Almighty Mess with Booking

[MickeyMad]

I've spent over a week trying to book my family of 4 and my niece on flights from Perth to Orlando and back.

Because I needed to use 4 Qantas Pass credits (2 each for my husband and I) and my niece's return flight was on an earlier date, I called to do the bookings to simplify the process.

I was SO WRONG. I've now made multiple bookings for myself online, have holds on thousands of dollars on my credit card, missing Qantas Pass credit from bookings that were auto cancelled by Qantas, been told multiple variations of how payment using Qantas Pass works and I'm also STILL waiting on an e-ticket (this morning I received my THIRD guarantee that it would be in my email within 24 hours) and the flights have cost me thousands of dollars more than the first one I booked a week ago.

I've explained my story to people in Asia and Africa 15 times (that's just the calls I've documented) and the story gets longer and longer every time I call. I tried calling Customer Care a number of times and was diverted to flight reservations each time.

I've emailed my complaints through the form on the site. This morning I received an email advising that my daughters date of birth needed to be provided so our ticket could be issued. I had already done this and it was showing in the info I could see on the website, AND she's a QFF.

The lady I spoke to this morning said the issue was that she was booked as an adult, so she would have to change the ticket to a child to add her date of birth. WHAT?! The reservation system said I had to book her as an adult because she's over 12?!

My experience with Qantas was challenging last year, as well as my long haul from LAX to SYD had no in-flight entertainment, to which was immensely frustrating, but this experience has tested every fiber of my being.

I still have a long list of issues (including the fact that I just paid adult pricing for my child, the ticket has been adjusted, but I'm sure my bank account wont be) but I'm at a loss for who or how I am supposed to manage it all. This should have been a VERY simple process that has been everything but that.

 

[AIRwin]

I've explained my story to people in Singapore

Philippines?

 

[MickeyMad]

Philippines?

Perhaps, but a gentleman I spoke with said he was in Singapore when we were trying to organise a call back time (which never happened). I should have said Asia and been less specific.

 

[RichardMEL]

I'm a little bit confused. On the one hand you called to do the bookings, but also say you have multiple bookings you made for yourself online? This seems like an almighty mess

Were you trying to combine the 4 passes into 2 separate bookins (one for you and your husband and one for your neice who is returning on an earlier date as I understand it)?

 

[@WhiteboardKing]

I've spent over a week trying to book my family of 4 and my niece on flights from Perth to Orlando and back. Because I needed to use 4 Qantas Pass credits (2 each for my husband and I) and my niece's return flight was on an earlier date, I called to do the bookings to simplify the process. I was SO WRONG. I've now made multiple bookings for myself online, have holds on thousands of dollars on my credit card, missing Qantas Pass credit from bookings that were auto cancelled by Qantas, been told multiple variations of how payment using Qantas Pass works and I'm also STILL waiting on an e-ticket (this morning I received my THIRD guarantee that it would be in my email within 24 hours) and the flights have cost me thousands of dollars more than the first one I booked a week ago. I've explained my story to people in Asia and Africa 15 times (that's just the calls I've documented) and the story gets longer and longer every time I call. I tried calling Customer Care a number of times and was diverted to flight reservations each time. I've emailed my complaints through the form on the site. This morning I received an email advising that my daughters date of birth needed to be provided so our ticket could be issued. I had already done this and it was showing in the info I could see on the website, AND she's a QFF. The lady I spoke to this morning said the issue was that she was booked as an adult, so she would have to change the ticket to a child to add her date of birth. WHAT?! The reservation system said I had to book her as an adult because she's over 12?! My experience with Qantas was challenging last year, as well as my long haul from LAX to SYD had no in-flight entertainment, to which was immensely frustrating, but this experience has tested every fiber of my being. I still have a long list of issues (including the fact that I just paid adult pricing for my child, the ticket has been adjusted, but I'm sure my bank account wont be) but I'm at a loss for who or how I am supposed to manage it all. This should have been a VERY simple process that has been everything but that.

With out going into the nuts and bolts of the bookings themselves, I used Qantas pass and it was basically a credit card. It was a number and you used it at the time of booking which paid/part paid the booking you were checking out.

