Flying Rock
Junior Member
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2020
- Posts
- 10
Hey AFF Community,
Qantas Bronze Member here.
Thought I'd share how disastrous it's been trying to arrange my first Qantas Oneworld Business Award Booking (Business redemption, capped 318K QFF).
At every step, there have been roadblocks and obstacles.
For the past year I have been arranging Qantas Oneworld Award booking and recently got to finalising all my routes on my itinerary.
I had just one segment (KUL-ADL) to be ticketed.
I have had great issues with staff inexperience, payment and ticketing.
Staff inexperience
Some call operators are not familiar with the Oneworld Award, or tell me that existing bookings cannot be changed (adding or changing flights), stating that I need to create a new booking. Incorrect.
The call operators appear to have very little capacity and authority.
Everything that needs to be actioned seems to need to go through the Qantas Support team, for whom the Qantas call operator and you together must also wait and be on hold (often, up to hours). Very inefficient.
Payment problems
To get Qantas to accept payment – their payment systems are often down or buggy if an itinerary has mixed currencies – has been a challenge.
But eventually after numerous, lengthy calls, I managed to pay for all my flights.
I was relieved, excited, and thought everything would be good, pending ticketing issuance, which I have repeatedly called Qantas to action.
Ticketing problems
I have called Qantas about 10 times in the past 48 hours to get my flights in my itinerary re-ticketed.
Each time, despite reaching an operator, who puts me on hold while he/she speaks to Qantas Support, we get disconnected. Or I am told that my itinerary will be ticketed in the next 24 hours and to not worry.
I request the operator to call back if disconnection occurs and am promised such, but do not get called back, so need to call again.
However, due to system issues, while waiting for ticketing in the past 24 hours, many of my reward flights have been cancelled and lost, frustratingly.
My Itinerary (single booking):
3 March 2023 - ZQN-SYD - X - fine - paid, ticketed
1 May 2023 - SYD-DOH-WAW (Qatar) - U - these were paid and had been ticketed (since June 2022) but all got auto-cancelled today.
28 May 2023 - WAW-DOH-KUL-ADL (Qatar and Malaysia Airlines) - U - the first two segments were paid and ticketed, awaiting the 3rd segment to be ticketed. All got auto-cancelled today.
21 August 2023 - BRIS-SYD-SIN - X, Z - fine - paid, ticketed
All of my five business flights in May 2023 have been cancelled.
They were still on my itinerary this morning, but in the past few hours, gone!
I am told they were 'auto-cancelled', or perhaps the phone operator unintentionally cancelled them after touching the booking.
This is not the first booking where my classic reward flights have been cancelled.
I have called Qantas, who tell me they will request a re-instatement for those 4 coveted Qatar flights, but from previous experience with a different booking where reward flights were auto-cancelled (still awaiting re-instatement; it's been over a month, with no followup), I doubt I will get them back. I have asked if they can convert a commercial QF booking to a reward flight, but the Qantas Frequent Flyer team (authority for rewards) is not working on the weekend...
I have also emailed Ms Stephanie Tully, who had previously passed me to another escalations team for aforementioned different booking, where no resolution was found (no re-instatement of auto-cancelled Qatar reward flights to be seen). I will see how she will help with this booking. Hoping she or whoever she refers me to can.
TLDR: Qantas cancels 5 paid classic business reward flights without notice. Months of planning and days on the phone with Qantas wasted.
Yes, sure, Oneworld Award may be good value for point redemption, but if it's going to this hard and waste so much time and still not eventuate with the desired outcome – is pursuing it worthwhile?
Hotels, attractions all booked. Trip plans ruined.
Sad, stressed. What to do?
Would you kindly please help AFF, would really appreciate your help.
Wish I had read this earlier to know the horror to expect:
www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au
Disappointed, desperate, and frustrated,
Flying Rock
Qantas Bronze Member here.
Thought I'd share how disastrous it's been trying to arrange my first Qantas Oneworld Business Award Booking (Business redemption, capped 318K QFF).
