Loyalty is a one way affair - goodbye QFF

[OATEK]

Three days?
Why could they not have put you on a Sydney flight via QF & JQ to Melbourne from there.
Seems they didn't try very hard or at all.
One reason we avoid coughstar after a poor experience in Sydney many years ago followed a few weeks later by an outstanding effort by Virgin.
Experiences on Qantas so far have been pretty good by contrast with Jetstar.

Good to have you along on AFF G B. All the major issues I have had with delayed/cancelled flights have involved Jetstar, but occasionally you just have to take the chance as they have the only service available to meet a need.

In this case with QF unwilling to help a flyer with considerable status with their airline is a case of shooting themselves in the foot. We hear it so often, and it is a key reason why I and others now avoid QF internationally, although they have not yet let me down domestically where I often fly on the points earned with travel on AY/CX.

 

[lilkid28]

Please do not go out of your way to be loyal to any airline. Be loyal to your bank account. IMO, Only take advantage of double SC and above to try to gain status, unless you already gain status from frequent work travels.

 

[Paulw]

Good to have you along on AFF G B. All the major issues I have had with delayed/cancelled flights have involved Jetstar, but occasionally you just have to take the chance as they have the only service available to meet a need.

In this case with QF unwilling to help a flyer with considerable status with their airline is a case of shooting themselves in the foot. We hear it so often, and it is a key reason why I and others now avoid QF internationally, although they have not yet let me down domestically where I often fly on the points earned with travel on AY/CX.

Thank you and all others for your replies, will be taking this as far as I can and will keep forum posted:
In brief have yet to here back from Qantas: Submitted customer care first thing Wednesday Morning.
Jetstar would at first not even give me a case number as was not a Jetstar ticket and was a Qantas problem ???
An hour later managed to get a case number and email address to send details to. Submitted Friday

 

[ozfflyer]

sounds just like a similar thing occured to an associated.

Flew BNE/SYD am one day on Qantas ff ticket. Return was for same day at around 6pm on Jetstar as at time of booking no Qantas flights available with ff seats. That flight was cancelled when she got to airport & already had boarding pass. Was shuffled between Jetstar & Qantas & eventually told to go home, but home WAS BNE !!! Eventually gave up & got a Qantas ff ticket for 9pm & then they let me on the 7pm flight. Complained to Qantas who eventually gave me my points back for the Qantas flight SYD/BNE, but the thing could have been so easily fixed at the airport, as soon as the Jetstar flight was canned, by putting Jetstar passengers on one of 4 Qantas flights that night to BNE, that had heaps of seats.

 

[CMA222]

As mentioned up thread the ACA ( Airline Customer Advocate) while only having a voluntary membership and relying on airline funding, sometimes gets a result. Both QF and JQ are members. A case number with QF is, in my experience, a time wasting exercise where they hope you will get frustrated and eventually give up. When they do send out a reply it is an apology and a statement that they will do better next time. You have to go through the QF process before you can go to the ACA. Social media is probably the fastest, and copy everything to the ACCC.

 

[baldman]

I feel for the OP. All of this is why I have sentenced both Qantas and JQ to “life without possibility of parole “ . I’ll happily pay more if need be to not fly with either of them. Both are Businesses run for the convenience of the management and staff, not for the satisfaction of the customer.

 

[Wedgetail]

Please let me state the facts and you will understand my current feeling towards Qantas:

Ticket Fully Flexible purchased from Qantas. MEL to HCM to MEL (all via Singapore)

Return Leg 28th April QF 5158 Ho Chi Minh to Singapore. Checked in for flight in Ho Chi Minh and received boarding pass for this flight and also the next leg Singapore to Melbourne QF36

20 minutes before original boarding time Jetstar Operated QF 5158 was notified of delay due to inward flight being late, new departure time given.
Thought I have boarding pass and no luggage still time to make QF36.
(Had I know this was to be a problem I could have jumped on a Vietnam Airlines flight to Singapore to make QF36)

Arrived Singapore and go to gate, still boarding, still passengers behind me in the queue, no problem. Scan boarding pass and get told that my ticket has been cancelled. Escorted back out to corridor and told go see Jetstar. (That's a Strange thing to hear I know i purchased Qantas tickets and Qantas have my money)

Went to transfer lounge, see Qantas staff and they tell me as Jetstar is late it’s a Jetstar problem and Jetstar have issued a new ticket for Wednesday May 1 (arriving for work and meetings Thursday morning over 3 full days late)

Asked Qantas desk staff to try to help to get me on QF38 later flight same night but they said it was already overbooked.

