Absolutely Disgusted with Qantas

[JohnK]

I booked everything myself.. as I always do.. I travel overseas 4 times a year on average...

I assume there are return flights with QF for this trip. It would be in your best interests to check with QF that you are still booked/confirmed for these return flights as you did not board the first flight in the itinerary.

I think the lesson here is to leave 2-3 hours for domestic-international connections, or vice versa, in SYD especially if the bookings are on different itineraries and more importantly if they are on different carriers.

I am returning CHC-SYD from the Kiwi Mainland Do 2 in September on a Monday afternoon at 15:55. Now I work in BNE I booked a separate flight SYD-BNE that departs at 19:15. Hopefully this should be more than enough time for the connection. There were earlier flights available but I just did not want to risk it.

 

[DJ737]

Flew Jetstar from the Gold to Sydney

That was your 1st mistake, don't blame QF for denying you check-in when you front up at the desk -35 mins after coming off another airlines flight.

Cheers
DJ737

 

[AI-Exper]

That was your 1st mistake, don't blame QF for denying you check-in when you front up at the desk -35 mins after coming off another airlines flight.

Is it ok if its on the same ticket though? Im having to go to Tasmania for work. Will most likely be going Canberra to Melbourne via Qantas, Melbourne to Tasmania via Jetstar. Our travel agent is Qantas Business Travel though.

 

[serfty]

Is it ok if its on the same ticket though? ...

Yes, if on the same ticket you are protected from misconnects.

There is some doubt the OP's connection would meet MCT (minimum connection time) - if it didn't it should not be possible to book it on the one ticket .

(and welcome to AFF )

 

[straitman]

Is it ok if its on the same ticket though? Im having to go to Tasmania for work. Will most likely be going Canberra to Melbourne via Qantas, Melbourne to Tasmania via Jetstar. Our travel agent is Qantas Business Travel though.

AI-Exper,

No not really. Remember that QF currently have really bad on time performance statistics.

You will need to collect your luggage from QF and then checkin again at JQ and you certainly won't have time to do that if you are implying that you only have a 35 min connection.

I would try to have the Melbourne to Hobart leg changed to QF so that you luggage can be booked through and so you can get both boarding passes prior to leaving Canberra. Even then I'd leave at least an hour for the connection and with the knowledge that it's QF's responsibility to pick up the pieces if they are late in the first instance.

Oops, missed the bit about being on the same ticket.

If not then what I've written applies, if so then serfty is correct.

 

[ColinP]

At which point I would have asked for a supervisor.

Were these JQ->JQi or QF->JQi?

(In such circumstances, I would always endeavor take a printout of the JQ "Connecting flights" page as well as a note of the URL.)

JQ -> JQi. Such is my (lack of) confidence in the competence of Jetstar groundstaff that I'm happier to transfer the luggage myself and know that at least my it got as far as international check in.

I was checking in at ADL for these flights at about 5:15 AM. If you knew me you'd understand that I can barely function at that hour, let alone have a 'discussion' with surly Jetstar staff.

 

[AI-Exper]

AI-Exper,

I would try to have the Melbourne to Hobart leg changed to QF so that you luggage can be booked through and so you can get both boarding passes prior to leaving Canberra. Even then I'd leave at least an hour for the connection and with the knowledge that it's QF's responsibility to pick up the pieces if they are late in the first instance.

Unfortunately it was the best fare of the day that got me there by the time i need to be there :-(

If theres any problems with it when im in melbourne, do you think it would be safer just to call qantas business travel rather than tryo to talk to jetstar?

 

[Mal]

Spent some time looking at timetables and doing some sums for a couple of weeks ago.

I believe the OP was on JQ409 OOL-SYD. (11AM-12:20PM).
Flight was delayed by 25 mins meaning a 12:45PM arrival in SYD.

Collected bags, did the terminal transfer, arriving at 1:20PM to check into QF73 (13:55) to SFO.

Was then re-routed onto UA87 to LAX (1:45PM).

They are the only flights which make sense for the journey.

So original time between flights was about 1:35, which as indicated earlier is very tight (but still do-able). In this case, things just didn't work out.

The earlier JQ flight is JQ403 (08:20am-09:40am), which would have given lots more time.

Qantas also warn when attempting to book OOL-SYD-SFO on the one itinerary that:
"You should allow at least :
90 minutes to connect between domestic flights.
135 minutes to connect between a domestic and an international flight.
Note: QF1 - QF399 leave from the International Terminal. Neither Qantas nor Jetstar will take responsibility if you miss your connection. "

Qantas also says that you will be required to collect bags in SYD as well...

 

[oz_mark]

On this colourful, but hard to read page, Jetstar give a recommended minimum as 2 hours for a JQ domestic to QF international transfer in Sydney.

Connecting Flights - At The Airport - Travel Information - Jetstar Airways

 

[Alanslegal]

A quick search revealed that this OP likes to whinge & whine when something does not result in the way she wants....


For example, where the OP demands an apology because she purchased an upgradeable fare but was unsuccessful in a points upgrade:

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/open-discussion/upgrades-pffttt-11250.html

Another example, where six weeks before wanting to travel to the USA in peak periods, there weren't any cheapO tickets available:
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/your-questions/brisbane-to-la-return-5935.html

 

[Will]

A quick search revealed that this OP likes to whinge & whine when something does not result in the way she wants....

Well spotted Alanslegal.
Missanalytical, a bit less attitude in your posts would make it easier for people to help you. After all, none of your complaints has had any foundation - which the users here wouldn't mind if you were at least nice about it.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Ummmm which part do you disbelieve??? All of it is true... I have better things to do with my time than to post some sort of made up story...

I dont believe that you could get a ticket and boarding pass landside, I assume, for a 25minute departure. Did you have bags to check in?

