Beware QF codeshares on LATAM to Santiago

[Austman]

"never back down"

I suppose too, that if J was not full, you could try paying for an upgrade, Y to J, on the spot. And try to claim that cost back later... But I'm guessing that J is usually "fully booked" when these issues come up?

 

[Flying mermaid]

But I'm not sure what there is to learn? I can't see that you did anything wrong.

it.

i suspect the thing to learn is not to fly the codeshare - horrible experience for the OP.

 

[love_the_life]

Interesting that the OP couldn’t get the BP at BNE. We flew QF CBR -SYD- SCL then LA SCL to MVD the other week and had BPs for all flights printed in CBR. Something sounds fishy at LATAM or in QFs booking process.

 

[RichardMEL]

I agree LA seems to have done the dirty here, but there IS a shared responsibility IMHO. the flight was purchased as a QF flight and as such QF took the money for the J sector (and what $120 fare difference for AKL-SCL? Is that a joke? Sounds like difference between full Y and a discount J). Of course you run into the issue of each carrier passing the buck to the other when a GOOD customer care operation (ie: not QF) would take ownership for "their" flight QF321 and deal with it.

Unfortunately if the pax ttravelled in Y the damage is done.

I would also be very wary of the return.....

the online booking should also give fare class information (ie: Confirmed Business (I) or whatever).

very very disappointing

 

[ozflier]

I suppose too, that if J was not full, you could try paying for an upgrade, Y to J, on the spot. And try to claim that cost back later... But I'm guessing that J is usually "fully booked" when these issues come up?

An update.

Sorry for delay as I went straight onto a cruise with almost no wifi access.

No business seat had been found when I got to the Boarding Gate.

There was an announcement to say that the delay of one hour had occurred and that some pax out of Sydney for SCL/Buenos Aires had been transferred onto the LATAM flight via AKL as the QF service would arrive in Santiago too late for the connection onto LAN to Buenos Aires.

The mystery was getting even more mysterious.

I rang QF and they said it was my issue with LATAM but did generously offer to cancel my ticket with a full refund - not sure how I was supposed to get onto South America that day!

The excellent staff at LATAM checkin said they had checked with Qantas and they insisted that it was LATAM’s fault . Apparently one of the extra QF pax out of SYD had been given my seat by QF!

Of course , that was LATAM’s story .

At last, they came up with the last seat for me.

 

[RooFlyer]

Whew. Hope you had an extra G&T or nice Chilean wine to calm your nerves.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The excellent staff at LATAM checkin said they had checked with Qantas and they insisted that it was LATAM’s fault . Apparently one of the extra QF pax out of SYD had been given my seat by QF!

Of course , that was LATAM’s story .

If it was a block code-share that might explain QF's ability to do that (give away the seat, assuming it was their own inventory to do that? Which again calls in to question the extent of the agency arrangement. It might suggest QF is not selling these as agent for LATAM but somehow might be more akin to a wet-lease arrangement?

 

[juddles]

Having done the "southern route" about a thousand times, in every manner (QF metal/ticket, LATAM metal/ticket, and all the QF/LATAM codeshare combinations) I have never been able to grasp the interface between their two systems. I try to fly on QF metal - to a tall bugger like myself the LATAM J product is woeful long-haul. So endless QF27/28's.

When I book these via QF about a quarter of the J seats are not shown on either QF or Expert Flyer seatmaps - those seats do show if you look up the LATAM side of the codeshare. It is only about a day before the flight that suddenly the whole seatmap appears on QF. Likewise via expert flyer the overall seat availability is dodgy. And a quirk is that QF only sells via LATAM codeshares in Y or J - not premium economy. I assume because LATAM has no premium economy on their long haul routes and thus too difficult to offer these on QF metal.

And a thousand times when booking via LATAM, I cannot select seats on QF metal, and vice versa. I think they simply can not make the agreement work with their different systems. I have phoned many times and staff seem to think that they have managed to help - but no seat selection EVER sticks this way.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If it’s a hard block code share each airline ‘owns’ a set of seats which it is responsible for selling (and if QF doesn’t sell them they have to pay for them anyway). This explains the different seat map until just before departure. Qf will have its seats, Latam theirs, and each airline can’t touch the others.

