Please advise me if I am wrong in seeking Original routing credits?

[Townsend]

Having applied for Orginal Routing Credits that have been rejected I would like to know if AFFers think I am in the wrong, or should I take it further e.g. email Vanessa Hudson.

My husband and I (me Platinum, him gold) were booked on the final legs of a rtw flight from HKG to CBR via MEL on QF 030 which was due to land in Melbourne on 9 March at 0750 followed by QF1276 at 1140.

QF 1276 was cancelled by Qantas and Qantas booked us on QF 0958 at 0820 i.e. 30 minutes after our international flight landed. This, of course, was never going to happen but if we missed that flight we would have to wait in MEL for QF 1476 until 1645 I.e 9 hours after we landed.

Our travel agent suggested that we change our international flight so we landed in Sydney and transfer to Canberra. This worked well. The only problem was that the international flight was on Cathay and we have been credited with 90 SCs less than if we had flown on QF

I am now asking for the Original Routing Credits for the original bookings. However Qantas are telling me that, because we didn’t fly on the flight they booked us on, we were not eligible for ORC. I find it unacceptable that 1. We were never going to make the flight they booked us on and 2. We would have had to wait 9 hours.

Any suggestions?

 

[markis10]

An inconvenient alternative is not sufficient reason to award orc

 

[equus]

I am afraid that you (via your Travel agent) made the change in routing, so you would not be eligible for ORC. If Qantas made the change, then you would be. The fact that QF booked you on a 30 min scheduled connection, obviously with the fall back to 9 hours meant they were going to fly your original route. Whilst you thought you would not make that connection (probably quite reasonably), as you never flew, you would never know. The incoming flight may have been significantly early, or the connecting flight may have been delayed by a couple of hours. For all you know, there may have been a large tour group flying HKG-CBR via MEL on those same QF flights (maybe a sporting team or the like), and QF were actively planning to hold the CBR flight until the connections were made. You will never know.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Am I right that OP made a "Voluntary" change, therefore ORC does not apply?

 

[Ade]

Am I right that OP made a "Voluntary" change, therefore ORC does not apply?

That is my understanding as well. However, the change was initiated by the customer as a consequence of QF changing their onward connection to CBR. So, this could be a case of "involuntary" change?

 

[AIRwin]

Am I right that OP made a "Voluntary" change, therefore ORC does not apply?

Voluntary change to an involuntary change?

 

[SeatBackForward]

That is my understanding as well. However, the change was initiated by the customer as a consequence of QF changing their onward connection to CBR. So, this could be a case of "involuntary" change?

Voluntary change to an involuntary change?

Wouldn't an involuntary change be, accepting whatever the airline offers you?

If you go off and make different plans, you're voluntarily changing the itinerary, and therefore change penalties would also apply?

 

[elanshin]

Having applied for Orginal Routing Credits that have been rejected I would like to know if AFFers think I am in the wrong, or should I take it further e.g. email Vanessa Hudson.

My husband and I (me Platinum, him gold) were booked on the final legs of a rtw flight from HKG to CBR via MEL on QF 030 which was due to land in Melbourne on 9 March at 0750 followed by QF1276 at 1140.

QF 1276 was cancelled by Qantas and Qantas booked us on QF 0958 at 0820 i.e. 30 minutes after our international flight landed. This, of course, was never going to happen but if we missed that flight we would have to wait in MEL for QF 1476 until 1645 I.e 9 hours after we landed.

Our travel agent suggested that we change our international flight so we landed in Sydney and transfer to Canberra. This worked well. The only problem was that the international flight was on Cathay and we have been credited with 90 SCs less than if we had flown on QF

I am now asking for the Original Routing Credits for the original bookings. However Qantas are telling me that, because we didn’t fly on the flight they booked us on, we were not eligible for ORC. I find it unacceptable that 1. We were never going to make the flight they booked us on and 2. We would have had to wait 9 hours.

Any suggestions?

Unfortunately i think this one falls in the cracks with your travel agent. I completely understand the logic and everything, but if you travel agent made a VOLUNTARY change, QF can deny your claim.

