What a series of threads - I did invest a fair amount of time.
Speaking as someone with legal experience - I am very fairly certain a court case would be proportionately successful regarding pursuing compensation from Qantas with regards to any advertised or implied benefit included in the cost of a fare but not provided. As to the value of the IFE - I am sure a magistrate would try to find the reasonable value on either a pro rata rate or percentage of fare basis.
ACL can be very generous in determining what the consumer expected in exchange for the fare price - especially if there are advertised/marketed benefits of flying QF over a competitor airline/LCC.
Emirates widely publicly pushing their ICE awards and credentials is a prime example and if not supplied, I suggest would be an easy complaint to uphold.
I recall the VCAT stating the ban was rescinded or withdrawn. I assume the OP had been forthright and the ban was reinstated without communication then I don't foresee why the current circumstances are acceptable.
Pursuing court action for such minor value complaints would need to be purely on principle and something I will actively consider if I become personally affected. There seems to be top much recurring instances that have been pushed aside and a magistrate judgement defining a value for a lack of provision of service should be welcomed across all flyers.
I see that as a first significant step to diacussing the cration of statutory protections as exist in Europe.
I have on numerous occasions submitted complaints seeking restitution or points compensation for in-flight issues and have for the vast majority had to respond to a generic email response with ACL provisions to receive an acceptable outcome.
The general rule I follow is make your issue known to the lounge staff or CSC, ask for permission to note the interaction and to then proceed with the standard process.
For reference on IFE issues I have been compensated either 1k points or a % of base fare earning rate for domestic travel and 5k for a SYD-LAX.
Aircon - full fare base Point earn rate dxb-syd I think about 6k. I can guarantee that I was likely only one of a handful of people who followed through on this particular complaint as I followed up with other pax who all let it go. For reference the aircon was functional eventually after a long repair delay but was unable to cope with the Dubai heat build-up on the tarmac and normal cabin temperature wasn't reached until we were about 2 hours from arrival.
My memory is now hazy but the temps were easily in the high 20's for the majority of the flight.
Recline - only occurred domestically - flat 1k most instances.
I don't condone aggressive or rude behaviour regardless of the incident - it only creates barriers to getting what you want.
Rooflyer provides apt advice - I prefer the complimentary insurance claims than trying to force QF's hand in the moment.
Thank you for your impartial, well reasoned, logical and relevant response. Its a refreshing change from the ill informed drivel that some people have excreted.
My gripe with Qantas is basically EXACTLY as you have stated. They advertise and promote a product and service that induces you to contract, and then they think they can get away with not providing those products and services that they induced you with. Its classic breach of contract 101, that time and again, I overlooked, ignored and excused. Playing devils advocate, running an airline is a hugely complex endeavour, but when things go wrong, they need to own up to it and liaise with the customer about how they can make it right. Most people, me included, would be happy with a genuine apology and perhaps some return courtesy, when say... something goes wrong from our end. However that, in my experience, was never the case. It was always a patronising "were sorry we didn't meet your expectations" and "we hope we meet your expectations next time you travel". They always expected and demanded that you would just forgive your contractual rights and accept their apology despite the losses and inconvenience they caused you.
HOWEVER... when the shoe was on the other foot, they would throw the book at you. Missed check in or bag drop by 1 minute due to an accident on your way to the airport (or some other reason outside your control)? Sorry Sir, your ticket is forfeited.
Taking them to court was the last resort and purely based on principle. In fact, the Singapore ban wasn't really even a concern other than how it was used as an arbitrary muscle flexing exercise to show how much power they have over you. for what its worth, my discussion with the duty manager centred around my displeasure over the repeated service failures over several years and that this was the line in the sand. As the flight to Melbourne had already closed, the conversation/interaction ended with her moving me onto the Sydney flight departing approximately two hours later. I had no further interaction with her between then and when the flight was ready for boarding, when I had to approach her for my boarding pass and was only then told that I would not be travelling. All I asked for at that point was, IF they wanted to deny me travel, why not tell me sooner/earlier and move me onto another flight with another airline, wether that be EK (who was operating SIN-MEL at the time) or SQ, or put me up in a hotel for the night and a flight with a different airline the following morning?. I think this was a perfectly reasonable request. But instead, they chose to invoke a spurious ban, cancelled the ticket with no refund for the unused portion and unduly enriched themselves in the process. And all because "they could". They knew EXACTLY how to work the system and which levers to pull to cause maximum inconvenience, disruption, delay and cost.
Regarding the inflight entertainment, they knew the system was broken and they were trying to fix it. The flight was delayed by an hour or two and they told us it was fixed, when it clearly wasn't. Now don't get me wrong... I understand things happen, but all they had to do was let us know and perhaps recommend us to go and buy a few magazines or books or something. They didn't even have to give us a voucher or anything for one of the newsagents, despite it "technically" being the right thing to do. Or they could have moved us onto a cathay flight. But instead, they chose to lie and deceive, and pretend like everything was fixed, until the doors were closed and you no longer had a choice. If I wanted to sit in an aircraft for 9 plus hours with no entertainment, then I certainly would not have chosen Qantas. Upon landing, I received an email apology and that was it.
Same thing with my Partners recent trip home from Rome. After the doors were closed, "sorry passengers we are short staffed and short catered, so bear with us during the flight". I mean... what a complete and utter JOKE.
As I have said, I made the decision a long time ago to no longer believe the Qantas hyperbole and took my business elsewhere. Despite the odd minor hiccup here and there, there has been nothing of note to complain about with Qatar,
Etihad, Singapore and many others. The first flight back with Qantas, which wasn't even on Qantas and BAM! Drama returns!!
My only mistake in this entire saga was naively and stupidly thinking a codeshare flight would be ok. And for the most part, it was. From priority check in, to priority boarding, the actual flights and priority luggage all worked as expected. The only drama was Qantas and their "alleged ban"that they tried to impose on another Airline and now their malicious breaches of their own terms and conditions in stealing over 1 million points and all because someone dared to stand up to their bullying and unenforceable demands.
I will be taking steps to not only enforce, but also, protect my rights and entitlements. I will limit my exposure to this despicable airline further, by having absolutely nothing to do with them in the future, including codeshare flights. It just isn't worth the drama.
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