At every step, there have been roadblocks and obstacles.
For the past year I have been arranging Qantas Oneworld Award booking and recently got to finalising all my routes on my itinerary.
I had just one segment (KUL-ADL) to be ticketed.
I have had great issues with staff inexperience, payment and ticketing.
Staff inexperience
Some call operators are not familiar with the Oneworld Award, or tell me that existing bookings cannot be changed (adding or changing flights), stating that I need to create a new booking. Incorrect.
The call operators appear to have very little capacity and authority.
Everything that needs to be actioned seems to need to go through the Qantas Support team, for whom the Qantas call operator and you together must also wait and be on hold (often, up to hours). Very inefficient.
Payment problems
To get Qantas to accept payment – their payment systems are often down or buggy if an itinerary has mixed currencies – has been a challenge.
But eventually after numerous, lengthy calls, I managed to pay for all my flights.
I was relieved, excited, and thought everything would be good, pending ticketing issuance, which I have repeatedly called Qantas to action.
Ticketing problems
I have called Qantas about 10 times in the past 48 hours to get my flights in my itinerary re-ticketed.
Each time, despite reaching an operator, who puts me on hold while he/she speaks to Qantas Support, we get disconnected. Or I am told that my itinerary will be ticketed in the next 24 hours and to not worry.
I request the operator to call back if disconnection occurs and am promised such, but do not get called back, so need to call again.
However, due to system issues, while waiting for ticketing in the past 24 hours, many of my reward flights have been cancelled and lost, frustratingly.
My Itinerary (single booking):
3 March 2023 - ZQN-SYD - X - fine - paid, ticketed
1 May 2023 - SYD-DOH-WAW (Qatar) - U - these were paid and had been ticketed (since June 2022) but all got auto-cancelled today.
28 May 2023 - WAW-DOH-KUL-ADL (Qatar and Malaysia Airlines) - U - the first two segments were paid and ticketed, awaiting the 3rd segment to be ticketed. All got auto-cancelled today.
21 August 2023 - BRIS-SYD-SIN - X, Z - fine - paid, ticketed
All of my five business flights in May 2023 have been cancelled.
They were still on my itinerary this morning, but in the past few hours, gone!
I am told they were 'auto-cancelled', or perhaps the phone operator unintentionally cancelled them after touching the booking.
This is not the first booking where my classic reward flights have been cancelled.
I have called Qantas, who tell me they will request a re-instatement for those 4 coveted Qatar flights, but from previous experience with a different booking where reward flights were auto-cancelled (still awaiting re-instatement; it's been over a month, with no followup), I doubt I will get them back. I have asked if they can convert a commercial QF booking to a reward flight, but the Qantas Frequent Flyer team (authority for rewards) is not working on the weekend...
I have also emailed Ms Stephanie Tully, who had previously passed me to another escalations team for aforementioned different booking, where no resolution was found (no re-instatement of auto-cancelled Qatar reward flights to be seen). I will see how she will help with this booking. Hoping she or whoever she refers me to can.
TLDR: Qantas cancels 5 paid classic business reward flights without notice. Months of planning and days on the phone with Qantas wasted.
Yes, sure, Oneworld Award may be good value for point redemption, but if it's going to this hard and waste so much time and still not eventuate with the desired outcome – is pursuing it worthwhile?
Hotels, attractions all booked. Trip plans ruined.
Sad, stressed. What to do?
Would you kindly please help AFF, would really appreciate your help.
Wish I had read this earlier to know the horror to expect:
![www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au](https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/app/uploads/2022/07/warning-qantas-reward-changes.jpg)
Warning: Don't Change Qantas Reward Bookings via Call Centre!
There appears to be a systematic problem where Qantas call centre staff are accidentally cancelling confirmed Classic Flight Reward bookings when
![www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au](https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/app/uploads/2022/12/cropped-icon-32x32.png)
Disappointed, desperate, and frustrated,
Flying Rock
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