To those that say it does not matter arriving late as long as you get to destination. It does matter and is extremely important and can be costly
- we book connecting flights. With QF23 arriving around 4:00pm one would be safe to assume that we should make an 8:30pm-9:00pm domestic connection easily? With 3.5 hour delay that's very questionable and that's assuming that JQ is on time so now we're looking at hotel for the night and next days plans up in the air
- we book private taxis and 3.5 hour delay is very significant. We book through a 3rd party and may not be able to get in touch with allocated driver
- we book hire cars. With some hire car companies if you're late you forfeit your reservation. See if you can get an 8-10 day hire car at walk up rates to match the one booked months in advance. Also many offices close around 7:00pm and you need to sacrifice an arm and a leg to get them to come out and give you a hire car
There are already enough issues in travelling without having an airline adding to them. We can't leave a day either side of planned flights just in case. We can't book everything as flexible just in case.
Airlines need to understand and accept they cannot downgrade. I'd you're going to inconvenience someone then upgrade them and airline needs to be out of pocket not the customer.
