Downgraded from Business Class.

[maninblack]

Unacceptable business practice. Refuse to fly. Go to the opposition.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I think it would be really helpful to have some input from QF here: was the flight oversold? Was there an equipment change? Or was it none of those but an unrelated issue which will not affect others when they fly Qantas?

 

[mannej]

Sorry but I don't believe that QF owes us an explanation on here. The issue is between the friend of the OP and QF.
Personal opinion of course.

 

[juddles]

Sorry but I don't believe that QF owes us an explanation on here. The issue is between the friend of the OP and QF.
Personal opinion of course.

mannej, I agree with you in general terms - am not a ¨We have the right to know¨ sort of person. But it is always intriguing to know what happened. If the OP could get back to us after it is sorted between them and QF, that would be ggreat. Just to understand the possibilities. As an avid flyer, I like to learn all the Little quirks of the system.

Normally such apparently unbelievably bad situations turn out to be something quite different, when the detail comes out.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sorry but I don't believe that QF owes us an explanation on here. The issue is between the friend of the OP and QF.
Personal opinion of course.

Of course QF doesn't 'owe' us an explanation. But again, this is an issue at a strategic level that is ideal for response.

People reading AFF will now think passengers holding confirmed business class tickets can be summarily downgraded to economy on an ultra long haul flight. From a PR perspective that is not optimal.

As third party endorsers of QF, how many people do you think we will tell about the downgrade? How many people will be influenced by that and take another airline? Even one passenger choosing to change carriers is bad for QF revenue, all for something which could so easily be addressed and put to rest.

 

[maninblack]

I think that you will find that their excuse will not be acceptable to most people on this forum because other than in the circumstances of a flat out emergency there is no excuse. Therefore strategically better for them to say nothing.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I think that you will find that their excuse will not be acceptable to most people on this forum because other than in the circumstances of a flat out emergency there is no excuse. Therefore strategically better for them to say nothing.

There are ways to deal with that, as any good PR practitioner would know. (I'm not even including the word 'qualified' in that.)

There may be a very valid explanation, not QF's fault at all.

 

[maninblack]

There are ways to deal with that, as any good PR practitioner would know.

I don't think Qantas has any of those people on the books anymore.

 

[DC3]

No further update from the OP and it's now 24 hours since that post.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

No further update from the OP and it's now 24 hours since that post.

No doubt the OP's friends have only just arrived and settling in.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hi all, I'm asking for a friend here...

Paid BNE-LAX-JFK-LAX-BNE in paid J (I) class. My friends (both Gold FF) have checked in (with 9 bags) but received Y boarding passes. Not W, but Y. They have now missed QF12 and QF94 (as well as DL, VA and NZ flights) and are receiving no co-operation from QF in LAX as to why they have been downgraded.

Does anyone have any idea what may have happened and what compensation they should demand, or how else they could be accommodated? They want to get home ASAP so don't want to fly CX via HKG or stay another night.

Thanks in advance.

Just curious as to where this happened ie were they flying ex JFK for the QF108 flight to LAX then connecting to QF12 to SYD or did they checkin at LAX from the get go for the QF12?

The other questions that spring to mind are:

a) Did they already pre-allocate seats for all their flight at the time of booking or did they leave it until the airport?
b) Did they checkin late?
c) When you say they missed the flight, they were checked in with economy boarding passes so did they tell the ground staff they weren't going to travel unless they were in J and were then offloaded?
d) Did they actually checkin the 9 bags first then find out they were in economy once all the bags were sent off?
e) Did a duty manager or supervisor speak to them about why they were downgraded, what the compensation would be & what alternate arrangements were available to them in business class?

mannej, I agree with you in general terms - am not a ¨We have the right to know¨ sort of person. But it is always intriguing to know what happened. If the OP could get back to us after it is sorted between them and QF, that would be ggreat. Just to understand the possibilities. As an avid flyer, I like to learn all the Little quirks of the system.

Normally such apparently unbelievably bad situations turn out to be something quite different, when the detail comes out.

Sure it's not like we all have a right to know but I think it's helpful if we do find out why as everyone is naturally curious as to what happened & learn from this example as to whether there's any thing people can do to minimise this happening to them.

 

[grussellt]

It would be nice to hear the (hopefully good) end to this matter. It might provide some useful assurance for future passengers in J (and F) who aren't as good at fending for themselves in the hurly burly world of luxury travel.