Tried to get some help at Qantas lounge and after not being able to be put on this later flight was told to go back to transfer lounge. Qantas staff at transfer lounge help me by calling Jetstar and handing me the phone as I was a Jetstar problem not a Qantas problem. Jetstar confirm that this is the best they can do: Wednesday night arriving Melbourne Thursday. Asked them to look at any routes as I had to be back and this was not acceptable. Their words “they are a low cost carrier and do not have the option of putting me with other airlines or other routes and this is the best they can do, take it or leave it”. (Yet Qantas tickets, Qantas payments, Qantas FF)

Qantas not willing to help, Jetstar doing what Jetstar do, I am left stuck in Singapore till Thursday after making my flight on time, just to be turned away at the gate. But the worst part was the follow up lack of support provided by Qantas. Once back in Australia complained to Qantas and they left a message on my phone that i missed their call and they would call back in half an hour, they did not...

Needing to be back I join Kris Flyer and get the only ticket I can with Singapore Airlines for the following night as this night is done. They only have one seat left on Melbourne flight and I need to be back already missing and rescheduling appointments, unfortunately costly as Premium Economy ticket, I have no choice but to buy it. $2,115.90 SGD out of pocket (and no pre-flight drink, sorry being petty now I guess)

How would you feel in the same circumstances ? Not that it should make any difference but I am just about to qualify as Platinum One....

Hi
I had a similar problem. Purchased qantas business class ticket Sydney to London for husband and self. Received boarding passes for both legs. In Bangkok (5 hr layover) went to Lounge and was told that we were off loaded. And could fly next day. Having paid for flexible flights was really really unhappy. Despite appeals to all staff, posting on fb (told that was how we had to make complaint or put in writing by post!). No difference. No response ever by qantas except offer of $250 off next flight. I did not fly qantas again for 5 years.
Not a lot of joy here in solutions. They assume we will all be loyal.
Good luck.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Hi
I had a similar problem. Purchased qantas business class ticket Sydney to London for husband and self. Received boarding passes for both legs. In Bangkok (5 hr layover) went to Lounge and was told that we were off loaded. And could fly next day. Having paid for flexible flights was really really unhappy. Despite appeals to all staff, posting on fb (told that was how we had to make complaint or put in writing by post!). No difference. No response ever by qantas except offer of $250 off next flight. I did not fly qantas again for 5 years.
Not a lot of joy here in solutions. They assume we will all be loyal.
Good luck.

These stories are upsetting.

While I'm sure there's more to the situation, your experience (as does the OP), highlights a glaring problem for the commercial aviation industry.

The SOP and ticketing rules are designed by people WHO ARE TECHNICAL BY NATURE AND ARE NOT FREQUENT FLYERS.

Why I believe this is a MASSIVE problem is that highly technical thinkers, while excellent at their task, lack the ability to foresee emotional connection between the customer and the underlying reasons customers have for buying/travelling. That disconnect is magnified when there are disruptions because the SOP response is fundamentally based on a number (pax rating, check-in number, elite status, etc), whereas the reason the passenger purchased the ticket was most likely an emotional connection they have to the brand.

So it's not that the airline doesn't care - it's that the creative marketing departments (who sell dreams, experiences and evoke emotional connection), but it's the you-are-just-a-number team that make HUMAN affecting decisions when things go wrong. See the problem? It's the wrong people running the show when things go wrong.

This is the #1 reason airlines are investing in big data/behavioural analytics. It's to take the 'emotional' (or lack thereof) power away from disruption teams and force them to deal with pax as the system tells them to (ie: in a way they can understand). The data powering the decision making logic in the computer, is based on the WHY passengers made their purchase in the beginning).

Bit deep...... but hope you can appreciate that many airlines know they struggle in these situations.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That disconnect is magnified when there are disruptions because the SOP response is fundamentally based on a number (pax rating, check-in number, elite status, etc), whereas the reason the passenger purchased the ticket was most likely an emotional connection they have to the brand.

So it's not that the airline doesn't care - it's that the creative marketing departments (who sell dreams, experiences and evoke emotional connection), but it's the you-are-just-a-number team that make HUMAN affecting decisions when things go wrong. See the problem? It's the wrong people running the show when things go wrong.

Except I guess the airline thinks that it is catering to the emotional needs of the passenger who paid more, or had higher status, who wasn't bumped.

