TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

[The Mountain]

Hi Guys,

I hate to complain about Qantas, because I truly do enjoy flying with the airline. On my recent J flight from LA to Melbourne, my TV did not work for the entire duration of the flight. The CSM was great and extremely apologetic, for which I assured him that it wasn't his fault. He told me to contact Qantas after the flight to discuss compensation. I'm just wondering - which is the best way to contact Qantas, and what sort of compensation would you expect out of an incident like this?

Thanks for the help.

 

[PLC]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

I feel for you. While that may not have been a big deal for some (i.e. avid readers, avid sleepers and people who brought an entertainment device etc...), that would have been a kind of hell for me.

 

[OATEK]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Hi Guys,

I hate to complain about Qantas, because I truly do enjoy flying with the airline. On my recent J flight from LA to Melbourne, my TV did not work for the entire duration of the flight. The CSM was great and extremely apologetic, for which I assured him that it wasn't his fault. He told me to contact Qantas after the flight to discuss compensation. I'm just wondering - which is the best way to contact Qantas, and what sort of compensation would you expect out of an incident like this?

Thanks for the help.

I'd probably try and suggest they give some points. I got a $50 flight voucher for something a little different, which I found harder to use than you might think.

You can email QFF or ring, but don't leave it too long after the trip.

 

[trixydoza]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Only precedent I have (for a family member with no status) is 10,000 points for the IFE not working from SIN to SYD in Y. That came after contacting QF via the online "Customer Care" form.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Hi Guys,

I hate to complain about Qantas, because I truly do enjoy flying with the airline. On my recent J flight from LA to Melbourne, my TV did not work for the entire duration of the flight. The CSM was great and extremely apologetic, for which I assured him that it wasn't his fault. He told me to contact Qantas after the flight to discuss compensation. I'm just wondering - which is the best way to contact Qantas, and what sort of compensation would you expect out of an incident like this?

Thanks for the help.

Did the CSM say they were making a note of the issue to send to operations/customer care? In any event, call them today.

 

[The Mountain]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Did the CSM say they were making a note of the issue to send to operations/customer care? In any event, call them today.

Yes, the CSM was very helpful and made sure to put a note on my file. This was 2 days ago, so I will definitely make sure to call them today. Thank you.

Any thoughts on what I should be receiving compensation wise?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Yes, the CSM was very helpful and made sure to put a note on my file. This was 2 days ago, so I will definitely make sure to call them today. Thank you.

Any thoughts on what I should be receiving compensation wise?

it's hard to know without some more details... were there any other available seats in the cabin? if the plane was full, expect more compensation.

QF is usually pretty fair with compensation. Wait and see what they offer you before asking for anything. If it comes in low, you can negotiate upwards based on your rights to receive the services paid for.

 

[The Mountain]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

it's hard to know without some more details... were there any other available seats in the cabin? if the plane was full, expect more compensation.

QF is usually pretty fair with compensation. Wait and see what they offer you before asking for anything. If it comes in low, you can negotiate upwards based on your rights to receive the services paid for.

Thank you - the plane was full unfortunately. Good to hear that Qantas are fair, I'll give them a call and report back.

 

[badseed]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

I got 10000 points for a kaput IFE screen on MEL - WLG a couple of years back, so that seems to be their standard. Not quite up to Swiss's cheque for $300 USD for the same issue on HKG - ZRH, but something nonetheless

 

[Red Roo]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Hi Guys,

I hate to complain about Qantas, because I truly do enjoy flying with the airline. On my recent J flight from LA to Melbourne, my TV did not work for the entire duration of the flight. The CSM was great and extremely apologetic, for which I assured him that it wasn't his fault. He told me to contact Qantas after the flight to discuss compensation. I'm just wondering - which is the best way to contact Qantas, and what sort of compensation would you expect out of an incident like this?

Thanks for the help.

I'd be happy to follow up for you. Please send me a private message with your details as reference.

 

[Prof Henry]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Perhaps this should be a New Thread? My issue was not with the IFE but with my Business Class seat that was inoperable from LHR-MEL (QF10 21/22 July).

Like 'The Mountain', I found the inflight crew to be excellent in trying to assist. None of the seat controls worked after takeoff from LHR, but one (only one?) crew member (Thank you, Andrew) knew how to make a manual adjustment and managed to get a few degrees of recline, which was enough for my wife to use her laptop more or less comfortably on the leg to DXB. During Dubai refuelling stop, 2 engineers worked on the seat but when we re-boarded, the seat had an "INOP" sticker on it and none of the seat controls (or even the privacy screen) would work. The QF Ground Supervisor and the cabin crew were sympathetic and helpful but the plane was 100% full (and no crew travellers) so there was little they could do except offer to deplane us and our luggage with the possibility of bumping someone off the QF 2 departing DXB 4 hours (?) later. My wife had meetings in Brisbane the next day so that simply wouldn't work (apart form the embarrassment of bumping other pax). We also had paid for an overnight hotel booking at Melbourne airport. [We knew the flights were all fully-booked because when we booked on 2 May, QF2 (the Sydney flight) was already sold out; hence the LHR-MEL-BNE routing].
After take-off from DXB, CSM offered to make me up a 'bed' on the business lounge bench; that at least allowed me to have a (more or less) flat "bed" but it's pretty narrow and has seat belt buckles along its length, but for the non-sleeping part of the journey, I sat bolt upright in an INOP seat.

