Massive QF Fail [Airline moved PAX to earlier flight-did not inform PAX]

[love_the_life]

Many years ago at CBR, a QF flight to MEL was delayed, not sure on what the story was now, but passengers were accommodated on the Ansett (yes it was a while ago) flight, though they could not guarantee catering. It was a matter of if you would like/need to get there earlier we will put you on the flight. Master LtL was flying down to stay with grandparents so he chose to go on Ansett. Certainly no suggestion that any passengers pay Ansett. Times have changed in the business world.

 

[Quickstatus]

I have seen QF engineers arrive in HBA on a VA plane in order to fix a QF plane stuck on the tarmac at HBA :shock:

That was going to be quicker than waiting for the next QF arrival into HBA.

So QF does arrange bookings on VA when it suits them.

yep buy a ticket get on a plane.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Subscribing to the thread with interest..

 

[Comoman]

Exactly. No requirement for an interline for QF to endorse the ticket over to VA.

Few years ago a DJ (then) A330 went tech in Sydney before leaving to Perth. I was flying J and Virgin called me on my way to the airport, and said (if I wanted) they would transfer me to QF or I could wait but it might be a while. Because I was time poor I said ok. Few minutes later got a call with a QF locator, I trotted over to QF terminal and checked in. So I sure if VA can buy/acquire a ticket on QF then the reciprocal must be able to happen

 

[Ansett]

It is never good when these things happen and I have to say that I would have normally expected QF to bend over backwards to help. I hope that this is not a sign of the times at Qantas in order to meet cost reduction expectations.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Do QF have an interline agreement with VA at all? ie.could they have even booked a VA seat on QF ticket stock if they wanted to?

No interline agreement but each airline can FIM pax onto the others services however this takes time & given the OP had to bolt to the VA gate from the QP to make the flight he paid for over the phone there possibly wasn't enough time to arrange it. VA or QF can't use their own ticket stock to ticket fares on the other carrier.

I always thought that QF would only endorse the ticket to other OW airlines? (although I'm not sure how endorsement actually works ?)

OW member airlines have an agreement they can re-issue tickets on behalf of other carriers which of course does not include VA. In the olden days when paper tickets were around the airline could endorse a flight coupon over to another carrier eg TN would stamp the flight coupon "endorsed to AN" who then uplifts the pax against that coupon. FIM's weren't needed because when you had a paper coupon that was the payment.

QF or VA can't endorse an eticket across to the other one.

I have seen QF engineers arrive in HBA on a VA plane in order to fix a QF plane stuck on the tarmac at HBA :shock:

That was going to be quicker than waiting for the next QF arrival into HBA. So QF does arrange bookings on VA when it suits them.

That's comparing apples and oranges. You don't know how much lead in time QF had to arrange the VA ticket which was probably booked as a VA flight from the get go.

Many years ago at CBR, a QF flight to MEL was delayed, not sure on what the story was now, but passengers were accommodated on the Ansett (yes it was a while ago) flight, though they could not guarantee catering. It was a matter of if you would like/need to get there earlier we will put you on the flight. Master LtL was flying down to stay with grandparents so he chose to go on Ansett. Certainly no suggestion that any passengers pay Ansett. Times have changed in the business world.

As mentioned above, in the days of paper tickets it was a lot easier to do many things including endorsing a TN ticket to AN or vv.

 

[love_the_life]

....

As mentioned above, in the days of paper tickets it was a lot easier to do many things including endorsing a TN ticket to AN or vv.

Yes, the old days of paper tickets, did have some advantages. Though of course I should not confess that I once left all the tickets and coupons at check in in Canberra. Luckily they send them up to the QP (and gave them to Mr LtL for safe keeping).

 

[tomo69]

I know OP stated that had to be at destination at particular time hence booking of VA flight. But if there was no urgency and no onward flight available til next day, would OP been expected to book and pay for own hotel?

 

[Standby]

Generally if the connecting flight is in the same booking they take pretty good care of it, especially if the change made you miss the last flight of the day and caused an overnight stay in Bne or Syd if left unactioned.
If the cancelation didn't get you to your destination that day, it would have been cheaper to pop you on VA than pay disrupt accom.
To mention you were given the phone and asked to pay indicates there was a later Sydney option for you,the tickets were booked seperately or that someone in the BNE lounge needs a right kick up the clacker .Also I expect you should ask QF to refund yr VA service

 

[JessicaTam]

Ozbeachbabe, what is FIM?

 

[amaroo]

Things go wrong ... it's the method of recovery that matters. On face value, QF have a major fail with this one. Hope the OP manages to garner satisfactory compensation!

 

[Standby]

Ozbeachbabe, what is FIM?

FIM= flight interruption manifest. Process to efficiently handle moving disrupted pax to other airlines without having to reissue individual tickets.

 

[dfcatch]

As I mentioned in the other place....

I had a misconnect AKL-SYD-CNS due to delay ex-AKL which meant I missed the last flight to CNS.

