should do i bother to complain to qantas

[kimrschonfeld]

I recently has a flight for four in J tsv - mel
my question is do I bother to take it up with Qantas for some token compensation or just leave it and fly virgin from here on out

our flight was delayed in Townsville ( I knew it was going to be a bad trip as soon as I went into the lounge in tsv and even asked the lounge staff if I could get our one check in luggage to get clothes out for our night ahead
they were using diplomatic responses to assure me that everything will work out

in bne we made our connecting flight but upon arriving in mel we were informed our single item of checked luggage didn't make it on the flight
I was hoping the luggage would be on the next flight, that would have been ok, I would have stayed at the airport and we still would have had time, however it didn't make it on that flight and made it on the flight after which gave us no time to wait at the airport for the luggage (it ended up at our hotel after 10pm well after when we needed it)

we still had to go out it was our only reason for going to Melbourne as we were back on a Qantas flight at 7am the next morning back to tsv

now I was told on the bne-mel flight that we made the flight for the sole reason that there were no j seat left on later flights so they said they literally held the flight for myself my partner and two boys 2 & 5 (fresh luck for the passengers in y as they all got to make that flight too)

but after being in the same clothes since 10 am to fly down and go out until 11 pm in the same outfits was disgusting and disappointing and well effectively ruined the night and trip as my partner walked out of the event before 10pm they were just that upset I had to beg and plead them to still come to the event in the same outfit which took a lot of convincing

now had this been a Friday night we would have bought new clothes and sent a bill to Qantas but it was mid week and all shops except kmart were shut. (have no problem with kmart they just didn't have suitable outfits, we looked before hand when we bought all our outfits specific for this night)

I am more disappointed that the staff aren't honest (but I do understand why they have to be diplomatic)

my partner (because this is now the second major disappointment with Qantas domestically in the past 12 month, and third major disappointment with them due to an international flight in the past two years) has pretty much told me not to book them on Qantas ever again

and I was so cranky with this experience that when we got back to tsv I had to get to cbr a couple days later and I didn't even look at Qantas I booked j with virgin straight up (and they don't even have a lounge in tsv yet) [but I did enjoy j on virgin]

now just some background info, I had a horrible experience with MAS in 2011 before they became oneworld and I had a horrible experience with Virgin in that's same year 2011, those two negative experiences pushed me over to Qantas 100% and I hadn't taken a virgin flight since 2011,

so now I'm faced with do I let the sunset on Qantas
(and Qantas business rewards or whatever they are changing their name too)
like I did on virgin in 2011 or do I bother to tell them my grievance in the hope of some thought of positive outcome in both our favours because last time I explained a grievance I received no outcome

TIA

 

[Pushka]

I understand your problems but because of delays your luggage couldn’t be loaded. I read you tried to extract your luggage but at that point it wouldn’t be possible. I’ve had bags go missing that aren’t delivered until a few days later so they did quite well in getting it to you that night although that didn’t work for your plans. I’m not really sure that compo is in order. I don’t usually feel disgusting in the same clothes I start the day in so I’m sorry I can’t see that issue. Many do travel with spare clothes in carry on, maybe that’s a learning opportunity? Disappointing I know but that is the world of travel. I don’t think other airlines would have handled it any differently tbh. And if it was an event I’d flown to Melbourne for there’s no way I’d leave early for any of these reasons.

 

[Steady]

IMO you will only get a generic fob off reply a few weeks later that will just bring your bad memories back to life.

 

[RB]

Things happen when you travel & humans are involved. Did your event in Melb absolutely require different outfits? I also do not see wearing the same clothes for 13hrs as "disgusting" & "disappointing".
A bit late now but that trip seems to be the perfect opportunity for hand luggage only and it seems you realised that while still in Townsville
I am interested to know what constitutes a horrible experience. I think you will be underwhelmed with any response you get from Qantas

 

[mannej]

So this was a day trip?

Doesn’t leave much time for luggage to make it if it misses a connection etc.

 

[Oscarq]

Sad to hear your frustration, hand luggage with suit bag can be a blessing in these situations. Keep in mind Qantas may not be at fault for the delay and they have endeavoured to transport you to your destination in a timely manner. Our disappointments can cloud our judgements!

 

[RooFlyer]

To answer you query, the object of the post: Don't bother to complain. They're couldn't care less.

And some here will always find that the fault is with the passenger especially where QF is concerned.

