Qantas charging policy for "consultant" assisted F

[pcrosby]

Just a watchout when talking to a FF "consultant". I wanted to use Qantas FF points for SYD-LON-SYD, and also buy an identical full fare ticket for my wife. I went through the consultant to ensure the two seats were bookable together (I didn't need help with the FF booking per se).

Surprised and disappointed to discover I had been "charged" 2500 points for using an assisted booking! I argued with FF person & supervisor that this was very unfair, the only reason I spoke to anyone was to ensure my purchased a seat was next to my FF seat. Didn't win the argument.

 

[dajop]

Next time make your booking first on the web & then ring up and get them to link it to your wife's booking. No charge for that.

 

[Dave Noble]

Next time make your booking first on the web & then ring up and get them to link it to your wife's booking. No charge for that.

No need to even do that; just do the seat selection so that you sit together; book by phone and pay the extra fee for the paid ticket and the extra points for the award

Dave

 

[dajop]

No need to even do that; just do the seat selection so that you sit together

Isn't better to having bookings linked, in case there's a "reallocation" of seats done (for whatever reason)? Or will linked bookings make no difference when seats are reallocated?

 

[Guest]

I'm at a loss why you would do such a thing....

if you didn't book over the phone and were allocated different seats you win by saving points and having some (boring) time apart.

 

[BlacKnox]

I'm at a loss why you would do such a thing....

if you didn't book over the phone and were allocated different seats you win by saving points and having some (boring) time apart.

But some of us "On Golden Pond" people actually like sitting together :shock: .

 

[Jobu]

Wouldn't it be better to buy the ticket for yourself and use the points for your wife's ticket?

That way you'd get the points (unless your wife is also a FF) - or am I missing something?

Cheers,

JOBU

 

[Dave Noble]

I'm at a loss why you would do such a thing....

if you didn't book over the phone and were allocated different seats you win by saving points and having some (boring) time apart.

I don't understand what you are trying to say

When the bookings were made, there were obviously locations with 2 seats together since they were able to get them together; if there hadn't have been then they wouldn't have got seats allocated together regardless

Booking together or separately would have made no odds to the availability of seats

Dave

 

[Damien]

I'm at a loss why you would do such a thing....

if you didn't book over the phone and were allocated different seats you win by saving points and having some (boring) time apart.

But some of us "On Golden Pond" people actually like sitting together :shock: .

Ahhhhhh... It's always easy to spot the recently engaged!

 

[serfty]

Next time make your booking first on the web & then ring up and get them to link it to your wife's booking. No charge for that.

No need to even do that; just do the seat selection so that you sit together; book by phone and pay the extra fee for the paid ticket and the extra points for the award

Dave

Methinks the OP is actually peeved at being charged the 2500 point "assisted award booking fee". However this charge is as per the progrm rules. The T&C's do state that it "will apply to Qantas Award Flight bookings and Australian Airlines Award Flight bookings made or completed by Qantas reservations personnel".

So, similarly to what dajop posted, both tickets could have been booked on the web (making sure they were for the same flights) and then a quick call to QF to get the bookings linked (i.e. TCP) and seats allocated together.

Doing this would have avoided the"assistance" fee as well as the 'phone booking fee.

 

[NM]

The assisted booking fee seems to be one of the more difficult to have waived. Its part of the Terms and Conditions, so they have every right to charge it and not waive it. In my opinion, it should be waived when there is no option but to book via an agent (ie for sectors where the on-line system cannot be used).

But it is my opinion that his person had options available to make the award reservation without using a telephone agent, so there is no reason for them to waive the fee. He chose to use the telephone agent for the booking and so the published fee is charged. I don't see a problem here.

 

[dajop]

I don't see a problem here.

The only problem I see here, is perhaps if the OP had made it clear why he was booking over the phone, the telephone agent could have advised to make separate bookings online, call up and link them later.

 

[acampbel]

DIY is nice when you can get it ....

The assisted booking fee ... should be waived when there is no option but to book via an agent (ie for sectors where the on-line system cannot be used).

I heartily agree. Had to book 2 flights for the kids to match the award tickets for the wife and I. We are travelling SYD-GLA and LHR-HKK-SYD (stopping off to see Mini Miki), so there was no chance of using the internet system.

