Award Assistance Fee when product is not available on line?

[jukebox333]

I have been doing some long term look-ahead investigations on the QFF itinerary planner, as the spend points are mounting in my QFF account, and one of the things that sticks out is the restrictive results that the online tool spits out. For instance if I want to fly out of NRT to Europe or the USA, flights across the Pacific on JAL are not offered. Ever.

But JAL is a OneWorld partner. It appears that if I phone the QF call centre (and pay the appropriate "assistance fee") that the operator there will be able see those options and space permitting, get me on a JAL flight as part of a RTW itinerary.

I did a trip less than 5 years ago using points for four pax that went PER-NRT-TPE-HKG-PER using QF/CX that couldn't be booked online as the CX flights were not shown back then. So I used the normal full fare planner to identify the flight numbers, then called up and gave the operator the specifics as we went sector by sector - and because the CX flights NRT-TPE-HKG were not accessible using the online FF tool, I was not charged an assistance fee.

So my question is: Have the rules changed? Or is this grey area something that the QF operators have discretion on? I understand the driver for getting some extra revenue for using an operator, but five pax at 8,000 miles per assist is one hell of a price to pay! At best it seems unethical/a restrictive practice, at worst I wonder if it is legal, given it is not addressed in the T&C's.

 

[casanovawa]

I booked a RTW OW award ticket this year and even though i called back and talked to several different operators saying that not all airlines were shown and not all destinations that i wanted were shown online and so there was no way i could book it myself and wasn't just being lazy, i never got any of them saying they could waive the fee, they made it sound almost automatic when the ticket is issued...

Pretty cough, verging on unethical, and yeah they have introduced even more fees for changing a booking i think plus the assistance fee each time, but i think they are more than happy to burn up people's points this way, no skin off their nose and less they have to redeem with actual flights...

So i would be surprised if you could get any relief from the assistance fee...

 

[thewinchester]

I've had cause previously to ask for an assistance fee to be waived, specifically where I had to cancel my multi-city itinerary and rebook.

While the credit was held against the original PNR, the QF booking engine does not allow you to use a held credit for a multi-city booking. This meant that I had to call Reservations to make the re-booking, hence getting slapped with the assistance fee.

I've raised my view in respect of this on another thread tonight, but in any case I hold the view that, like the OP's scenario, a fee should not be charged in any case where the transaction cannot be completed by a reasonable person through a self-service channel.

 

[ajw373]

Maybe someone that has been effected by this needs to make a complaint to the ACCC or their state consumer affairs department to see if this is illegal. Seems pretty rough to change someone for something that cannot be done unline, so may well have a case.

 

[jukebox333]

Maybe someone that has been effected by this needs to make a complaint to the ACCC or their state consumer affairs department to see if this is illegal. Seems pretty rough to change someone for something that cannot be done unline, so may well have a case.

These are pretty much my thoughts exactly! I'm not quite ready to book - need to harvest a few more points when there's 5 pax flying* - but when I do, am planning to do it 350-ish days out. I just feel that if you are going to promote yourself as part of a multi-airline Frequent Flyer program, unless you addess it in your rules, I can't see how you can restrict access to certain airlines products to those who are prepared to pay a fee - which is effectively what is happening with JL.

Of course the risk with pushing the issue is that I may well get the flights... and then see my bags sent on a different holiday all of thier own, to teach me a lesson!

*(FWIW, the number of pax isn't the issue - I was rather surprised to find I could book PER-SIN-HEL-OUL-HEL-HKG-PER this coming Christmas with five pax today, if I had the points - but try booking one FF seat on the NRT-YVR sector on JL and it ain't gonna happen!)

 

[Limewood]

No doubt this is wrong to treat QFF this way, having to call and lose points because its not on the site but is if one calls, been the bane of the QFF world for a long time.

Not forgetting few seat unless you book near a year out too, seems to many FF for amount of seats available, unlike V can book any seat anytime if there, another reason I've just taken up free match status gold offer

 

[tuppaware]

Maybe a good time to suggest that I can you could always go and book the flight at a TA..

 

[BVT]

I agree that this practice is extremely dodgy. To charge a fee when the service cannot be done online is very cheeky.

A few years back, I did complain and was given a $200 voucher. Earlier this year when faced with the same issue, the CSA told me that they had no discretion. Moreover, I was also told that the booking could not be made nor confirmed unless the fee was paid! Do you want the seat, or not??

 

[JohnK]

I have booked 2 Oneworld awards (1 of these for 2 people) and have had the fee waived each time. Now the last one of these was in 2009 but I cannot see how things have changed that much since.

For what it is worth I had a customer service agent waive the service fee on a ticket I was changing when I was in hospital this time last year.

Getting customer service agents to waive fees is possible. Just need to get the right one no matter how many calls are made.

 

[dajop]

I have booked 2 Oneworld awards (1 of these for 2 people) and have had the fee waived each time. Now the last one of these was in 2009 but I cannot see how things have changed that much since.

The fee has more than doubled since then, at least for international bookings. I did not have it waived for a JL booking earlier this year (when it was still only 3.5K) that could not be booked online. For the the longer oneworld awards, it's probably not that significant. But it makes short international awards practically worthless (thank you sir, that will be 10000 pts + 6000 pts booking fee + $130 in taxes. Oh really? Don't bother I can buy the fare for $180 .....)

But then again, QF aren't the only ones. SQ charges a 17.6% penalty for awards that can't be booked online .... including all partner awards.

 

[UP4014]

I've only have to call up once in a similar situation back in 2010, there was no fee and it wasn't even raised. Like much of this type of stuff is can be down to the person you speak to which isn't a great for the passenger.

Matt