 

[love_the_life]

Bags can miss the connections even if there is a heap of time; sometimes they get missed at loading from the very start or other times the connecting flight is too tight to allow them to be loaded. It is disappointing and somewhat annoying to not have them arrive on the same flight and I can see that the lack of clean clothes/good clothes may have impacted on your enjoyment of the function you were attending. I don't think any airline can guarantee that your luggage will be on the same flight and I do think that QF did well to get the bag to you that night. In terms of complaining I wouldn't bother and also I wouldn't necessarily write off QF as the same thing can happen on VA as well. Certainly I don't think you will end up with any compensation. My take on it is that it was just bad luck.

 

[juddles]

To answer you query, the object of the post: Don't bother to complain. They're couldn't care less.

And some here will always find that the fault is with the passenger especially where QF is concerned.

I'll give it a try!

What I am understanding here is that the OP booked a QF trip TSV-xBNE-MEL, and given the time periods etc alluded to in the post, it seems likely that this involved an 11:40am departure from TSV, arriving BNE at 13:25, with most likely connections departing BNE at either 15:00 or 16:00, arriving respectively at MEL at either 17:25 or 18:25.

There was a delay in the first flight, no details known re how long nor why, but that flight arrived in BNE soon enough for QF to "hold" the ongoing flight especially so the OP and his family could make the connection.

It appears that despite Qantas managing to ensure that the people made the connection, the bag did not make it. The info from the OP is that they could not travel on the next flights as J was full, so extrapolating from that, the overall pax loads (and thus baggage loads) were very high on subsequent flights.

So at the end of the day, despite delayed flights, Qantas managed to get the pax to their final destination on time (by holding a plane for them!!), and managed to get the bag to the pax hotel by 10pm, only about 4hrs after the bag was originally due to get just to the airport!

In other circumstances this would have been an example of great service by an airline (I have waited days for bags).

But in this case the OP had timed something so fine there was no room for any hiccup.

I understand the frustration and upset - I have felt that many a time too. But in such a situation, the anger/sadness/frustration I have felt from failed plans would never have been fixed by some sort of compo from the airline. It is unfortunate, but these things happen. And changing airline in the future just makes a restriction on your choices - it will not prevent similar, nor will it "punish" Qantas.

 

[RichardMEL]

I tend to agree with Juddles.

You can focus on the negative of the experience with the bag (and one wonders if you required specific clothes or a change for an evening event why not have them as carry on, but that's a personal choice, and yes one would expect to rely on the airline to get a checked bag there with you, but Stuff happens) howeer the positive that seems to be being underplayed here is tht QF *held a BNE-MEL flight* so you cna your family could travel in J on that flight rather than a) make you wait and b) have you sit in Y (was this an upgraded or award ticket or paid?)

Let's say the checked bag was not an issue most people would think it was brilliant QF bothered to ensure a connection in the class of service expected. I know *I* would.

If I understand your post correctly also you seemed to realise due to the delay misconnect would be an issue and asked in TSV to get your checked bag back. I understand why you would request that, but honestly QF would have already put it with the other BNE bound bags ready to load as soon as they could to get the flight out. It's possible at the point you asked (your post does not give timeframes here) that the flight was say 20min away from boarding and that disruption to find one specific bag for you would have delayed the flight even further. Hard to know, but it's not a reasonable request in my view once you've checked it in to then come back and say you want it back to get stuff out of it (I'm assuming the delay here was say an hour or two, it's different if we're talking 8 or more or something like that).

Now OK, the bag did not make it but be reasonable if the flight was held for you to run from say gate 23 to 17 and catch it, then yeah the bag wouldn't. Didn't make the next? Possibly due to weight or whatever. That happens (I once had a bag that misconnected in LAX put on LAX-BNE and sat at BNE for most of the day before getting to MEL for this issue.)

It's absolutely fine to vote with your dollars and feet and go to VA and other airlines. Absolutely.. but I think you're being a tad harsh here in expectation given the result you got. I would just suck it up myself and put it down to a learning experience for next time with whatever airline you take that if you feel you require a change of clothes or any other vital item to take it carry on (as I do with personal medications and other "must haves")

I'm not blaming the OP to ddefend QF, but I *am* saying there's lessons here and also easy to focus on the negative without fully appreciating the positive aspects of how QF did do their best to assist your family's travel experience.

Also you keep mentioning "lies" - but I didn't understand or see any specific "lie" that you've substantiated?

Remember at any one point in time an agent will have access to a certain amount of information and or guesswork (ie: estimates) and can only go on what they have. Hindsight is brilliant, but that doesn't mean there were lies going on. Without further details it's hard to know eithe rway IMHO but it's a pretty big accusation to suggest people were lying about a situation that was obviously in flux.

my 2 cents.

