QF2 out of Dubai cancelled due to lightning strike.

[chrisaitch]

My poor husband has just called to say his flight QF2 to Sydney has even cancelled due to a lightning strike. Dubai airport in chaos.

He has been put on QF flight direct to Melbourne but has been given an economy seat when he was originally booked in Business. While he is happy to get home rather than being redirected around the world as some are facing, what happens to the status credits he would have earned?

I feel terrible for him as this was a work reward trip and having to put up with economy on the longest leg seems such bad luck. I told him to go to the desk to see what compensation they are offering but from what I have read on the forum in the past you need to negotiate BEFORE accepting the alternative/downgrade.

He is currently on 470 SC before he left London and this last flight home Lon - Syd - Mel in Business would have netted him 320 SC. At the moment he had only earnt 100 for the Lon-Dubai leg...we were hoping to achieve Gold for our family holiday later in the year.

Any feedback on what might/should happen in this situation? Thanks for any advice.

 

[kelvedon]

I think original routing credits will apply, so J status credits

 

[chrisaitch]

I think original routing credits will apply, so J status credits

Thank you. I hope that will be the case. Fingers crossed.

 

[RooFlyer]

what I have read on the forum in the past you need to negotiate BEFORE accepting the alternative/downgrade.

Good advice! ... although DXB staff probably not empowered to offer much.

 

[chrisaitch]

Good advice! ... although DXB staff probably not empowered to offer much.

Yes, he's probably already in the air now so will have to wait until the morning to see if he spoke to anyone.

I think it was the last flight via Dubai so no other aircraft available. It was that flight or a 3 days wait apparently...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thank you. I hope that will be the case. Fingers crossed.

He'll need to ask for the original status credits by calling Qantas FF when he gets back. It's unlikely they'll do this proactively without him asking.

As for the refund, it it was purchased on points, the refund will be much easier to calculate. If it was paid with cash, Qantas will refer to a table - which is not publicly available - for a fixed amount. This will not represent the actual difference in fares between business and economy. Although if it was paid by work, the refund will go back to the company.

 

[chrisaitch]

He'll need to ask for the original status credits by calling Qantas FF when he gets back. It's unlikely they'll do this proactively without him asking.

As for the refund, it it was purchased on points, the refund will be much easier to calculate. If it was paid with cash, Qantas will refer to a table - which is not publicly available - for a fixed amount. This will not represent the actual difference in fares between business and economy. Although if it was paid by work, the refund will go back to the company.

Thank you for that info...will get him to do that for the status credits. The fare was paid for by work so they wil get any cash difference and fair enough. We would just like him to get the SC for the original routing for status.

 

[kpc]

My poor husband has just called to say his flight QF2 to Sydney has even cancelled due to a lightning strike. Dubai airport in chaos.

He has been put on QF flight direct to Melbourne but has been given an economy seat when he was originally booked in Business. While he is happy to get home rather than being redirected around the world as some are facing, what happens to the status credits he would have earned?

I feel terrible for him as this was a work reward trip and having to put up with economy on the longest leg seems such bad luck. I told him to go to the desk to see what compensation they are offering but from what I have read on the forum in the past you need to negotiate BEFORE accepting the alternative/downgrade.

He is currently on 470 SC before he left London and this last flight home Lon - Syd - Mel in Business would have netted him 320 SC. At the moment he had only earnt 100 for the Lon-Dubai leg...we were hoping to achieve Gold for our family holiday later in the year.

Any feedback on what might/should happen in this situation? Thanks for any advice.

You will get original route credit if you request it. I would not accept QF Y; ask to be put on EK J. If you accept QF Y, you will STRUGGLE to get any compensation from QF!!

 

[chrisaitch]

You will get original route credit if you request it. I would not accept QF Y; ask to be put on EK J. If you accept QF Y, you will STRUGGLE to get any compensation from QF!!

I think that bird has flown, unfortunately...My hubby doesn't fly that much and historically I have been the one with status and done all the negotiating for this type of thing. I don't know if he made a fuss at the gate or not so will have to wait to see what happened.

