Qantas status - help please!

[Rebekkap]

Hi Brains Trust,

Hoping someone can offer suggestions for a next step for my aunt.

She's was gold status with Qantas. After flying to Europe business class on Finnair she had enough SCs to retain gold but only two eligible sectors, so I told her to book a flight with Qantas or Jetstar to get the two additional sectors.

She booked a return flight to Brisbane on Jetstar, and being the cautious type that she is called the call centre not once but TWICE to ask if it would count as an eligible sector as the flight didn't include points/SCs as she couldn't find the information on the website, and was assured - twice - by Qantas that it would count.

When the flights didn't show up as eligible sectors, she called again to check what was going on, and was told there were problems with the app, and it should show up soon. It didn't, and she dropped to silver.

She then emailed the FF email, and was told she couldn't have her membership restored because she hadn't got the required number of status credits (obviously a form response from someone who hadn't actually taken the time to read the email). I suggested writing back and explaining that the form response didn't address the issue, which she did. She then got back a response with no acknowledgement of the fact that the call centre told her twice that the Jetstar flights would count as eligible sectors - this is the email:

Dear [name],

Thank you for contacting the Qantas Frequent Flyer Service Centre.

We are unable to retain your membership tier at Gold level because you didn't fly a minimum of 4 eligible flights on Qantas, QantasLink or Jetstar during your membership year.

The recent assessment of your status level was based on the number of Status credits you earned on eligible flights taken in your last membership year. To retain Gold status you are required to earn 600 Status Credits each membership year.

In ensuring we retain a fair and equitable program for all our members, we're unable to further extend your membership at the Gold level.

We'll quickly restore your Gold membership if you earn the required Status Credits and fly a minimum of 4 eligible flights on Qantas, QantasLink or Jetstar during your membership year.

You can keep track of your Status Credits and eligible flight segments at qantas.com/youraccount.



Kind regards,

Samuel
Qantas Frequent Flyer Service Centre

Suggestions for next steps to escalate this please!

cheers
Rebekka

 

[OzEire]

Hi @Rebekkap - your post is a bit hard to follow as you seem to have used the terms 'points', 'status credits' and 'eligible sectors' somewhat interchangeably.

FF points are earned on most flights (some exclusions) at the rate of 1 point per mile flown.

Status Credits (SC) are earned on eligible flights. The amount is based on the class of travel and route - in general longer flights earn more SC but it is a general rule only.

Eligible Sectors (~) are only counted for certain flights on the core group of airlines - QF, JQ and QFlink.

It is unclear of your aunt fell short of SC or ~, points are irrelevant for tier attain or retain calculations.

 

[blackcat20]

Hi @Rebekkap - your post is a bit hard to follow as you seem to have used the terms 'points', 'status credits' and 'eligible sectors' somewhat interchangeably.

FF points are earned on most flights (some exclusions) at the rate of 1 point per mile flown.

Status Credits (SC) are earned on eligible flights. The amount is based on the class of travel and route - in general longer flights earn more SC but it is a general rule only.

Eligible Sectors (~) are only counted for certain flights on the core group of airlines - QF, JQ and QFlink.

It is unclear of your aunt fell short of SC or ~, points are irrelevant for tier attain or retain calculations.

It sounds as though the aunt had 600sc but only two eligible sectors, and was told on the phone that the JQ flights would count as sectors even without the bundle, which is not the case.

 

[Rebekkap]

Hi @Rebekkap - your post is a bit hard to follow as you seem to have used the terms 'points', 'status credits' and 'eligible sectors' somewhat interchangeably.

FF points are earned on most flights (some exclusions) at the rate of 1 point per mile flown.

Status Credits (SC) are earned on eligible flights. The amount is based on the class of travel and route - in general longer flights earn more SC but it is a general rule only.

Eligible Sectors (~) are only counted for certain flights on the core group of airlines - QF, JQ and QFlink.

It is unclear of your aunt fell short of SC or ~, points are irrelevant for tier attain or retain calculations.

Sorry for confusion - I obviously need more coffee! She had enough status credits to retain, Qantas are saying she only had two eligible sectors when she needed four, despite having flown two eligible sectors on Qantas, and two additional Jetstar flights that she was told would be eligible sectors. I have edited the original post where I accidentally typed points instead of status credits.

 

[mannej]

How were the JQ flights booked?

 

[Rebekkap]

It sounds as though the aunt had 600sc but only two eligible sectors, and was told on the phone that the JQ flights would count as sectors even without the bundle, which is not the case.

Correct. TWICE, on the phone - and she has dates and first names of the consultants who told her.

 

[Rebekkap]

How were the JQ flights booked?

Online, direct with Jetstar

 

[blackcat20]

You could ask them to review the tapes of the calls but I dont like your chances with QF unfortunately.

 

[Anna]

Did she book the JQ flights then afterwards ring QF up to check? If she'd already booked, what was she planning to do if they had told her over the phone that the JQ flights would not count towards the 4 squiggles?

 

[Rebekkap]

Did she book the JQ flights then afterwards ring QF up to check? If she'd already booked, what was she planning to do if they had told her over the phone that the JQ flights would not count towards the 4 squiggles?

No, she called before she booked.

