Flight changes; unsure how to proceed

[Zephyrana]

You don't have to credit to Qantas. You can earn Emirates SCs and points.

I meant, can I gift my Qantas status credits to someone? I have 1680 which I have no use for.

 

[Zephyrana]

My apologies then. I made some assumptions that were incorrect. bad me. Thanks for clarifying

Well, 29h vs 25h is definitely not that big a deal specially, as you say, there can be delays and tight connections (2 for QF, 1 for EK) and the all F service makes it more of a no brainer definitely.

minor q.. does EK provide the chauffeur drive option ex-ADL and NYC for these flights? I'd imagine so, and think that is a great extra benefit compared to QF - score one for ground handling.

I also did think QF SC's would not be of interest to you. If one is prepared to pay retail F fares then such things are likely not of any concern I just made the comment just in case - some folks do get caught by this - so I was just trying to be helpful

Enjoy your EK flights. Their F product is brilliant, specially the 380 showers! It does make a lot of sense ex-ADL as you've explained.

*humbly going back to corner*

You've been very helpful! And I'm sure people do get caught unawares about the frequent flyer details; there's a lot of fine print there, and things change all the time. I really appreciate the time and attention you've given to my thread.

Emirates does the chauffeur drive service for Adelaide and New York, and my addresses are well within their zones of operation, which is indeed a point in its favour for me. Although if those cars don't turn up, it will be a disaster, and you'll read all about it in the Emirates thread

The layover in Dubai on the way home is 6 hours, which might require some inner resources even in a nice lounge.

But I remember doing these flights in the Olden Days. Adelaide -> Sydney, change airports -> Auckland or Fiji, maybe both if the fare was cheaper -> Honolulu, and a long layover with the entire flight in a small transit lounge with one loo and no services -> LA and its incomprehensible mess of customs and immigration back when they checked every bag, followed by 4-6 hours at the gate -> sometimes Chicago or Toronto, sometimes a wait, sometimes a mad scramble to the connecting flight -> New York, nearly dead, 48 hours later. All economy, of course, and mostly on airlines which don't exist any more like PanAm and Ansett.

 

[RichardMEL]

I meant, can I gift my Qantas status credits to someone? I have 1680 which I have no use for.

Sadly no. I think it's VA has a family pooling type option (I am not too familiar with VA since i'm not a member) but QFF definitely doesn't allow anything like this. You can family transfer QFF *points* but SC's remain "yours"

 

[JohnK]

I meant, can I gift my Qantas status credits to someone? I have 1680 which I have no use for.

No but if you happen to get to 2,400 SCs you can gift Partner Gold to someone.

 

[Flying mermaid]

The OP's circumstances seemed clear cut to me that they should get a refund and status credits, but I have a variation that is not so clear cut.

Booked a J flight to Auckland for Miss FM and her partner last year. There was a schedule change which left her with a 1:40 connection and in spite of me telling her she should go down the night before she let Qantas talk her into keeping the tight connection (sigh!). Anyway it did go all wrong, with the 6:45 am flight out of Canberra having mechanical problems and the next flight delayed with fog, so that they missed their 9am flight and the 9:30 LAN flight which Qantas had rebooked them onto. When they arrived in Sydney she was told she was on a 5pm flight and if that was not suitable then they could put her on a 3pm flight in economy. Neither of those were any good, as she had a flight to Rotorua (booked separately), so she asked to be moved to Air New Zealand and Qantas were happy to do so at no cost to her although only Y was available and they told her she would get a refund.

So I guess my question is can she still request original routing credit for this given she didn't want to fly on the flights they offered and she asked to be moved to another airline (and will get a refund, although I assume the refund will be token).

 

[moa999]

A tougher one as it is arguably a voluntary downgrade to meet specific time requirements (the separately booked flight) - indeed I would say fortunate to be offered a partial refund.

if you get a downgrade refund,then I would not expect to be able to claim J ORC

 

[Joshua]

I'd argue there's a strong separation between loyalty and reservations. In the case of the former you can easily argue you were put on the first flight available due to a missed connection. I've been given ORC credit on flights that were fully refunded, the point isn't what you ended up paying for but what you originally booked and were unable to fly outside of your control. It's still an involuntary change.

 

[kevrosmith]

A few stories of travel experience for comparison:

1. JFK-LAX-SYD-CNS all in J, September 2014. JFK-LAX flight was delayed 3 hours when we had two flat tyres while taxiing to the runway. While I wasn't concerned about the LAX-SYD sector (operated by the same aircraft), I knew it put my SYD-CNS sector in jeopardy. I rang QF in Australia while still sitting on the plane in JFK (didn't realise there was a US number I could've used), explained what was happening and they protected a J seat on the next SYD-CNS service for me.

