Dubai Flood on QF Tickets - anyone else having difficulty getting reimbursed?

[RSD]

My flight return flights CAI-DXB-SIN-SYD went to cactus due to the CAI-DXB flight getting cancelled by EK, and when I rang up the QF Sydney number to get rebooked I asked about hotel accommodation and the rep put me on hold and went and spoke to her supervisor and came back and told me that hotel accommodation up to $200 per night would be covered and that I should book it myself and keep the receipts for hotels and meals and lodge a claim for reimbursement when I got back to Australia. I lodged the claim on Wednesday and this afternoon received this reply...

Is anyone else having difficulty getting reimbursed?

 

[offshore171]

When they said:

"told me that hotel accommodation up to $200 per night would be covered and that I should book it myself and keep the receipts for hotels and meals and lodge a claim for reimbursement when I got back to Australia."

Did they say who would be doing the reimbursing? Ie: The airline or your travel insurance?

 

[RSD]

When they said:

"told me that hotel accommodation up to $200 per night would be covered and that I should book it myself and keep the receipts for hotels and meals and lodge a claim for reimbursement when I got back to Australia."

Did they say who would be doing the reimbursing? Ie: The airline or your travel insurance?

Qantas would be doing the reimbursing - Qantas wouldn't have known who my travel insurer was or what their nightly limits were etc. so they couldn't have mentioned the $200 limit if anyone other than Qantas was paying. I'm led to believe that $200 is the normal nightly limit for Qantas when reimbursing for hotels.

 

[Danger]

This whole 'Go ahead and take care of yourself; we'll take care of you later' that repeatedly gets thrown around by the airlines is absolutely cough. The number of times passengers report being told similar by an airline rep, only to have to fight tooth and nail for the reimbursement of everything from a hair brush up, is pathetic. It's one of the reasons I routinely record all my calls with any big business.

 

[TheInsider]

It's one of the reasons I routinely record all my calls with any big business.

I'm assuming you advise them each time the call is being recorded too?

Ultimately the policy is here if that helps:

Compensation and Refunds Policy | Qantas

Compensation and Refunds Policy | Qantas

www.qantas.com

* Delays or cancellations within our control include: engineering issues, Qantas IT system outages, delayed delivery of baggage to the carousel due to resourcing issues, late cleaning/loading of catering to the aircraft, crew/staffing issues or any other circumstance which we can reasonably control.

Delays or cancellation outside our control include: weather events, air traffic control issues, industrial action by a third party, security issues or any other unusual or unforeseen circumstances which we cannot control and the consequences of which we could not have avoided.

 

[Danger]

I'm assuming you advise them each time the call is being recorded too?

Ultimately the policy is here if that helps:

Compensation and Refunds Policy | Qantas

Compensation and Refunds Policy | Qantas

www.qantas.com

I don't need to, champ.

 

[RichardMEL]

Did EK do or offer nothing as the responsible carrier? Or did they pull the "weather" card?

 

[RSD]

Did EK do or offer nothing as the responsible carrier? Or did they pull the "weather" card?

I haven't heard anything from EK at all - might see what their "policy" is - they will probably refer me back to Qantas...

 

[TheInsider]

I haven't heard anything from EK at all - might see what their "policy" is - they will probably refer me back to Qantas...

Another QF policy here too if needed:

https://www.qantas.com/agencyconnect/global/en/agency-news/agency-news-april-24/commercial-and-reward-bookings-policy-for-customer-impact-by-dubai-disruption.html

 

[RSD]

Another QF policy here too if needed:

https://www.qantas.com/agencyconnect/global/en/agency-news/agency-news-april-24/commercial-and-reward-bookings-policy-for-customer-impact-by-dubai-disruption.html

Cheers - looks like that policy was released the same day that I was told to go ahead and book my hotels and retain the receipts.

 

[TheInsider]

Cheers - looks like that policy was released the same day that I was told to go ahead and book my hotels and retain the receipts.

Still odd that QF would take responsibility for that, considering it was an EK flight. Usually, the operating carrier is responsible. Very rare for the marketing carrier to give any reimbursements.

 

[muppet]

Did EK do or offer nothing as the responsible carrier? Or did they pull the "weather" card?

I’d be interested in what people get from EU regulations … how long does the weather excuse last? Just the day of the weather or the subsequent multi-day operational collapse EK experienced?

 

[RichardMEL]

Still odd that QF would take responsibility for that, considering it was an EK flight. Usually, the operating carrier is responsible. Very rare for the marketing carrier to give any reimbursements.

This was exactly my thinking - hence the question above.

 

[RSD]

This was exactly my thinking - hence the question above.

I was thinking that QF would probably have an agreement with EK where they could invoice EK for whatever QF paid out to me in accordance with their $200 per night policy.

One interesting aspect now is that I didn't get to fly the QF2 SIN-SYD leg that I was originally booked on as I was booked DXB-SYD direct instead of DXB-SIN-SYD - am I now entitled to a refund for that SIN-SYD leg on QF2?

 

[RichardMEL]

I was thinking that QF would probably have an agreement with EK where they could invoice EK for whatever QF paid out to me in accordance with their $200 per night policy.

One interesting aspect now is that I didn't get to fly the QF2 SIN-SYD leg that I was originally booked on as I was booked DXB-SYD direct instead of DXB-SIN-SYD - am I now entitled to a refund for that SIN-SYD leg on QF2?

Tbh I doubt it. If it was all same ticket for CAI-SYD then I don't see the grounds tbh

However, ORC is another matter ...

 

[RSD]

Tbh I doubt it. If it was all same ticket for CAI-SYD then I don't see the grounds tbh

However, ORC is another matter ...

OK - was just a thought.

Waiting for the result of my ORC claim... hopefully that won't be as troublesome as this...

 

[henrus]

I’d be interested in what people get from EU regulations … how long does the weather excuse last? Just the day of the weather or the subsequent multi-day operational collapse EK experienced?

So firstly EU261 says that duty of care is required regardless of situation (that means meals/accomodation).

Additionally EK should have been providing reroutes on other carriers and offering full refunds for those who didn't want to travel (something that from the reports wasn't offered), interestingly those on QF 081 tickets could be rebooked on any QF/OW flight provided there was at least one Qantas international flight added to the ticket (which is less of a QF restriction and more of a legal requirement for cash tickets).

Now as for denied boarding/cancellation compensation, the weather excuse ends when they resumed flights and as there was a few days where they resumed operations but didn't allow transit passengers to board, this would be an easy claim for cash compensation under EU261.

 

[RSD]

Now as for denied boarding/cancellation compensation, the weather excuse ends when they resumed flights and as there was a few days where they resumed operations but didn't allow transit passengers to board, this would be an easy claim for cash compensation under EU261.

That is the situation I was in - apart from not being covered by EU261 obviously. Emirates had resumed flying by the time of my flight from CAI to DXB, and two earlier Emirates flights had operated the same route earlier that day.

 

[Cynicor]

Heard of this exact situation before, and you should get your money because they said it. Just email them, it will take time but it should happen

 

[RSD]

A slight update - my ORC claim has been accepted - just have to wait for the intern to process the DSC credit now for the SIN-SYD leg and I will retain Gold.

Am going to phone Emirates this morning about claiming for hotels etc.