FA Unilaterally Downgrading PAX from J to Y on Trans Tasman (Jetconnect)

[david870mdg]

Re: Unilateral Downgrading of PAX from J Trans Tasman by FA

Im pretty sure the FA knew the couple on a personal level hence her behavor, and as Q call center staff said - i had no proof of what happened so there is supposidly nothing they can do for me! The whole thing really... well sucked!!!

If it were to ever happen again i think id refuse to move, even if i got a tap on the shoulder from a flight marshal! (that'd be interesting!!!)

Call QF "Customer Care", but reading these posts it sounds like in your case the second word is obsolete, insist that the offender be sacked, and insist that the person who took your call be seriously reprimanded.
Consider taking legal action.

 

[moa999]

Did you speak to the CSM on the flight??

I must say most on this forum would not have been quite so reserved on the flight, although appreciate you were probably suffering from some severe jetlag.

 

[Mal]

I think the problem with Qantas Customer care in this case is that the story sounds so random and unbelievable (Note I am not doubting it occurred, just that people may think it didn't).

The stat dec path sounds like a good one, seeing you would be perjuring yourself if you lied in that. They do have weight for that reason.

 

[markis10]

If you get the line that its your word against QF I would suggest that you remind them that there were at least 10 J customers who were not advantaged by the changes who were witnesses, and you would be compelled to involve them in further action.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Rubbish, your word is as good as theirs - haven't you heard of statutory declarations.

I would not be letting this go away.

FWIW, QF25 on the 7th September was operated by ZK-JTR a 734 with 12 "Millennium" seats in J.

ABSOLUTELY. MY REPLY WOULD HAVE BEEN IT IS A SHORT FLIGHT SO THE OLD COUPLE COULD WELL FLY APART.

DO NOT DROP THIS, WRITE TO JOYCE.

SPRUCE:evil::evil::evil::evil::evil:

 

[k_sheep]

I don't really have anything useful to contribute, but man that sucks big time! I can understand not making a fuss at the time (I'm a total zombie when flying) but I think now is the time to make a fuss. I'm not normally part of the "OMG bad things fire them!!one" crowd but seriously, if all this is accurate, then that FA has no business being paid by qantas.

 

[NYCguy]

The FA's... Had the audacity to ask me to move from my J seat to a Y seat to allow a couple ( that had individualy booked tickets one in J and the other in Y) to take my seat so they could sit together.

Your first mistake was standing up. As the holder of a boarding pass for the seat in question, my reply to the FA's demand would have been "Why don't you make me, sweetheart?".

Since you were still on the ground, a quiet but resounding fuss should have been made on your part. There is no way I would have moved an inch - they would have had to get security to lift me out of the seat and deposit me in economy.

There is just no way that anyone should put up with such arrogant cough from a space-waitress.

 

[tuapekastar]

Way after the horse has bolted (and easy to think of in hindsight), but the obvious response to the 'request' for the couple to sit together was that they're welcome to, in Y. Move the J spouse back to Y and upgrade someone who was sitting next to the Y spouse. Probably would have been met with a pig-ignorant response from the FA.

 

[Dave Noble]

If being forced to move on a business ticket, I would have disembarked and rebooked on another flight/carrier

 

[NM]

If being forced to move on a business ticket, I would have disembarked and rebooked on another flight/carrier

A good choice if the ticket allows rebooking and there are alternate carrier/flights that meet the travel schedule.

As a minimum I would asking for the CSD, and if its the CSD making the "demand" to downgrade I would be ensuring I had the necessary evidence required for an "involuntary downgrade" refund claim. This would include insisting that they issue me a boarding pass for the seat into which I am being relocated, and 2 passenger comment/feedback forms, one to hand to the CSD and telling them that an identical copy will be posted to Qantas Customer Care.

A passenger who is involuntarily downgraded should be entitled to a cash refund of the difference between the J fare and the Y fare that was available for purchase on the day of the flight for the sector involved. It is my understanding that a refund under these circumstances is not based on the actual fare paid, but the fare prices that were available for purchase at the time the downgrade was processed. So if only full J and full Y fares were available for sale, then the refund should be the difference between the two. It should make no difference is the MEL-AKL was part of a MEL-LAX purchase.

