Downgraded from business class-AGAIN[Flight Change Revoked]

[Spongbob]

If being issued with a business-class BP and then having it withdrawn and replaced with an economy BP is a downgrade, then I too have been downgraded. Last month we flew QF to Asia. At checkin the agent printed business-class BPs for the 2 pax on the booking and placed them on the counter. Then after about 30 seconds said it was a mistake, and issued 2 economy BPs. Should I start a new thread?

 

[mannej]

If being issued with a business-class BP and then having it withdrawn and replaced with an economy BP is a downgrade, then I too have been downgraded. Last month we flew QF to Asia. At checkin the agent printed business-class BPs for the 2 pax on the booking and placed them on the counter. Then after about 30 seconds said it was a mistake, and issued 2 economy BPs. Should I start a new thread?

How many pax in the booking and was the booking in Y originally?

 

[Spongbob]

How many pax in the booking and was the booking in Y originally?

As my post indicates, there were 2 persons on the booking. And yes, it was a Y booking. Missing out on Skybed Mk I was no great loss. We were treated very well by the crew on the flight (drinks from the J cabin etc).

But, for 30 seconds we had an OpUp.

 

[Moody]

As my post indicates, there were 2 persons on the booking. And yes, it was a Y booking. Missing out on Skybed Mk I was no great loss. We were treated very well by the crew on the flight (drinks from the J cabin etc).

But, for 30 seconds we had an OpUp.

Definitely start a new thread and puh-lease make sure you take the Rent A Mob with you!

 

[ashleyn]

Definitely start a new thread and puh-lease make sure you take the Rent A Mob with you!

Yes indeed, outrageous behavior by the money hungry airline. They could have at least let you savor the moment for a minute.

 

[tuapekastar]

I see how you've convoluted the time line and downgrade one occurrence to a footnote. If someone calls you to the desk, asks for you business board passes and hands you economy boarding passes, that is a downgrade right there at that point. What happens later does not make that magically disappear, no matter how many times someone rewrites the timeline.

Your first sentence is incomprehensible, and based on what has been reported by the OP in this thread, your second is partially invented - at no point has it been stated by the OP that they were handed Y BPs.

Your summary of events is quite good but the issue I and others have is that the story changed. Flight delays I have no problem with, mistakes owned up to and handled professionally do not cause me any trouble.

What I take exception about is when I or others are told two of more contradicting stories. A company that allows its operatives to 'spin' is a company that cannot be trusted IMHO.

Red Roo has stated that over-selling occurs whenever possible. In this case we do not know whether this particular flight was already over-sold or not. Perhaps Red Roo could clarify that?

If it wasn't then that opens one line of reasoning and prompts a number of questions.
If it was then that creates a different progression and many more questions.

Surely a simple statement by Q that Flight XYS on Nov ZZ had been oversold by x seats in J, a seats in Y+ and had bb empty seats in Y. The (in)correct information was provided and the boarding passes issued for two seats however GGGGGG occurred which the CSM decided to resolve by KKKKKK.

That's how I operate. If I've mucked up I admit to it, apologise, have a post-mortem on a monthly basis to see if there are any repeat issues that suggest protocols need amending and move on. That's why customers from 30 years ago stay in contact. In a service industry service actually matters IMHO.

What I have observed is that companies using external consultants regularly often exhibit dysfunctional behaviour that benefits nobody but the consultants' chargeable hours.

Yes I agree, honesty is the best policy. Too many people in this world 'hide' mistakes (in fact we all do, every typo I correct before posting is a mistake I have hidden).

All the QF staff involved in this interaction could well have been telling the truth (in fact I consider that a very likely scenario). Statements are made at a point in time based on how things stand at that point in time and this can vary. I don't say QF never tells porkies - I (in fact all pax on QFnnn who were in the lounge) was called to the desk in the lounge one day and advised my flight wasn't operating and would I move to this other one. No issue. Turns out my original flight did operate. In practical terms it made little difference to me, but left me wondering. Perhaps at the time my flight was changed, the original flight was marked for cancellation. Perhaps someone just made a mistake. Or perhaps it was oversold and the easiest way around it was to place lounge pax (i.e. not waiting at the gate to board) on another flight and telling them a lie about the flight not operating and hoping they would not notice. I really don't know.

