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

[RichardMEL]

I think the airport staff would be unable to help with what essentially is a ticketing/res function. While some may have the knowledge and even access I'm pretty sure they've all been told to push all that stuff back to res, and from their POV seeing no valid PNR for the flights would be helpless to assist even if they wanted to (with queues of other people to serve).

Anyway

the excuse as reported by QF is ridiculous imo. cancel a itin to calculate changed taxes and charges? huh?

To me that says badly trained (and probably off shore) staff who really don't know what they're doing with this stuff. This seems to be the crux of the MANY MANY MANY issues just about all (but not all Iknow) involving changes made to bookings. Seems they don't have the proper tools and training to do these complex procedures correctly yet agents with experience and proper access (yes, I mean HBA in the main) can do this kind of thing with one hand tied behind their back (though typing would be slower ) .

None of this helps the OP and countless others affected of course and QF don't care (probably because it's reward tix so with partners so not really their highest priority) and it's a shameful indictment that loyal(ahem) customers who have played the system to accrue their points get screwed over by them.

My take away is make a booking for either QF only metal or if it's with partners do online and don't change!! Or be lucky enough to have access to rare employees who won't stuff it up (and yes, I have that privilege currently) OR go to another alliance/airline offering better service (just one reason my personal policy has been to keep a foot in both OW and Star camps)

I so wish for everyone QF would take this seriously and either:

a) give the staff training and tools to do it right first time
or
b) simpoly have such complex (they shouldn't be, but here we are) changes referred to a proper team who can and do handle these things lie. I don't mean some agent who has to "refer to the ticketing desk" and put you on hold for an hour then hangs up.. I mean "I'll just put YOU through to the partner ticketing desk" and you deal with a team who can do it.

yes that all seems like customer service. funny notion.


so frustrated for all going through such trauma.. specially this one within hours of anticipated departure

 

[gorodemon]

At the time when I started this thread, I also used Qantas customer care feedback form to contact the local staffs as suggested by one of the overseas call centre.

Here's the reply from them which I received on 30 Sept @ 2 pm:

Ref No: 056xx_xx Dear xx_xx_x, Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please accept my sincere apologies for the cancellation of your booking. Upon checking, you will need to contact our Qantas reservations team at 13-13-13 directly to further investigate this on their end for you and assist you with the booking. Once again, on behalf of the team at Qantas, we apologise for the inconvenience experienced.

Kind regards, Qantas Customer Care

 

[bam71]

Absolutely bloody ridiculous …..

 

[ChrisMars]

Feels like until this kind of stories get proper media coverage, or a tweet from another veggie Jon Dee, or a real law suit, it s not the last time we will hear about this kind of sh*tshow.
Zero accountability at Qantas. Noone cares.

 

[dajop]

At the time when I started this thread, I also used Qantas customer care feedback form to contact the local staffs as suggested by one of the overseas call centre.

Here's the reply from them which I received on 30 Sept @ 2 pm:

Ref No: 056xx_xx Dear xx_xx_x, Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please accept my sincere apologies for the cancellation of your booking. Upon checking, you will need to contact our Qantas reservations team at 13-13-13 directly to further investigate this on their end for you and assist you with the booking. Once again, on behalf of the team at Qantas, we apologise for the inconvenience experienced.

Kind regards, Qantas Customer Care

Or in short …. So sad. Too bad. ^#%* off and leave us alone.

Appalling response form Qantas Customer Don’t Care.

 

[gorodemon]

I thought I also mentioned that I received an involuntary time change for my return flight on 28 Oct on JL3 from JFK - HND. I recalled receiving this notification on my email sometime in July 2022. As a result, I rang the customer service to accept the new time changes. I also wanted to inquire if it's possible to change the date for one of my flight segments because I couldn't do it online. Please refer to attached file, Original itinerary - 5Qxx_x - Return with JL3.

The agent who assisted me asked if I would accept the time change and I verbally agreed because they moved the flight from a night flight to a morning one. It wasn't a great deal for me so I accepted. A few days after my call, I noticed the flight time change was reflected on my JL3 and a new flight segment from JFK - HND had been added onto my booking, which was JL5, departing on 31 Oct.

This means at that time, I had 2 return flights from JFK to HND, on JL3 and JL5, departing on different dates. I shook my head in disbelief when I saw the new itinerary on Manage My Booking. However, I had never received the new itinerary in PDF with e-ticket numbers so I didn't bother to call them up again because I was going to call them up again to change my booking in the near future.