This happens with a couple of other hard blocks... i think the asiana flight is one of them? (I think you can identify these by a three digit qf flight number instead of the usual four digit code share)

 

[yoyo]

This just happened to me on a paid business class seat with Qantas. On the return flight, I was booked on AA from Austin to LAX, connecting with Qantas back to Melbourne. When I arrived at the gate in Austin ( I already had been given my boarding pass with seat 4A in business), I was told that I had been downgraded to economy and was sent to the very last row of the plane. Upon return, I contacted Qantas for a refund but they said it has nothing to do with them and told me to contact American. I can't see how American can refund it when I paid the $7000 to Qantas. Advice?

 

[opusman]

I can't see how American can refund it when I paid the $7000 to Qantas. Advice?

Not great, but the fare differential for AUS-LAX isn't likely to be more than $200 or so, and at least you still made your QF flight out of LAX. I would just let it go...

 

[agentgerko]

"QF never transmitted the fact that you had a seat in Business". That is absolute rubbish, unless you were travelling on an upgrade. Its impossible to make a booking correctly but have the booking class incorrect. If you booked in J then they either didn't receive a booking or they receive it in J. It's impossible in the Amadeus GDS system to book a J class seat but for the airline to receive a Y class booking.

I am assuming you didn't book through a travel agent that you could phone to get the problem fixed. I know I've often been able to correct issues for clients who phone me from the check in desk by simply asking them to hand their mobile over to the deck person. Check in staff think they can bamboozle passengers with rubbish jargon but then backtrack when they realise they're speaking to an industry person who has the actual booking on a screen in front of them.

But once again this shows that codeshares are the bane of passengers around the world. The QF blames LA and LA blames QF is the common response whenever a problem occurs and is why codeshares should come under some real regulatory governance whereby passengers have some clear rights.

 

[Berlin]

As others have written before me, this is more than a one of incidence. I got downgraded twice now but luckily not for the flight to Santiago but on onwards flights within South America- same thing, once Business class once Premium Economy ticketed on QF paper and then told at Santiago airport that I'd have to fly in cattle class. Zero communication, zero attempt to help at all. Luckily they were both only 2-3 hour flights but still- I had paid in full for the tickets and should have not been bumped.

And indeed, the issue starts with QF not being "able" to print the onward boarding passes for LATAM so you ever only find out at the next airport when no QF staff is to be seen anymore. How convenient!

 

[Mrmaxwell]

It seems QF and LATAM shuffle pax around between these two flights to SCL on a regular basis. Certainly over the last few months J on both QF and LATAM has been full on most days, while QF27/28 has some punctuality issues.

Arriving late into SCL means you miss all connections to other major cities and have to overnight in SCL and fly the next morning!

 

[Flying mermaid]

This just happened to me on a paid business class seat with Qantas. On the return flight, I was booked on AA from Austin to LAX, connecting with Qantas back to Melbourne. When I arrived at the gate in Austin ( I already had been given my boarding pass with seat 4A in business), I was told that I had been downgraded to economy and was sent to the very last row of the plane. Upon return, I contacted Qantas for a refund but they said it has nothing to do with them and told me to contact American. I can't see how American can refund it when I paid the $7000 to Qantas. Advice?

were you downgraded on the Austin- lax leg, or the lax-Mel leg?

If it was on the Austin to lax leg, then you will struggle to get Qantas to do anything. They are happy to sell codeshares, but after that it is hands off.

 

[SOPOOR]

if you paid by credit card and not used points, whats stopping you doing a chargeback on the creidt card

if qantas arent going to give the courtesy to adequately compensate let alone inform the passenger,
out of principal I would do a chargeback for the whole amount and make qantas do the runnign around

 

[novice1]

Qantas has to take it up with LATM Shocking Sounds like one for the Ombudsman

 

[MEL_Traveller]

As others have written before me, this is more than a one of incidence. I got downgraded twice now but luckily not for the flight to Santiago but on onwards flights within South America- same thing, once Business class once Premium Economy ticketed on QF paper and then told at Santiago airport that I'd have to fly in cattle class. Zero communication, zero attempt to help at all. Luckily they were both only 2-3 hour flights but still- I had paid in full for the tickets and should have not been bumped.

What did Qantas say when you contacted them about the downgrade?

 

[Berlin]

What did Qantas say when you contacted them about the downgrade?

That I have to take it up with LATAM. Which from experience, is a waste of time as they never ever budge and blame it on "operational reasons". I tried the first time, in vain, and didn't even bother the second time.

 

[Bandicoot]

Seriously, if you sell the ticket, or you sell the internet service, you have a contract with your customer. If your supplier stuffs up that's your problem, not your customer's problem. Where is the ACCC?