Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one night.

[smit0847]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Having said that I think that Long Haul VA to LAX is great although I cannot understand why LAX to MEL direct is not daily and at the very least why there is no flight from LAX to MEL direct on Friday night.

This is a bit OT but I don't really understand this either. The time I flew MEL-LAX, LAX-SYD the MEL flight was 100% full, the return to SYD was barely 60%.

I think the reasoning is that VA believe Delta can fill the gaps in frequency and the customers wont mind. For such a savvy airline they dont realise how cr*p some of their partners are. I would be ropeable if I was moved off a VA long-haul onto a Delta long-haul - they're like chalk and cheese (Virgin America is the perfect partner to fly domestically with around the US after disembarking a VA plane at LAX - you barely notice you're on a different airline!

 

[MelUser]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

How/why did they "refuse"?

2 of the passengers were 12 months of age. I then offered to buy seats for the two - ie ticket them as children 2-12 at 75% of the fare. This refusal was for both the premium economy and economy cabins. Further the refusal to carry us applied in both directions.

No one at Virgin could explain this to me. ALso, no one from the industry side could explain it to the TA. Note my TA is rather anti VA so everytime I have something like this happen she says "I told you so etc etc and this is why I don't book my clients with them".

Note I am shocked by what happened to the passenger here and they have my full sympathy.

I was speaking earlier this week to a senior manager at Best Flights (no I don't use them but I was helping a relative who is and contrary to everything on here they were actually quite helpful) but she was telling me how many airlines - she mentioned Garuda by name chop and change and cancel flights for passengers which means they miss connections etc. I don't think those of use who Qantas realise how lucky we are - especially the Status passengers who are well treated. She gave me some horror story examples of passengers being stuck in Asia with no connecting flight back to Australia for a day or two!

 

[koonyaflyer]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

I absolutely agree with this sentiment - but VA would help themselves a lot if lodging a complaint didn't feel like pitching something into a black hole. It wouldn't be too hard to reply within a couple of hours saying, "thanks for the feedback, it's been forwarded to the xyz department, and they will respond to you within 20 days. The reference number for your feedback is xyz" or whatever the stated response time is.

Bonus points if the response is written by a human rather than a robot, and can tell the difference between praise and criticism (at a "deeper level" than the drop down options on the feedback form).

At the moment, in my experience, you don't hear *anything* for weeks. Which leaves you wondering if it's been received at all.

I have just lodged an issue with Virgin using the online complaints portal. I received an immediate automated acknowledgement email, followed by an email 24 hours later clearly setting out next steps, timeframes and a contact name. No complaints from me re the process, or the time frames, although it seems others may have had issues.

 

[Fruitcake]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

I have just lodged an issue with Virgin using the online complaints portal. I received an immediate automated acknowledgement email, followed by an email 24 hours later clearly setting out next steps, timeframes and a contact name. No complaints from me re the process, or the time frames, although it seems others may have had issues.

Great to hear. Sounds like they have improved since my complaint, which was almost eighteen months ago. Thanks, koonyaflyer.

 

[777]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

2 of the passengers were 12 months of age. I then offered to buy seats for the two - ie ticket them as children 2-12 at 75% of the fare. This refusal was for both the premium economy and economy cabins. Further the refusal to carry us applied in both directions.

No one at Virgin could explain this to me. ALso, no one from the industry side could explain it to the TA. Note my TA is rather anti VA so everytime I have something like this happen she says "I told you so etc etc and this is why I don't book my clients with them".

Did you actually talk directly to VA about this? I just tried to book the same configuration online with no problem. What was the issue?

 

[yo yo ma]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Albeit I did impress myself, it was in record time, we arrived at the domestic gate 15 mins prior to departure with the flight on Final Call and the ground crew calling other travellers names.

When I saw the look of horror on the attendants face when I handed her the row 3 Economy boarding passes I knew something was wrong, she turned to the Supervisor and said "They made it".

I had a similar situation happen to me on QF. I was travelling POM-CNS-BNE and was meant to arrive in CNS at 11am for a 1PM connection to BNE. The flight arrived at 12:15 and I scooted through customs and made my way to the QP for a quick beer before the flight. I had the beep-beep-beep when boarding and thought I might have scored an op-up. It was not the case and I had automatically been moved onto the next flight. As I travel with hand-luggage only, they moved me from 4C to 17D and were very apologetic. I met a lovely couple sitting next to me on the flight, so it all turned out ok.

It must be automatic in both VA and QF systems to get bumped if the aircraft is late arriving. That doesn't account for us fast people clearing customs. Jada must have been feeling a little Jaded after this.