When I called Qantas again on 01 Sept 2022 to remove the NRT - YVR segment, departing on 03 OCT, I also mentioned that I have 2 returning flights from JFK because the previous agent had added the extra segment in error. I requested them to clean up the returning flights by removing one of the segments from JFK. I advised them to remove JL3, departing on 28 OCT, because it suited me better. The agent thanked me for bringing this up and promised to remove two segments:
a. NRT - YVR on JL18 departing on 03 OCT as per my request; and
b. JFK - HND on JL03 departing on 28 OCT to fix up their previous mistake.

After this conversation, I received a new itinerary with the correct flight segments on 01 Sept 2022 (please refer to attached file - Amended 01 Sept - 5Qxx_x - Return with JL5). I was content with this new schedule and I didn't want to muck around with it anymore. On 20 Sept 2022, they issued a new itinerary because I had another involuntary flight route change on QF flight from NRT - MEL to NRT - SYD and then SYD - MEL. Then on 29 Sept 2022 around 8 am, my whole booking disappeared and it made my day really bad.

 

[gorodemon]

If I read this correctly and it happened to me, I think I might have gone to the airport as scheduled and seen what could have been done. Not strictly irrops, but if you got the right person there and they could see the ridiculousness of the situation, they may have been able to make the first segment work.

There’s a whole lot of if after that point, but I’d hope already being overseas might spur QF into doing something right.

I had thought about it but I decided it wasn't wise because I didn't want to drag my wife and little one on an emotional roller coaster ride with a slim chance of success. Family is all that matters to me so I just wanted only me to cop the brunt of this whole drama.

 

[renatts]

I'm sorry if I looked like inundating my own thread with own replies but QF call centre finally gave me an explanation why they cancelled my 1st booking (5Qxx_x).

"This is because you requested for one leg to be cancelled. In order to calculate the amount of refunds, we had to cancel the whole booking thus invalidating your original e-tickets. Once the refund amount had been calculated, we tried to re book your seats accordingly. Unfortunately, at the time, there were no availability of reward seats for booking with JAL and WestJets so we had to cancel the whole booking and issue a refund".

To me, it doesn't make sense at all because I had the correct booking since 01 Sept 2022 as issued by QF. They were able to remove my unwanted leg as per my instructions and issued the correct itinerary. Why did they cancel the whole thing a day before departure? Was the refund not processed correctly in the beginning and they tried to redo it yesterday?

That is the most ridiculous excuse yet. I’ve made countless changes to oneworld awards and not once has the booking had to be cancelled and rebooked for taxes.

You’ve just been lied to once again. Trying to make it your fault and make you go away.

Please go to journalists.
Qantas needs to be held accountable, they can’t just keep getting away with this.

 

[jbman]

Sorry for everything that’s happening to you here. This is truely terrible and QF once again have just washed their hands of their responsibilities.

I suggest if taking it to the media, ABC would be a good option as they recently had the 4 corners story on QF. All the commercial networks are too invested in being paid by QF to advertise their next ‘game changer’ flight.

 

[RealtimeY]

In OP's 20 Sep eticket, the departure time for JL5 is not what it is currently scheduled as. I believe JL updated their schedules on 28 Sep. Given that other people have reported new etickets being issued even for small schedule changes, could this have had an effect here?

31 Oct, JL 5
Eticket: Dep 13:40
EF: Dep 13:45

 

[exceladdict]

I was going to quote a few earlier posts but given they all agree, I'll just add my extra bit:

I've commented elsewhere about an experience in trying to change an award booking in 2019, with what I think was AKL or CPT.
When trying to add two AA flights, within the mileage limit, they wanted hundreds of dollars in extra taxes (in theory by shifting point of sale from Philippines to AU as I was starting in MNL). I said well then okay just leave it as it was, they said they couldn't because they cancelled the old segments just to look at the changes.

Learning: the old 'book by segments' method of a OWA is a high risk activity, which may be an understatement. Even waiting until the ticket is in your inbox might not be safe if agents are cancelling old flights to make minor changes, as they might not be released back into award inventory.

I don't know whether Qantas can book revenue fares on all oneworld airlines, but that would be the resolution I would be pushing for if a ticket was lost.

 

[Seat0B]

At the time when I started this thread, I also used Qantas customer care feedback form to contact the local staffs as suggested by one of the overseas call centre.

