Grumble grumble Qantas won't move flight without charging $$

[Mardi]

We're off to the US on Wednesday next week. We bought deeply discounted business seats and we're travelling on the first flight CBR - MEL at 6:40am arriving at 7:50am and then we're on QF93 departing at 9:35am. These flights were booked through a travel agent and we didn't select them, but the arrival time at JFK suits us so we were happy with them. Plus it's QF all the way to JFK so sky beds all the way.

The last couple of times my husband has flown (just to SYD and MEL) flights have been delayed. One was ultimately only about 15 minutes late but the other one was a lot later but luckily he was moved to another flight and arrived only a little later than expected.

Anyway these incidents have made us nervous that we might arrive late in MEL and miss our LAX flight, so we decided to see if we could move our flight CBR - MEL to the night before - a change of about 10 hours.

But because the flight is on a different date Qantas won't move it without charging over $600. Apparently if we moved it to another flight on the same day there'd be no charge. But we are on the earliest flight.

I know we got a deep discount but it still seems a bit petty to me. Oh well I guess we'll know better for next time...

 

[ozmille]

Have you asked your TA if they can re-issue the ticket?

 

[ajw373]

Considering the domestic and international terminals in Melbourne are under the same roof, your Canberra flight would have to be seriously delayed to make the connection an issue. Also first flights of the day are the most reliable, even if the morning is a little foggy in Canberra. I personally would be more worried about the connection in LAX from QF93 to QF107. You only have two hours to clear immigration, customs and security. So any delay on QF93 and your cutting it fine. At least coming in on QF107 from Sydney any delay on that flight will follow through to the New York leg.

Anyway you freely admit you brought a J ticket, so don't grumble that Qantas won't change your flights. You do get what you pay for.

 

[awilcockson]

Do you have status? Did you ring QF sales, or the QFF number?

They are within their rights under the terms and conditions of the Business Sale fare class:

A$300* itinerary change fee

[SUP]*[/SUP] Price charged per person per booking

edit: not saying I agree with the fee, just pointing out that it was there at the point of booking.

 

[Mattg]

Yes, it's annoying that QF are reluctant to change the tickets, however I honestly wouldn't worry about the connection time. The aircraft will overnight in CBR and therefore is very unlikely to be delayed. The only foreseeable delay would be a passenger getting offloaded or perhaps air traffic congestion in MEL but even that is unlikely and would only be a minor (< half an hour) delay anyway. I have never been delayed on a flight leaving CBR early in the morning. Besides, it's only a short walk to MEL international. That's why I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure you'll be fine

 

[straitman]

We're off to the US on Wednesday next week. We bought deeply discounted business seats and we're travelling on the first flight CBR - MEL at 6:40am arriving at 7:50am and then we're on QF93 departing at 9:35am. These flights were booked through a travel agent and we didn't select them, but the arrival time at JFK suits us so we were happy with them. Plus it's QF all the way to JFK so sky beds all the way.

The last couple of times my husband has flown (just to SYD and MEL) flights have been delayed. One was ultimately only about 15 minutes late but the other one was a lot later but luckily he was moved to another flight and arrived only a little later than expected.

Anyway these incidents have made us nervous that we might arrive late in MEL and miss our LAX flight, so we decided to see if we could move our flight CBR - MEL to the night before - a change of about 10 hours.

But because the flight is on a different date Qantas won't move it without charging over $600. Apparently if we moved it to another flight on the same day there'd be no charge. But we are on the earliest flight.

I know we got a deep discount but it still seems a bit petty to me. Oh well I guess we'll know better for next time...

I believe that many here will agree with you, however will also agree that Qantas is probably doing things as per the conditions of your ticket.

It is a pity that there is not an earlier flight out of Canberra on the morning.

 

[anat0l]

But because the flight is on a different date Qantas won't move it without charging over $600. Apparently if we moved it to another flight on the same day there'd be no charge. But we are on the earliest flight.

I know we got a deep discount but it still seems a bit petty to me. Oh well I guess we'll know better for next time...

I wonder if that has to do with the fact that there are no fares of the same fare level on the previous day. (Also, a flight on the previous day followed by your LAX flight on the next day would probably be forced onto separate coupons; cf. all on the same day would be on one coupon).

Anyway, as you've pointed out, it would've been much easier if you had thought about this and told the travel agent accordingly to book. Changes to tickets always involve fare difference; it's a luxury, not a privilege, unless you have a fully flexible ticket (viz. usually the highest fare types of the given class).

As ozmille mentioned, maybe talk to your travel agent to see if they can pull some tricks.


In any case, since your flights are all (presumably) on one ticket, your connections are protected. In the unlikely event that the flight from CBR to MEL is delayed, you should know about this clearly from CBR. From here you can plan your strategy.

• Depending on how much lead time you have in CBR after knowing of your flight being delayed, you can try and negotiate with QF to change to CBR to SYD then SYD to LAX on QF107 (may not be Skybed Mk II depending on which Boeing 747-400 operates this route).
• Another alternative is fly to SYD, then QF11 to LAX (A380) then a QF codeshare on AA to JFK. Slight problem here is that you may not be booked on AA Domestic First class for your onward; try to insist on this if you can, otherwise you'll be in Economy (because except for AA 3-class transcontinental services, most services are 2-class First and Economy).
• If you are "comfortable", you and negotiate with QF to overnight at MEL and travel the next day. That might mess up your arrangements at New York, so I'm guessing this is not desirable.

Right now, I'd be tempted to think everything will be alright and you'll make your connection. MEL has all terminals in a line so an easy transit as long as you're not mucking around.

