestly surprised again though by the responses here. While I do appreciate them all and they’ve helped me understand the whole situation, I can’t help but feel they demonstrate a bit of conditioning, to put it politely. I guess they don’t call it a loyalty program for no reason! A hotel chain for comparison would not be able to get away with misleading behaviour like this.

I am not sure what else you want to hear?

Members are speaking from experience to let you know of the glitch and what any outcome they had. Not much point sugar coating things to set you up on a beating to nothing.

 

[zenyattamondatta]

Am I being unreasonable asking to be restored to Gold like they communicated to me on the 3rd of July that I was?

I don't think you're being unreasonable, but I doubt you'd be successful. Better to push for however many extra lounge passes you need, in my opinion.

 

[serfty]

I don't think you meant it was normal for a 'congratulations' message to be sent out, though (the post immediately before yours)? 'Lingering status' I think you mean?

Please reread the OP.

The congratulations message appeared as a banner when logging on. It did not get "sent out" (such as via email).

Such has been reported frequently such as in the thread I linked to.

 

[RichardMEL]

The problem is you're aware that you did not fly the required SC's to retain Gold and you expected to be downgraded.

Now, yes, the "Congratulations..." message is misleading and a bug,and QF apologised for it.. but tehnically you know you're only supposed to be Silver. It raised massive expectations and I get it you're not happy.

Absolutely ask for extra lounge passes, though I am not certain that would get very far, but it can't hurt... heck, QF has been offering 80k points to retain Gold recently.. Maybe you don't have that many and did not get the offer.

I don't think you said how far off the 600 you were to requalify.. if you were very close (like >580) it could be possibly considered.. but if you had like 420 or something, then yeah you don't have much to stand on IMHO.

As for "conditioning"? stockholm syndrome? no... more that we're used to this rubbish over the years. It's a FAQ pretty much over th years (as pointed out by others). Is it eright or fair? No. but it is a known issue hence the lack of surprise from many of us.

in QF's eyes when you did not make enough SC to requalfy that's what they're looking at when they're refusing to give you a comp to Gold again (and as noted, they really don't seem to do that for anyone anymore, having reverted to offers to spend points) so unfortunately you're likely out of luck there.

imho

 

[serfty]

A hotel chain for comparison would not be able to get away with misleading behaviour like this.

A hotel chain has real competion in Australia so their loyalty programs need to be sharper.

Qantas seem to feel they have Australian airline loyalty sewn up; something I don't believe to be true but thats what Qantas' behavior implys.

 

[moa999]

Some of the hotel chains are even worse on this front.
(Hilton status takes 3 months to roll off, albeit this is well disclosed).

Yep it's not a great banner to show, but it's relatively minimum compared to the other foibles that one encounters on the QFF website.

 

[hughevans]

Thanks, I did get what I was after from this thread. This type of things happens all of the time and it’ll probably not be worth pursuing. I thank you all for that, it has saved me a bunch of time and effort.

On the other issues, my perspective was from a consumer affairs point of view, but others view it as a game with rules and such, which I don’t care fore. That’s fine, I just didn’t anticipate or understand that’s what it’s about for some.

Thanks again.

 

[RooFlyer]

Please reread the OP.

The congratulations message appeared as a banner when logging on. It did not get "sent out" (such as via email).

Such has been reported frequently such as in the thread I linked to.

OK; 'sent out' a fresh banner to the members account

I checked the thread you linked to, and again just now - the past 2 years, abt 100 posts and think I saw one case of a 'false' fresh 'Congrats on retaining [status]' posted - that is, when the retained status wasn't actually earned, or comped, which is what happened to the OP. So I still don't think it's 'normal', but YYMV .