Here's the reply from them which I received on 30 Sept @ 2 pm:

Ref No: 056xx_xx Dear xx_xx_x, Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please accept my sincere apologies for the cancellation of your booking. Upon checking, you will need to contact our Qantas reservations team at 13-13-13 directly to further investigate this on their end for you and assist you with the booking. Once again, on behalf of the team at Qantas, we apologise for the inconvenience experienced.

Kind regards, Qantas Customer Care

In short it says “sorry, not sorry. You sort it out yourself.” Customer Don’t Care not Customer Care. Dreadful.

Edit: looks like I’m right on the same page as @dajop!

 

[dajop]

Maybe we could all start posting to QF social media (fb, twitter) linking this thread and asking “why did you cancel this person’s booking the day before they were meant to travel and why did you just fob them off instead of making it right? Appalling.”

 

[gorodemon]

I have some good news today. My friends and family have banded together to improve my situation. I have booked a flight with EK metal from MEL to JFK on 06 Oct. Although the fuel surcharge is ridiculously expensive ($ 1960 for 3 tickets), I'm willing to pay for it.

The return flight is a bit tricky because only limited flights were available. I saw a few available flights from JFK - LAX and LAX - HND on AA routes but the fuel surcharge was expensive as well (US$1190). Interestingly, after I combined these segments with a JQ flight NRT - OOL and OOL - MEL, the fuel surcharge dropped to US$ 458.

As of now, all flights have been booked and I am happy because I get to keep my promise to my son. That's all that matters . Instead of going to Canada, I'll just do a side trip to Tokyo in early November. My boss at work has been great and understanding because he's OK for me to adjust my leave to suit my new schedule.

In regard to my ordeal, I am still going to fight for a reimbursement with Qantas. I have wrote a letter to my local Federal Member and sent my story to ABC News, News.Com.Au and John Loyalty Lobby. My son suggested to send our nightmare experience with QF to Paw Patrol but I don't think they could help us .

I just wanted to thank you all for your help, support and kind words during these tough times for me. Even though we're all strangers on the internet but you are more helpful and emphatic with my situation than QF customer service. I truly hope what I have gone through and shared on this forum serves as a stark reminder to those who are considering to make any changes to their reward booking.

 

[Virgin Bart]

It shouldn't come to this kind of situation.

 

[yaziyo]

Glad to hear you now have a semi-decent outcome, even if Qantas had no part in the remedy. This thread is shocking and I hope the media gives it some attention.

 

[bam71]

Maybe we could all start posting to QF social media (fb, twitter) linking this thread and asking “why did you cancel this person’s booking the day before they were meant to travel and why did you just fob them off instead of making it right? Appalling.”

I’d LOVE to, but I guess it’s up to the OP to do that..?

 

[drron]

You are a great dad @gorodemon for keeping your promise to your son after having undergone such a traumatic experience. Fantastic that you have been able to cobble together a compromise. All the very best to you on your trip.

 

[Danger]

I’d LOVE to, but I guess it’s up to the OP to do that..?

No, we can all do it. And I am, right now.

 

[love_the_life]

I have some good news today. My family have banded together to improve my situation by lending me some QF points. It's enough to book return flights to North America on Economy.

As a result, I have booked a flight with EK metal from MEL to JFK on 06 Oct. Although the fuel surcharge is ridiculously expensive ($ 1960 for 3 tickets), I'm willing to pay for it.

The return flight is a bit tricky because only limited flights were available. I saw a few available flights from JFK - LAX and LAX - HND on AA routes but the fuel surcharge was expensive as well (US$1190). Interestingly, after I combined these segments with a JQ flight NRT - OOL and OOL - MEL, the fuel surcharge dropped to US$ 458.

As of now, all flights have been booked and I am happy because I get to keep my promise to my son. That's all that matters . Instead of going to Canada, I'll just do a side trip to Tokyo in early November. My boss at work has been great and understanding because he's OK for me to adjust my leave to suit my new schedule.

In regard to my ordeal, I am still going to fight for a reimbursement with Qantas. I have wrote a letter to my local Federal Member and sent my story to ABC News, News.Com.Au and John Loyalty Lobby. My son suggested to send our nightmare experience with QF to Paw Patrol but I don't think they could help us .

I just wanted to thank you all for your help, support and kind words during these tough times for me. Even though we're all strangers on the internet but you are more helpful and emphatic with my situation than QF customer service. I truly hope what I have gone through and shared on this forum serves as a stark reminder to those who are considering to make any changes to their reward booking.

Great outcome - just a suggestion that you might like to edit your post as above (noting the QFF T&Cs).
Hope you have a wonderful trip.