Rewards seats changed from QR to QF without approval and from J to Y

[DC3]

Sadly I don’t think she’s reading this forum… or even her email anymore for that matter..

Possibly lurking. Anyway, probably producing a lot of wind rather than action

Edited

 

[Mwenenzi]

... I know Qatar has knocked Qantas back once but you might try this person rather than dealing with an intermediary from Qantas. My sense is that the relationship between Qantas and Qatar is not the best at present.

Qatar will not go out of its way to fix the Qantas problem, that was 100% due to QF.
QR & QF compete head to head for AU-LHR traffic. More so for business class, when people are paying $$.

 

[Must...Fly!]

She’s now asked for another 24hrs to see what she can come up with.

Hold the line. If that doesn't work, I think the recommendation to contact your federal MP's office is a wise idea, even with election going.

 

[Danger]

No dice.

Air carriage and maritime matters​

NCAT is unable to determine matters involving:

• International and domestic carriage by air falling within the scope of the Civil Aviation (Carriers’ Liability) Act 1959 (Cth)
• Claims relating to contracts for the carriage of goods by sea, as they fall under the Admiralty Act 1998 (Cth).

Federal jurisdiction

NCAT will not be able to determine your matter if it involves an exercise of federal jurisdiction.

ncat.nsw.gov.au

Matters involving domestic carriage by air don't automatically infer federal jurisdiction. Indeed, when my brother-in-law sued Emirates, Emirates' lawyers brought up federal jurisdiction but actually acknowledged it didn't apply in that case.

Ok everyone new update. Qantas supervisor I’ve been dealing with called back. As expected Qatar have denied the request as those seats are now gone and they are under no requirement to create new ones. The supervisor advised after that denial she put in a request again to create 2 reward seats on QF but that has been denied. She attempted to ask if premium economy would be suitable as she has found 2 reward seats in it.

At this point I could barely contain my frustration and anger. As calmly as I could I expressed that was not a suitable replacement, I had confirmed and ticketed business seats and Qantas screwed up and they are now gone. We saved for several years to have enough points to do this trip in business and it is not ok what we have been put through. Advised I’ve spent upwards of 15hrs on hold and 6hrs speaking to agents across the various calls to fix this.

She said she would keep her ear to the ground and see if she could find anything else. Which I advised wasn’t acceptable. There are flights to London from Sydney, Perth and Melbourne on QF on the day we are due to travel. With business seats still available on all of them. All that needs to be done is 2 seats created for us, however that occurs. We should not be being punished because of a Qantas call centre stuff up.

She’s now asked for another 24hrs to see what she can come up with.

Honestly guys I’m at my wits end. I feel so drained from trying to fix this Qantas screw up. Whilst trying to look after a 2 week old baby and wife who is recovering from surgery.

Keep at it. Push. Hard.

David I agree with MrJetset. Time to hit the media. I think 4BC is your talkback radio in Brisbane. Call the show producer after the show the day before and tell your story. You have a very just cause here. I know Qatar has knocked Qantas back once but you might try this person rather than dealing with an intermediary from Qantas. My sense is that the relationship between Qantas and Qatar is not the best at present.

Abdulla Al Hanout
Senior Manager Customer Care
Qatar Airways Tower 1, next to Al Manna Building
Airport Road
Doha, Qatar
[email protected]
+974 4023 0031 or +974 4023 0000
Call beforehand to check if he still has this position. If so, email or phone and have a chat.
No harm in trying.

I agree on the media front (try Ben Fordham on 2GB in Sydney) but contacting QR is pissing in the wind.

 

[RichardMEL]

This "supervisor" is not doing a great job imo. Well OK we all agree on this. I am sure she is trying in her own way (very trying!) but either does not have the authority(clearly) and/or does not know the correct channels to get this reslved correctly. I agree se probably put in a request in the same way any agent does, but this needs to be escalated internally without delay, and either she doesn't consider that an option, is unaware how, or possibly even does not care that much for customer service given this was their issue they need to own and resolve. I don't want to assume or insinuate much about someone I don't know of course. She may feel just as helpless and frustrated of course. Though if she does she should send it up the chain but also FOLLOW it and own it rather than "keep an ear to the ground" (?! which sounds like yeah I hope something will open up).

I wonder if it's worth contacting her proactively and being firm as others have suggested but also say if she's unable to resolve this, to please escalate, up to Tully's office if required, or through QF's internal processes and in person to actually talk to humans about it and make someone with appropriate authority understand the situation and just sort it out. This shouldn't be that hard.