 

[v8Statesman]

Threads like this, Make me want a Delete/Ignore button!

 

[abc12345678]

Paying that extra $10 for the earlier flight from OOL may have alleviated all this...

 

[Platy]

Well spotted Alanslegal.
Missanalytical, a bit less attitude in your posts would make it easier for people to help you. After all, none of your complaints has had any foundation - which the users here wouldn't mind if you were at least nice about it.

C'mon guys, this is turning into an embarrassing and unbecoming feeding frenzy.

IMHO the two earlier posts do not at all imply someone intent on serial complaint without foundation.

Alanslegal, in the first quoted case she was told she could not upgrade because there were no empty seats in J. She then observed empty seats on boarding the aircraft. It is perfectly understandable for someone to find that situation annoying. Her perception is that she had been misled by the airline -which she blatantly had. (I might add that one of the replies to her post could be read is very rude (go get some status idiot was pretty well the gist of it)). Many of us believe it is wrong for the airline to fly with empty J seats and deny upgrades (although others disagree as already explored exensively in other posts).

In the second case quoted she posted to ask for help to find cheaper fares to the US. She merely said she was "disappointed" not to find one to her liking - there is no mention of her making a compaint.

Will, how exactly has this poster "not been nice"? Does the act of making a complaint mean someone had behaved in a way that is "not nice"?


Other posters have doubted this poster's integrity. :shock:

There is extraordinary knowledge and wisdom on this blog, but, IMHO the line between advice and ridicule for someone not fully up to speed has been crossed.

I am frankly shocked at how rude many people are being. :shock:

(As a footnote, I seem to remember that one of the few remaining QF flights (before they completely disappeared) left OOL around 11am. Would QF passengers with US connections have been put on that flight???)

 

[simongr]

This does serve as a lesson to us all - more time is needed for in't connections. It is a shame that QF were not more helpful.

It may reflect relative loads on the two carriers - if UA had seats and were happy to sell them they are more likely to be accommodating. QF may have been happy to have a reason to bump a pax on a full flight to save upgrading someone else.

 

[comint]

Come December, I assume that life will become much easier for those living in Australia's 6th largest city, who want to go to LA (or vice versa for that matter).

The Virgin Blue Group of Airlines seems to be able to communicate and offer "hassle free" connections between their different brands, so presumably V Australia will fit nicely into the team. (Points, Status, Lounges, Service, Upgrades?)

"Hassle Free" from the Gold Coast to LA... start booking Virgin!

 

[anat0l]

C'mon guys, this is turning into an embarrassing and unbecoming feeding frenzy.
...

We are not turning this into another stupid elementary thread about the mechanics and merits of QF international upgrading system!

As for the "nice" thing, there are many ways to express oneself to appear open and defensive (rather than assertive). As we are dealing with written matter here rather than verbal, this task is even more important because a lot of communication is lost via not being able to verbally express oneself. Failure to do so is not the responsibility of those that decide interpret it differently to the original intention.

Ignorance should be openly communicated - this blog recognises that not everyone is up to speed and there is no shame in admitting it (especially with a thick layer of anonymity) - certainly I've done so myself before, so why not? It helps us contextualise the situation.

Also, while people cannot necessarily be blamed for being emotionally unstable during a misfortune, certainly from a rational point of view people cannot be necessarily blaming of others when that misfortune is brought about by themselves (whether wholly or in part)!

Finally, having worked in retail before, companies operate within the legal boundaries and also within what they believe is reasonable (from moral and practical perspectives - note the two key words there). If a company wants to go beyond the call, so be it. Failure to not go beyond the call could be criticised as simply that, but it shouldn't be branded a moral crime, which is what our no-responsibility-taking-litigious-customer-is-always-right-no-matter-how-stupid-or-unreasonable-they-are society would rather do these days.

Now back on topic, let me summarise the two key learnings from here:

1. It would have been nice for QF to go beyond the call and see past this delay which was obviously beyond the control of the passenger. Or at least put her on the next flight. Taking the OP's transcript to the letter and assuming the OP was being a reasonable human being, it was certainly not the smartest thing for the attendant to say what she said.
   I'm glad that the OP found UA to help her out. By all deterministic rationalism, she would have been stranded.
2. More time should always be allowed for Dom<->Int connections, especially when they are on different carriers and/or PNRs. The 95% confident catch-all seems to be 3 hours MCT for Dom->Int and about 2.25 hours for Int->Dom.

 

[Platy]

In all the excitement I forgot to mention that I can think of two occasions when I have checked into QF international flights at the 30-35 minute mark. The provisos being that I had no check in bags and these were dom legs of international services, but with need for check in at international terminal. Both occasions I was running late for the airport (severe traffic etc)

There was (is?) a 30 minute cut off at the time for absolute final check in. This may have changed.

(Of course with the promise of an hour or two in the F lounge, these days I love to be at the airport 3 hours in advance!).

 

[Platy]

We are not turning this into another stupid elementary thread about the mechanics and merits of QF international upgrading system!...

Not my intention. I am merely saying that it is specious to claim that the poster is a serial complainer on issues without foundation and I have provided the rationale for my personal point of view.

Sure a poster needs to be clear in communication, but many like to jump to conclusions - for example you choose to imply the poster is emotionally unstable, a conclusion I personally wouldn't draw from the information at hand (with or without worrying about a "95%" confidence level! Perhaps our "rationalistic processes" differ!).

I have less faith than you in companies following legal strictures. QF was recently exposed for setting freight prices, has had its knuckles rapped for misleading advertising (fees, surcharges)and continues to flaunt rules on fees for financial transactions (eg excessive credit card fees).

All that said, I agree with the basic message in your two conclusions !