Travel Agent (Falsely) Claiming Zero Availability on QF

[jukebox333]

Last week, I was discussing Easter with my parents (who are 80 and 82) and they suggested they fly across from SYD to PER to spend Easter with the grandkids. I mentioned that both flight and hotel availability might be tight, but that it sounded like a good idea.

When the call ended, I went online to the Qantas website, and was surprised to see availability on every flight, and at least two seats in even the cheapest discount catagory, on the days they wanted to travel. I emailed them the details, and suggested flights that would mean I could collect them after work and drop them off in the morning the day they left.

Unfortunately, my "seats might be hard to find" comment implanted itself in the selective hearing of my mother, who rushed off to her Central Coast travel agent the next morning, without looking at emails. (she's 82 - what can I say - they don't get a lot of email!).

Now never mind I could have, and wanted to do all the legwork from my end, but what really got on my cough was that when they got to the TA and said they preferred to fly QF, the used car salesman.. er, TA, looked at his screen, and straight faced told them "there aren't any seats on Qantas, so you can choose between Virgin and Deathstar". So they are flying Virgin...

I was ropeable when I heard all this. I checked the website again, and there were STILL plenty of seats at all price points on QF. If it wasn't for the fact I'm in Perth and they are in Gosford, I'd have marched into the agency and ripped the shyster a new one. Needless to say Grandma and Grandpa have been told never to cross the threshold of that establishment again, and reminded that I can do all thier travel arrangements for them, even if I am on the other side of the country.

I think it's borderline illegal that for whatever reason (superior commissions, I would assume), that gullible people (and yes, I consider a pair of octagenarians gullible, even if they are my parents) are told bald faced lies about what products are available. And if I was Qantas, I'd be pretty damn angry that passengers are being syphoned off by unscrupulous operators.

 

[tuppaware]

Some TA companies sell buckets of seats like Qantas does. The would try to sell a lower fair bucket first (at a higher cost) to turn a profit. Just business really.

 

[drewbles]

It would help if you could mention the dates/routing you were looking at, and then people could look further.

It's quite possible that VA were cheaper than QF.

And, IMHO, i'd only ever fly VA from the east to west coast, especially in Economy (You're guaranteed an A330 from SYD or MEL, whereas QF still put a lot of 737's on the route, with shocking seat pitch IMHO).

 

[Rallo]

Some TA companies sell buckets of seats like Qantas does. The would try to sell a lower fair bucket first (at a higher cost) to turn a profit. Just business really.

True but surely the moral compass realigns dealing with people in that age bracket.

 

[docjames]

I would be calling the head of the said TA and having a "discussion".

 

[nlagalle]

And, IMHO, i'd only ever fly VA from the east to west coast, especially in Economy (You're guaranteed an A330 from SYD or MEL, whereas QF still put a lot of 737's on the route, with shocking seat pitch IMHO).

You aren't guaranteed an A330 on VA, there are still a few 737's that fly to Perth..

 

[Aussie_flyer]

I'm not saying that this is what happened in this case but as a TA (part-time, it's not my main gig) the availability in the GDS can be quite different to the airlines website, where a flight shows 0-0-0-0-0 in all classes I have seen many an airline still selling seats on the exact same flights through their website. They do keep some things to themselves.

 

[cmon0005]

It's one thing for a Sales person to convince (or even push) a customer into going for a different product, but to outright lie that there is no availability is just plain wrong and quite possibly against trade practices act?
Even if the price was higher for QF seats they should have still told your parents that price, and let them make up their own mind.

Personally I would be ditching that TA and looking for another one (or maybe book directly online).

 

[optimisticTraveller]

I am not sure what their game was, but I know too that TA's can be cheaky.....I had a ticket booked by my employer and I wanted to cancel it within 24 hours of departure. The TA told my employer it couldn't be cancelled. Interestingly, I walked up to the airline counter and cancelled it. Full refund to TA. What was so hard about that?

 

[drewbles]

You aren't guaranteed an A330 on VA, there are still a few 737's that fly to Perth..

Not from MEL, it's all A330. From SYD, yes you're correct (3 out of 4 are A330's though). I thought it was 100% but it's 75% atm. My bad there!

 

[nlagalle]

Not from MEL, it's all A330. From SYD, yes you're correct (3 out of 4 are A330's though). I thought it was 100% but it's 75% atm. My bad there!

There were at least 3 737 flights (that i quickly counted) from MEL last month that were 737's....

 

[mannej]

Not from MEL, it's all A330. From SYD, yes you're correct (3 out of 4 are A330's though). I thought it was 100% but it's 75% atm. My bad there!

Let's not forget that the 330's do get replaced by the 737's if one gets sick. So no guarantee there either.

 

[jukebox333]

I think you pretty much nailed it with that response.

These two do not fly a lot, but are not fragile or non-compus-mentis... they are just not "travel savvy".

In the end they paid within $20/seat of what I saw QF flights for - but the price was never an issue, and was never flagged to the TA; they nominated the date and the route, and a preference to fly QF.

I sent them the screenshots from 15th (after I found out what had happened, and I had checked again), to show them they'd been conned.

The dates were SYD-PER 29/3, PER-SYD 2/4:




No, I would hope they won't be using them again, either!

The Virgin fares are non refundable, and I am sure the flight willl be fine. I just have an issue with the way the options were presented - or not as the case may be - and how two elderly people could have been sold what they asked for, but weren't.

It's one thing for a Sales person to convince (or even push) a customer into going for a different product, but to outright lie that there is no availability is just plain wrong and quite possibly against trade practices act?
Even if the price was higher for QF seats they should have still told your parents that price, and let them make up their own mind.

Personally I would be ditching that TA and looking for another one (or maybe book directly online).

 

[docjames]

I still think you should speak directly to the TA.....

 

[drewbles]

There were at least 3 737 flights (that i quickly counted) from MEL last month that were 737's....

Must be last minute subs then. Let me rephrase...

"There are no scheduled 737 services from MEL to PER"

 

[drewbles]

I still think you should speak directly to the TA.....

Agreed. This is what I see when I look at the loadings on EF:

QF SYD-PER on the 29/03/2013:

QF PER-SYD on the 2/04/2013:

ie, busy, but definitely showing plenty of availability.

I'd be talking to the manager/owner about that!

 

[smit0847]

Unfortunately this is what happens when you rely on someone else to do something rather than doing it yourself.

 

[docjames]

Unfortunately this is what happens when you rely on someone else to do something rather than doing it yourself.

I don't think that's fair to the OP.

His parents (elderly) rushed out to a TA despite the op telling them that he would do it.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Isn't QF the better deal with food and luggage?

 

[haydensydney]

Does anyone know what commissions are paid to the TA for both domestic VA and QF?