Qantas Customer DON'T care!

[Pat2065]

Pat, I agree that status may make a difference however if Qantas does segregate and not treat a passenger, with a reasonably simple request to the best of their ability, what chance do they think they have of that passenger ever becoming a Platinum member.
The circumstances whereby a passenger has multi segments then requests to forgo an initial segment and join the itinerary at one of the other segments, should not be an issue, provided the airline is given sufficient notice. Airlines who do not support this issue are merely being difficult.
I often think that Qantas forgets that they do not rule the Australian sky.

I guess it is just worth making sure the simple request actually was one. I would still maintain that dgwally should have gone through the travel agent as they 'own' the booking. TAs rely on this ownership for their business and their relationship with their clients. A good agent should able to resolve these situations with the airline more easily than the passenger. That's the reason you'd use one. Otherwise, you'd be better to book directly.

The issue of the agents being unresponsive or uninterested is a separate one and the behaviour described could not be condoned. I don't know that status actually does make a difference, but the premium service has definitely improved in my opinion.

 

[Red Roo]

Well I must say Qantas customer care has not even allowed me to make a judgement apart from the fact that they do not answer emails. I was on the very delayed QF107 in early august and sent a request to customer care to get reimbursed a taxi fare (which is apparently the only way to do this). I have had no response, despite 2 further follow-ups. Makes you wonder if anyone is even there.

I'd like to follow this up for you as it seems unusual. Please send me a private message with your details as reference.

 

[ronone69]

The whole issue of changing flights - especially on points bookings - on QF is not great. Similar problems exist on changing paid bookings as there are now some many fare classes. Recently I had to change a name on a QF points booking I made 6 months ago. Yes it was my fault - I did not notice the error sooner but it was not my error - it was made by a QF operator. When I called to make the change the operator told me I would be charged 3,500 points to make the change. I needed to do it - it was the day before the flight - so I told her to do it. On my return I complained to QF customer care. I received a call 2 days later apologizing for the operator and refunding my points. The QF staff in the call centre - especially the older women and the gay sounding men - are incredibly inflexible and often don't use their brains when you call. I often find however if I complain to QF Customer Care they usually do the right thing

 

[eastwest101]

Agree with others that dgwally could have saved some bother by going back to his/her travel agent to try to get a solution to the problem. But I think the thread has thrown up some interesting discussion about the actual purpose and role of the Qantas Customer Care team and their operations.

I sent a long and considered complaint about a number of issues many months ago, and received this boilerplate response, that would be pretty familiar to most of us here, so if it helps dgwally he can copy/paste this and email to himself:

[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]Ref. No: 2014/xx_xx_[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]Dear eastwest101,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]Thank you for taking the time to contact us. My apologies for the delay in response.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]I was concerned to learn of your poor experiences with Qantas and I am sorry that we did not meet your expectations on this occasions. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]Your feedback is very important to us, so please be assured we are continuously working towards ways of improving the overall Qantas customer journey experience.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]I appreciate you sharing your concerns which will be referred to the relevant Qantas business area for their review.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]I do hope we have the opportunity to welcome you aboard Qantas again soon. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]If you have further feedback relating to 2014/xx_xx_, please (here)[/FONT]
[FONT=ArialMT,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]Yours sincerely[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]Name Redacted[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]Customer Care Executive[/FONT]

 

[11sjw]

maybe if they werent all being sacked they would care a bit more!

Certain element of truth here. Having watched as colleagues and friends loitered until the redundancy axe came down (Monty Burns: "Perhaps another round of job cuts will motivate them.") it is easy to understand if they are completely devoid of motivation. Doesn't help us at all but the effect on staff is quite tangible. I certainly noticed my productivity drop when I knew it was going to happen to me.

 

[amp-qld]

This is nothing new for Qantas. They've twice let me down in life threatening situations - both involving violent changes of government. Qantas were totally unhelpful at the time and then just sent irrelevant pro forma responses to my complaints. In one case, I just wanted to get on a flight at an intermediate stop (I already had an allocated seat). Qantas just wouldn't respond one way or the other and I had to buy another ticket. It was only thanks to a local travel agent that I discovered that if I didn't cancel the existing flight then the rest of my trip would have been cancelled - Qantas didn't mention that.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

... The Ticket did allow for Stop-overs ...

This raises a question I have often wondered about. As I am often flying from Perth I frequently fly internationally via Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. Often the fare rules say "stopover permitted" however as the options for connecting flights are offered in a bundle, not sector by sector, it does not seem possible to choose flights which provide a stopover when booking online. If I subsequntly ring and ask a sales rep to change them, I assume I would have to pay a fee. If I make the initial booking by phone instead of online, again, I would have to pay a fee.

