Qantas Call Centre just told me Air Tahiti Nui is not a Qantas partner and Reward Flights cannot be booked

[ap_member]

I am getting so frustrated with Qantas that I don't know why I bother anymore. We're going to Bora Bora and wanted to fly Business across and Economy home. I booked two Business flights across with cash, but saw there were Classic Flight Rewards on Economy on the way home. I just went to book these and received the infamous Qantas “generic error” on the final page of booking. I also tried on multiple devices/browsers with the same result.

I called Qantas and was immediately advised that Air Tahiti Nui isn’t a Qantas partner and reward flights can only be booked on Qantas aircraft. What? I told her to look at the Qantas website that clearly states Air Tahiti Nui as a partner and that Classic Flight Rewards are available. She then kept trying to ask for the TN flight number (which I didn’t know) instead of the QF codeshare number I had provided. Perhaps she wanted the TN number so then she would be able to legitimately deny that I could get a Classic Flight Reward on that flight number.

Finally once I had pressed her on it being a legitimate flight and ticket, I went through the booking process on the phone only to find out that she received an error on her end too. She put me on hold for 20 seconds and said she had checked with her support desk and the flight wasn’t bookable. I find it hard to believe that she could check this so quickly.

Has anyone had any success or failure with Classic Flight Rewards to Tahiti?

This whole process has left me so frustrated. I’m wondering if I should just cancel the cash booking (using the Qantas.com 24 hour change of mind policy) and book the whole trip on Air New Zealand. Qantas is a complete joke of an airline now it seems. I am even wondering if the Call Centre would honour the 24 hour policy given that they don't seem to give a cough about any policy and just make up their own 'facts'.

 

[Lynda2475]

Can you book mixed class, mixed cash and reward fare online? I.e. a new booking with J cah flights and return y award flights, then cancel the original J booking?

Booking one way flights online from some destinations isnt possible due to currency, but return to/from Aus usually is.

Also most of the time award flights do not use the QF code share but the partner flight number. So may be worth googling to get the TN number then calling again.

 

[defurax]

Maybe issues issuing tickets ex-PPT due to currency. Having said that, QF have no problem with issuing tickets ex-NOU also in Pacific Francs.

 

[aikman]

A round trip award booking into Papeete seems to go through ok.

 

[kpc]

Not sure if it helps but a few years ago I booked 2 oneways Syd-Akl- Ppt and Ppt- Akl- Syd on Qf/ Tn by using AA miles...had to ring AA though. Ppt to Bob rtn was $$ though.

 

[ap_member]

Thanks for the helpful replies. I suspect this issue is related to the currency, as the Classic Flight Reward is priced in pacific francs. Surely there would be a way for Call Centre staff to convert to Australian dollars and generate a ticket? Interesting that they can generate revenue tickets in francs without a problem!

 

[RooFlyer]

Persoanlly, I wouldn't book any international award flight with Qantas at the moment, or for the forseeable future, especially on partners. With schedule changes etc, and the likely need to re-issue the ticket, requiring the call centre to do something, you may end up losing the ticket.

Go ANZ.

Surely there would be a way for Call Centre staff to convert to Australian dollars and generate a ticket?

They don't need to convert the currency - just charge the card the amount in pacific francs. It means you'd suffer the card's FX rate (bad) - but no need for a call centre conversion.

 

[Mattg]

As a workaround, are you planning to take a Qantas domestic flight at any time before you travel to Tahiti?

You could make a multi-city booking online where flight 1 is BNE-SYD (for example) and flight 2 is PPT-AKL-BNE a month later. As the point of origin on the booking would be in Australia, it should price as AUD and avoid the currency issue.

But yeah... clearly the call centre person you spoke to had no idea! Sometimes HUACA is necessary.

 

[ChrisMars]

As a workaround, are you planning to take a Qantas domestic flight at any time before you travel to Tahiti?

You could make a multi-city booking online where flight 1 is BNE-SYD (for example) and flight 2 is PPT-AKL-BNE a month later. As the point of origin on the booking would be in Australia, it should price as AUD and avoid the currency issue.

But yeah... clearly the call centre person you spoke to had no idea! Sometimes HUACA is necessary.

The downside of this strategy is that the award trip is not cancelable / modifyable once the first domestic flight is taken, even if PPT-AKL-BNE happens a month later.

On the other hand, I am wondering what happens if the first domestic flight is taken, and then Qantas make some modifications to PPT-AKL-BNE (i.e. cancelation, route axed, schedule change). Would Qantas have to actually make some serious effort to find a replacement solution, more than if the trip hasn't started where they could just cancel the award?

 

[MrJetset]

HUACA

You can def use points https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/partners/air-tahiti-nui.html?tabId=use-points

However, this is an issue...

When I recently booked EK F the agent said the award must be on the EK prime flight number, not QF codeshare. That could be the reason.

 

[Mattg]

When I recently booked EK F the agent said the award must be on the EK prime flight number, not QF codeshare. That could be the reason.

That is the case for awards on most airlines, but Air Tahiti Nui (and Aircalin) awards are an exception.

I doubt Qantas has trained its overseas call centre staff to understand these nuances...

 

[Zanzara]

QF basically sucks. Their call centre staff are clearly inadequately trained. It’s worth persevering if you can stand the conflicting messages and dodgey call centre. French Polynesia is an awesome place to visit.

 

[Anna]

French Polynesia is an awesome place to visit.

Agreed! But need to get out of PPT and environs to get the best out of it. Even if it's just the ferry to Mo'orea.

 

[DC3]

This whole process has left me so frustrated. I’m wondering if I should just cancel the cash booking (using the Qantas.com 24 hour change of mind policy) and book the whole trip on Air New Zealand. Qantas is a complete joke of an airline now it seems. I am even wondering if the Call Centre would honour the 24 hour policy given that they don't seem to give a cough about any policy and just make up their own 'facts'.

Unfortunately, HUACA is the only real option. The issue is being able to talk to the right person.

 

[DC3]

I would be interested to hear how this ended up. Maybe the OP is relaxing in PPT?

 

[Port Power]

This whole process has left me so frustrated. I’m wondering if I should just cancel the cash booking (using the Qantas.com 24 hour change of mind policy) and book the whole trip on Air New Zealand. Qantas is a complete joke of an airline now it seems. I am even wondering if the Call Centre would honour the 24 hour policy given that they don't seem to give a cough about any policy and just make up their own 'facts'.

Did you cancel and fly ANZ? Or did you manage to book the classic reward flights? It would be useful information for future bookings.