I did notify QF later and got a call back from a very embarrassed-sounding but pleasant lady who simply admitted that my original service had operated and said she did not know why I had been told otherwise and moved. I couldn't be bothered pushing the point and left it at that.

I the OP's case there is no clear cut case of lying - to suggest otherwise is speculation. ozbeachbabe, who knows more about this stuff than the rest of us put together, has offered a perfectly plausible possible explanation

 

[JohnK]

When was the OP handed economy BP ?
He states that they were called up to the desk and advised that they had been put back on their original flight in J.
Can't see anywhere where they were handed economy boarding passes.

It's been mentioned earlier in the thread. Back at the desk they were offered economy on new flight or business class on original flight which I think was delayed further.

Not good.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

It's been mentioned earlier in the thread. Back at the desk they were offered economy on new flight or business class on original flight which I think was delayed further.

Not good.

Did you read the post you responded to? Princess Fiona knows they were offered the OPTION of flying economy, but they were not given an economy boarding pass at any time.

 

[mannej]

It's been mentioned earlier in the thread. Back at the desk they were offered economy on new flight or business class on original flight which I think was delayed further.

Not good.

JohnK, can you please quote where the OP was handing a BP for Y?

 

[Princess Fiona]

No it wasn't.





I have never made any claim of equivalence between the two situations, so no I don't have to read the other thread. I treat both as separate, different events. In fact, the only people who seem to be trying to equate the two situations are those who are also trying to pretend they weren't offered 2 economy seats.

No sorry, the only people trying to equate the two situations are RAM (repeatedly) and JohnK

 

[JohnK]

JohnK, can you please quote where the OP was handing a BP for Y?

Not handed. They were offered economy on earlier flight, which is where the downgrade comes in, but chose to stay in business on original flight.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Not handed. They were offered economy on earlier flight, which is where the downgrade comes in, but chose to stay in business on original flight.

From the Original Post

"So we're in the taxi to PER, nice and early for QF 776 and while we are on the freeway I get a text saying my flight has been delayed by 2.5 hours and will now get in at 01.30, not 23.00I go to check-in desk and am told there are plenty of seats on the 16.35 then get sent to the service counter. While in the service counter queue I ring 131313 and after explaining my situation am directed back to desk 20 where the helpful agent rebooks us on the earlier 16.35.
In the J lounge with my 2 redemption J tickets, and am paged to the front desk.


QF - "We are sorry, but we've had to rebook you on the original QF 776, still delayed to 19.05"
Me - "But I have boarding passes for the 16.35 - see here"
QF - "Oh!, let me check with xx"
xx - I'm afraid we had to move you back to 776, we've overbooked.
Me - "So we've been bumped?"
xx - "No, in the chaos, we booked too many passengers on the earlier flight. While you were downstairs being rebooked, we were upstairs being rebooking other pax too. We booked too many."


i thought a lot of things about QF when I read this, not many of them charitable but I didn't think for one minute that QF were attempting to downgrade the passengers, seriously :?:

 

[opusman]

Not handed. They were offered economy on earlier flight, which is where the downgrade comes in, but chose to stay in business on original flight.

I've often asked at the airport if there was an earlier flight I could get on, and been told yes but only in economy. I'm curious - had I accepted that, would you class that as a downgrade? And blame the airline for it?

 

[amaroo]

Not handed. They were offered economy on earlier flight, which is where the downgrade comes in, but chose to stay in business on original flight.

Appears to be a difficult concept to grasp.... for some.

 

[OATEK]

Some hair splitting going one here. If the staffer said you can go back to J on the later/original flight, OR, you an fly early in Y, then I don't see problem or a downgrade.