 

[TheInsider]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

It must be automatic in both VA and QF systems to get bumped if the aircraft is late arriving. That doesn't account for us fast people clearing customs. Jada must have been feeling a little Jaded after this.

It's all manual intervention for both systems, and DJ's system doesn't provide detailed timings on their 'uplines', only a list of passengers connecting onto that flight.
QF's system displays passengers in a way where it advises they are under MCT with the actual timings. But obviously doesn't account for pax who connect fast.
Qantas generally moves passengers 'proactivaly' to show they know that they do know there is a disruption and to 'lock-in' the next flight instead of missing out due to late bookings or other issues.

 

[Justchecking]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Qantas generally moves passengers 'proactivaly' to show they know that they do know there is a disruption and to 'lock-in' the next flight instead of missing out due to late bookings or other issues.

And who's to say the DJ person wasnt being equally proactive? She may not have had timings on her computer but maybe she had been advised of the late arrival of the international flight by other means? She did what she did and maybe her intentions were on the OPs side when she did it. She wasnt to know a family of 4 can speed through customs, or that they were travelling with hand luggage only. My guess would have been 'not a chance' on those odds.

There may have been seats available but whos to say they were together? 4 middle sets scattered about the aircraft would not have been useful to the OP. The fact the OP checked into the dometic leg 1hr before departure (presumably after clearing customs etc) but still only made it to the gate on final call justifies the rationale that the chances of them making the connection were slim. Its not as if the OP was enjoying a quiet drink in the lounge when he was bumped. All possibilities and all reasons why the ground staff involved should in all fairness be able to present their case before being ranted about on the internet..

 

[TheInsider]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

And who's to say the DJ person wasnt being equally proactive?

I didn't say anything? I was just stating the Qantas process of doing it. Wow!

 

[medhead]

And who's to say the DJ person wasnt being equally proactive? She may not have had timings on her computer but maybe she had been advised of the late arrival of the international flight by other means? She did what she did and maybe her intentions were on the OPs side when she did it.

That the the staff member only looked at rebooking after they arrived at the gate suggests a lack of proactive-ness. That they only offered a flight the next day instead of available flights that day suggests they weren't being proactive. If it was truly proactive an alternative would have been found before taking them off the flight and the new BPs would have been available immediately that the OP turned up, thus avoiding an discussion about what happens now. Proactive means you have a solution. Instead it sounds like they just kicked the OP off the flight with very little consideration of the next step. No matter how generous I am to the staff member that remains my conclusion.


Sent from the Throne

 

[Major]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

The OP was issued boarding passes at the VA transfer desk located after Immigration and Customs. Therefore there were seats available at that time. Someone gambled that they could not transfer from the International to the Domestic Terminal in the required time. They did, but the seats had been re allocated in that short time.

There would still have been time to asign seats for standby carry on pax should the OP not make it.

Surely the issue of boarding passes would indicate the OP was on the way

 

[Princess Fiona]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

If my experience last month of last month connecting to DJ in BNE is anything to go by then there is a big disconnect between the Transfer desk in the international terminal and the domestic gate. I arrived from DFW on QF 8 at 5am. Went to the transfer desk in the Int Terminal and checked in for my DJ flight to NTL Dep 09.40. I left the Lounge and went to the gate prior to commencement of boarding. Just prior to boarding my name was called and I reported to the CSA. She seemed bewildered that not only was I there but that I had a boarding pass, she stated that they thought I hadn't checked in ????
And BTW I had checked luggage on this very full flight. After reading of the OP's pretty poor experience I'm glad I was at the gate waiting for that page.

 

[Justchecking]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

I didn't say anything? I was just stating the Qantas process of doing it. Wow!

That wasn't a comment directed at you personally. It was a continuation of the general discussion going on here.

Again, not speaking to you personally. I'm not saying there aren't 'issues' in this situation but the usual method of trial by internet isn't a fair one. We can
all sit here in our armchairs pretending we know the answers when the simple fact of the matter is that we are only guessing and putting forth conjecture.
Both sides of the story need to be heard and the appropriate place for dispute resolution is with the company not a public forum.

 

[bubblyguy]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Virgin gate staff seem to have too much power when it comes to putting standby passengers (often staff) on flights, often meaning paying passengers lose an upgrade, this sort of rubbish needs to stop if they wish to be seen as serious in attracting the regular traveller!

Standby passengers can't travel in J class. It's Y seats only on VA domestic services.

 

[straitman]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Standby passengers can't travel in J class. It's Y seats only on VA domestic services.

Hi bubblyguy,

Welcome to AFF.