As others have noted, the circumstances described are extremely unusual.

 

[harvyk]

A good choice if the ticket allows rebooking and there are alternate carrier/flights that meet the travel schedule.

As it would have been an involuntary downgrade, the T&C's would have allowed rebooking onto another flight with no penalty...

Now finding another flight which fits in with the schedule - that would be the problem...

 

[serfty]

One finagle factor is the OP was booked MEL-LAX on QF25; the downgrade occurred between MEL and AKL.

Given NM's understanding, any compensation could probably be still be in reation to MEL-AKL, rather than a pro-rata calculation.

 

[pauly7]

I think the problem with Qantas Customer care in this case is that the story sounds so random and unbelievable (Note I am not doubting it occurred, just that people may think it didn't).
.

+1

This seems incredible......

 

[ozbeachbabe]

that FA has no business being paid by qantas.

She ain't paid by Qantas. That's part of the problem when QF Management penny pinch on crewing.

We've seen it happen in Oz outsourcing cabin crew to contractors whereby any new hires on QF Mainline are employed by MAMS (Maurice Alexander Management) ditto with JetConnect in the Shakey Isles.

This is the downside of it all and a classic example of "pay peanuts and get monkeys"!

What I find a massive double standard is if Qantas are that hard up for cash that they have to outsource cabin crew they can still find a lazy $11 million lying around to pay ex-CEO Geoff Dixon for 8 months 'work'!

Oz

 

[serfty]

IME find Jetconnect crew to generally provide a far better and more personal service than mainline crew.

Of course there are exceptions.

 

[simongr]

What I find a massive double standard is if Qantas are that hard up for cash that they have to outsource cabin crew they can still find a lazy $11 million lying around to pay ex-CEO Geoff Dixon for 8 months 'work'!

Oz

They simply paid out his contractual obligations.

 

[Commuter]

This is a shocking story. They should have downgraded the separated J pax to Y and upgraded the Y pax next to their other half to J, if anything.

In fact, the couple should have been told that they should have booked themselves in the same class in the first place, or that they should have asked for a downgrade at check-in so that they could sit together.

If I witnessed someone being downgraded for my sake, I'd have raised objection, because who am I to expect someone to be downgraded just because I want to sit next to my spouse? So this couple do not win any brownie points from me either.

IMO this FA was very out of line. In fact, so out of line that a serious warning should be issued to her, and if it turns out that she knew the couple and therefore forced a paying passenger to downgrade, she probably should be sacked for abusing her power.

This is not the case of 'operational downgrade', but far worse - a couple sitting apart due to their own choice of booking different classes is not a valid 'operational reason', by anyone's standard.

I hope you do follow this up vigorously and get the differences in fare refunded. I rarely shout 'compensation!' but this case sounds like a suitable case for compensation because of grossly inappropriate conduct by the crew member in question.

 

[farstar]

I wonder if the passengers who bought one business class and one economy class fare planned to try this upgrade scam from the time they got the tickets as they seemed happy to let someone be downgraded. But I still don't understand why the cabin crew would think it was reasonable but given the speed it was done it seems that she knew it was wrong and didn't care.

As for the claim that it is the passengers word against the crew member, why would someone that travels a lot and a SG make up a story like that?

 

[munitalP]

If this had of happened to me - hold on, I'll rephrase that, if the CSM had of tried that on me, the chances of that aircraf departing on time would have been slim while I screamed blue murder and demanded to have senior management front up.

It does seem very odd that this happened and I wonder if there are mitigating circumstances we don't know about...

In all my years of excessive flying, I have never heard of this happening to anyone...



Mr!
:?:

 

[oz_mark]

If they wanted to sit together then the fair thing would have been to move the J person back. It seems quite odd that this would happen though. In my experiences of people being in separate cabins, that is how things stay.