If they clumsily said your J seat is gone and we now have you in Y for this flight, and the return to the the later flight in J was an afterthought, then poor customer service and the suggestion of a downgrade.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Some hair splitting going one here. If the staffer said you can go back to J on the later/original flight, OR, you an fly early in Y, then I don't see problem or a downgrade.

If they clumsily said your J seat is gone and we now have you in Y for this flight, and the return to the the later flight in J was an afterthought, then poor customer service and the suggestion of a downgrade.

The OP is very suggestive of the former, in fact post #1 didn't even mention the prospect of Y.
But I think the "arguing on the Internet" going on here is getting a bit silly.
Medhead, JohnK, RAM and Amaroo (via the "likes") can interpret this how they wish.
The rest of us can do likewise and continue to have confidence in and fly on QF or if a loss of confidence choose another airline.

For the record it will come as no surprise that I'm in the former camp

 

[amaroo]

I've often asked at the airport if there was an earlier flight I could get on, and been told yes but only in economy. I'm curious - had I accepted that, would you class that as a downgrade? And blame the airline for it?

Why would you blame the airline? It's your decision to travel Y

We all have to live with the decisions/actions we make... including airlines. The OP utilised his rights provided via his "flexible fare" and requested to change flights.... not his fault the airline reviewed, accepted and issued new BP. Once he was checked-in and had the BP in hands - it's totally reasonable to expect to travel on that flight in that class.

The airline coughed-up... asked the OP to travel Y = downgrade!

As always - YMMV

 

[Princess Fiona]

Why would you blame the airline? It's your decision to travel Y

We all have to live with the decisions/actions we make... including airlines. The OP utilised his rights provided via his "flexible fare" and requested to change flights.... not his fault the airline reviewed, accepted and issued new BP. Once he was checked-in and had the BP in hands - it's totally reasonable to expect to travel on that flight in that class.

The airline coughed-up... asked the OP to travel Y = downgrade!

As always - YMMV

Since when is "U" a flexible fare ?

 

[mannej]

Downgraded from business class - AGAIN

Why would you blame the airline? It's your decision to travel Y

We all have to live with the decisions/actions we make... including airlines. The OP utilised his rights provided via his "flexible fare" and requested to change flights.... not his fault the airline reviewed, accepted and issued new BP. Once he was checked-in and had the BP in hands - it's totally reasonable to expect to travel on that flight in that class.

The airline coughed-up... asked the OP to travel Y = downgrade!

As always - YMMV

I don't believe the airline asked the OP to travel Y, the suggestion was forthcoming after the OP asked how to get back on the earlier flight.

There is a difference just like traveling in your originally ticketed class is not a downgrade.

Appears to be a difficult concept to grasp.... for some.

Not difficult, just the information suggests a different scenario to what you are harping on about.

 

[amaroo]

The OP is very suggestive of the former, in fact post #1 didn't even mention the prospect of Y.
But I think the "arguing on the Internet" going on here is getting a bit silly.
Medhead, JohnK, RAM and Amaroo (via the "likes") can interpret this how they wish.
The rest of us can do likewise and continue to have confidence in and fly on QF or if a loss of confidence choose another airline.

For the record it will come as no surprise that I'm in the former camp

LOL - I can't even give a "like" without getting dished! Why are people so unkind :?:

For me - it's got nothing to do with loss of confidence or sledging QF.... poor customer service shouldn't be tolerated - no matter what company issued the invoice.

I've done my fair share of flying with QF - more than most! It's a great airline. However, I have a ton of empathy for the many that receive a level of service that many here would not accept. A casual search provides plenty of supporting evidence!

It would be a pity if this thread goes the way of the other one It's not healthy when we intimidate, sledge or close down discussions. We should focus on poor outcomes for passengers and try and play a role improving the system.

FWIW - PF I'm sure I've given you a decent amount of likes over the years - did I also err with these ?