Would you care to elaborate on your comment :?:

 

[markis10]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Standby passengers can't travel in J class. It's Y seats only on VA domestic services.

Nothing to stop another pax who is not connecting and checkedin at the airport being upgraded to make way for a gate hovering standby, with the large number of changes made by the gate staff that affect status pax its clear they like to play musical chairs, to the commercial detriment of their employer, its happening way to much. By comparison the competition rarely does it, worst I can complain about was loosing a choice seat in a Q400 in TSV to what was clearly a preferred local!

 

[ash.1111]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

I must admit, I haven't been given any 'extra' rights on staff travel. I have actually had exit row seats taken off me (because it's not allowed) and my partner was originally on my cancelled flight and had to wait in MEL for 6-7 hours.

This isn't to say that dodgy business doesn't happen -- just that it isn't happening on every full flight. My partner was VERY close to spending the night in Melbourne (alone) if it wasn't for 5 no-shows (they were paged and correct off-loading procedures completed). I can vouch, I ran up the aerobridge like Superman to ensure he got those empty seats.

 

[lazybones1987]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Hi bubblyguy,

Welcome to AFF.

Would you care to elaborate on your comment :?:

Staff can't book J on domestic routes. They are also not allowed to sit in J (even if J is completely empty).

 

[Fruitcake]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Staff can't book J on domestic routes. They are also not allowed to sit in J (even if J is completely empty).

Indeed, I have seen this policy in practice. Late last year at the tail end of boarding for a CNS-SYD flight a heated discussion developed between the CSM, a ground team member and a man in civvie dress displaying an ASIC card. Y was 100% full (as best I could see) and Y+ was 4/8, with 1A/C unoccupied. The conversation became increasingly heated and the man was told in no uncertain terms that the flight was 100% full and he was not boarding (it seems to me a reasonable assumption that he was DJ staff, based on his actions). He became quite belligerent and tried to belittle the CSM and ground crew member but they stood their ground (this was going on fairly discreetly, I doubt anyone other than myself and my wife in row 2 noticed). Eventually, he entered the coughpit and set up the jumpseat. After a further ten minutes of stuffing around to procure a manifest that noted his presence on the flight, we were off.

After takeoff, he emerged from the coughpit, locked eyes with the CSM and smirked at her as he spread himself across the first row. Of course not much point in her taking up the issue again at that point so she let him be but I was fairly impressed with the extent to which the "I'm better than you and the rules, and will be sitting in row 1" was shot down ahead of the flight.

 

[TheEmu]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Nothing to stop another pax who is not connecting and checkedin at the airport being upgraded to make way for a gate hovering standby, with the large number of changes made by the gate staff that affect status pax its clear they like to play musical chairs, to the commercial detriment of their employer, its happening way to much. By comparison the competition rarely does it, worst I can complain about was loosing a choice seat in a Q400 in TSV to what was clearly a preferred local!

Oops! Hope that wasn't me that bumped you out of your good seat, markis10! How long ago?

I recently dropped my BNE-based friend at TSV to catch his 7.40pm QF home after a good afternoon's work and a very pleasant early dinner at The Brewery. Drop off was at about 7.15, only to get a call from him about 15 minutes later requesting a room at the Pimlico Hilton for the night.
Back to the airport to pick him up and get the story: he'd arrived at the gate at 7.20 to find it completely abandoned. Airbridge still connected to the aircraft so he high-tailed back to the check-in desk only to be told: "Sorry, we called but got no answer and flight is now closed. We can t/f your ticket to the 1st available flight tomorrow or you can pay $389.00 and jump on the last Deathstar out of town."
We don't see each other that often so naturally he chose the former and the opportunity to try that very old single malt he sent me for Christmas...
A couple of things to consider: He had arrived at the gate at 7.20pm for a 7.40pm flight: plenty of time I would have thought? That flight (QF977) doesn't normally start boarding until 7.20pm in my experience. Had they simply boarded everyone early, closed the gate early and headed for home - an early Friday night for all concerned? The flight certainly departed early.
His mobile phone did not ring - they had called his office in Brisbane - at 7.15 pm...no response of course. This guy has been a QF WP for quite a while so I don't think there is any excuse for ringing an office number after business hours when his mobile is obviously on file.
No harm done this time: we got to share some excellent scotch, he got an op-up the next morning from the lovely ladies at TSV QP (neat, because that 5.55am flight is always packed - even on weekends) and he got home in time to take No.1 daughter to soccer, but it really looks like the crew were much more interested in getting an early mark than looking after one of their loyal (and considerable-spend) customers.
Poor form for mine.