I don't think there was much to be done due to the amount of pax trying to get on other flights. Still, paying for J and getting Y is a hard pill to swallow...this was a trip from his work for a year long competition, which he and 11 others won. It's a sad end what was meant to be a 'trip of a lifetime' to Sweden and to see the northern lights and I'm sure his work will be disappointed how it ended.

 

[henrus]

Just out of interest is is QF2's 25 March departure from Dubai?

The flight has disappeared from the DXB airport website, google and flightaware say it's still Scheduled, the Qantas website say's it's delayed 23hrs 55minutes and the Sydney airport website now has 3 QF 2's all of which are ontime arriving 26 March from DXB [the canceled one], 27 Mar from SIN and 27 Mar from DXB [both 20 minutes apart and both using the same flight number].

I guess that Qantas A380 doesn't want to leave Dubai and so is staying for an extra 24 hours

 

[kpc]

You will get original route credit if you request it. I would not accept QF Y; ask to be put on EK J. If you accept QF Y, you will STRUGGLE to get any compensation from QF!!

Commenting from recent past experience: My QF flying days are numbered - due to poor QF CS

 

[chrisaitch]

Just out of interest is is QF2's 25 March departure from Dubai?

I believe so, the flights are gone from the booking so not sure...

The flight has disappeared from the DXB airport website, google and flightaware say it's still Scheduled, the Qantas website say's it's delayed 23hrs 55minutes and the Sydney airport website now has 3 QF 2's all of which are ontime arriving 26 March from DXB [the canceled one], 27 Mar from SIN and 27 Mar from DXB [both 20 minutes apart and both using the same flight number].

I guess that Qantas A380 doesn't want to leave Dubai and so is staying for an extra 24 hours

Not sure, as hubby was stressed and the flight to Mel was boarding...I feel for this trip there was a fair bit if time spent in airports and this was the last straw - lounge access is great but eventually it wears thin.

 

[chrisaitch]

Commenting from recent past experience: My QF flying days are numbered - due to poor QF CS

That was an interesting read! What has happened to Qantas? When I was a WP I was treated like royalty. Sad to see the decline of a once great airline, at least from the FF prospective. We are going for status in 2018 as I remember the perks were so good. Is it time to jump ship?

 

[mviy]

Now that there is P1, WP isn’t the top tier.

 

[chrisaitch]

Husband home safe and sound...that's the good part. No luggage arrived - he expects it tomorrow.

Was offloaded so the plane could take the QF1 pax to London. Even though they knew this was happening nothing was done to rebook people. They were told to go to the lounge to get rebooked in other flights and every man for himself.

No Qantas staff in Dubai to help organise and the EK girls in the lounge had no idea what was happening so chaos!

Was offered the flight to Melb. but he wasn't told in was in Y and only realised when he got to the gate. That's when he called me. He only had a few minutes to get to the gate and board apparently. No time to negotiate and as already mentioned above, no QF staff to negotiate with!

He needed to be back for work so took the opportunity to get home. He's not sure what became of the rest of his party. He thinks they faced a 9 hour wait in Dubai to get home. Ugg...

So now the fun begins talking to Qantas FF staff to sort it out.

Thanks to those who responded. Will let you know the outcome...

 

[chrisaitch]

Further updates on this:

1. {full disclosure} Apparently, there were a couple of QF staff in Dubai when this happened, I have since found out. Husband said the queue was impossibly long - he saw this as he was heading to the gate. A full flight of upset people would have been terrible for them. Probably why they told the premium cabin pax to go to the lounge to be rebooked.

2. Luggage still hasn't arrived - although he has at least had a phone call about it!

3. SC were credited yesterday. So he has achieved the goal of GOLD! I would say because he had a boarding pass all the way to Sydney and did board in London that happened automatically.
He didn't get the 40SC for the unflown Sydney - Melb J flight though. I imagine he will have to ask about that. I have encouraged him to call the QF FF call centre to see what happens about the fare difference from J to Y, but to be fair to him work has been a bit crazy since his return. He said to me he might just let the TA look after it but I think he should ring himself.

Will update if anything further happens. Just glad he got enough SC to get his higher status!