Did you not use the passes correctly, or did the flights you've booked with passes end up cancelled/changed and you are now stuck in a loop with trying to get pass credit back again?

Sorry, there's a lot to absorb from your statement.

 

[RichardMEL]

Or perhaps you had flight credits (as opposed to Passes) which are a whole other complex issue?

I agree the passes are pretty straight forward imo as they are basically a form of payment akin to a stored value card but act like a credit/debit card. Every one I have used have been very straightforward - but have only been booking for myself so not so complex.

 

[MickeyMad]

It surely is an almighty mess. I'll try to break it down so it makes some more sense...
1. 1 Feb: I called Qantas to make the booking, but the lady on the phone said it would be easier if I did the bookings myself online, and just broke them into three bookings (myself and the kids, my husband and then my niece). She assured me I could use 2 Qantas Pass credits per booking, and use my credit card to pay the balances.
2. I attempted to make the booking for myself and my kids. I was surprised that I had to purchase my 12 year old daughter's ticket as an adult (the site said children are up to 11 years) but I entered 2 adults and 1 child and went through the whole process. As I clicked to go into the payment screen, the website brought up an error. I attempted to log back in and pay for the booking, but there was no option to make payment. The system even allowed me to select seats? I called Qantas to make payment. The lady took both of my Qantas Pass credit details and my credit card. She assured me that I would received me e-ticket shortly. I waited a few hours and received nothing.
3. I called Qantas and was told I must wait 24 hours, but that he would call me back at 7am to follow up and let me know what was happening.
4. 2 Feb: No call at 7am. I waited until around 2pm and called. I was told the booking was cancelled, with no further information. She told me to call the bank and have the $8k+ payment cancelled at their end and then she would call me back in the morning and we could redo the booking. Naturally the bank said they could do nothing if Qantas had cancelled the booking at their end and I would just have to wait up to 7 business days for it to clear (which it did this morning - 10 Feb)
5. 3 Feb - Qantas called back to redo the booking but as I do not have access to the $8k+ to make the booking, they couldn't help me until I had more money. I sent a Complaint form to Qantas.
6. 7 Feb - Called Qantas to figure out what is happening at their end and how this can be managed as I knew my flights were just going to get harder and harder to book, and likely cost a whole lot more money the longer I waited. I was advised the booking had been auto cancelled by the system (no reason given) and that there was no record of payment being made for the booking. She advised me that my Qantas Passes had been used and the balances were almost zero. So now I have money on hold with the bank and no credit and no flights. A report was lodged to have the credit returned to my Qantas Pass there is no record of it actually being applied anywhere.
7. 8 Feb - I called Qantas to follow up on the day before, I am advised my Qantas Passes have been restored, I can do the booking online, I can have any unused QP refunded to the original credit card I used
8. I went online to make the booking (because I was advised I would be charged the $45 to make the booking over the phone) and put it through as 1 child under 11, and 2 adults as the site said. I put 1 Qantas Pass and my credit card details into the system and pressed PAY NOW. They system advised their was a payment error and over $10k is withdrawn from my account.
9. I called Qantas to figure out what happened and was told the Qantas Pass did not have enough funds. My credit card dropped the payment pretty much instantly, but now I'm back at no credit, the other $8k+ still on hold and NO FLIGHTS. The lady recorded my customer complaint number and said she would follow it up and call me back later. She did try, but the phone rang once, I picked it up and it cut out immediately.
10. I called Qantas and was told it would be escalated to a manager. After an hour on the phone and a long time on hold, the call dropped out. I called again and after I had explained all of the above, the call dropped out again. He tried to call back but the same pick up and drop off happened.
11. I called AGAIN and was advised that all of my previous payments on the first booking were now applied to the new booking, and that there was no payment outstanding (which sounded weird to me due to the fact that the flights were now $2k more expensive) and that it would be ticketed within 24 hours. She also linked my husband and niece's booking (which I did with no issues at all) to this one.
12. 9 Feb - NO E-TICKET. I called again and explained this never-ending saga and the call dropped out. This happened again pretty much immediately.
13. I rang again, and was told there was no money outstanding on the booking and that credits had been applied to each flight. I asked her to clarify as there was never enough money in my credits to pay for one flight, let alone 3. One QP that totalled less than $800 had been applied to all 3 flights and therefore the system said the payment had not been made, so no ticket was issued. She applied the ONE credit that seemed to be working, and took over $10k in payment for the flights and told me the the ticket would be issued within 24 hours. This was quite late last night, so I went to bed hoping this morning I would wake to an e-ticket and at least THAT would have been sorted.
14. 10 Feb - This morning I woke to an email advising that my 12 year old daughter needed to "provide your Secure Flight and Advance Passenger Information (APIS) so that we can issue your tickets." As her current passport expired in 2020 I wasn't able to do that. I called Qantas to figure out why her age wasn't provided since I could see it in the booking. That's when I was notified that she need her ticket changed to a child to put her birth date in at their end. I have now been guaranteed that my e-ticket will be issued. I wont believe that until I see it.