Next flight on QF was a 9am departure which meant arriving at midday on a day I was meant to be at work.

Both VA and JQ has flights leaving earlier in the day.

I was only vanilla-WP and called the WP line. Best answer (from supervisor) was that they would refund me for my QF flight (just the missed segment) so that I could go and book my own on VA or JQ.

Given how much I would be out of pocket for doing so - I declined.

But there was no way QF was going to book me onto another carrier.

 

[N860CR]

As I mentioned in the other place....

I had a misconnect AKL-SYD-CNS due to delay ex-AKL which meant I missed the last flight to CNS.

Next flight on QF was a 9am departure which meant arriving at midday on a day I was meant to be at work.

Both VA and JQ has flights leaving earlier in the day.

I was only vanilla-WP and called the WP line. Best answer (from supervisor) was that they would refund me for my QF flight (just the missed segment) so that I could go and book my own on VA or JQ.

Given how much I would be out of pocket for doing so - I declined.

But there was no way QF was going to book me onto another carrier.

Yeah I had a similar thing with Qantas. WP line was very much "what do you expect, we can get you there a day later" (domestic booking).

I cancelled and rebooked on VA at my significant expense.

Response from customer care was "we're very happy to see you were offered a refund of your Qantas ticket". No apology, no compensation.

It cost Qantas a Platinum customer.

 

[Grimace1]

Upon reading the first sentence and then seeing the photo of the VA Safety card, I thought someone had stolen it off an VA Aircraft and placed it onto the QF Aircraft lol

 

[Anna]

You don't know how much lead in time QF had to arrange the VA ticket which was probably booked as a VA flight from the get go.

Umm well, actually I do. The lead in time was about 30 minutes for QF to arrange the VA ticket.

 

[MatF]

Sorry guys, have been too flat out with work today to post any followup.

I'll contact QF tomorrow and explain my disappointment at the way this was all handled. Not sure of the best way ... thoughts?

I think the nature of the conversation with the QF lounge angel will be relevant; jot some notes down if you haven't already. Depending on what was said (and requested) then, QF may argue "Well, you went off and arranged your own substitute flight, we are not going to pay for something you went off and did yourself."

This is a good point. It was definitely initiated by the J Lounge Angels, as the only way I could get to SYD in time to connect through to WGA. They looked up which VA flight I'd need to catch, then one of them called VA and asked about availability (and then she handed me the phone).

Prima facie this is a stuffup by QF. They may say they sent you SMS/email to inform you of change. I would just check email /SMS just in case. However as with any transaction, sending an email or SMS to an inbox does not constitute receipt.

Definitely no SMS, email or phone call.

I actually think that in a situation where you've been moved forward by an hour, an SMS isn't sufficient. I think QF should really call, to get positive confirmation that you know about it. I suppose they probably do for WP1's .....

The other point of note is that the earlier flight they moved me to (QF537) had boarded and departed by the time I got to the lounge, and I hadn't even checked in for it. The QF website hadn't been working properly since the afternoon before (an issue that I know wasn't only affecting me), so I couldn't do an OLCI as I would normally do - otherwise I may have seen the change (depending when QF541 was cancelled). I'd tried to OLCI earlier in the day, and hadn't even been able to see my bookings online.

To mention you were given the phone and asked to pay indicates there was a later Sydney option for you,the tickets were booked seperately or that someone in the BNE lounge needs a right kick up the clacker .Also I expect you should ask QF to refund yr VA service

Well, I'll let you be the judge ....

• There was no later SYD option - I'd originally been booked on QF541 (the cancelled flight), which is the latest flight that can connect to QF2231. I'd been moved forward an hour to QF537 (which had departed). The only flight in between (QF539) had no seats, and apparently had 10 people on standby.
• Ticket was booked as WGA-SYD-BNE-SYD-WGA as one ticket/PNR.

 

[777]

I had a situation where my flight on VA PER to MEL in J (it was a free upgrade using my Plat upgrade) was delayed several hours. VA booked me on a QF flight in J without so much as asking. Certainly didn't expect me to pay,and I managed to snag full QF status credits to boot.

 

[williamsf1]

QF and VA are arch enemies. Definitely no interline there.

Qf could/should have paid for a VA ticket.

they do both however have a FIM agreement where PAX can be transferred to each other in such circumstances

 

[rogerkambah]

Yes, the old days of paper tickets, did have some advantages. Though of course I should not confess that I once left all the tickets and coupons at check in in Canberra. Luckily they send them up to the QP (and gave them to Mr LtL for safe keeping).

Once upon a time, TAA and Ansett used to have a supply of each other's tickets under the counter, and would just ring the other and write a ticket on the other's stock. I used to prefer TAA and remember that one day, when I couldn't get on a TAA flight on a particular day (open dated ticket) the ticket clerk just rang AN, arranged everything and gave me the AN ticket - no cost involved. That was customer service. How times have changed.