 

[medhead]

Anyway you freely admit you brought a J ticket, so don't grumble that Qantas won't change your flights. You do get what you pay for.

I guess there is something missing from this statement. I didn't know J was the new deep discount Y on JQ, or TT.

 

[ajw373]

I
[*]Another alternative is fly to SYD, then QF11 to LAX (A380)

Getting off topic I know, but I noticed on the QF online timetable that QF11 seems to be 388 4 times a week and 744 3 times (MWF). Not sure when that started but seems to be like this every week up until 11th October.

 

[dajop]

I personally would be more worried about the connection in LAX from QF93 to QF107. You only have two hours to clear immigration, customs and security. So any delay on QF93 and your cutting it fine. At least coming in on QF107 from Sydney any delay on that flight will follow through to the New York leg.

This topic been done heaps of time on AFF, this connection is not an issue. If QF93 is running late they will either hold 107 or protect pax onto AA, where transcontinental cabins are OK. For the OP's dilemma, even arriving an hour late (at 8:50) should be OK with an express pass, as long as you don't dawdle on the painful detour through the DF store.

 

[Mardi]

Thanks to everyone who replied. Yes, I shouldn't grumble and I'm not feeling exceptionally pissed off, just mildly irritated, IYKWIM. I am reassured by those of you who say there shouldn't be an issue in MEL; I've never flown international through MEL so I guess that although I know it is different from SYD I have the SYD experience in the back of my mind. We've asked the TA if she can move the flight and she can't. So I'm going to accept it, forget it and plan for a nice holiday in NYC.

I'm a bit worried about the connection time in LAX too! The first time to JFK we were on QF107 all the way and almost had to run to the boarding gate. Last time we connected to an AA flight to go to Washington DC (Dulles? I don't know the code). There was a lot of time that time, unfortunately it involved sitting in the Admiral's Club and in my naïvety I was shocked by how poorly it compared to the Qantas Club! Anyway travel is an adventure so we shall see how it all goes. I tend to be an optimistic traveller and just go with the flow. The AA flight was delayed 2 hours on the tarmac while they repaired something. I just dozed in my seat (1A hehehe) and waited while a heap of passengers kept waking up and down to talk to the FAs and stressing about it all. We ended up arriving at our DC hotel at 2am but hey, at least they had 24 hour check in!!

BTW status-wise I'm silver and husband is gold.

 

[ajw373]

I guess there is something missing from this statement. I didn't know J was the new deep discount Y on JQ, or TT.

Yep the missing bit was the word discount before the J?.

 

[Hvr]

So why did you agree to these flights ahead of time? Sounds like the TA has done as you asked or you've not checked. Nothing to do with Qantas, their involvement is with the TA, yours is with the TA.

Perhaps you should sound off at the TA and name them as well?

As others have mentioned CBR is usually ok first thing in the morning and MEL is a great airport to transit between domestic and international. At CBR you'll be checked all the way through and given priority passes. If not at check in then at the Qf J lounge.

 

[Mardi]

So why did you agree to these flights ahead of time? Sounds like the TA has done as you asked or you've not checked. Nothing to do with Qantas, their involvement is with the TA, yours is with the TA.

Why? Inexperience, booking in a rush when discount offered, thought about it and it seemed OK, you name it. It's only since husband's had a couple of delays over the last two weeks that we've become a bit edgy about the time in MEL.

We approached the TA to change, she put through the change (first I saw was an email from Award Wallet) but later that day the TA rang to say there'd be a charge. We said no to the charge and the flights returned to the original itinerary.

 

[Mardi]

We were originally booked through SYD but the plane changed from an A380 to a 747 and we much prefer the A380 so the TA moved us to travelling through MEL. I was happier with this anyway because originally we arrived at JFK at 9pm ish, now it is 5pm ish.

 

[amaroo]

But because the flight is on a different date Qantas won't move it without charging over $600. Apparently if we moved it to another flight on the same day there'd be no charge. But we are on the earliest flight.

From my experience QF are very generous.

BA wanted to charge me $10,000+ to change my MIL flight to match ours.......the change involved moving one flight out of 8 (All discount F, CE & J) from LHR T3 to T5, leaving 2 hours later. I rang, wrote, emailed without luck.

Joined FT and posted a thread, received advice to PM the BAEC FT board rep..........all sorted for FREE within the day! This experience compelled me to joined AFF

 

[Mardi]

From my experience QF are very generous.

BA wanted to charge me $10,000+ to change my MIL flight to match ours.......the change involved moving one flight out of 8 (All discount F, CE & J) from LHR T3 to T5, leaving 2 hours later. I rang, wrote, emailed without luck.

Joined FT and posted a thread, received advice to PM the BAEC FT board rep..........all sorted for FREE within the day! This experience compelled me to joined AFF

Wow, what a story of extremes! $10k + that is ridiculous! But resolved so quickly at the end of it all. Nice to hear a good news story!

 

[amaroo]

Wow, what a story of extremes! $10k + that is ridiculous! But resolved so quickly at the end of it all. Nice to hear a good news story!

Hope you got the significance of the in that post!

It worked for me.......might as well give it a go.

 

[awilcockson]

It worked for me.......might as well give it a go.

In case you didn't know, Red Roo is the person you are after

View Profile: Red Roo - The Australian Frequent Flyer Online Community

 

[froggerADL]

As ozmille mentioned, maybe talk to your travel agent to see if they can pull some tricks.

Yes, I'm sure the travel agent would be happy to "pull some tricks". Like charge you $150 PLUS the fare difference!