Qantas changed ANOTHER FF flight of mine, help!

[Melvin]

Hi All,

My partner and I are flying a return from UK to SYD and back in Dec/Jan, I used my dad's FF points. Firstly Qantas changed our homeward bound flights (the SYD to Tokyo leg) from a morning departure to a horrible overnight one, (we plan to spend two nights in Tokyo).

After a long phonecall to them (from the UK) they finally changed it back to a morning departure but with JAL. They charged an extra 12000 points (due to the airline change), but said the 10000 're-issue' fee (for 2 passengers) would be waived.

My dad's account was charged both the 12000 and the 10000 points. I wrote to Qantas in Mascot twice in August, second time by international recorded delivery!

Next prob: They have changed the first London to Tokyo leg (on the way to Sydney) two hours earlier from BA7 to BA5 (due to BA's schedule changes). This makes for an 11-hour lay over.

I've written again now to Mascot (a few days ago) asking for a whole different flight on any flight LON - SYD, even if there aren't any official 'points' seats and have based my objection based on:

This is the 3rd change on this trip (they moved us from QF to JS OOL-SYD)
I've had to call many times from the UK
The extra 12000 'change to JAL' points was unjustified because we never wanted to change in the first place and their 'morning to evening' change was too different to accept.
They've overcharged by 10000 points for the re-issue error
They've ignored my two letters (there's been ample time to reply)

Anyone got any ideas on where I stand and what I can expect from all of this?

Regards,

Melvin

 

[Addisongreen]

Hi Melvin,

I have been a Qantas Frequent Flyer member since July 1987 so I can assure you that even longevity doesn't have an effect on Qantas.

Where do you stand? You might get the 10,000 over charged points back... There could be a "Fair Trading" issue, especialy with them wanting to float etc, they would be looking to clean any issues up before then.

After a similar episode with myself, all Qantas could do was send me a plastic model 747 (not even the Longreach version!!) with a note hoping that I was not too upset with them.

Customer service has never been brilliant but you could live with it, however recently it has been going sharply downhill.

Sorry not more help, but social comment on the times.

Addisongreen

 

[Platy]

This is the 3rd change on this trip (they moved us from QF to JS OOL-SYD)

Melvin, may I suggest that you are persistent? Also, have you tried ringing QF again and politely insisting on speaking to a supervisor, preferably someone here in Australia? The UK call centre number used to forward to Australia out of hours (not sure now - maybe they closed the Uk one) so maybe ring late in the evening and ask if you are patched through to Australia. Also very politely check that the person you are talking to has the power/authority to give you what you are seeking (points refund or whatever).

Incidentally, QF have pulled out of OOL, hence the Jetstar flight - unfortunately this also means you have to be prepared to suffer no service on the aircraft unless you pay cash (ie no food, drink, video are all extra) despite being charged the full QF redemption rate - luckily it's a short flight.

 

[Dave Noble]

I doubt that they will offer much for a 2 hour schedule change. You already had a 9 hour stop in Tokyo, I doubt that they will view a 2 hour schedule change as major enough to warrant a free reroute especially if there are no redemption seats available

Dave

 

[NM]

Melvin, welcome to AFF.

I understand your frustration with the process. However, I doubt you will find much success in rerouting the journey.

BA dropped BA7 from their schedule from 7th December. As this is BA's schedule change, they have undertaken their responsibility to move you to the most appropriate alternate service to get you to NRT, which is to move you to BA5, arriving 115 mins earlier than the original BA7 scheduled service. This change is quite appropriate and acceptable from the airline's perspective (both BA and QF).

Any change to your outbound flight would have to be voluntary on your part and subject to the usual conditions of classic award availability and change fees.

Similarly the change from QF to JQ on the OOL-SYD segment may be disappointing for you, but is within what would be considered reasonable by the airlines for the circumstances. Do be prepared for a flight (albeit a 1 our flight) where in-flight services are "Buy On Board".

You should not have to make an international phone call from the UK to Australia to sort our any issues. You should be able to call the published UK number to speak to an agent who can deal with your enquiry. Note that link indicates that calls outside the UK business hours may be diverted to Australia, and such diversion is at no additional cost to the caller. In my experience, speaking to an agent is the best way to resolve an issue. However, there is no excuse for any company not to respond to any reasonable enquiry received by post.

I suggest you call and ask about a refund of the 10,000 points change fee that you were told would be waived. That should be able to resolved by a supervisor over the phone. If you are unsuccessful in reaching an acceptable resolution to that issue from the UK office, then call outside the UK business hours listed in the link above to be diverted to the Australian call centre. When prompted, enter the FF number of the member from whose account the awards were booked.

 

[Melvin]

Hmm, Thanks for your replies so far, everyone. Yes, I must admit that I don't know why I called Australia when I could have used the UK number, but anyway, more importantly:

The OOL-SYD flight that was changed from QF to JQ, I decided to refund altogether because I thought that if I was going to go 'budget' I may as well go Virgin Blue, which turned out much much cheaper (this was a cash flight).

I'm going to still be persistent but I'm taking a dim view of their lack of responses after having written to them in Mascot. But, the reason I am hoping for a re-route is that on our SYD-NRT flight, they were able to book me on a morning JAL flight instead of the evening QF flight. However, this JAL flight was not showing as an available points seat, so my conclusion is that they made an exception.

Anyone know if the additional 12000 points used to change us to this JAL flight was justified? I'm still going to insist on the 10000 points refund too.

What to others think?

Thanks, Melvin.

 

[NM]

However, this JAL flight was not showing as an available points seat, so my conclusion is that they made an exception.

If you are referring to not showing on the QF FF web site as an available award, then I would not assume there was no aware availability on that flight. The QF FF web site is well known for not showing all available options from all airlines. For example, it has not shown any CX availability for a long time. So it is quite possible that an agent could find availability when the web does not show any.

Anyone know if the additional 12000 points used to change us to this JAL flight was justified? I'm still going to insist on the 10000 points refund too.

Quite probably justified. Assuming the original trip was just using BA and QF then it was a standard partner award. Add another airline (JL in your example) and it chnages to a OneWorld Award which has different points requirements and rules. LHR-NRT-SYD and return with BA and QF would be two Zone 10 awards, costing 128,000 points in economy.

Change that to a OneWorld award and its a Zone 10 award costing 140,000 points (plus 2500 assisted booking fee). So yes, its 12,000 points more to use JL instead of just BA and QF.

 

[Leumas]

Personally, I don't think you should be charged a single point for the SYD-NRT flight. Your requirements haven't changed, QF decided to change it, so they'll have to deal with the consequences.

I think perhaps you need to do some digging and find out why QF threw you off their own flight and changed it to a different one in the first place (do some dummy cash bookings?).

With your LHR-NRT leg though, I think you should stomach the 11-hour layover if there are no similarly timed flights leaving LHR (on JAL?). If there're similarly timed flights, then the situation is the same as your SYD-NRT leg, i.e., you shouldn't be paying anything.

I understand NM's point that the nature of the award is now different (BA/QF to an OneWorld one), but I'd hold my line as far as possible.

 

[Melvin]

Okay, very interesting. Thanks to all who have replied. I find the insights interesting and I will keep trying with this one.

Thanks,

Melvin