Goodbye Qantas

[Quickstatus]

I disagree with everything Quickstatus said, but I did enjoy reading it!

I neglected to insert a tongue in cheek emoji. My bad

 

[ozbeachbabe]

If you tell a pax you cannot do something it avoids an argument whether you really cannot do that something or just do not want to do it.

As Austman has said the lounge agents were nice about the situation as in they genuinely wanted to change but the rules didn't permit them to do it. I don't believe it was a case of them being able to and not doing it.

It makes no business sense to have a plane take off with 30 empty seats: an empty seat in the air is revenue lost for ever. An empty seat on the ground is potential revenue.

I have doubts the flight would've gone out with as many as 30 empty seats and not shown any flexi availability. As I mentioned upthread, the lounge agent could've easily looked at the column showing the number of people still to checkin for that flight for the column with the availably seats. Easy enough to do and if that was the case the flight could've either been full or only had a handful of seats left.

Lounge agents are just following the rules. When asking the system for availability for the pax in question if the system says no availability (based on class booked) then no changes can be made. If they were to override the system for that fare it would be the same as giving an NB on a red-e-deal the last seat on the earlier flight. They are only permitted to override the system in a flow forward situation or for CL or P1's.

 

[Austman]

I looked at the rules from a few years ago:

They used to say:

"Flexi Saver, Fully Flexible: Voluntary re-booking and re-routing on day of departure: No restrictions"

Then looked at the rules today:

"Flex: Voluntary rebooking /rerouting on day of scheduled departure: Permitted prior to scheduled departure @"
@ Fare difference. If the Base Fare and/or Ticket Taxes have increased, the ticket must be reissued reflecting the additional Base Fare and/or Ticket Taxes

So Flex (which includes the full Y fare) isn't as flexible, cost wise, on the day of departure, as Flexi Saver and Fully Flexible used to be.

Even a full Y fare could be subject to a fare difference!

 

[Deleted member]

It strikes me (still) that we see operation outside the rules as a given, while adherence to the rules as "unfair" . It's a bit like "inches and miles".