The point is, my wife and I paid full price for 2 J seats and we only got one functional seat. Our visit to London trip was a relatively short one for a special occasion, and I had recently had a pacemaker inserted: for each of these reasons we thought it was worth paying for J. We are also both Platinum.

Both the Ground Supervisor and the CSM assured us that a special section of QF Customer Care in Sydney would contact us upon our return about compensation: eight days later we have heard nothing. The CSM did offer 5,000 FF points, and they are now on my activity statement, but I will be very disappointed if QF thinks that's all their J seats are worth.

Can anyone suggest what an appropriate compensation would be?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Perhaps this should be a New Thread? My issue was not with the IFE but with my Business Class seat that was inoperable from LHR-MEL (QF10 21/22 July).

Like 'The Mountain', I found the inflight crew to be excellent in trying to assist. None of the seat controls worked after takeoff from LHR, but one (only one?) crew member (Thank you, Andrew) knew how to make a manual adjustment and managed to get a few degrees of recline, which was enough for my wife to use her laptop more or less comfortably on the leg to DXB. During Dubai refuelling stop, 2 engineers worked on the seat but when we re-boarded, the seat had an "INOP" sticker on it and none of the seat controls (or even the privacy screen) would work. The QF Ground Supervisor and the cabin crew were sympathetic and helpful but the plane was 100% full (and no crew travellers) so there was little they could do except offer to deplane us and our luggage with the possibility of bumping someone off the QF 2 departing DXB 4 hours (?) later. My wife had meetings in Brisbane the next day so that simply wouldn't work (apart form the embarrassment of bumping other pax). We also had paid for an overnight hotel booking at Melbourne airport. [We knew the flights were all fully-booked because when we booked on 2 May, QF2 (the Sydney flight) was already sold out; hence the LHR-MEL-BNE routing].
After take-off from DXB, CSM offered to make me up a 'bed' on the business lounge bench; that at least allowed me to have a (more or less) flat "bed" but it's pretty narrow and has seat belt buckles along its length, but for the non-sleeping part of the journey, I sat bolt upright in an INOP seat.

The point is, my wife and I paid full price for 2 J seats and we only got one functional seat. Our visit to London trip was a relatively short one for a special occasion, and I had recently had a pacemaker inserted: for each of these reasons we thought it was worth paying for J. We are also both Platinum.

Both the Ground Supervisor and the CSM assured us that a special section of QF Customer Care in Sydney would contact us upon our return about compensation: eight days later we have heard nothing. The CSM did offer 5,000 FF points, and they are now on my activity statement, but I will be very disappointed if QF thinks that's all their J seats are worth.

Can anyone suggest what an appropriate compensation would be?

Two options I'm thinking, points or cash.

Cash compensation

Probably the preferred option, I'd estimate this in the same region as a class downgrade. Based on EU compensation (which is not applicable, but useful for a guide), I'd say roughly 50% of the one way ticket cost, taking account of the benefits of business class received such as food and beverage. This would bring the total fare you end up paying somewhere just above a premium economy seat for the one way flight.

Not off-loading (and incurring additional costs to the airline on the ground in Dubai) should be a major factor in your favour.


Points compensation

If you paid cash for your fare, I would suggest in the region of 100,000 points.

This is based on a one-way award in the equivalent class of travel, for the equivalent mileage, less a small discount (28K 'discount') for actual travel being undertaken (let's face it, an in-op business class seat is still better than an economy seat).

If you paid for your ticket using points, I'd estimate the value of the refund in the region of 60,000 points, being the difference between an economy and business class award.

 

[UP4014]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

QF is usually pretty fair with compensation. Wait and see what they offer you before asking for anything. If it comes in low, you can negotiate upwards based on your rights to receive the services paid for.

Not always.......as we well know here.

If you get $400 voucher that would acceptable, have been on flights where things like this haven't worked. A pain at the time but long forgotten after a couple of reds.

UA certainly offer $300 to $400 for failed audio at your seat.

Matt

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Not always.......as we well know here.

If you get $400 voucher that would acceptable, have been on flights where things like this haven't worked. A pain at the time but long forgotten after a couple of reds.