I guess now you can see why I didn't type all of this to begin with. It's been a HELL of a week.

 

[RichardMEL]

oh that's crazy for sure. Seems like most of those charges would have been in a pending state and auto cancelled back to your CC, but of course you couldn't do anything further with those large amounts on hold. ouch.

I would say yes the APIS is a thing for ticketing for trips to the US (there's some conflicting detail from the US CBP info about when the info is actually required before flight, but I've always known QF to hold back ticketing US flights wthout the minimal info in APIS). That doesn't help of course - just another frustration for you.

Hopefully this is resolved ASAP and then you can get the fun going about getting your daughter's passport renewed, ESTA(obviously you need the passport info for that) and so on.

as a general point it should never, of course, have gotten even half way through your sad story of stuff ups and should hve been handled properly by agents who could handle the details properly.

and sorry, but the CHEEK, that after all you've gone through to say "book online - again - or we'll charge you the fee for phone assistance" - I know that's the rule and in the script, but common sense ??? Just so disappointing. Probably agents in Cape Town or Fiji don't have the authority to even waive such things (I have no idea).

best wishes.

 

[MickeyMad]

oh that's crazy for sure. Seems like most of those charges would have been in a pending state and auto cancelled back to your CC, but of course you couldn't do anything further with those large amounts on hold. ouch.

I would say yes the APIS is a thing for ticketing for trips to the US (there's some conflicting detail from the US CBP info about when the info is actually required before flight, but I've always known QF to hold back ticketing US flights wthout the minimal info in APIS). That doesn't help of course - just another frustration for you.

Hopefully this is resolved ASAP and then you can get the fun going about getting your daughter's passport renewed, ESTA(obviously you need the passport info for that) and so on.

as a general point it should never, of course, have gotten even half way through your sad story of stuff ups and should hve been handled properly by agents who could handle the details properly.

and sorry, but the CHEEK, that after all you've gone through to say "book online - again - or we'll charge you the fee for phone assistance" - I know that's the rule and in the script, but common sense ??? Just so disappointing. Probably agents in Cape Town or Fiji don't have the authority to even waive such things (I have no idea).

best wishes.

Thanks. Apart from all the time and stress this has caused, the fact that these errors on Qantas' part have cost me extra thousands of dollars out of my vacation budget. I understand that APIS situation, but given I should never have had to book her as an adult, this should never have happened at all. I booked my husband's flights using his QP very easily. I wish the rest of it had been so simple.

 

[RichardMEL]

Thanks. Apart from all the time and stress this has caused, the fact that these errors on Qantas' part have cost me extra thousands of dollars out of my vacation budget. I understand that APIS situation, but given I should never have had to book her as an adult, this should never have happened at all. I booked my husband's flights using his QP very easily. I wish the rest of it had been so simple.

I admit I am a little confused about your daughter to be honest (but I have not had my coffee yet! ). You said she's 12, and children are defined as 2-11, so surely you do have to book her as an adult (and then provide the info)?