 

[Borisdog]

I think if I was doing a 24Hr trip that needed only 1 change of clothes then I'd be going HLO. Even with 2 small kids.

I'd be very surprised if Qantas would even be faintly receptive to compensating you.

I'd chalk it up to experience and the need for better planning.

 

[mannej]

Responding to the "fanboi" dig above, let's be realistic.

If the timelines were tight as described, isn't a bit of risk management and prevention better here than looking at the what if's in hindsight? Carry the important clothes on isn't too much of a stretch is it?

And I have only just picked up on the comment from the OP accusing the staff of lying. I don't see them intentionally misleading or lying to you here.

 

[JohnK]

Sounds like my luck.

Sorry that has happened to you. Used to happen to me a lot and for international trips I now carry 1-2 change of clothes with me.

I'd send feedback to Qantas about what occurred but not sure you'll get much by way of compensation. Unless Virgin has a direct flight TSV-MEL there's no guarantee the same won't occur flying them.

Good luck.

 

[Archphoto]

It happens and sadly these things happen more often than travellers would like but to be honest, there really isn't much you can do about it.

I do agree, 11+ hours in the same clothing isn't nice, however, as a comparison, my crew and I experienced lost luggage, spending 60 hours in the same clothes - lots of aftershave being splashed on I can assure you! In total, the luggage was lost for 32 weeks (8 of those weeks were spent overseas on photoshoots with no time to actually shop for replacement clothing).

We were very lucky in the first week, as our stylist was able to hit Giordano for underwear on the third day but that was all. The hotel clients (thankfully) ensured all clothes were washed at each hotel we photographed every night as an express service. Collected at whatever time we completed our photoshoot at the hotel each day, ready for us to head to breakfast before 07:00 the following day.

Since that particular episode, we now travel with one change of underwear and a shirt each in our (already at-the-limit) carry-on and I've had lost luggage on several more occasions. Sometimes I get it delivered to me on the same day, sometimes the following; if I can claim for "essentials" from the airline I do and from insurance for even longer delays. Sadly it is all part of airline travel and yes, it's not pretty, not convenient but overall they do their best 99% time. For those 1% fails, well that's what insurance is for.

The best advice I can give is to let it go and chalk it up to an unfortunate, disheartening experience - I'll bet almost everyone on this forum has endured similar situations to those that we have both expressed, and they have moved on. Changing airlines (sadly) will not fix the problem, the only way to ensure lost luggage never happens again is to never fly on a commercial airline for the remainder of your travels.

 

[samh004]

my question is do I bother to take it up with Qantas for some token compensation or just leave it and fly virgin from here on out

You're not going to get any token compensation, it'll be a generic response.

I can guarantee you'll have a similar issue with Virgin some day and end up right back where you started, sort of like 2011.

Accidents happen, they are one of those things in life you'll have to get used to. I wouldn't hold my breath on VA opening a lounge in TSV but if a lounge doesn't impact your thought process for changing primary carriers, then that's not a problem.

I guess, what I'm saying is that it seems like you made a knee-jerk reaction to an experience in the past, and this is just history repeating itself. If you give something enough time, it'll let you down (I know, quite pessimistic of me), so you need to stop, breathe and consider your next action. There's no point repeating things, especially over a missing bag.

I still fly BA and they misplaced my bag for 4 days – it went to Scotland while I went to Greece! I had travel insurance, I bought some clothes I still wear today

 

[Flying mermaid]

I recently has a flight for four in J tsv - mel
my question is do I bother to take it up with Qantas for some token compensation or just leave it and fly virgin from here on out

our flight was delayed in Townsville ( I knew it was going to be a bad trip as soon as I went into the lounge in tsv and even asked the lounge staff if I could get our one check in luggage to get clothes out for our night ahead
they were using diplomatic responses to assure me that everything will work out

in bne we made our connecting flight but upon arriving in mel we were informed our single item of checked luggage didn't make it on the flight
I was hoping the luggage would be on the next flight, that would have been ok, I would have stayed at the airport and we still would have had time, however it didn't make it on that flight and made it on the flight after which gave us no time to wait at the airport for the luggage (it ended up at our hotel after 10pm well after when we needed it)

we still had to go out it was our only reason for going to Melbourne as we were back on a Qantas flight at 7am the next morning back to tsv

now I was told on the bne-mel flight that we made the flight for the sole reason that there were no j seat left on later flights so they said they literally held the flight for myself my partner and two boys 2 & 5 (fresh luck for the passengers in y as they all got to make that flight too)

but after being in the same clothes since 10 am to fly down and go out until 11 pm in the same outfits was disgusting and disappointing and well effectively ruined the night and trip as my partner walked out of the event before 10pm they were just that upset I had to beg and plead them to still come to the event in the same outfit which took a lot of convincing

now had this been a Friday night we would have bought new clothes and sent a bill to Qantas but it was mid week and all shops except kmart were shut. (have no problem with kmart they just didn't have suitable outfits, we looked before hand when we bought all our outfits specific for this night)