I really hope for a good resolution for you, though already this is beyond the pale and this is the kind of thing that loses a company business.. not just by the people affected but by who knows how many others hearing of this kind of thing, reading this thread, etc.

Franjly they should change your booking to be in full J class and ber done with it - you deserve points and SC's as even minimal compensation for this BS. Of course I know that wouldn't happen, but you definitely deserve your problem resolved yesterday AND some sort of redress from the company. IMO.

 

[davidhes]

really hope for a good resolution for you, though already this is beyond the pale and this is the kind of thing that loses a company business.. not just by the people affected but by who knows how many others hearing of this kind of thing, reading this thread, etc.

Thanks for your kind words and thoughts. It really has been a horrendous experience and all I want is the flights we had booked or something comparable. Just want it to be sorted so we can stop thinking about it and focus on enjoying our newborn.

When the supervisor next calls I think I will be much more forceful about escalating it further if she doesn’t have positive news. Because yep it’s becoming clear she either doesn’t have the necessary authority or doesn’t know how to push to get it done. Really just wish Stephanie would reply to my email or action it. Seems some people have had good outcomes through her.

 

[YuyuMar13]

Why on earth would you have even asked to swap from a Qatar J class to a Qantas J class anyway? The former is a far superior product! Was it to save fees? Honestly perplexed why you would risk any interaction with incompetent Qantas call centre staff.

 

[ellen10]

Why on earth would you have even asked to swap from a Qatar J class to a Qantas J class anyway? The former is a far superior product! Was it to save fees? Honestly perplexed why you would risk any interaction with incompetent Qantas call centre staff.

I feel that there is no need to rub the angst in.

At this stage I'm sure he is thinking the same thing, hindsight is a wonderful thing. I guess he genuinely thought he was doing the right thing and probably had no idea of the mess that the Qantas call centre was and is ongoing.

@davidhes I really feel for you and your new family's stress and I will be hoping that you can get a satisfactory resolution. Maybe next time you speak to "the supervisor" you can reiterate the extreme stress this is creating for your wife as she is dealing with a newborn and for you. This is so unfair. I wish you well.

 

[YuyuMar13]

I feel that there is no need to rub the angst in.

At this stage I'm sure he is thinking the same thing, hindsight is a wonderful thing. I guess he genuinely thought he was doing the right thing and probably had no idea of the mess that the Qantas call centre was and is ongoing.

@davidhes I really feel for you and your new family's stress and I will be hoping that you can get a satisfactory resolution. Maybe next time you speak to "the supervisor" you can reiterate the extreme stress this is creating for your wife as she is dealing with a newborn and for you. This is so unfair. I wish you well.

There is zero intention to run anything in. This scenario makes me sick to the stomach! I genuinely wanted to understand OP’s rationale for wanting a swap given QR’s product is superior.

 

[dylarr]

Ok everyone new update.

Is the supervisor you are dealing with from an outsourced Mindpearl call centre (Cape Town or Suva)? If so these agents are not empowered to do anything useful at all and this will be the problem.

Two other options you could try, if you still have the energy after everything you've gone through:

Try calling Qantas reception/switchboard on +61 2 9691 3636 and tell them you need to speak to somebody about an error made by the Cape Town call centre agent that has resulted in you losing seats and they refuse to fix it. I believe they have the ability to transfer to a priority queue that should hopefully get you through to a Hobart or Auckland based agent.

The other number is for Qantas Customer Care on 1300 659 161. I used this number as it was provided to me in another thread yesterday and was connected to an agent in Hobart. As she was looking up my customer care case, she actually revealed she was a reservations agent so it appears that some of the reservations agents in Hobart have also been cross trained to handle customer care cases as well.

 

[Pushka]

There is zero intention to run anything in. This scenario makes me sick to the stomach! I genuinely wanted to understand OP’s rationale for wanting a swap given QR’s product is superior.

Because some people prefer to fly Qantas. That's all.

I sincerely hope you get a good outcome from this mess called Qantas customer service. With a new baby and partner recovering from surgery that is enough to deal with right now.

 

[bam71]

It’s a mess, just hit the media…..

 

[davidhes]

Why on earth would you have even asked to swap from a Qatar J class to a Qantas J class anyway? The former is a far superior product! Was it to save fees? Honestly perplexed why you would risk any interaction with incompetent Qantas call centre staff.

