Bumped off oversold flight as a WP

[D-Nominator]

Never happened to me before so curious to see what the deal is, as a WP recently my family and I were bumped off a flight from QFF Mel to Syd as flight was oversold. When I pushed back given my status the customer service agents did their best. They admitted they had not seen that happen before to a WP but the customer service manager after 30 mins of trying to get me and my family back on the flight came over and explained that previous two flights had been cancelled and the system doesn’t recognise status it simply does the best jigsaw arrangement it can with all passengers. Was put on a later flight an hour an half later so no big deal …but my confidence level in terms of being WP has been eroded I didn’t think I could get bumped of a flight? And don’t really believe the explanation to be frank ?

Any insights would be good for future reference ?

 

[SYD]

Wow.

Were you checked in with allocated seats?

I would have though the algorithm would start with those not checked in.

 

[SeatBackForward]

being WP has been eroded I didn’t think I could get bumped of a flight?

It actually can happen to anyone. We've had experiences here on AFF of a WP in business class being bumped (can't recall if it was back into economy or off the flight altogether) to make room for QF Crew!

I suspect in your example, that you were travelling with family was given higher consideration than you being a WP. They are less likely to split your travelling party up.

 

[equus]

I am not sure I believe the explanation. I didn't think the "jigsaw" that the "system" does allows for bumping pax booked on one flight to make room for others not already booked on the flight. It would do its best to assign pax from other flights into vacant seats, but not actively remove people.

If you were not checked in, that would make a huge difference, but I still believe that removing people confirmed on a flight is done by a human, not the system.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I am not sure I believe the explanation. I didn't think the "jigsaw" that the "system" does allows for bumping pax booked on one flight to make room for others not already booked on the flight. It would do its best to assign pax from other flights into vacant seats, but not actively remove people.

If you were not checked in, that would make a huge difference, but I still believe that removing people confirmed on a flight is done by a human, not the system.

I’m fairly sure they will bump passengers off a flight to put pax on who have connections especially QFi

 

[D-Nominator]

Wow.

Were you checked in with allocated seats?

I would have though the algorithm would start with those not checked in.

You make a good point we hadn’t checked in on line. Should have yes but still didn’t expect to be bumped regardless. Will do so religiously going forward !

 

[D-Nominator]

I am not sure I believe the explanation. I didn't think the "jigsaw" that the "system" does allows for bumping pax booked on one flight to make room for others not already booked on the flight. It would do its best to assign pax from other flights into vacant seats, but not actively remove people.

If you were not checked in, that would make a huge difference, but I still believe that removing people confirmed on a flight is done by a human, not the system.

Hadn’t checked in which was part of the problem but still didn’t expect to be bumped ahead of others. Lesson learned check in on line always. Status offers limited protection apparently

 

[equus]

I’m fairly sure they will bump passengers off a flight to put pax on who have connections especially QFi

Agreed - but I think this is a manual decision, not system automated - although it may bump people who are not checked in. I doubt that it would automatically bump people checked in.

Yet another reason to have connections on the same PNR - even if your "connection" is fine timewise, it is not going to help if you get bumped in favour of someone showing the connection because the system doesn't see your separate bookings. Yet another facet of protection on single PNR connections.

 

[Pushka]

It actually can happen to anyone. We've had experiences here on AFF of a WP in business class being bumped (can't recall if it was back into economy or off the flight altogether) to make room for QF Crew!

I suspect in your example, that you were travelling with family was given higher consideration than you being a WP. They are less likely to split your travelling party up.

Yup. That was us. Two WP. Just back to economy though - we had an International connection so they couldn't kick us off entirely

 

[RichardMEL]

Is it time to invoke the Montreal Convention?

I doubt this was manual tbh. With two flights cancelled, say around 300pax to reaccom, they need to fit those pax to as soon as possible - specially any with known connections. This absolutely would be automated. Tbh, a group not checked in likely is a factor - how does QF know they intend to show or change (platinums could). Either way this is unfortunate, but to end up being delayed by 90min is not overly onerous in the hrand scheme of things - one of the problems(allowing cxls) and benefits of such a busy travel corridor with frequent service.

 

[D-Nominator]

Is it time to invoke the Montreal Convention?

I doubt this was manual tbh. With two flights cancelled, say around 300pax to reaccom, they need to fit those pax to as soon as possible - specially any with known connections. This absolutely would be automated. Tbh, a group not checked in likely is a factor - how does QF know they intend to show or change (platinums could). Either way this is unfortunate, but to end up being delayed by 90min is not overly onerous in the hrand scheme of things - one of the problems(allowing cxls) and benefits of such a busy travel corridor with frequent service.

Agreed, the inconvenience was minor, it’s more about what lessons can be learned to avoid this in the future when the inconvenience could be major and my takeaways are check in on line always.

 

[shuuy]

what compensation (if any) does Qantas provide in an involuntary denied boarding scenario?

 

[JohnK]

Sorry to hear this has happened.

I can understand displacing passengers from later flights if the passengers from previous flights have connections but I've never ever heard of a cascade effect where they move passengers from cancelled flight to a later flight and moving passengers from that flight to another flight and so on.

When has any airline ever cared about how long someone had to wait before being placed on another flight after cancellation? This sounds like a manual process.

 

[muppet]

what compensation (if any) does Qantas provide in an involuntary denied boarding scenario?

That’s easy - $0

Which is why we need EU style rules (which wouldn’t apply here anyway as the delay was minor).

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF @D-Nominator . Lessons for all of us here.

 

[ChrisGibbs]

Back in 2020 was travelling during the first week of January with my two children as a P1 / LTP from SFO-SYD on QF16 (as it was back then) in J. 12 hrs out from departure received a call from QF in J'Burg saying they were bumping the 3 of us off the flight.... I asked QF J'Burg to hold the line while I connected the VIP Service team to the call. It was resolved in 30 seconds with the rep from the VIP Service team saying they weren't to offload us from the flight.... Interestingly the flight was only 80% loaded with a bunch of J seats being open.... Not sure what all the fuss was about....

By the sounds of things status doesn't necessarily come into play when they are looking to offload passengers in a hurry. If they can find multiple travellers on the same booking (i.e. family) that makes the job of freeing up seats a little easier....

 

[AIRwin]

Lesson learned check in on line always.

You can always uncheck in later

 

[moa999]

Which is why we need EU style rules (which wouldn’t apply here anyway as the delay was minor).

Indeed EU style rules can make bumping more common.
As the airlines run programs to minimise payouts - which might been bumping multiple pax in a cascade, rather than having to payout.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Which is why we need EU style rules (which wouldn’t apply here anyway as the delay was minor).

In the case of EU261 compensation would be owed due to overbooking. How long you were delayed doesn’t play a factor into determining whether this entitlement needs to be provided by the airline. You could be delayed by 30 minutes but they’d still have to pay up, up to €600 fine for the harm they caused. A similar thing is true in Canada although the compensation is far more generous at $2,400 CAD.

The message is clear: if you want to bump passengers off, fine but it’ll cost you. This notion that you have a bundle of rights simply doesn’t exist over there.

 

[RichardMEL]

It wasn't overbooking if the previous flights were cancelled. Yes yes, flight consolidation I hear you yell. Maybe. Maybe a staffing issue(s), tech, anything.

Point is, despite the explanation first given, I don't think overbooking is the case here tbh.