I am more disappointed that the staff aren't honest (but I do understand why they have to be diplomatic)

my partner (because this is now the second major disappointment with Qantas domestically in the past 12 month, and third major disappointment with them due to an international flight in the past two years) has pretty much told me not to book them on Qantas ever again

and I was so cranky with this experience that when we got back to tsv I had to get to cbr a couple days later and I didn't even look at Qantas I booked j with virgin straight up (and they don't even have a lounge in tsv yet) [but I did enjoy j on virgin]

now just some background info, I had a horrible experience with MAS in 2011 before they became oneworld and I had a horrible experience with Virgin in that's same year 2011, those two negative experiences pushed me over to Qantas 100% and I hadn't taken a virgin flight since 2011,

so now I'm faced with do I let the sunset on Qantas
(and Qantas business rewards or whatever they are changing their name too)
like I did on virgin in 2011 or do I bother to tell them my grievance in the hope of some thought of positive outcome in both our favours because last time I explained a grievance I received no outcome

TIA

For many many years I stuck to Qantas through everything. Eventually I realised

A). No airline is really going to live up to their promises
B). Don’t stick to any one airline, but fly what makes sense for the destination you are going to and gives you value for money. Only you can decide what that is - for some it is the cheapest, for others what gives the most for dollars spent, for others it is all about status and points.

So I also now try and exercise protective behaviours. E.g. wherever possible I don’t book connecting flights, or if I do I leave a really big gap. We put in extra days and are getting to know lots of airport hotels.

If I have a function I really need to go to, I would fly down the day before (not easy with young children I know). Carry things with me that I absolutely can’t do without (such as clean undies).

That is the reality of airline travel. Airlines seem to give as little compo as they can get away with, so I would not expect them to give you anything.

I sympathise with your partner and I know how not having expectations met can ruin everything, so I now try as much as possible to keep my expectations low.

 

[get me outta here]

I learned the lesson of carry on clothes when I arrived in CPH in winter and the other req’d 3 layers didn’t arrive for a further very cold 24 hours.

 

[RichardMEL]

So I also now try and exercise protective behaviours. E.g. wherever possible I don’t book connecting flights, or if I do I leave a really big gap. We put in extra days and are getting to know lots of airport hotels.

If I have a function I really need to go to, I would fly down the day before (not easy with young children I know). Carry things with me that I absolutely can’t do without (such as clean undies).

That is the reality of airline travel. Airlines seem to give as little compo as they can get away with, so I would not expect them to give you anything.

I sympathise with your partner and I know how not having expectations met can ruin everything, so I now try as much as possible to keep my expectations low.

This. Truth.

I think these are lessons we all have to learn at some point.

A few days ago I was looking to book flights and I was offered a 1 hour 42 minute connection at LAX or a 3 hour 25 minute connection. I know what LAX can be like.. you betchya I picked the 3 hour connection. Now in reality the shorter one probably would work if most things go more or less to schedule, but delays happen, immigration delays happen, inbound flight delays happen etc etc etc.

And like FM I've absolutly booked to fly earlier and stayed en route or arrived night before both for the sake of rest or if things go bad.

90% of the time they do not and sure, I may spend 90 minutes at LAX sitting in a lounge waiting, but hey that gives time for a shower and to not be stressed about time to get through security or whatever. I'd rather the longer wait than be stressing about these things (and on a same airline through connection I'd be protected anyway but this lessens the chance that I'd need that).

I also feel QF is being undersold here in that they *HELD A FLIGHT INBNE* for the OP and kids. Absolutely no guarante VA would do that (and also no guarantee that on another day QF would do this, also! ) but they did...

so I ask what is the expectation here? If QF had not held that MEL flight at BNE and made you fly on the next, or possibly a later one (and in Y) but your bags likely would have travelled with you, would you still feel the desire to complain because QF did not hold the flight or downgraded your family because of the delay? I mean seems to me you can't always have your pie and eat it when irrops happen. It's the nature of the game and most of us prepare for this kind of thing.. we hope it never happens but... it can and does.

Obviously what happened was not ideal and made your experience poor. Something to chalk up to experience.