Consensus on points compo for failed IFE

[k_sheep]

I've mentioned it before, but I did MEL-DXB in F (as a SG at the time I think) about 2-3 years ago, no IFE, and got zero. Nada. Zip.

I mean, I got a "thank you for your feedback, apologise for lack of IFE, thanks for flying QF" email. Woo.

 

[Flying mermaid]

btw how do u even put in a complaint with them?

I am finding facebook works well. I have had an issue this week with an award booking I was trying t do just hanging when it tried to get to the final page. I get a reply within 24 hours, which is much better than sending an email. Still ended up finding a work around for my own problem, but at least I didn't have to sit in a phone queue and I must have had 3 different replies as the problem progressed...

 

[RB]

In 2014 Mrs RB had her inflight entertainment on TG J from MXP-BKK fail. What I found interesting (whether it was trueful or not) was that Thai stated that 5,000 miles was the max agreement among Star Alliance partners. They helped by crediting both Mrs RB & me (mine worked fine) so 10,000 in total.

 

[juddles]

I got a reply today from Qantas Customer Care:

"Ref No: 02xx_xx_xx_

Dear Mr xx_xx_xx_xx_k,


Thank you for getting in touch with our Platinum One Team regarding the in-flight entertainment difficulties you encountered during your recent flight to Santiago De Chile.

Experiencing malfunctioning in-flight entertainment can be very frustrating especially on a long flight, so please accept our apologies for the inconvenience.

I can imagine how disappointing it must have been not to be able to use the in-flight entertainment system and how this would of impacted on your trip. Please be assured we recognize the inconvenience caused to you.

We have reviewed your flight history and understand 15000(fifteen thousand) frequent flyer points was acquired for this flight and another 10000(ten thousand) frequent fly points will be credited into your membership as discussed with our cabin crew.

We feel this offer as a gesture of goodwill was appropriate on this occasion.

Once again please accept our sincere apologies and we trust your next flight with us will be more enjoyable and we look forward to welcoming you on board.


Kind regards

xx_xx_xx_

Qantas Customer Care"

 

[juddles]

Not sure how to take this. Are they seriously including the points that I would accrue anyway into their "gesture of goodwill"??

I may be way wrong, but I really think that 10,000 points is not enough for suffering a 12 hr flight without IFE. Regardless of whether I am Bronze or P1. The real cost to QF of those points is max 50 dollars.

But what really gets me is the lack of QF's ability to deal with things in a personal way. I feel like I am just one of any of their customers, and they don't care. I buy 10+ return J fares from Australia to South America each year. Qantas has gotten almost all those bookings. This incident (and their followup) will not prevent me flying QF - I am not into the whole "never fly you again" thing. But I will most likely favour Air New Zealand for the rest of the year - will cost QF about 50k in lost revenue. Will make me feel better, but really it is ridiculous.

 

[RichardMEL]

ouch. it is as I suspected that they consider the compensation handed out to you as sufficient and STFU and be happy with it seems to be the tone of the message(again that you earned 15k points for th flight seems irrelevant to me... does that ean if I was in Y and I would only earn 5k points, then they would only offer 2.5k?)

Will you get back to SST and tell them you feel this isn't good enough or let it go?

 

[Danger]

Not sure how to take this. Are they seriously including the points that I would accrue anyway into their "gesture of goodwill"??

I may be way wrong, but I really think that 10,000 points is not enough for suffering a 12 hr flight without IFE. Regardless of whether I am Bronze or P1. The real cost to QF of those points is max 50 dollars.

But what really gets me is the lack of QF's ability to deal with things in a personal way. I feel like I am just one of any of their customers, and they don't care. I buy 10+ return J fares from Australia to South America each year. Qantas has gotten almost all those bookings. This incident (and their followup) will not prevent me flying QF - I am not into the whole "never fly you again" thing. But I will most likely favour Air New Zealand for the rest of the year - will cost QF about 50k in lost revenue. Will make me feel better, but really it is ridiculous.

WOW! That is terrible. Qantas is effectively saying that the higher your membership tier, the less compensation you will get because the higher your status the more points you're earning for the flight. That simply can't be right.

Send QF the receipts for your non-QF flights for the rest of the year and say "I have reviewed my flight history and have acquired x NZ Airpoints".

And you're P1? I'm just floored with this response. If Qantas had left out the part about how much you'd "acquired" for this flight, it would have been far more palatable.

 

[juddles]

ouch. it is as I suspected that they consider the compensation handed out to you as sufficient and STFU and be happy with it seems to be the tone of the message(again that you earned 15k points for th flight seems irrelevant to me... does that ean if I was in Y and I would only earn 5k points, then they would only offer 2.5k?)

Will you get back to SST and tell them you feel this isn't good enough or let it go?

This is where it is complicated. I survived the flight, and whether it is 10k points or 20k or whatever will really not make a big difference to me. But I just FEEL bad. Will send an email or two to continue the debate with them, but I also know that it is pointless (pardon the pun(?)) to fight the system.