 

[Pleb Status]

These stories are upsetting.

While I'm sure there's more to the situation, your experience (as does the OP), highlights a glaring problem for the commercial aviation industry.

The SOP and ticketing rules are designed by people WHO ARE TECHNICAL BY NATURE AND ARE NOT FREQUENT FLYERS.

Why I believe this is a MASSIVE problem is that highly technical thinkers, while excellent at their task, lack the ability to foresee emotional connection between the customer and the underlying reasons customers have for buying/travelling. That disconnect is magnified when there are disruptions because the SOP response is fundamentally based on a number (pax rating, check-in number, elite status, etc), whereas the reason the passenger purchased the ticket was most likely an emotional connection they have to the brand.

So it's not that the airline doesn't care - it's that the creative marketing departments (who sell dreams, experiences and evoke emotional connection), but it's the you-are-just-a-number team that make HUMAN affecting decisions when things go wrong. See the problem? It's the wrong people running the show when things go wrong.

This is the #1 reason airlines are investing in big data/behavioural analytics. It's to take the 'emotional' (or lack thereof) power away from disruption teams and force them to deal with pax as the system tells them to (ie: in a way they can understand). The data powering the decision making logic in the computer, is based on the WHY passengers made their purchase in the beginning).

Bit deep...... but hope you can appreciate that many airlines know they struggle in these situations.

I must be super cynical as this would not be my take (from a customer point of view) and I could therefore never work in marketing etc...

 

[PDF]

Are Qantas staff unaware of their customers' tickets and status? Or have no authority to make things right? Seems to be a few stories floating around lately about Qantas frequent fliers getting the rough end of the stick.

 

[33kft]

Are Qantas staff unaware of their customers' tickets and status? Or have no authority to make things right? Seems to be a few stories floating around lately about Qantas frequent fliers getting the rough end of the stick.

Yes that's it, I've been buying Y seats and sitting in F for years. Sometimes I put on an FO outfit and fly in F+ (right hand seat). Now that you have figured it out, I guess it is back to the back end of the can for me. If it wasn't for you meddling VA fliers, I woulda got away with it too.

 

[mickto]

Reading this post made me feel sick. QANTAS. Yet so many good people think they will be rewarded flying with them. There should be a public awareness campaign to alert what sort of service they provide these days. SICK.

 

[Forg]

^ Huh?
It’s a business, and people are involved.
Why any sort of emotional response?

 

[JohnK]

Sorry to hear of your issues. Being made to wait 3 days for a replacement flight is awful.

On a related note it is quite common for Qantas (and I guess 3K and JQ) to move people to later flights if the first flight looks like being delayed. Has happened to me quite a few times but each time it has been on arrival into Australia. A few of those times I would have easily made the connection but at that stage it was too late.

For your situation I'm surprised they cancelled your connecting flight and rebooked a flight in 3 days. LCC or not how would anyone think that's a reasonable replacement?

You've now got me thinking about my trips to Thailand on QF as they are usually BNE-BKK via SIN on QF/EK/3K. We've had one delay SIN-HKT of around 3 hours which meant we got to hotel around 3:00am and I was terrified driving tired at that time of the night.

 

[Hvr]

The SOP and ticketing rules are designed by people WHO ARE TECHNICAL BY NATURE AND ARE NOT FREQUENT FLYERS.

I've heard this argument previously and posted a link to an article here to stimulate discussion.
The Airline and Passenger Disconnect

 

[MEL_Traveller]

There's no incentive - other than *maybe* for their top elites - to get pax to their destination as quick as possible. EU261 provides some incentive. We have nothing similar. Going down the Montreal route can be problematic because of the low bar for airlines to escape liability.

 

[dajop]

EU261 provides some incentive. We have nothing similar.

And we never will, whilst airlines continue to tacitly bribe politicians with special treatment via CL membership/equivalent.

 

[waltervp]

IMHO QANTAS really doesnt care about loyalty, I'd ....it wasn't for the fact only qantaslink services my town I wouldn't touch them anymore. Sorry qantas, been disappointed and let down too many times.

 

[ozpete]

28th of April - end of NSW school holidays and Easter. My rule for flying is to avoid school holiday travel times, not only for cost reasons, but for reliability.

No wonder you got bumped for 3 days.

BTW not excusing Qantas and Jetstar, but explaining one aspect of the issue.

Please let us know what Qantas does inc any weasel words.

Good luck