QF Downgrade J to Y. What are my rights?

[HKGNZL]

Boarded a domestic fligth PER-SYD on QF business. Then pilot discovered brake problems. Flight cancelled. QF offered to put me on another flight but only with economy seats. It was the only way I could make my connections otherwise will have to overnight at SYD. The alternative was I took a later flight (still on J) and they had to give me a night of hotel in SYD. (But that would be very inconvenient for me.)

I was not offered any compensation. The ticket was paid by a third party company but I doubt they were refunded. Should I at least be given the business class status credit (not so at present) or points? I emailed the customer service at QF but never had a reply.

Any advice will be most appreciated.

 

[dajop]

Uh oh, here we go again.

(sorry HKGNZL, no offence meant to you, but this is a topic that comes up regularly, where passengers are downgraded to economy for operational reasons and receive no compensation. I will leave it others to put there views, but my only other comment is to get anything from QF you are up for a fight.)

 

[JohnK]

So sorry to hear.

At a minimum you should ask for original routing credit for business class SCs and I would also fight for downgrade compensation even though someone else paid.

Qantas tries to get away with it each time and by and large they succeed as people don't fight back.

 

[Flying mermaid]

My daughter and her husband were downgraded from J to Y for the CBR-MEL leg of a CBR-MEL-SIN flight. This was in paid J, initially Qantas were only going to give ORC but in the end I got ORC plus 10,000 points for each of them as compensation. They did make a bit of a thing about the compensation was not usual.

I don't think you have any rights - just what you are prepared to fight for.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Boarded a domestic fligth PER-SYD on QF business. Then pilot discovered brake problems. Flight cancelled. QF offered to put me on another flight but only with economy seats. It was the only way I could make my connections otherwise will have to overnight at SYD. The alternative was I took a later flight (still on J) and they had to give me a night of hotel in SYD. (But that would be very inconvenient for me.)

I was not offered any compensation. The ticket was paid by a third party company but I doubt they were refunded. Should I at least be given the business class status credit (not so at present) or points? I emailed the customer service at QF but never had a reply.

Any advice will be most appreciated.

For award tickets the compensation is relatively easy and you can ask for the difference in points, although if this leg was part of a bigger itinerary there may be no difference in points.

For paid fares, it's much more complex. Qantas will calculate any fare difference based on the full economy, last-minute, walk up fare. The difference may be marginal or none. And again, if this was one leg of a larger itinerary, Qantas may calculate there is nothing owed.

That doesn't stop you asking for more as Flying mermaid pointed out. But be prepared for a fight. Asking for additional points may be your best bet. Although it is complicated in that you accepted the downgrade.

 

[Spongbob]

But then there is an alternative (QF?) view. The OP was given the opportunity to fly J but declined the offer (for very good reasons I assume).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But then there is an alternative (QF?) view. The OP was given the opportunity to fly J but declined the offer (for very good reasons I assume).

Yes, but that doesn't preclude compensation of the fare difference. This wasn't purely voluntary in the sense the passenger elected to change flights. The original cause was mechanical. It probably gives the OP slightly more leverage given it's not entirely voluntary, but again it comes down to QF's calculation of refund. Traditionally they have a very poor record in this field.

 

[Spongbob]

Again, adopting the corporate view, the OP states "I was not offered any compensation". You need to have a loss in order to be compensated.
What was the OP's loss that was in the control of QF?

 

[Vic]

Again, adopting the corporate view, the OP states "I was not offered any compensation". You need to have a loss in order to be compensated.
What was the OP's loss that was in the control of QF?

Perth to east coast? at least $1000 based on the typical difference between economy and business. Status credits and points that are assigned a value by Qantas. Finally loss of amenity of the business service.

 

[Flying mermaid]

But then there is an alternative (QF?) view. The OP was given the opportunity to fly J but declined the offer (for very good reasons I assume).

But he was not offered to fly J at the time he had booked to fly. While Qantas pretends to believe that there is no difference between a flight at 6am and a flight at midnight (or even a flight in two days time), clearly for any rational person there is a huge difference!

 

[Vic]

Could also say that if the OP accepted the alternative offer to fly in business class as booked, there might be the potential for significant financial loss from not being able to meet their other commitments. That could run to 1000s of dollars a day. By accepting the downgrade, it might be that the OP was minimising their loss and hence minimising the compensation liability for Qantas. would Qantas rather refund a fare difference and give a few points or would they want to pay for lost income?

 

[OzEire]

Paging @kpc to the thread... @kpc to the thread please.

 

[kpc]

Paging @kpc to the thread... @kpc to the thread please.

The OP first needs to contact Qantas, seeking whatever compensation they want. If and when that fails, you can make a complaint to the Airline Consumer Advocate.

My recent saga (and resolution) can be read here; My QF flying days are numbered - due to poor QF CS

 

[HKGNZL]

Thank you everyone. I have had cancellations many times. This is the first downgrade. Will learn from it. Will try emailing one more time and then Airline consumer advocate. Will feedback to the forum if something happens (not holding my breath)!

 

[Haplo]

I had a similar experience when booking a business class reward flight for a relative (PVG to SYD). I was Plat at the time of the booking and the flight of her flight.

She got to the airport, was advised J was full, and was offered to put up on MU flight on J. She declined and was instead put on QF Y with a choice of $700 USD cash or $1,500 AUD Qantas flight voucher as goodwill.

I then called Qantas and had the points difference refunded between business and economy.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I had a similar experience when booking a business class reward flight for a relative (PVG to SYD). I was Plat at the time of the booking and the flight of her flight.

She got to the airport, was advised J was full, and was offered to put up on MU flight on J. She declined and was instead put on QF Y with a choice of $700 USD cash or $1,500 AUD Qantas flight voucher as goodwill.

I then called Qantas and had the points difference refunded between business and economy.

I think the take-out from this and every other story involving Qantas and refunds is that whatever Qantas offers it is almost certainly not going to be fair, nor represent the true cost of the downgrade. To get something remotely fair you'll need to chase it.

 

[Matt_01]

Should I at least be given the business class status credit (not so at present) or points?

I am a bit surprised you did not get the SCs or points. Earlier in the year we received a "complimentary downgrade" from J to Y (domestic connection) due to the late arrival of the QF94. Although I travelled in Y the SC's and points posted as J.

 

[cove]

Negotiate before you fly always works best.

 

[muppet]

Negotiate before you fly always works best.

This is why we need tough EU style regulation. Once the pax as at the airport their negotiating power is non-existent. Most of us travel for a reason, sitting around airports usually not the main event...

Sure you can demand a refund and pay a full-fare business ticket from a competitor... most of us don't travel on full fare tickets so this will result in significant out of pocket costs.