At the end of the day I will probably just change a few flights to NZ so I know I have deprived QF of $20k or so of income. Not what I want to do, as anyone who knows me on this forum knows I am a devout QF supporter. But it is getting harder.....

 

[Flying mermaid]

It seems to me that they are drawing your attention to the fact that you were given almost as much in compensation as you would have earned for the flight, so not reasonable to ask for more for what they view as a small component of the experience.

I would have thought for a P1, handing out a few extra points as a goodwill gesture would be a cost effective marketing thing. You must spend a lot to maintain that level!

 

[juddles]

....I would have thought for a P1, handing out a few extra points as a goodwill gesture would be a cost effective marketing thing. You must spend a lot to maintain that level!

This is what I do not get. I spend between (roughly) 50k and 80k on QF each year. I am not a businessman - but it still makes me bewildered as to how you would risk alienating a customer such as myself for 80 dollars worth of points??? For Christs sake, I spend ONE THOUSAND TIMES THAT!!! It feels ridiculous.

 

[VPS]

Are you able to mention to "someone" (not sure who will care) that you are serious about taking business away from Qantas to Air NZ. I think they need to hang onto their loyal P1

 

[juddles]

Are you able to mention to "someone" (not sure who will care) that you are serious about taking business away from Qantas to Air NZ. I think they need to hang onto their loyal P1

VPS, that is a devil of a thing. I truly feel like preferring NZ which will cut 50k or so from QF, but I also hate the concept of ranting and storming off to another airline. I don't want to go down that avenue of pressure / threats, even though I will most likely do just that.

What I FEEL is that Qf has flogged me off to some half-baked person that just replies to emails with qf-nonsense-automated cough.

This may make sense when dealing with the "masses", but I think it is a grave mistake with me.

 

[VPS]

VPS, that is a devil of a thing. I truly feel like preferring NZ which will cut 50k or so from QF, but I also hate the concept of ranting and storming off to another airline. I don't want to go down that avenue of pressure / threats, even though I will most likely do just that.

I would still mention it by saying

Thank you for your consideration of the matter which you consider closed.
Just FYI check out my previous travel history and I will be taking my custom to Air NZ for the next few months. Lots of love Juddles

 

[juddles]

I tend to book travel in advance - just spent the last few hours on same. I did this feeling the loss that QF have instilled. I don't know how to highlight this to QF, but the young lady who posted me my email reply has probably cost Qantas more due to that one email than she earns in a year......

 

[durbrain]

That is appalling. I would seriously consider requesting a credit card chargeback via your bank. I don’t think you’ve received the advertised product that you paid for and attempts at resolving the dispute directly with qantas have resulted in an inadequate outcome.

 

[sjk]

That is appalling. I would seriously consider requesting a credit card chargeback via your bank. I don’t think you’ve received the advertised product that you paid for and attempts at resolving the dispute directly with qantas have resulted in an inadequate outcome.

I would consider that an abuse of a credit card chargeback. But as we are finding out, the line varies for everyone.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That is appalling. I would seriously consider requesting a credit card chargeback via your bank. I don’t think you’ve received the advertised product that you paid for and attempts at resolving the dispute directly with qantas have resulted in an inadequate outcome.

It is true the passenger didn't receive the product as paid for, but that part was compensated to the tune of AUD70. As a component of a one way fare, which also includes bags, food, the actual transport itself and earning miles, it's probably not an unreasonable estimation of the actual cost.

 

[JohnM]

I had the IFE in my QF A380 F seat LAX-MEL fail about 2h out of MEL a few years back. I never use the IFE except for just having it on periodically for the flight path, so it was no big deal and I only notified the FA so she could log it for the ground techs to fix.

She became super-apologetic but I said it was no problem. However, a bottle of Comtes came my way . At retail, that's well over 10K points value.

Too bad you weren't on an F-equipped flight @juddles - I'm sure Mrs Juddles would have enjoyed a Comtes as much as I hope she enjoyed the Sir Winston that I snaffled for her....

 

[Moody]

What I FEEL is that Qf has flogged me off to some half-baked person that just replies to emails with qf-nonsense-automated cough.

This may make sense when dealing with the "masses", but I think it is a grave mistake with me.

I tend to book travel in advance - just spent the last few hours on same. I did this feeling the loss that QF have instilled. I don't know how to highlight this to QF, but the young lady who posted me my email reply has probably cost Qantas more due to that one email than she earns in a year......

Let me give you some frank advice .... the "half-baked person" won't miss you, the "masses" don't know you exist, and you will not be bothering the pens of any accountants at Qantas. But having principles is important - so don't let me stop you.

 

[sjk]

Let me give you some frank advice .... the "half-baked person" won't miss you, the "masses" don't know you exist, and you will not be bothering the pens of any accountants at Qantas. But having principles is important - so don't let me stop you.

What prompted you to wake up after four months and post that piece of nastiness?