Punitive schedule change policy

[Choosethedrew]

So I have a cash 081 ticket booked from Sweden to Australia. The heady combo of BA and LHR has seen the Sweden - UK sectors chopped and changed. No problem, I thought, this enables me to change the days around, change of gateway from Gothenburg to Stockholm, and generally tweak the itinerary to get around the new horrible flight times. However I have discovered that QFs schedule change policy is way harsher than BAs and it’s basically take it or leave it +/- 1 day! So suffering the worst of both worlds; BAs operational vicissitudes combined with QFs punitive policy. I also discovered that, even for involuntary changes, QF insists that the original fare class is still available which seems madness, what does one do if an advance purchase fare bucket is not available near to departure, as is usually the case?

I’m sure there‘s very little I can do…?

 

[defurax]

I agree this is an absolutely shocking policy by QF to require the original fare class to be available on partner airlines after schedule change (if more than 72 hours before departure). My gut feeling is that this probably goes against consumer protection in many countries (i.e. customer bought a service for a certain price and the price changes before the service is provided requiring additional payment). Smells fishy. I'm sure they cover their back legally by saying that the customer can always request a refund if not happy with the options offered.

 

[Choosethedrew]

I agree this is an absolutely shocking policy by QF to require the original fare class to be available on partner airlines after schedule change (if more than 72 hours before departure). My gut feeling is that this probably goes against consumer protection in many countries (i.e. customer bought a service for a certain price and the price changes before the service is provided requiring additional payment). Smells fishy. I'm sure they cover their back legally by saying that the customer can always request a refund if not happy with the options offered.

I don’t think EU261 lets airlines refund and walk away, or at least that I can surmise. If Qantas asked for extra payment, which they thankfully didn’t in my case, because the original fare class was unavailable that would surely breach EU261 which entitles customers to a reasonable re route.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

A couple things. One when an airline decides to cancel a flight out like the ticket becomes fully flexible (within reason) including fully refundable. I would be surprised if there was any pushback in moving the flight a couple of days back or forth. In terms of there being availability in a particular fare class, that's not how IRROPS works. The rule is, and has always been that so long as there is availability in the cabin of service (i.e. economy, business, etc.) you are fine.

In terms of EU261, yes that would apply here since your contract with Qantas is to take you from Sweden, a EU member country to Australia. The fact that you have connecting flights outside of the EU or that some carriers may not be registered to an EU member country are irrelevant since the agreement you signed with Qantas was a contract to take you from Sweden to Australia - all connecting flights are simply formalities of how you get there. My question for you is when is your departing flight out of Sweden originally? This will tell you what you are entitled to in terms of EU261 compensation and duty of care!

-RooFlyer88

 

[Choosethedrew]

A couple things. One when an airline decides to cancel a flight out like the ticket becomes fully flexible (within reason) including fully refundable. I would be surprised if there was any pushback in moving the flight a couple of days back or forth. In terms of there being availability in a particular fare class, that's not how IRROPS works. The rule is, and has always been that so long as there is availability in the cabin of service (i.e. economy, business, etc.) you are fine.

In terms of EU261, yes that would apply here since your contract with Qantas is to take you from Sweden, a EU member country to Australia. The fact that you have connecting flights outside of the EU or that some carriers may not be registered to an EU member country are irrelevant since the agreement you signed with Qantas was a contract to take you from Sweden to Australia - all connecting flights are simply formalities of how you get there. My question for you is when is your departing flight out of Sweden originally? This will tell you what you are entitled to in terms of EU261 compensation and duty of care!

-RooFlyer88

Usually it becomes more flexible; but barely in the case of Qantas. This is not IRROPS, the schedule change is for flights in November.

But even this far out, the Qantas policy is very hard compared to AA and BA. My specific question is, how is the below excerpt from the policy compatible with EU (or UK) 261 should the original fare bucket be sold out?

“New Flights Must:

• Be on the same day or a day either side of the ticketed flights
• Maintain the origin and destination of the ticket
• Be in the same class as originally ticketed EXCEPT Qantas operated and marketed flights which can be rebooked to the lowest available class in the same cabin IF the original ticketed class is not available. Exception: P / U / Z / X booking classes are not permitted”

I’m almost hoping BA does another schedule reshuffle and I class is sold out to see what happens…

 

[Cognac]

That feels quite restrictive. This should be an issue that's sorted between Qantas and the carrier that's cancelled the leg, not something that is exposed to the customer