At the time it was because the timings suited us better for our onwards drive when we got to London. And the other reason was because we needed about a few thousand more points to book our return business leg. Which were going to drop in on our next credit card statement.

Changing to Qantas would have given us the better timings and the ensured we had enough points to book before the return availability disappeared. In the end my Dad ended up transferring us the remaining points to book the return after we were unable to change the flights (and before we knew they’d screwed us).

And trust me, if I had known there was remotely a chance of this mess happening, there is no chance I’d have ever called Qantas! We would have loved to experience qsuites.

 

[aikman]

I have doubts that the media will be interested in this.

Someone losing their "free" business class seats to Europe probably isn't going to be relatable to the general population.

 

[davidhes]

I have doubts that the media will be interested in this.

Someone losing their "free" business class seats to Europe probably isn't going to be relatable to the general population.

Sadly I had thought that myself. Media and the general public are probably rightly more interested in people being able to pay their home loans going forward. Probably why Qantas feels they can treat their customers like cough because there is bigger issues going on in the world so they feel they can get away with it.

 

[DC3]

… Really just wish Stephanie would reply to my email or action it …

Stephanie seems to be MIA.

 

[dajop]

Do you have any flexibility at all regarding dates? Just noticed there is 1 seat available on QF9 to LHR on 19 Oct, maybe it is easier for them to open up 1 seat rather than 2.

 

[ricco]

Sadly I had thought that myself. Media and the general public are probably rightly more interested in people being able to pay their home loans going forward. Probably why Qantas feels they can treat their customers like cough because there is bigger issues going on in the world so they feel they can get away with it.

Hi David, I wouldn't discount the media at this stage or assume what the public might/might not be interested in. Call back radio is a very hungry beast - it churns through stories in the morning at an astonishing rate, given what happens in the mornings and people's attention span.
Qantas is a very live topic; there are lots of Australians with a vast number of QFF points accrued wanting to use them. They have seen and felt the long snaking lines at the airports. Your dreadful experience with Qantas will get people's attention. Just look at the number of responses your plight has generated here - albeit a defined audience. All you need to do is use just one A4 page only with dots points for the radio. 10 dots points max.
- initial circumstance that caused the problem. One sentence.
- personal circumstance. One sentence.
- number of calls you've made;
- total number of hours spent on the phone;
- number of times you were disconnected;
- how many different Qantas people you've dealt with - with no result
- standout responses from Qantas staff - the howlers.
- where you're at now
- what you want to happen
etc.
etc; Keep it to the stats. The details you can flesh out on air.
All in larger font. Easy for the show runner to read, easy for the on-air people to digest and read. If you're lucky, you'll have about 5 mins max and try to get the conversation to happen just before or after a news bulletin.
Give it a shot David. Corporations like Qantas need to to be held to account. It is unconscionable that it has been 3 weeks and still no resolution. It's an indictment on the company and its attitude towards its customers.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

agree ricco. Stories such as dumped bags at Darwin made the press. People are concerned with cost of living… but still have a thirst for distractions!

 

[Pushka]

Hi David, I wouldn't discount the media at this stage or assume what the public might/might not be interested in. Call back radio is a very hungry beast - it churns through stories in the morning at an astonishing rate, given what happens in the mornings and people's attention span.
Qantas is a very live topic; there are lots of Australians with a vast number of QFF points accrued wanting to use them. They have seen and felt the long snaking lines at the airports. Your dreadful experience with Qantas will get people's attention. Just look at the number of responses your plight has generated here - albeit a defined audience. All you need to do is use just one A4 page only with dots points for the radio. 10 dots points max.
- initial circumstance that caused the problem. One sentence.
- personal circumstance. One sentence.
- number of calls you've made;
- total number of hours spent on the phone;
- number of times you were disconnected;
- how many different Qantas people you've dealt with - with no result
- standout responses from Qantas staff - the howlers.
- where you're at now
- what you want to happen
etc.
etc; Keep it to the stats. The details you can flesh out on air.
All in larger font. Easy for the show runner to read, easy for the on-air people to digest and read. If you're lucky, you'll have about 5 mins max and try to get the conversation to happen just before or after a news bulletin.
Give it a shot David. Corporations like Qantas need to to be held to account. It is unconscionable that it has been 3 weeks and still no resolution. It's an indictment on the company and its attitude towards its customers.

Further many would identify with wanting to go overseas to see grandparents with a new baby given how Covid has separated everyone for so long.