The bill came through for the seats .... and then another $80 for booking by phone. Not bad for 10 minutes work, as all the sales rep had to do was pull up my award flight details and tap it in twice.

Even if it is logistically impossible to put all the One-World systems (plus a user-friendly Galileo) online for the punters, I think there should be some acknowledgement that customers are sometimes forced to use assisted bookings even when no real assistance is necessary. Maybe they could provide an email service where customers send their completed itinerary (research from published One-World schedules) and Qantas make the reservation and give the customer some time to pay up. You would have to restrict the number of such "free quotes" so that people were not abusing the system, but it would provide a mutual benefit.


Am I being unreasonable ??? (No Dave - it's a rhetorical question).


Cheers,

AC

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

At least QF hasnt gone as far as NZ, which charges $50 to make longhaul awards on its own metal :evil: by phone - there is no functionality to book online, despite being promised as imminent when they introduced the charge more than a year ago.

 

[Dave Noble]

Re: DIY is nice when you can get it ....

The assisted booking fee ... should be waived when there is no option but to book via an agent (ie for sectors where the on-line system cannot be used).

I heartily agree. Had to book 2 flights for the kids to match the award tickets for the wife and I. We are travelling SYD-GLA and LHR-HKK-SYD (stopping off to see Mini Miki), so there was no chance of using the internet system.

The bill came through for the seats .... and then another $80 for booking by phone. Not bad for 10 minutes work, as all the sales rep had to do was pull up my award flight details and tap it in twice.

Even if it is logistically impossible to put all the One-World systems (plus a user-friendly Galileo) online for the punters, I think there should be some acknowledgement that customers are sometimes forced to use assisted bookings even when no real assistance is necessary. Maybe they could provide an email service where customers send their completed itinerary (research from published One-World schedules) and Qantas make the reservation and give the customer some time to pay up. You would have to restrict the number of such "free quotes" so that people were not abusing the system, but it would provide a mutual benefit.


Am I being unreasonable ??? (No Dave - it's a rhetorical question).


Cheers,

AC

There are plenty of travel agents around that could be used other than booking direct over the phone with QF who may well have charged less; there is a choice out there ( if it was a published fare, I'd have gone to AA to get it for example and avoided the telephone fee... could have even tried doing it online with them since their system allows stopovers to be put in )

You knew that they charge a fee when you booked it and decided to use them regardless rather than go elsewhere; I think it is unreasonable to complain about the fee in that situation

Dave

 

[acampbel]

Re: DIY is nice when you can get it ....

...You knew that they charge a fee when you booked it and decided to use them regardless rather than go elsewhere; I think it is unreasonable to complain about the fee in that situation ...

Dave - did you actually read what I said or simply forwarded it on to Qantas and then typed in their reply????

But enough sarcasm ... just to see for myself I tried to get a multi-city quote on the AA website, but it kept coming back with "No flights found". I didn't ring them up to ask for their assisted booking rates, but I didn't bother ringing up any of the other One-world partners either. Silly muggins here thought that if it was a Qantas schedule (OK ... LHR to GLA is codeshare) then I should book it through them.

To be honest I had initially booked the kids through Qantas Holidays to get some credits on car hire, but due to a miscommunication (which of course is completely my fault your worship) the bookings lapsed, and when I tried to rebook they jacked the price up by $1000. I found all this out on New Years' Day whilst on holidays in a remote spot on the NSW south coast. I ended up driving around till I found a public phone box and just booking the airfares through Qantas.

But you have missed the point entirely as usual ...... I would gladly have done it myself via the internet (I picked up my email at a cyber-cafe in Batemans Bay that morning which is where I found out that we were travelling without our kids) but Qantas does not offer me that option!

I wish they would .... don't you? No?? You would rather visit 10 websites and ring 10 sales reps so that you could bargin down the fee to what - $20 a ticket?

Are you serious????

Cheers,

AC

 

[Dave Noble]

Re: DIY is nice when you can get it ....

But enough sarcasm ... just to see for myself I tried to get a multi-city quote on the AA website, but it kept coming back with "No flights found".

When you did it, did you go to the full search options and click in the box to select All One World carriers rather than the default of AA Only?

