My Reward Booking has disappeared and I'm supposed to fly tomorrow morning

[gorodemon]

Hey guys,

I have a reward booking with JAL and few other airlines booked using QF points and and it's been ticketed. I cancelled one of the leg with QF Call Centre due to Japan was still closed but everything was OK and I received a new itinerary on 20/09/2022. I have been checking my booking EVERY day on Check My Trip website and compared it QF website and everything was fine.

This morning, less than 24 hours of my flight, my booking has disappeared from all systems (QF and Check My Trip). I have not done any changes since the last itinerary was emailed to me on 20/09/2022. I made sure I don't make miss my flight because it's JL774 and it's supposed to fly tomorrow morning 30 Sep 2022 from MEL. I'm on hold with Qantas CC - 131313 - trying to find out what the heck is going on. None of the system including JAL website showing my booking. It was there last night!!!!

I have paid all accommodation, attractions, car rentals, etc and I have what I'm going to do if my booking has disappeared and I can't get to my destination. I'm so angry and stress and I'm going to yell if the worst of my fear comes true. Is there anyone from Qantas or any emergency number that I can contact to help me out?

Thanks all

 

[Anna]

If you're on the phone to Qantas then that is the best thing you can do right now. Hopefully you will get a good agent who will help you.

 

[Viper6]

What happened with this?

 

[jase05]

What happened with this?

Probably still on hold to QF

 

[encryptededdy]

Probably still on hold to QF

More likely onto the 10th agent in hopes of getting one who understands what has actually happened.

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

I received a new itinerary on 20/09/2022.

Just for clarity… when you received your new itinerary, did you also receive new ticket numbers (starting 081)?

 

[gorodemon]

Just to give an update, I spoke to 4 call centre staffs today, no one could help me to reinstate my booking. Everything had been cancelled by the ticketing staffs this morning around 8am (29/09/22).

To give you a time frame, here's the chronology. Initially I booked a reward ticket on 01/04/2022 as per below:
MEL - NRT - 30 SEP 22
NRT - YVR - 03 OCT 22
YVR - YYC - 06 OCT 22
YYC - JFK - 12 OCT 22
JFK - HND - 31 OCT 22
HND - MEL - 02 NOV 22

Since Japan hadn't opened for tourists, I tried to change the flight date of my NRT - YVR to 30 SEP 22 to avoid getting stranded at NRT airport for 3 days. I spoke to 10 different CC staffs and were only able to speak to the overseas ones. They all said they couldn't see any availability of seats on NRT - YVR route for 30 SEP when they tried to amend my existing booking. However, there were seats available if you tried to create a new booking. I tried everything, even sending numerous emails to Stephanie Tully, Frequent Flyers inbox and Feedback forms but no one responded.

As a result, I decided to create a separate new booking, 53xx_x, to fly NRT - YVR on 30 SEP. On the other hand, I asked the CC staff to cancel one of the legs, NRT - YVR on 03 OCT, from my existing booking 5Qxx_x. This event occurred on 30 Aug 2022 and they confirmed only one leg was cancelled and processed. I even received a call from a ticketing staff to confirm that I only wanted to cancelled one leg.

On 01 Sept 2022, QF sent me an amended itinerary with the correct routes as per my instructions. So the final itinerary for 5Qxx_x was:
MEL - NRT - 30 SEP 22
YVR - YYC - 06 OCT 22
YYC - JFK - 12 OCT 22
JFK - HND - 31 OCT 22
HND - MEL - 02 NOV 22

And the new booking 53xx_x had one flight only:
NRT - YVR - 03 OCT 22

Everything was correct until the morning of 29/09/2022 when suddenly my booking disappeared from CheckMyTrip website. Everything disappeared from JAL website and QF. I called call centre staffs and were told it had been cancelled this morning on my request!!! I told them to check their notes and their responses were "Ohhh, I see what happened here". They never admitted it was their mistakes to cancel the whole thing.

Why would they do that? It was all correct since 01 Sept 22 because they removed the one leg which I didn't want. Why would they cancel they whole thing after they sent me the correct itinerary, a month before that? The new itinerary had e-tickets (081-xx_) and was correct!!!

Since they were unable to reinstate my booking, I had to cancel my other booking along with car rentals, accommodations, attractions, etc. I have suffered financial losses since some of them were non-refundable. I will be claiming compensation from QF for my losses since it's their fault and won't hesitate to take them to VCAT. Their competency is worst then 3rd party booking website like Aunt Betty or BYO Jets.

Attached are snapshots of my itineraries which I hoped would help you guys to understand the chronological order of my booking. The last one which was issued on 20 Sept was due to involuntary change of flight from QF. Somehow they decided to re-route my flight back to SYD before putting me on a domestic flight to MEL.

 

[bam71]

My god ……..

 

[ChrisMars]

A whole tickected itinery cancelled without the customer initiating any change, juuust before departure. That's a new low. And all you got is a "ooh I see what happened here". Did the agent gave more details?

