Qantas law unto themselves - don't waste your time with ACA complaint

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As brief as I can this is what happened.
Regular weekly silver QFF flyer for work - charter flights. Arrive at airport 45mins before departure (as per recommendation) same as always - done this many, many times. Step up to the bag drop (QFF bag tags) to check single bag and machine can't read the tag. Readjust the tag orientation. Still can't read. All other bag drops occupied with queues. Readjust tag to point bar code at camera, still won't read. This goes on and on. Same tag as always used and used subsequently with no problem. Manage to attract attention of disinterested ground staff, who proceed to try exactly the same things. Eventually after many attempts, the bag drop machine decides to start working again and the bag is accepted. It starts being carried away on the conveyor, then stops, reverses and a message comes up on screen saying "Bag cannot be accepted at this time - see ground staff". It is now a few seconds less than 30mins before the schedule flight departure time.

I proceed to the ground staff and ask them to manually check the bag as the bag drop clearly doesn't work. They don't do this, but instead tap some keys and pick up a phone and call someone before telling me I should present myself at the Qantas service desk. Stand in a queue at the service desk operated by a single staff member (it is before 6am) for another 20mins during which my flight has now departed without me 3 minutes early at 5:47am (confirmed via Qantas app data). Service desk staff member has no idea why I've been sent there and appears extremely frustrated that I've been palmed off onto her by the baggage ground staff when she can't help me and has no idea what to suggest beyond "come back again tomorrow".

Flight missed, pay docked (> $800) by employer for "no show" missed flight. Qantas advise employer my fault for not allowing enough time to check in prior to flight. Complaint lodged with Qantas, which is never acknowledged or responded to in any way. Complaint lodged with ACA. Qantas again respond in same way as to employer. Vast quantities of evidence are presented to back the case including photographs of the error messages on the bag drop machine display and proof from the Qantas app they departed the plane 3 minutes early (which would have made all the difference to me making it in time despite the broken bag drop reader). Qantas simply ignore all the evidence and stick to the line that the customer did not leave enough time to check-in.

ACA acknowledge powerless to compel the airline to do anything, so that's the end. Ergo, Qantas and Donald Trump are the same. They can say and claim any garbage they like completely devoid of any truth and get away with it because they're unanswerable to any authority and can do whatever they wish, whenever they wish.

Moral of the story: When you eventually get screwed over by Qantas due in no part to any fault of your own (and you will, it's only a matter of time), don't bother wasting your life by complaining to them or the Airline Customer Advocate. Just book on Virgin instead. There is no point. It's as effective as reasoning with Donald Trump. I wasted 4 months of my life trying to get justice and ultimately got nowhere.
QF really don’t have anything in place to handle situations that just don’t fit into their box So basically it becomes the passengers problem. I booked a business class reward ticket with Qantas last April to go to London as I had a friend who was dying. 10 days before I was due to depart I had emergency surgery. Dr said I could fly after 4 weeks recovery. Contacted Qantas and the insurance company. Evidently i wasn’t eligible to rebook the ticket, to claim through insurance or even change the ticket through EK because Qantas had done the ticketing. I was told the points would just be put back into my ff account and then I could just endeavour to try and book another ticket but as it was the beginning of the European summer season they would not have a seat available on any flight to Europe till October. Is there no customer service left anywhere. Loyalty programs are a joke
 
This seems to be clearly a QANTAS failure. First their equipment failed then their backup system (relying on staff knowledge) failed. Finally their customer relations failed. Pretty abysmal really. I don't recall ever flying from Perth on QANTAS but I'm less likely to want to do it after hearing your story. I've not had anything similar happen on my preferred carrier VA but I'm sure it's possible with them. Is hope that, even if their systems failed to get me on the flight, they'd do their best to put things right with the customer.
 
How did all the other people on your flight check-in on time then?

And what are you expecting Qantas/ACA to do exactly?

Write you a letter that says one check-in bag machine wasn't working on the day?

Write you a letter that says there was a longer queue than usual for manual check-in?
Maybe take ownership of the problem appropriately with his employer so that he wasn't docked $800 I'd say!
 
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No he had 15 minutes to go to another one (im assuming like the other pax unfortunate enough to encounter the faulty machine had done)

That he wasted 15 minutes mucking around with a faulty machine when there were 7 others functioning was his own doing.
He did say all the other bag drops were full. Have you every seen an airport with FIFO flights departing? It's chaos!
 
He did say all the other bag drops were full. Have you every seen an airport with FIFO flights departing? It's chaos!

...and was he the only one that missed the flight when everyone else who tried that machine who had the same problem and managed to resolve the issue and board on time??
 
Oh dear. I always knew there was a reason I didn't like Qantas. Why has a once great airline gone to the dogs so badly? I heard a song on the radio the other day which reminded me of Qantas - "When Irish Eyes are Smiling". Just about sums it up.
 
musing how these things get a life of their own.
The op left the building at post #53 and here is post #108…...
 
I thought that a thread was in fact about an isolated thought/idea/problem/complaint etc. The OP was quite a strong and reasonable complaint which the member attempted to be resolved in a reasonable fashion and it was not dealt with by the compay at the time and with subsequent following letters. If you can see anything wrong with the post, with the possible exception of the Trump comparison, then I would welcome your response.
 
I actually thought it was a good analogy. Someone who is unwavering, no matter how right or wrong they are. And answerable to no one. Without consumer protections in many areas, I'm quite sure the OP did feel this way.
 
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This issue was about the Q bag tags. If everyone else had paper tags then no, they wouldn't have had problems. Why the victim shaming??

Ok. I'll take that on the chin.

If pointing out the obvious is shaming, so be it.

I am of the belief, there wouldn't be anyone on this site that has't had a problem of some sort with a flight on any airline. Sometimes it is our own naivety on what can happen, sometimes it is the airline's fault, sometimes there are equipment failures, sometimes its the weather, sometimes sh.. happens. The vast majority of flyers meet their flight one way or another by taking action to make it happen. Many people learn from the experience (whether or not they miss their flight), add to their war stories, change the way they do things in the future and not let it ruin another day/flight.

The op lodged an airline complaint. It was reviewed and dismissed. The op upped the ante another level to ACA and it was reviewed and dismissed. Additionally, his employer who presumably organises those flights did not accept his explanation and docked his pay. (Notice a consistent theme there?)

The op admitted he has "wasted four months of his life" - well he said it not me.

The op advised everyone to fly VA because of his experience - however he wasn't on a QF commercial flight - he was on a charter - totally different circumstance, different terminal etc. The recommendation is not relevant to non-FIFO members.

Lastly I suspect he is still flying multiple times per week on the exact same QF charter and is not following his own advice on a day to day basis.
 
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