I didn't ring them up to ask for their assisted booking rates, but I didn't bother ringing up any of the other One-world partners either. Silly muggins here thought that if it was a Qantas schedule (OK ... LHR to GLA is codeshare) then I should book it through them.

I believe that Australia office doesnt charge a fee for phone bookings

I wish they would .... don't you? No?? You would rather visit 10 websites and ring 10 sales reps so that you could bargin down the fee to what - $20 a ticket?

No, I would just give one of the websites I use a try ( including AA since it is one that does have a multi city option ) or be prepared to cough up the fee

Dave

 

[acampbel]

Re: DIY is nice when you can get it ....

When you did it, did you go to the full search options and click in the box to select All One World carriers rather than the default of AA Only?

Yes Dave, I did.

I believe that Australia office doesnt charge a fee for phone bookings

No Dave, they do.

No, I would just give one of the websites I use a try ( including AA since it is one that does have a multi city option ) or be prepared to cough up the fee

Unfortunately there seems to be no way to book this fare online - but feel free to prove me wrong. The fee is thus non-negotiable in both existence and price, and in my case equated to about $500/hr. Nice work if you can get it (or should that be "screw it out of the customer").

Still - things appear to be even worse across the Tasman, so no doubt I should suck Qantas' toes for being so reasonable!

Hey Dave ... how about being an agitator for change to an imperfect system rather than parroting "them's the rules" all the time?


Cheers,

AC

 

[Dave Noble]

Re: DIY is nice when you can get it ....

Unfortunately there seems to be no way to book this fare online - but feel free to prove me wrong. The fee is thus non-negotiable in both existence and price, and in my case equated to about $500/hr. Nice work if you can get it (or should that be "screw it out of the customer").

Still - things appear to be even worse across the Tasman, so no doubt I should suck Qantas' toes for being so reasonable!

Hey Dave ... how about being an agitator for change to an imperfect system rather than parroting "them's the rules" all the time?

I see no need to be an agitator for change since I have yet to be affected by such charges and there are ,ime, ample methods of avoiding them; In fact I just tried out the multi city search on the AA site and had no issues getting QF and BA flights for that itinery (using search by schedule and AA and OW carriers )

I selected 6th March for SYD-GLA and 17th LHR-HKG and 19th HKG-SYD and got quoted the QJGNY fare for QF 1 SYD-LHR connecting to BA1476 to GLA; returning on QF30 to HKG and then QF188 to SYD ( I am assuming you meant Hong Kong rather than Hokitika ) . Looking at the list of published fares for the route, the QJGNY fare is the lowest one offered by QF at that period

I'd rather QF made money by charging for reservations done over the phone than just put fares up

Dave

 

[acampbel]

Re: DIY is nice when you can get it ....

... I selected 6th March for SYD-GLA and 17th LHR-HKG and 19th HKG-SYD and got quoted the QJGNY fare for QF 1 SYD-LHR connecting to BA1476 to GLA; returning on QF30 to HKG and then QF188 to SYD ( I am assuming you meant Hong Kong rather than Hokitika ) . Looking at the list of published fares for the route, the QJGNY fare is the lowest one offered by QF at that period

I'd rather QF made money by charging for reservations done over the phone than just put fares up

Dave

Dave ... I nearly had to eat humble pie here! Went back to the AA system and tried again, and loh-and-behold I was able to get a quote for my itinerary. But there was still a problem - I was booking 2 child fares and the system would not let me do that without a matching adult fare. It directed me to call reservations.

Still - I was nearly there, and I would have made it too if it wasn't for those pesky kids!

So the next question is - why can't Qantas offer the same multi-city option through their website, or waive booking fees in this case, or direct people to use aa.com? I would agree that allowing users to link purchased child fares to reward tickets is getting a little bit finicky, so maybe I was always going to be stuffed anyway, but getting back to the original post ..... part of the issue was not warning of all the fee/points that were going to be deducted and not volunteering alternatives.

Expecting every customer to have intimate knowledge of all booking conditions, One-World Partners' website features, Agent commission structures, etc. etc. is, in my opinion, a trifle unreasonable. It would be nice if Qantas sacrificed a bit of revenue in the name of customer service, but I'll assume we will differ on that point.


Cheers,

AC