Dumped in Joburg

[gaz0303]

QF63 was delayed out of Sydney yesterday, departing at 6pm and arriving in JHB at midnight, some 8 hours or so late. During the flight, all passengers with connecting flights were given details of the new connections that had been made for them and an announcement was made that accomodation had been booked at the CityLodge hotel at the airport. So far all good.

Worked my way through immigration, picked up my bags and found no ground crew providing any help. Walked with others to the hotel to be told “no QF booking here”. Walked back to the terminal, collecting passengers like the pied piper, to be told we had been booked into the Garden Court Hotel. It took 1.5hrs to get the transfer to the hotel. It took 30 minutes in line to discover there was no room at the inn and the rooms had all been allocated.

50+ passengers, with babies, children, Zimmer frames, abandoned in the lobby of the hotel. A few attempts at other hotels via phone, and without success. The only room I could find near the airport was the Presidential Suite at the Intercontinental for $2000+.

My 2 colleagues (travelling in J, one WP) and I quite the room search. It’s now 2:30am and we have decided we can wait in the airport until the lounges open at 4:30am.

How QF can get it so wrong with 20+hours notice is beyond me. I can cope, but feel for the families and older travellers who I have no idea how they are coping. Anyway, I’ve ticked the box of slumming in a closed airport.

 

[levelnine]

Given QF so frequently has IRROPS, you think they'd eventually get a handle on how to accommodate stranded passengers, especially at a port they frequently fly into & out of. Very strange, and disappointing.

 

[Seat0B]

It's the lack of ground staff to provide information and assistance that is really a recurring theme. It's a very clear indication that they just don't really care about the customer experience at all.

 

[N860CR]

This is why I fly SQ to South Africa. Qantas just isn’t worth it. When things go wrong, they go very wrong.

 

[aikman]

Jetstar has a better procedure for this situation. They are upfront in telling you to find your own hotel, transfers and meals and they just reimburse you. Worked perfectly for me recently in Tokyo.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Given QF so frequently has IRROPS, you think they'd eventually get a handle on how to accommodate stranded passengers, especially at a port they frequently fly into & out of. Very strange, and disappointing.

They're working on a solution - by avoiding leaving in the first place.

 

[gaz0303]

Jetstar has a better procedure for this situation. They are upfront in telling you to find your own hotel, transfers and meals and they just reimburse you. Worked perfectly for me recently in Tokyo.

This is a work trip, so was more than happy to expense a room. In hindsight I should have just taken the $580 room at the Intercontinental when it was available and I saw what was unfolding - I’ve been through this before in HKG. But finding rooms after midnight, for a stay that night is extremely hard with online tools. I was’t too keen for random drives in JHB looking for a hotel at 2am.

 

[Gold Member]

It's the lack of ground staff to provide information and assistance that is really a recurring theme. It's a very clear indication that they just don't really care about the customer experience at all.

But Vanessa Hudson was just recently quoted by Pointhacks during a paid advertorial in Hamburg talking up their new A321XLR fleet claiming that “We are a Full Service Airline”.

Perhaps the definition of full service starts and finishes with Lip service.

 

[Quickstatus]

Jetstar has a better procedure for this situation. They are upfront in telling you to find your own hotel, transfers and meals and they just reimburse you

This is QF as well and here is the reimbursement policy

There is no need to wait for QF to arrange travel to hotel or hotel
You can book yourself and often the best option to go your own way. Saves having to wait for a bus with everyone else, then check in at some hotel many miles or hours away.

While QF definitely dropped the ball here - apparently it is a full service airline... , there are other options available to passengers.

Happened to me in SFO one time
Flight delayed then cancelled for the night
300+ pax then in a queue for the customerdesk for further instructions, and I imagine as well queuing for the buses and then hotel check in
I went my own way. Caught an Uber back into San fran. Went to the Westin union square I check out from earlier that day. Was ensconced in room within 1hr of leaving airport. I reckon the rest of the passengers who waited were still at the airport. QF reimbursed my as per their policy.

 

[CaptainCurtis]

It's the lack of ground staff to provide information and assistance that is really a recurring theme.

What’s their excuse for SYD yesterday? Plenty of ground staff. Yes folks eventually got their Uber and hotel vouchers, but it was a total shambles with staff clearly overwhelmed, frustrated and bordering on rude.

 

[Flyerwin]

I went my own way.

Good advice.

 

[Quickstatus]

but it was a total shambles with staff clearly overwhelmed, frustrated and bordering on rude.

It is not enough that an airline is excellent in the routine ordinary course of business. Can it be excellent in the extraordinary situations like this?. Clearly QF has shown that is has great difficulty. An excellent full service airline is only excellent when it can provide a full service when the hits the fan.

 

[CaptainCurtis]

There is no need to wait for QF to arrange travel to hotel or hotel
You can book yourself and often the best option to go your own way. Saves having to wait for a bus with everyone else, then check in at some hotel many miles or hours away.