2. SYD-MEL-DXB-LHR and LHR-ZRH, May 2015. Bookings were QF F Reward (FASA) and QF J Reward Redemption on BA, separate PNRs. When I arrived in MEL, the inbound service had to divert to SIN for medical situation, so we left MEL 5 hours late. Knowing any delay into LHR would mean I'd miss all possible BA LHR-ZRH services, I went to First check-in at MEL before going through security. They put me onto a direct EK DXB-ZRH, still in F. They even retrieved my luggage and re-tagged it. It meant I had a longer layover in DXB, but arrived into ZRH only 3 hours later than I was originally expecting to get there. Was able to obtain an ORC for my FASA too: emailed details and ORC appeared without follow-up within 2 weeks (I was almost shocked it went so smooth).

3. FCO-DXB-BNE-CNS. QF F Reward Redemption on EK. I had a terrible EK F experience in Rome. The EK Chauffeur driver was 40 minutes late for the pick-up; took me to the wrong terminal; received NO notification from EK that they had changed terminal (due to the fire at FCO a few months ago); no signage in the original terminal and Airport Info didn't know where EK were either; EK Check-in was mess and not clearly signed; no Fast Track security for F; had to walk to end of one terminal concourse to catch 15 minute bus to other Terminal concourse not affected by fire - no Priority Service; sent to Alitalia Lounge - only 2 showers in the lounge for this, their Premier Lounge; no ice at the bar (ice machine broken) and only Johnnie Red scotch available. After a full day of sight-seeing in Rome that day, this was not the experience I was hoping for. Fortunately, the F service onboard was fantastic, but their handling on the ground was far from an F experience. It has really put me off considering EK again, as the Airport experience is part of the whole flight experience for me. Once I got to BNE, QF managed to get me on the earlier BNE-CNS service (10am instead of 2pm).

 

[clazman]

I had a CX flight stop in Vancouver rather than JFK, missed a connecting flight with AA from JFK to Toronto (separate PNR)

CX organized overnight accommodation and direct flight to Toronto for the next morning

Credited points and SC for HK to JFK and JFK to Toronto

 

[Flying mermaid]

Sounds like I should put in a request for ORC but just not push it if it doesn't happen. I don't really care about the refund, but she is getting close to LTS so it would be nice for her to get status credits. The original problem was caused by a mechanical failure, so perhaps not unreasonable and there was nearly 5 hours between the original arrival of the Qantas plane into Auckland and the departure of Air New Zealand to Rotorua. Personally I have given up expecting to make connections - just can't trust airlines to get you there on time......

Was disturbing to hear of Emirates' bad ground service.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Just an update on this. No refund appeared and I didn't bother to chase it, but put in a request for ORC and this has been processed and received. FF centre was very helpful and efficient. Miss FM is now less than 500 status credits off life time silver and I know that isn't all that useful, but at least gives her some status for when she flies.

 

[Zephyrana]

I've received the $1473 refund for the fare difference, but not yet the "downgrade compensation/denied boarding" payment of US$1100 or the promised extra FF points.

To update, I still haven't received these, and now don't expect to. GG, Qantas. I'm hoping my Emirates experience in September is better! Fingers crossed.

 

[Flying mermaid]

To update, I still haven't received these, and now don't expect to. GG, Qantas. I'm hoping my Emirates experience in September is better! Fingers crossed.

Did you follow up again, or just couldn't be bothered?

 

[Zephyrana]

I have to admit, I just couldn't be bothered. I don't have anything in writing, except for my own notes of the phone conversations, and only first names of the people I spoke to, and no policy to point to or even an official procedure to follow. I guess I also feel pretty "meh" because I've already decided to try other airlines, so chasing Qantas seems a bit disingenuous.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Yeah totally sympathise - it gets to that point. We have enjoyed Emirates and esp the shower, but are looking foward to trying out Singapore Air next.

 

[JohnK]

I have to admit, I just couldn't be bothered. I don't have anything in writing, except for my own notes of the phone conversations, and only first names of the people I spoke to, and no policy to point to or even an official procedure to follow. I guess I also feel pretty "meh" because I've already decided to try other airlines, so chasing Qantas seems a bit disingenuous.

I would still follow up even if just to prove a point.