UA certainly offer $300 to $400 for failed audio at your seat.

Matt

Yes good point. I meant they're normally pretty good with compensation for service issues (food, beverage, IFE etc).

Downgrades and other things can take some effort to get fair compensation.

 

[Red Roo]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Perhaps this should be a New Thread? My issue was not with the IFE but with my Business Class seat that was inoperable from LHR-MEL (QF10 21/22 July).

Like 'The Mountain', I found the inflight crew to be excellent in trying to assist. None of the seat controls worked after takeoff from LHR, but one (only one?) crew member (Thank you, Andrew) knew how to make a manual adjustment and managed to get a few degrees of recline, which was enough for my wife to use her laptop more or less comfortably on the leg to DXB. During Dubai refuelling stop, 2 engineers worked on the seat but when we re-boarded, the seat had an "INOP" sticker on it and none of the seat controls (or even the privacy screen) would work. The QF Ground Supervisor and the cabin crew were sympathetic and helpful but the plane was 100% full (and no crew travellers) so there was little they could do except offer to deplane us and our luggage with the possibility of bumping someone off the QF 2 departing DXB 4 hours (?) later. My wife had meetings in Brisbane the next day so that simply wouldn't work (apart form the embarrassment of bumping other pax). We also had paid for an overnight hotel booking at Melbourne airport. [We knew the flights were all fully-booked because when we booked on 2 May, QF2 (the Sydney flight) was already sold out; hence the LHR-MEL-BNE routing].
After take-off from DXB, CSM offered to make me up a 'bed' on the business lounge bench; that at least allowed me to have a (more or less) flat "bed" but it's pretty narrow and has seat belt buckles along its length, but for the non-sleeping part of the journey, I sat bolt upright in an INOP seat.

The point is, my wife and I paid full price for 2 J seats and we only got one functional seat. Our visit to London trip was a relatively short one for a special occasion, and I had recently had a pacemaker inserted: for each of these reasons we thought it was worth paying for J. We are also both Platinum.

Both the Ground Supervisor and the CSM assured us that a special section of QF Customer Care in Sydney would contact us upon our return about compensation: eight days later we have heard nothing. The CSM did offer 5,000 FF points, and they are now on my activity statement, but I will be very disappointed if QF thinks that's all their J seats are worth.

Can anyone suggest what an appropriate compensation would be?

Please provide your details via private message so I can follow up for you too.

 

[Mh4k]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

When this happened to me in Y on QF from SIN to SYD they gave me 15,000 points. The CSM on board also offered me my choice of the duty free aftershaves for free which was a nice gesture.

On Etihad in J AUH to LHR I was given a bottle of NV champagne to take home with me by the CSM and then credited me 30,000 Velocity points. This one was interesting to me as this was a revenue fare purchased directly from Etihad but they had no problems compensating me with Velocity points instead of Etihad Guest miles. I also thought 30k points was pretty generous really.

Since I never use the IFE except to watch the flight path, I would rather have a broken TV and the compensation than a working TV

 

[Danger]

re: TV didn't work for entire J Flight LAX --> MEL

Awesome to have your input here, Red Roo.

 

[kermatu]

Intriguing - I got 5000 points for a barely functioning IFE Melbourne to Auckland in J last month. Not that 10,000 is worth much but where's the consistency?

For reference, onboard the CSM and J attendant tried to be helpful, indicated they'd make a record, and my feedback on the Qantas site was responded to pretty quickly with the 5000 point offer made and credited at the same time. Felt like a nice enough gesture at the time, I didn't query or push, but now I wonder...

 

[shuuy]

Only precedent I have (for a family member with no status) is 10,000 points for the IFE not working from SIN to SYD in Y. That came after contacting QF via the online "Customer Care" form.

P1 here. 10k points for non-functioning electronics PER-SYD

 

[737]

Intriguing - I got 5000 points for a barely functioning IFE Melbourne to Auckland in J last month. Not that 10,000 is worth much but where's the consistency?

For reference, onboard the CSM and J attendant tried to be helpful, indicated they'd make a record, and my feedback on the Qantas site was responded to pretty quickly with the 5000 point offer made and credited at the same time. Felt like a nice enough gesture at the time, I didn't query or push, but now I wonder...

P1 here. 10k points for non-functioning electronics PER-SYD

Apologies for moving away from topic, but with regards to points given by the CSM onboard, the CSM has the ability to give certain amounts of points as a form of customer recovery. The amount given is determined by the CSM on the day and there isn't a "set" amount for CSMs to give out onboard, as they use their discretion. These points are designed to be an instant 'recovery' of the issue and not intended to completely replace further recovery as this would then be forwarded onto customer care for processing and I am sure if they felt there was further recovery needed they would add it. Hope that helps with understanding why there may be inconsistencies.