I am disgusted. There are a few threads hanging around about individuals taking Qantas to NCAT. Might be worth a read.
There are so many similar horrors story at the moment, I am wondering if this met the criteria of class action. There definitly more than 7 AFF members here that got affected.

PS: @gorodemon you might want to retract your booking reference for your post (and avoid sharing them).

 

[HSB44]

.....

No words...

 

[dajop]

There are so many similar horrors story at the moment, I am wondering if this met the criteria of class action. There definitly more than 7 AFF members here that got affected.

Maybe time to get the media a bit more involved (not ACA, they probably wouldn't touch this) but SMH/The Age. Amelia McGuire seems to be writing a few articles lately about things like Jetstar delays, QF issues around vegetarian menus. Who knows, might be of interest, sending a collation of the AFF threads through.

But this is disgusting. QF attitude: too bad, so sad, ..... off.

 

[gorodemon]

A whole tickected itinery cancelled without the customer initiating any change, juuust before departure. That's a new low. And all you got is a "ooh I see what happened here". Did the agent gave more details?

PS: @gorodemon you might want to retract your booking reference for your post (and avoid sharing them).

Thanks mate, I've removed the booking reference number.

The agent(s) never offered any explanations further beyond their statement of "Ohh I see what happened there". I was too upset to find out why they stuffed it up. My priority was to get on my scheduled flights in anyway I could.

They must have some sort of notes or history of my conversation in their system because when I gave them the booking reference number, they took their time to read something. They were even able to retrieve the name of the ticketing staffs who contacted me to confirm that I only wanted to cancel one leg.

At one point, they even implied that the cancellation was due to my incorrect instructions to them. "You asked us to cancel the booking, right?"

Well, helloooo, I only asked for one leg to be removed! And they did it correctly until somehow they cancelled the whole booking. I believe they cancelled my booking because they tried to issue a partial refund for my cancelled leg. Somehow, due to their system or the lack of staff knowledge, they are not able to issue a partial refund for amended booking unless they cancelled the whole thing.

 

[djkelly69]

The new itinerary had e-tickets (081-xx_) and was correct!!!

I really feel for you, as I think everyone here does.

Just out of interest, did you have any involuntary flight time changes, amendments, etc, in the month or so since the booking was correctly ticketed?

 

[gorodemon]

I really feel for you, as I think everyone here does.

Just out of interest, did you have any involuntary flight time changes, amendments, etc, in the month or so since the booking was correctly ticketed?

Yes, 3-4x times involuntary changes that affected only my return flight from Japan to Melbourne. I was supposed to fly back from HND - MEL on QF bird on 02 NOV 22. However, there was a slight change a week ago because QF decided to divert the route and they put me on HND - SYD and SYD - MEL.

Every time there's a change, I had to accept the new schedule or I wouldn't be able to see my booking reference on CheckMyTickets or JAL websites. If I didn't accept it, I'd be getting error messages that "booking reference doesn't exist".

I was very careful when accepting the new schedule because when I went to Manage My Booking option, the "Accept" and "Cancel" buttons are next to each other. Anyway if I accidentally tried to cancel my existing booking, a second window would pop up to confirm the cancellation request.

Once I accepted the new schedules, the booking reference would instantly be recognised again on CheckMyTickets and JAL websites. In fact, there was a minor change that I had to accept a few days prior to my departure date because QF changed the departure time by an hour.

 

[ellen10]

Oh my goodness! I am so sorry to read your story. Not only destroying your longed for holiday, but the mess to clean up because of their actions. I wish you the best in getting complete compensation. But the angst is awful for you.

 

[levelnine]

Have you been able to get a resolution to this? Or have you been abandoned by Qantas without a flight on the day of your departure?

 

[gorodemon]

Have you been able to get a resolution to this? Or have you been abandoned by Qantas without a flight on the day of your departure?

They washed their hands of my problem, nothing can be done because once a booking is cancelled, it's gone from the system into the void. Nothing can be done to retrieve nor reinstate it. They advised me in order to reinstate, they have to request JAL and other airlines (Westjet for my domestic flights in Canada) to "open up" the seats again for my booking class.

I had to cancel everything and try to limit the damage from my non-flight prepaid bookings. They told me they could put me on the next flight to Canada within 24 hours as long as I fork out $ 9000 for a new booking for 2 adults + 1 toddler.

They advised me to try to recoup my financial loss by asking for reimbursement via Feedback Form. To add insult to injury, at end of almost every phone call that I had, the call centre staffs reminded me to complete the phone survey about their services. Bravo QF!

 

[Bundy Bear]

Did the points come back, not sure what someone should do if Qantas cancels your booking, do you stay on the line until they fix it or will they just cancel the call on you.

 

[Ade]

Wow an absolute new low for QF ! Every time I think something is not possible and can’t go any lower/worser, QF proves me wrong, time and again …

I sincerely hope you get all your money and points back asap. Now, for the stress that’s caused, I’m out of words …

 

[levelnine]

If they don't refund you the cost difference, I would not be hesitating in taking Qantas to NCAT to recoup your losses. It won't help with the stress that's been caused, but you absolutely should not be out of pocket for Qantas' staggering incompetence.