 

[@WhiteboardKing]

Thanks. Apart from all the time and stress this has caused, the fact that these errors on Qantas' part have cost me extra thousands of dollars out of my vacation budget. I understand that APIS situation, but given I should never have had to book her as an adult, this should never have happened at all. I booked my husband's flights using his QP very easily. I wish the rest of it had been so simple.

Don't get too troubled by the Adult/Child thing. 12 years is the age where its deemed capable of flying alone, whilst most of us certainly wouldn't unless extremely mature and flight experienced.

The main point if to identify food, entertainment needs etc and confirm people travelling unaccompanied. The cost and seat for children is obviously no different.

 

[MickeyMad]

Don't get too troubled by the Adult/Child thing. 12 years is the age where its deemed capable of flying alone, whilst most of us certainly wouldn't unless extremely mature and flight experienced.

The main point if to identify food, entertainment needs etc and confirm people travelling unaccompanied. The cost and seat for children is obviously no different.

The issue in regards to extra cost is due to the original booking being cancelled. The flights I originally booked were less than $1800 each way. The ones I'm currently waiting on my e-ticket for are (I think, since I've not seen the fare break down) are closer to $2000 each. My original credit card payment was $8300 and the last payment I made was over $10,000.

 

[Rich]

The cost and seat for children is obviously no different.

That's not true. I just did a random MEL LAX one way with QF.
Adult $1735
Child $1278
Base fare and carrier charge are different. There is also no $60 Passenger Movement Charge for the child. Points booking is therefore also cheaper, but just by that $60.

 

[MickeyMad]

That's not true. I just did a random MEL LAX one way with QF.
Adult $1735
Child $1278
Base fare and carrier charge are different. There is also no $60 Passenger Movement Charge for the child. Points booking is therefore also cheaper, but just by that $60.

I'm flying PER to MCO in December

Post automatically merged: Feb 10, 2023

I'm flying PER to MCO in December

Apologies, I'm reactive. I thought you were criticising my post.

 

[Rich]

I'm flying PER to MCO in December

Post automatically merged: Feb 10, 2023

Apologies, I'm reactive. I thought you were criticising my post.

All good, you just confused me.

 

[@WhiteboardKing]

That's not true. I just did a random MEL LAX one way with QF.
Adult $1735
Child $1278
Base fare and carrier charge are different. There is also no $60 Passenger Movement Charge for the child. Points booking is therefore also cheaper, but just by that $60.

Oh nice, I guess inter changes it up a bit and effects taxes etc.

Edit: I've never gone into the break down when looking previously, just seen the "per passenger" amount on main screen and "assumed"(dangerous I know) that the costs is same per passenger. Obviously averages it out based on the search as a guide. Thanks

 

[tinky]

Is there anyone on this thread who can help escalate or help the OP with the frustrating run around she has experienced? I had understood that Qantas had brought in a new process so that someone who has called the call centre multiple times and spoken to countless different employees gets triaged to the Hobart call centre?

 

[MickeyMad]

well, the latest article that mentions this says this is some sort of future planned "enhancement" - the current dedicated team is for ticketing issues with partner awards and so on, and it seems they have an autoreply saying they won't deal with anything else unfortunately....

It may be worth pulling this thread out to form a new thread perhaps so it may get some more attention as this is more complex than a "newbie" question imo

Could you provide me with some guidance on how/where to do this? I don't have any experience with forums like this :/

 

[serfty]

That's not true. I just did a random MEL LAX one way with QF.
Adult $1735
Child $1278
Base fare and carrier charge are different. There is also no $60 Passenger Movement Charge for the child. Points booking is therefore also cheaper, but just by that $60.

That's a one way international fare which with Qantas generally books into the higher fare buckets or even Flex for which the available fares generally have child discount provisions.

Not all Sale and discount return fares have such discounts for children.

To get a representative comparison, you'd need to be looking at sale/discount return fares.

 

[Rich]

To get a representative comparison, you'd need to be looking at sale/discount return fares.

I am not sure why, I was replying to someone saying
"The main point if to identify food, entertainment needs etc and confirm people travelling unaccompanied. The cost and seat for children is obviously no different."
Regardless, here is a random sale fare MEL to NAN return, the first one I looked at.