 

[amaroo]

It would be nice to hear the (hopefully good) end to this matter. It might provide some useful assurance for future passengers in J (and F) who aren't as good at fending for themselves in the hurly burly world of luxury travel.

BA attempted to bump my MIL out of F once (we were a party of 5 on the one booking) they called her hours before checking-in (on my phone) suffice (it) to say someone else got bumped!

Gave me a massive dose of the sh$ts which I had no hesitation letting BA Know about!

 

[maninblack]

I posted years ago here QF bumped a chap I know, he refused the downgrade, went to another counter and bought a ticket on another airline. He threatened to never fly QF again and I'm pretty sure he's made good on his threat. All of this being said I think it's a fairly uncommon event, of course it should never happen at all other than in rare circumstances.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Worst would be if the couple were issued QF FF points and QF SCs in flexY, as they paid J and should get adjustments to get J FF points and SCs.

 

[eminere]

Worst would be if the couple were issued QF FF points and QF SCs in flexY, as they paid J and should get adjustments to get J FF points and SCs.

If the OP's friend's parents were the subject of an involuntary downgrade, particularly on such a long-haul flight and where they are not great flyers, I doubt the number of Points and SCs earned were high up on their minds.

 

[straitman]

Worst would be if the couple were issued QF FF points and QF SCs in flexY, as they paid J and should get adjustments to get J FF points and SCs.

Totally irrelevant to the discussion IMHO.

 

[Heleigh]

One more point of view

The tickets were purchased with one Y segment and was not realised until flight.

 

[BNEFlyer]

Sorry for the delayed reply everyone. My friend's parents are now home, one managed to get a J seat as there was a no-show and the other was in Y. The situation was explained to the flight crew who were apparently appalled at what had happened.

The CSM checked their travel docs to see if they were actually booked into a lower class and she confirmed that they both definitely had Business tickets. The CSM said that the flight was oversold in J, but as they were on paid tickets (not award) and they are both Gold FF there were other pax that should have been downgraded before them. The CSM has lodged an in-house complaint on their behalf and keep them updated. The crew did mention that other pax had been downgraded and offered compensation as well.

QF did get back to my friends mother on FB about her own complaint but the response was 'sorry for the inconvenience, your complaint has been lodged and we'll reply in 15 business days'.

My friends parents are seasoned travellers (self funded, personal travel) and have taken 3 return BNE-US J class flights in the past 12 months. They always go back to QF no matter the cost, but this has cast a shadow on their love for QF. While they may not be the most valuable customers to Qantas, it's interesting to see how they treat Gold FF's and Business Class pax in the event of an oversold flight.

To be fair to QF, my friends mother said that the cabin crew were brilliant. Very apologetic and shocked that they, and a few other J pax had been downgraded. She also said that the QF ground crew in LAX could not have been more disinterested in what was happening and tried nothing to reaccommodate the pax. Their advice was to 'go and enjoy the lounge'.

Just curious as to where this happened ie were they flying ex JFK for the QF108 flight to LAX then connecting to QF12 to SYD or did they checkin at LAX from the get go for the QF12?
They were in LAX and flying on QF16.

The other questions that spring to mind are:

a) Did they already pre-allocate seats for all their flight at the time of booking or did they leave it until the airport?
They waited until check in.

b) Did they checkin late?
They checked in more than 2 hours before departure.

c) When you say they missed the flight, they were checked in with economy boarding passes so did they tell the ground staff they weren't going to travel unless they were in J and were then offloaded?
I mean that by the time they had checked in and tried to remedy the situation, the other QF flights to Australia had closed.

d) Did they actually checkin the 9 bags first then find out they were in economy once all the bags were sent off?
They checked in the bags and were given Y BP's at check in.

e) Did a duty manager or supervisor speak to them about why they were downgraded, what the compensation would be & what alternate arrangements were available to them in business class?
They knew nothing of why they were downgraded until they were on board. Mr was offered USD$700 cash, they were offered J seats on the next days QF16, but after 8 weeks of travelling and having appointments on Monday, they just wanted to get home on that flight.



Sure it's not like we all have a right to know but I think it's helpful if we do find out why as everyone is naturally curious as to what happened & learn from this example as to whether there's any thing people can do to minimise this happening to them.

 

[maninblack]

Well that's extraordinary and inexcusable behaviour from Qantas. Sounds like they should have made more of a ruckus though at check in. Two golds on paid tickets (or any ticket for that matter) should only ever be bumped up, not down! And that goes double on such a long flight.