Lack of compensation from Qantas when downgraded

[Jonno8]

I am surprised that QF does not get ahead of the action when they find it necessary to downgrade a pax who has a confirmed higher class booking. They cannot possibly believe that any pax would be happy about being downgraded in the absence of appropriate compensation. In our case our direct CNS-CBR flight J class was cancelled and we were put on flights via BNE with BNE-CBR not having any J class seats available. It took 4 extended phone calls until an offer was made of 2,500 points each. My sense is that they just expected us to go away.

 

[Ade]

Did you make a $ of rewards booking?

If it was $ booking - then 2500 points each is a very bad compensation. Doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how much I'm assuming you'd have paid for a 4x J seats.

If it was a points booking - you could ask that they refund the difference between points needed for Y reward and J reward seats, including any difference in tax

 

[Jonno8]

Thanks Ade, two points bookings, tried for the difference in points but QF played very hard (and unreasonable) ball.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Thanks Ade, two points bookings, tried for the difference in points but QF played very hard (and unreasonable) ball.

They owe you 5900 points each for that sector downgrade. The difference in points between CNS-CBR in J and CNS-BNE J and BNE-CBR in Y.
Do not accept the 2500. Keep the words compensation out of it (assuming you asked for some).

It’s usually relatively straightforward to get a refund of the points difference on an Award downgrade.

Email customer care and ask for the difference.
Don’t bother with the call Centre they are hopeless if you don’t have access to the HBA team.

 

[Jonno8]

They owe you 5900 points each for that sector downgrade. The difference in points between CNS-CBR in J and CNS-BNE J and BNE-CBR in Y.
Do not accept the 2500. Keep the words compensation out of it (assuming you asked for some).

It’s usually relatively straightforward to get a refund of the points difference on an Award downgrade.

Email customer care and ask for the difference.
Don’t bother with the call Centre they are hopeless if you don’t have access to the HBA team.

Thanks Fiona, appreciated.

 

[kookaburra75]

They owe you 5900 points each for that sector downgrade. The difference in points between CNS-CBR in J and CNS-BNE J and BNE-CBR in Y.
Do not accept the 2500. Keep the words compensation out of it (assuming you asked for some).

It’s usually relatively straightforward to get a refund of the points difference on an Award downgrade.

Email customer care and ask for the difference.
Don’t bother with the call Centre they are hopeless if you don’t have access to the HBA team.

I had the same issue several months ago, where due to an aircraft change at the last moment on a CBR-MEL flight, I was dropped back to Y from J - MrsK still got her J seat but that's another story.

I lodged a complaint with Qantas through the feedback web form, providing the details and saying I wanted the difference in points between J and Y seats as compensation. They agreed to that and sent the points back to me.

 

[Jonno8]

I had the same issue several months ago, where due to an aircraft change at the last moment on a CBR-MEL flight, I was dropped back to Y from J - MrsK still got her J seat but that's another story.

I lodged a complaint with Qantas through the feedback web form, providing the details and saying I wanted the difference in points between J and Y seats as compensation. They agreed to that and sent the points back to me.

Thanks guys.

 

[xabialonso]

I had the same issue several months ago, where due to an aircraft change at the last moment on a CBR-MEL flight, I was dropped back to Y from J - MrsK still got her J seat but that's another story.

I lodged a complaint with Qantas through the feedback web form, providing the details and saying I wanted the difference in points between J and Y seats as compensation. They agreed to that and sent the points back to me.

I did exactly this on two occasions. Lodged complaint with Qantas via their website, they got back to me a few weeks later with the correct points difference.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I had the same issue several months ago, where due to an aircraft change at the last moment on a CBR-MEL flight, I was dropped back to Y from J - MrsK still got her J seat but that's another story.

I lodged a complaint with Qantas through the feedback web form, providing the details and saying I wanted the difference in points between J and Y seats as compensation. They agreed to that and sent the points back to me.

Yes, but this should not be considered ‘compensation’, it’s our right under law (consumer protection law).

If you did not get the service you paid for you are entitled to a refund.

Compensation would be over and above the amount due by law. So an additional 5900 points for example.

 

[CaptainCurtis]

Yes, but this should not be considered ‘compensation’, it’s our right under law (consumer protection law).

If you did not get the service you paid for you are entitled to a refund.

Compensation would be over and above the amount due by law. So an additional 5900 points for example.

100% agree, a refund of the points differential between J and Y is the bare minimum here.

 

[clifford]

100% agree, a refund of the points differential between J and Y is the bare minimum here.

I also agree 100%. Typical Qantas, unfortunately. The corporate culture, as mandated by senior management appears to be awfully toxic.

Most airlines have a greed complex, but Qantas excels in this regard. Caveat emptor.

