epsc
Member
- Joined
- May 18, 2011
- Posts
- 121
My letter to Alan Joyce:
'We are going to cease travelling with Qantas once the flights I have already paid for have been completed, and once we burn through our accrued frequent flyer points, save where it suits my convenience (such as where I have no choice).
Yesterday I travelled Sydney to Canberra return, in economy. As always when I travel for business, I booked the most flexible fares I could find for the flight times I was looking at, as I frequently have to change the times of my flights.
The total cost of the ticket I purchased was $751.01. It was the most expensive economy class ticket the Qantas website permitted me to purchase. Even now, as I sit before a computer and attempt to do the same for other dates, the most flexible and most expensive economy Sydney-Canberra return ticket I can find costs $678.
I finished my work engagements earlier than expected, and went to the airport to catch an earlier flight than the QF1520 (a jet service) I was booked on. I arrived at the airport at 3.10pm, well in time for the 4.10pm QF1420 Dash 8 flight to Sydney, which was half empty (there were 30 seats available).
I was told at the Qantas Business Lounge that even though I had booked the most flexible fare I could for the QF1520 flight, because there were no seats left on QF1420 of the fare type that I had booked on, I would have to pay an extra $110 to change flights. I was told that Qantas, the corporate entity, had no discretion in the matter. Clearly that was a falsehood, as Qantas makes its own fare rules. Calls to Qantas (4 calls in all, as I was placed on hold for 15 minutes at a time) were fruitless.
I missed the next two flights, on which there was abundant availability. I was finally permitted to travel on a 4.45pm flight, because, I was told, there was a storm coming. The storm did not eventuate.
My experience in the past has been that Qantas appreciated its loyal customers, and would exercise its discretion to assist them when that was at no cost to itself (and at times even when it was at cost). I was not asking for something for nothing – I had paid for my ticket, there were dozens of available seats which were not going to be sold. I was not asking for a free entitlement such as an upgrade – just an economy class seat. I did everything within my power when I booked my ticket to purchase the most flexible ticket I could. All someone at Qantas had to do was to exercise a little decency, common sense and customer service.
Instead, I was met with gouging – trying to extract the most money the organization could.
This is but the last of a series of situations in which Qantas has demonstrated to me that the concept of customer loyalty and customer service is worth nothing to the organisation. I have had enough.
I too work for profit, and I understand that Qantas owes its first loyalty to shareholders. However, a little plain commonsense goes a long way. I repeatedly told those to whom I spoke during this experience that I was very well aware of my choice of airline, and was poised to switch to Virgin.
Which is what I will now do.'
'We are going to cease travelling with Qantas once the flights I have already paid for have been completed, and once we burn through our accrued frequent flyer points, save where it suits my convenience (such as where I have no choice).
Yesterday I travelled Sydney to Canberra return, in economy. As always when I travel for business, I booked the most flexible fares I could find for the flight times I was looking at, as I frequently have to change the times of my flights.
The total cost of the ticket I purchased was $751.01. It was the most expensive economy class ticket the Qantas website permitted me to purchase. Even now, as I sit before a computer and attempt to do the same for other dates, the most flexible and most expensive economy Sydney-Canberra return ticket I can find costs $678.
I finished my work engagements earlier than expected, and went to the airport to catch an earlier flight than the QF1520 (a jet service) I was booked on. I arrived at the airport at 3.10pm, well in time for the 4.10pm QF1420 Dash 8 flight to Sydney, which was half empty (there were 30 seats available).
I was told at the Qantas Business Lounge that even though I had booked the most flexible fare I could for the QF1520 flight, because there were no seats left on QF1420 of the fare type that I had booked on, I would have to pay an extra $110 to change flights. I was told that Qantas, the corporate entity, had no discretion in the matter. Clearly that was a falsehood, as Qantas makes its own fare rules. Calls to Qantas (4 calls in all, as I was placed on hold for 15 minutes at a time) were fruitless.
I missed the next two flights, on which there was abundant availability. I was finally permitted to travel on a 4.45pm flight, because, I was told, there was a storm coming. The storm did not eventuate.
My experience in the past has been that Qantas appreciated its loyal customers, and would exercise its discretion to assist them when that was at no cost to itself (and at times even when it was at cost). I was not asking for something for nothing – I had paid for my ticket, there were dozens of available seats which were not going to be sold. I was not asking for a free entitlement such as an upgrade – just an economy class seat. I did everything within my power when I booked my ticket to purchase the most flexible ticket I could. All someone at Qantas had to do was to exercise a little decency, common sense and customer service.
Instead, I was met with gouging – trying to extract the most money the organization could.
This is but the last of a series of situations in which Qantas has demonstrated to me that the concept of customer loyalty and customer service is worth nothing to the organisation. I have had enough.
I too work for profit, and I understand that Qantas owes its first loyalty to shareholders. However, a little plain commonsense goes a long way. I repeatedly told those to whom I spoke during this experience that I was very well aware of my choice of airline, and was poised to switch to Virgin.
Which is what I will now do.'
