New meaning of Full Flex

[neilmeister]

Was returning Wellington -> Canberra, via Sydney on Thursday evening, WLG flight arrived a few minutes early and I tried getting on the earlier 717 flight to CBR... but it was full. Oh well, had to try.

After another 90 minutes in the lounge my boarding time came, but the flight announcement never came and the board said nothing... so 5 minutes later I decide to go to the gate anyway, one of the Dash-8 gates in the demountables, and it was almost deserted, almost panicking I get my BP out and run over to the desk, assuming that it had already boarded. This is when I got the great news.... Qantas had cancelled the flight, but not to worry, they had organised a bus for me to catch!!!!

Normally, this would have just made me very annoyed that my fully flex flight had turned into a $20 Murrays bus ticket, but today it was even worse. The back of hand calculation would have me arriving home at around midnight, and I had a 6am flight to MEL the next day.

So, I ask if they could put me up in a hotel and change my morning MEL flight to depart from SYD instead..... no sir, the bus will take you home. WTF!!!

Anyway, in the end I crashed at a friends house and my company paid the $127 fee to change my morning flight to depart from SYD. Writing my complaint (outrage!!) letter to QF now, but not sure how to put it. Any advice?

 

[Steady]

Any advice?

Avoid emotion and stick to facts.

 

[Haplo]

Just a completely unrelated thought came to me. Since you didn't catch the "flight" from Sydney to Canberra then aren't you breaching the hidden city rule?

For but your inconvenience I would just write to Qantas outlining how badly you were treated. I don't think a bus is an acceptable substitute, otherwise why don't Qantas put people on a cancelled SYD - MEL on a bus instead? Imagine the outrage that would cause.

 

[RooFlyer]

Amazing. The new head of Loyalty (ex CEO of Jetstar) already having an impact!

 

[dajop]

The coach sounds like a very Ryanair-esque solution.

However, be that is it is, it seems they were making an effort to get passengers to CBR that evening.

I assume this was involving flights on separate tickets? If it was, then am betting the staff you were dealing with were not empowered to do anything different, as sensible as it may seem, your travel plans on the second ticket were completely independent of your first, such is the way these things are dealt with these days. I also think once you start asking for accommodation in this situation (especially if on separate tickets), then the less likely you are to get a satisfactory outcome.

I think advice provided by Steady seems the most sensible.

 

[juddles]

T....... I also think once you start asking for accommodation in this situation (especially if on separate tickets), then the less likely you are to get a satisfactory outcome.....

I completely agree.

I am also curious about the lack of announcements regarding the cancellation of flight. You mean that during your 90 min in the lounge there WERE no announcements, and the board did not say anything? Or did you miss them?

If the former is the case I would definitely include that in your letter, as it shows what was a very bad breakdown in general operations.

At the end of the day (as was clearly the case for you Thursday) to be offered a bus ride when one travels so much, would bring out the rage in me too

 

[OzEire]

Amazing. The new head of Loyalty (ex CEO of Jetstar) already having an impact!

I know you jest but I have mentioned here previously that JQ sells tix ex-CBR, despite no JQ metal coming near the capital. Read the fine print and you will see your first sector is from Canberra-Jolimont, the bus depot.

In one sense the OP was moved onto the JQ SYD-CBR "flight" !

 

[neilmeister]

It wasnt a separate ticket, I got my boarding pass SYD - CBR in Wellington, but what I suspect is that staff in international have the ability to hand out accommodation but domestic do not.

I do appreciate the staffs effort, and if I didnt have a flight the next morning I would have taken the bus. But.... it doesnt mean that when I pay for a Dom Perignon I accept Passion Pop with a "sorry, we ran out" without compensation.

As I mentioned, there were no announcements... none, and the board said nothing, even after I was told st the boarding gate that the flight had been cancelled.

Call me paranoid but the feeling I got was that the flight was cancelled for financial reasons. Try catch a QF Dash8 in the middle of the day and you will quickly see just how many of them they cancel because they are empty.

 

[dajop]

It wasnt a separate ticket, I got my boarding pass SYD - CBR in Wellington, but what I suspect is that staff in international have the ability to hand out accommodation but domestic do not.

I meant the CBR-MEL being on a separate ticket to WLG-SYD-CBR. If (for arguments sake) they happened to be on the same ticket then you may well have got a night in SYD and a flight to MEL the next morning - or a seat on the 10pm to MEL that night ..