 

[lilkid28]

I look forward to someone bringing Qantas to court, whether locally or overseas for this kind of cough that customers need to deal with. Even Emirates had recently lost a legal court case for providing an old J product when they were advertising a new J product with a disclaimer that equipment/plane change is possible.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I look forward to someone bringing Qantas to court, whether locally or overseas for this kind of cough that customers need to deal with. Even Emirates had recently lost a legal court case for providing an old J product when they were advertising a new J product with a disclaimer that equipment/plane change is possible.

Aircraft substitutions can happen. I don’t think this is a case similar to Emirates.

But this sort of thing shouldn’t need to go to any sort of court… it should be automatic, and if not, it needs to get in front of the right person to authorise it. O/S call centre staff probably don’t have a clue about consumer law in Australia.

 

[lilkid28]

Aircraft substitutions can happen. I don’t think this is a case similar to Emirates.

But this sort of thing shouldn’t need to go to any sort of court… it should be automatic, and if not, it needs to get in front of the right person to authorise it. O/S call centre staff probably don’t have a clue about consumer law in Australia.

Yeah my point is, Qantas our beloved national carrier just shoves people off and hope people don't pursue their rights. It's just disgusting.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yeah my point is, Qantas our beloved national carrier just shoves people off and hope people don't pursue their rights. It's just disgusting.

That is true.

People have brought claims and QF is usually pretty quick to resolve the issue then! (before it gets to the tribunal)

But it’s not just qantas… lots of companies do it. Take for example warranties… 99% of people get robbed off by companies and are told that once a manufacturer’s warranty expires that’s it… nothing that can be done. When in fact our consumer law warranties can extend much longer and hold companies liable to repair or replace.

What’s worse is large retailers trying to sell extended warranties for hundreds of dollars that offer little to no benefit over the consumer law protections

 

[kookaburra75]

Yes, but this should not be considered ‘compensation’, it’s our right under law (consumer protection law).

If you did not get the service you paid for you are entitled to a refund.

Compensation would be over and above the amount due by law. So an additional 5900 points for example.

I agree, it's not compensation - I should have said 'correction' or 'restitution'.

 

[RichardMEL]

sometimes, just sometimes, this works to advantage.

I had a F flight SYD-LAX (reward), it was downgraded to a 787 and I was moved into J of course. I was given the points difference as part of that. I then called and got the reward moved to another flight with F and it was re-instated as such. ahem... points difference was never taken which of course I wasn't going to complain about. As it happened, on that same booking on the return my SYD-MEL was downgraded from J to Y due to delays out of LAX and missing my original flight. Given the earlier "bank error in your favour" I let it go for pretty obvious reasons

but agree that in all these situations, the system should just refund automatically with no human intervention - yet clearly QF's consistently inconsistent(tm) systems do not seem to cope with these seemingly simple things - and more ridiculously having to chase these obvious things up and being given the run around, or absolutely incorrect outcomes (such as 2500 points as in this thread) for a clear case (as described, anyway) just points to poor training/CS on top of bad IT. a terrible combination.

 

[Andy72]

I had a similar downgrade due to a late arrival in from lax to Sydney. The only J seat available required a 6 hour wait in the lounge so not surprising took a 1 hour delay to BNE. Most of the delay was having to hold for 45 min near Sydney then another 25 min for the gate. No compensation as a chose not to wait 6 hours

 

[Captain Halliday]

Rather than a new thread, a couple of questionS for the brains trust on refunds please:

Was booked to fly DPSxSYD-BNE in QF J as a CR.

DPS-SYD cancelled due to fuel leak in the engine. QF rebooked us on the following day’s direct JQ flight DPS-BNE.

After two hours sleep at an overpriced Bali hotel I now beed to claim:

1. Points difference for the downgrade.
2. Accom costs.
3. Ground transport (Grab back to airport).
4. ORC for SYD-BNE.

The QF site has different online forms for 1-3.

Am I better off submitting each claim via the individual forms or send a single claim via email for all expenses and the ORC?

If a single claim, should I include the ORC request for Mrs H and Miss H in the same email as they were on the same PNR?

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Rather than a new thread, a couple of questionS for the brains trust on refunds please:

Was booked to fly DPSxSYD-BNE in QF J as a CR.

DPS-SYD cancelled due to fuel leak in the engine. QF rebooked us on the following day’s direct JQ flight DPS-BNE.

After two hours sleep at an overpriced Bali hotel I now beed to claim:

1. Points difference for the downgrade.
2. Accom costs.
3. Ground transport (Grab back to airport).
4. ORC for SYD-BNE.

The QF site has different online forms for 1-3.

Am I better off submitting each claim via the individual forms or send a single claim via email for all expenses and the ORC?

If a single claim, should I include the ORC request for Mrs H and Miss H in the same email as they were on the same PNR?

Points 1 - 4 don't even bring you on event footing after the downgrade.
You must also add in difference in price/product between QF and JQ. They are vastly different airlines with totally different product and expectations and of course prices. Would you have EVER booked JQ given the choice? No - so you must be compensated for the 'brand downgrade'.

Then on top of everything you've listed out so far need to add in compensation.
What will you receive for going through all that nonsense and chasing it up yourself?