 

[Anna]

Then she's been misled into making a booking that she wouldn't otherwise have made. But it gets a bit complex trying to argue misleading or deceptive conduct when the misleading info was from QF and she's made the booking with a separate entity, JQ (Not to mention the irony of trying to ensure renewal of one's QF status by not actually booking QF flights ).

I recently got a grumble escalated within the FF centre but it wasn't anything like this as an issue, it was about slow awarding of Avis points. It got escalated to "Jeremy Lobascher, Manager Service Delivery". Not sure if that's any help.

 

[Rebekkap]

Then she's been misled into making a booking that she wouldn't otherwise have made. But it gets a bit complex trying to argue misleading or deceptive conduct when the misleading info was from QF and she's made the booking with a separate entity, JQ (Not to mention the irony of trying to ensure renewal of one's QF status by not actually booking QF flights ).

I recently got a grumble escalated within the FF centre but it wasn't anything like this as an issue, it was about slow awarding of Avis points. It got escalated to "Jeremy Lobascher, Manager Service Delivery". Not sure if that's any help.

Thank you for the suggestion of Jeremy Lobascher. It was definitely misleading - the Qantas website is scarce on information about what constitutes an eligible flight with Jetstar in terms of squiggles (I just checked and couldn't find anything about that specifically, although there's plenty on which flights do or don't earn SCs and points, nowhere does it spell out that a flight needs to earn points and/or SCs to be eligible for a squiggle) and the call centre obviously told her the wrong thing. On that basis, I think they should fix it, not just keep sending her form emails that show they haven't actually read what she's said! I am usually a big fan of Qantas and their customer service (I have been platinum with them since 2010) but this is making me cross.

 

[Pushka]

I've just had a click through myself and the website is misleading by omission of the words "Eligible Qantas Sector" and how that is defined. Any definition refers to points and status credits.. Given that your Aunt checked multiple times it kind of suggests that she too thought that somehow it wasn't the best way forward and not booking a flight that earnt Points and Credits was a bit of a red flag. And so many times people have been told to HUACA because they knew the operator wasn't correctly stating the position. I kind of think maybe her gut feel was telling her it was a risk in not booking a) Qantas to start with b) Jetstar credits earner.

 

[juddles]

Can anyone actually actually point me to where in the QF website it defines what those 4 sectors really are?

 

[Pushka]

Can anyone actually actually point me to where in the QF website it defines what those 4 sectors really are?

I tried doing that and went round and round in circles. And all I found was text relating to status credits and points.

Using google maybe this:
http://www.qantas.com.au/img/page_g...yer/pdf/Frequent_Flyer_benefits_guidebook.pdf

Buried on page 13 is this



Then on pages 102-103 there is more detail

What class was booked? Jet flex, Star class or higher?

 

[Rebekkap]

I've just had a click through myself and the website is misleading by omission of the words "Eligible Qantas Sector" and how that is defined. Any definition refers to points and status credits.. Given that your Aunt checked multiple times it kind of suggests that she too thought that somehow it wasn't the best way forward and not booking a flight that earnt Points and Credits was a bit of a red flag. And so many times people have been told to HUACA because they knew the operator wasn't correctly stating the position. I kind of think maybe her gut feel was telling her it was a risk in not booking a) Qantas to start with b) Jetstar credits earner.

It's really more the sort of person my aunt is, she checks everything carefully - but regardless of what her gut did or didn't tell her, the Qantas staff told her the flights would count. She's not someone who frequents frequent flyer forums, she's just a relatively frequent traveler in her retirement.

 

[Rebekkap]

I tried doing that and went round and round in circles. And all I found was text relating to status credits and points.

Using google maybe this:
http://www.qantas.com.au/img/page_g...yer/pdf/Frequent_Flyer_benefits_guidebook.pdf

Buried on page 13 is this

View attachment 106718

Then on pages 102-103 there is more detail

What class was booked? Jet flex, Star class or higher?

I'm not sure, but wouldn't have been star class.

 

[Pushka]

It's really more the sort of person my aunt is, she checks everything carefully - but regardless of what her gut did or didn't tell her, the Qantas staff told her the flights would count. She's not someone who frequents frequent flyer forums, she's just a relatively frequent traveler in her retirement.

The operators just dont always get it right though. It probably isnt a strategy I would have used.

The booklet says it needed to be booked as jetflex +. This is a Frequent Flyer rule not a Qantas operator issue - there are 2 separate sections where you are asked to select which option you want..

 

[Rebekkap]

The operators just dont always get it right though. It probably isnt a strategy I would have used.

The booklet says it needed to be booked as jetflex +. This is a Frequent Flyer rule not a Qantas operator issue - there are 2 separate sections where you are asked to select which option you want..

It's not a strategy I would have used either, but as a general rule, members of the public should be entitled to rely on what Qantas's agents tell them, and should not have to read 100+ pages of an obscure booklet that you can only find by googling in order to find the definition of an eligible sector. She's been a frequent flyer member for more than 30 years - her FF number has an unfeasible number of zeros in front of it - they misled her, and they should make it right.

 

[Pleb Status]

The 'inference' of the QFF T&C is if a JQ flight does not earn FFP/SC, it is not an eligible flight. A little bit more clarity would have been nice.



I think the only course of action here for the OP is to argue what the aunt was 'told' angle but that will be a tough one...