But I agree with you re sparking beverage analogy - would be peeved at a b*s ride to CBR. Very LCC-esque.

 

[PaulST]

It wasnt a separate ticket, I got my boarding pass SYD - CBR in Wellington, but what I suspect is that staff in international have the ability to hand out accommodation but domestic do not.

QFLink put my up in a hotel last Friday-week (the windy day) when my 1740 flight became 2000 and then 0800 the following morning.

 

[Mattg]

Did Qantas seriously not offer any compensation for trying to put you on a bus to CBR?!

A bus ticket from Sydney to Canberra costs ~$28. A plane ticket usually costs ~$150 (and Flex, as booked by the OP is at least $364). I travel SYD-CBR regularly and if I wanted to take a bus, I sure would not have paid for a plane ticket!

The lack of communication here is also pretty appalling.

 

[serfty]

It's tough ... the fare difference WLG to CBR is likely little different of that from WLG to SYD.

As for no notification, it may be generally cheaper to provide PAX with a Fait Accompli at the gate than give them advance warning.

 

[OzEire]

Add my +1 to being seriously pi55ed if this was presented to me as a fait accompli. This hits close to home since im on this sector so often (this afternoon in fact, but VA).

Remind me again why my QFF SC have been exactly 1200 for over 5 months (60 days to requal then avoid QF and get VA WP twice, once for myself and then partner WP for +1).

 

[Hvr]

Hopefully you'll get ORC.

Apparently it's a very long time since anybody got SCs travelling on a bus.

 

[Haplo]

Hopefully you'll get ORC.

Apparently it's a very long time since anybody got SCs travelling on a bus.

Have a look at EK 7035 - code share on a bus

Maybe QF should also have a code share arrangement with Greyhound bus and let people earn SC on a QF code share bus ticket.

 

[kamchatsky]

OP could have flown WLG-CBR on SQ direct .... if the date lined up .....

 

[Flying mermaid]

Unbelievable! Yes Qantas do cancel flights between Syd and Cbr all the time to save money ( usually have enough bookings for two planes, so cancel one and move pax to flights either side). I had problems earlier in the year when they cancelled my flight back (last flight of the day) and the one before was full, so the one I was offered was too early to be of any use (4:30), but at least I had a few days notice, so could cancel and book a flight back with Virgin.

You should definitely get compensation for this sort of treatment!

 

[dajop]

QF cancelling flights to save $$$? Never

Sarcasm aside, any chance that it could have been a bit foggy at CBR that evening? Usually it's a morning thing though. Just looking for a plausible explanation for the bus ride!! !!

Edit: No not foggy, VA made it one hour later. In the bad old days (back in 2001 before AN went belly up) I've been on a QF cancelled last flight of the day and transferred to a later AN flight (out of LST). But things like that don't happen any more.

 

[RichardMEL]

opinion only:

this has nothing to do with fares and money paid IMHO. This has to do with IRROPS.

Now, theories about flight cancels due to $$$ aside, the flight was cancelled.. so ALL pax regardless of fare paid, status etc were lumped in the same boat.. or bus..... so really I see this as not poor treatment for full fare paid, but poor treatment (as in bus transport) due to operational requirements to get you there that night.

Now don't get me wrong, if I was on a F tix or full fare J and got this I'd be totally unimpressed, but if the choice is "take the bus or stay the night" I'd get in the bus and be happy(ish) to be in CBR that night.

Now, the issue of not changing the separate tix the next morning is a common sense one really.. some agents can do this sort of thing, and will.. others would not because it would involve a refare and get messy. From their point of view they were providing transportation to CBR that night so no need to change the next day's ticket I guess. I don't know. frustrating for sure. I would have possibly tried to argue that getting in at midnight and leaving at 0600 due to QF's operational change (ie cancel) should allow for some flexibility and common sense but sometimes you just can't get anywhere, specially on non flex tickets sadly.

And for those with memories of course, one does not mention the QF "b*s" in polite company, specially in conjunction with certain points in regional WA.... (but I digress)

 

[Flying mermaid]

If it is IRrops of course it is understandable and you just suck it up and be grateful for the bus. However I can assure you as someone who lives in Canberra and flies regularly to Sydney, Qantas cancels flights equally regularly between Canberra and Sydney. It is usually one of the mid afternoon flights, but last flight back is often a target as well.