I am starting to lean towards this option in future as well. My only concern is the $200 hotel allowance, which obviously isn't going to cut it in major cities.

 

[Quickstatus]

My only concern is the $200 hotel allowance, which obviously isn't going to cut it in major cities

Why do you think that airlines like to bus passengers to some out of town hotel?. The cost per night to QF likely to be less than $200 per room.

IIRC it used to be $250. I could be wrong. If its $200, then the reimbursement has not gone up in years despite astronomical airfares

Your TI should allow you to claim the balance (up to a limit)

 

[eastwest101]

I am starting to lean towards this option in future as well. My only concern is the $200 hotel allowance, which obviously isn't going to cut it in major cities.

I think QF has quietly waved the white flag on that $200 or $250 per night limit, that amount of money will get you nothing in SYD for example, and especially if there is an A380 load of passengers or indeed some other weather effects that causes many missed connections and a lack of hotel rooms. They won't ever admit it, but I have paid much more that $200 for a last minute hotel room in SYD and have been fully reimbursed by Qantas and I'm fairly sure most posters here haven't had too much pushback from Qantas when making similar claims in misconnect situations?

In other places like JNB, LHR, LAX etc I wonder if the airline is sticking to its policy? The OP's experience sounds pretty ordinary and unfortunately, quite common at the moment.

 

[Quickstatus]

I have paid much more that $200 for a last minute hotel room in SYD and have been fully reimbursed by Qantas

In that case it reinforces GoYourOwnWayᵀᴹ.

 

[N860CR]

In other places like JNB, LHR, LAX etc I wonder if the airline is sticking to its policy? The OP's experience sounds pretty ordinary and unfortunately, quite common at the moment.

It’s a massive pain arriving somewhere around midnight as booking online becomes a problem. The CityLodge at JNB is massive so I’m surprised there wasn’t a room available (and it’s generally not too expensive). Protea and Premier are also close by and big. But the issue is finding availability on your phone that late (after an already stressful day). There’s no excuse for qantas not to have organised it. The dump of a Holiday Inn at JNB would have done, and it’s wholesale rate is about $40AUD!

 

[serfty]

I think QF has quietly waved the white flag on that $200 or $250 per night limit, that amount of money will get you nothing in SYD for example, and especially if there is an A380 load of passengers or indeed some other weather effects that causes many missed connections and a lack of hotel rooms. They won't ever admit it, but I have paid much more that $200 for a last minute hotel room in SYD and have been fully reimbursed by Qantas and I'm fairly sure most posters here haven't had too much pushback from Qantas when making similar claims in misconnect situations?

Qantas' policy does allow for higher amount but in a "Do you feel lucky, punk" kind of way:

^ Note: Qantas will consider claims for all costs caused by the delay or cancellation on a case by case basis, including claims for higher amounts where reasonably incurred.

 

[eastwest101]

Qantas' policy does allow for higher amount but in a "Do you feel lucky, punk" kind of way:

Yes in my case it was a "go my own way" situation as I arrived into SYD past 1am at T3 domestic and QF had already rebooked me onto another flight the next morning, so I just found the closest available room which was in the $400 last-minute price range with many displaced passengers overnighting in SYD that night due to weather and ATC delays. In this case I enquired before departure as it was already a significant delay and was specifically told that Qantas were unable to provide a hotel room because of the high number of displaced passengers already in SYD, in other words - Qantas IIROPS had failed in their own home port on a weeknight.

As the wording that you have extracted from the policy indicates, its a clayton's policy limit that can be varied at a whim or at will, and obviously designed to discourage passengers from "going their own way" and booking the most expensive hotel they can find at that point in time. I think the key phrase is case by case, if you get abandoned in a city with a Taylor Swift concert on that night or on New Years Eve then its going to be a different case by case basis.

In the case of Qantas not having staff available upon delayed arrival, and I suspect that there will be any pushback in the future, I usually screenshot a hotel booking engine search of options available within 10-15km of the airport and just save it for future reference, anyone with travel insurance might do this anyway in case of a travel insurer attempting to deny a valid claim. I have not had to use these screenshots yet, but I would be interested if anyone has had to use something like this to win a dispute with an airline or a travel insurer. It would be interesting to see if anyone has had to take it this far in NCAT or a court case. Surely if an airline or insurer relied on a room being available in Penrith for $199 per night, for a delay overnight at Mascot airport with a 6am departure time they would surely be laughed out of court?

 

[Quickstatus]

relied on a room being available in Penrith for $199 per night

Even if I had an out of pocket component I would rather that some unknown motel 50 km away.

My best Home port SYD cancellation was an MH flight. My house was already turned over to house sitters so I could not go back home after MH cancelled the flight. They graciously put me up at the Pullman.