If your travel agent made it as part of the involuntary change then you can go and claim it. They could have argued for involuntary change with a new schedule that doesn't meet minimum connection time and requested another alternative, but given you got put on Cathay, this doesn't look like a move Qantas made.

 

[Townsend]

Many thanks for your help. I will write the status credits off and use it as an excuse to do some more flying!

Just fantastic have access to such a knowledgeable group.

 

[muppet]

Many thanks for your help. I will write the status credits off and use it as an excuse to do some more flying!

Just fantastic have access to such a knowledgeable group.

If it was me, I’d try again. Include a screenshot of the cancelled QF flight per your original booking so its clear your change was involuntary.

I’ve made ORC claims when I’ve not accepted QF’s option of alternative flights. I think this is a really strict interpretation.

 

[Townsend]

Thanks Muppett, I have done all of this. I sent copies of the booking which were made 7 months out. I think what really annoys me was that the tickets were booked 9n June 2024 and Qantas didn’t cancel them till February. They obviously cancelled the MEl-CBR flight because the bookings were light on that flight due to the Monday being a public holiday in Canberra.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I am afraid that you (via your Travel agent) made the change in routing, so you would not be eligible for ORC. If Qantas made the change, then you would be. The fact that QF booked you on a 30 min scheduled connection, obviously with the fall back to 9 hours meant they were going to fly your original route. Whilst you thought you would not make that connection (probably quite reasonably), as you never flew, you would never know. The incoming flight may have been significantly early, or the connecting flight may have been delayed by a couple of hours. For all you know, there may have been a large tour group flying HKG-CBR via MEL on those same QF flights (maybe a sporting team or the like), and QF were actively planning to hold the CBR flight until the connections were made. You will never know.

I’m not sure the next flight was actually 9 hours later. Maybe confirmed business class was 9 hours wait, but there may have been flights with economy class available. That would have triggered an ORC.

If the OP had stayed in the original flight and missed the early departure from MEL, airport staff might have offered ecinomy on an earlier flight, been able to accommodate in business class on an earlier flight if passengers didn’t show up, or even been able to re-route via sydney (even more SCs).

I think deciding to make own arrangements and choose the CX flight means the right to ORC was lost unfortunately.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Did they mention anything about additional costs to make the change from QF to CX?

I wonder if the CX fare was cheaper, so the agent could absorb the price of the change fees into a cheaper fare?

 

[Townsend]

Costs were not mentioned.You are probably correct though because our J class domestic flight became an economy one…we were happy for that to happen.

I’m not sure the next flight was actually 9 hours later. Maybe confirmed business class was 9 hours wait, but there may have been flights with economy class available. That would have triggered an ORC.

If the OP had stayed in the original flight and missed the early departure from MEL, airport staff might have offered ecinomy on an earlier flight, been able to accommodate in business class on an earlier flight if passengers didn’t show up, or even been able to re-route via sydney (even more SCs).

I think deciding to make own arrangements and choose the CX flight means the right to ORC was lost unfortunately.

No, the next flight was 9 hours later! I know this is unbelievable but we were very happy to fly economy to get to CBR. I must admit I found it hard to believe but there is still only one middle of the day flight from MEL to CBR.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Costs were not mentioned.You are probably correct though because our J class domestic flight became an economy one…we were happy for that to happen.

So that's what I suspect happened, either

• The agent did a quick price comparison, saw that cancelling the QF fare and associated penalties would pay for the new fares with CX to SYD+ QF economy to CBR, which would be the voluntary change, or
• QF gave your agent the option of accepting the flight changes or a refund of remaining legs. The accepted the refund, which they then used for the new flights and you only earned SC's for these flights.

It would have been nice if they had said this to you, and asked your preference, but then again, their primary concern would have been to get you home sooner rather than later.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Costs were not mentioned.You are probably correct though because our J class domestic flight became an economy one…we were happy for that to happen.

No, the next flight was 9 hours later! I know this is unbelievable but we were very happy to fly economy to get to CBR. I must admit I found it hard to believe but there is still only one middle of the day flight from MEL to CBR.

In that case my apologies! Maybe because of the public holiday?