How is it possible to actually use the stop over which the fare rules often permit without incurring extra fees?

 

[markis10]

How is it possible to actually use the stop over which the fare rules often permit without incurring extra fees?

Very easily done by using the multicity booking page online, I have done so in the past. If you book PER-xx_ as one date, and then xx_-xx_ as a later date, the system will select the same fares but give you a choice of flights with the fare bucket on offer.

 

[nn31]

I have been following this thread quietly but thought I should chime in a bit.

As a former employee of QF and before that a TA let me give my opinion...
In this situation it is the TA at fault. The OP states that QFRES advised him to XXL the PERSYD flight with the TA. They were correct to do so, as most here have pointed out, the PNR is under the authorization of the TA, it is 'held' by the TA. In this situation I can almost guarantee that the QFRES member would have also suggested booking a new flight through the TA as well. Why? It saves linking two different bookings under two different authorities (ie. if another change was needed, say a reval, the changes could be done by one agent and not two). All of this is of course dependent on fair rules and a small fee would probably be charged for a re-issue but that's the way I see it.

Also, it would have been extremely poor form for the QFRES to book a PERSYD flight before the OP spoke to their TA and XXLthe flight (if they wanted to go down the QF booking path for that flight). Why? Because it would have resulted in double booking a PAX, it also would have had the potential to backfire if the TA was unable, or unwilling to XXL the PERSYD flight. In the latter case the PAX would have had to pay a XXLFEE or the QFRES agent would have had to issue a waiver (unlikely as they get bollocked for doing so).

I say the TA is at fault here because at the time of booking the OP should have been advised that all changes must be made through them. Also because the OP already stated the TA did not offer the obvious solution everyone is pointing out.


Are QF staff cough? Some of them: yes. All of them: no. Some branches are utterly appalling but due to various limitations and small employment pools there is little that can be done.

Also as a guide: as a QFRES agent you are in a cubicle with a monitor divided into four, attached to a phone with a floor manager barking at you to take more calls. They work hard, they do their best, and they are human. Motivation drops considerably when they see their coworkers being dropped left, right and centre - and you will be pleased to know they treat each other within different departments far worse than any member of the public as a result of this. It also isn't uncommon for floor managers to enforce a 'raise your hand if you want to go to the toilet' policy with no guarantee that you will be let to go. So before you jump on the 'attack RES bandwagon' perhaps look at the situation calmly and from a few different angles.

 

[ozflier]

I have been caught up by Qantas "don't care" scenario- admittedly 5 years ago .
I had an award flight from LAX-SYD which had schedule changes - the flight number stayed the same but the flight was changed to LAX-MEL.
How would I get to SYD -surely QF would simply offer up a MEL-SYD flight or better still - change me to a direct LAX-SYD service.
NOPE
My award according to the QFF agents was booked on a flight number not a specific destination !
Can you believe it ?- but nothing would change their attitude- even writing to HQ ( no response naturally).
I had to cover the SYD-MEL cost myself!
My experience is that other airlines are not a mean spirited or uncaring as Qantas (sure some get close).

 

[JohnPhelan]

I believe its a Qantas decision/process to cancel the onward flights if you don't fly the first leg.

It's the standard practice of all airlines world-wide. not just QF.

 

[harvyk]

However, prices can seem bizarre. A couple of years ago I found a very attractive J fare on CX from Sydney to Sapporo with a stop-over in Hong Kong. If I had just booked Syd-HK-Syd on the same days on the same flights and not gone on to Sapporo, the fare would have been over $1000 more per person. I'd say CX was encouraging Sydney-siders to fly to Sapporo to ski. Worked for us.

Airline pricing is certainly a very murky world, and rarely aligns with the real world, actual distance flown or actual cost of flying that route by the airline. They effectively charge as much as what they think they can get away with and yet at the same time as little as they think they need to fill a plane and still make a profit. Often they don't look at the flight from AAA to BBB in isolation, they look at it in terms of the cost of AAA to CCC (you're final destination) and look at a fairly complex pricing matrix to determine what they can charge, what they think people will pay, and what will bring them in a nice profit.

The other thing which often catches the unaware out is fare buckets. The average person understands the difference between Econ and Business, only because they seats are typically quite different and Business has perks. They however don't understand the difference between a Y fare and a Q fare (mainly contractual and FF related). They both put the person into an Econ seat, and yet one is 3 times the price of the other and even giving Business prices a nudge. It is thanks to fare buckets that you get accusations in newspapers of airlines "gouging" whenever irrops at airports happens. Since fare buckets are per flight, it's quite understandable that one flight might cost $500 and then flight 15 minutes later to the same destination on the same carrier only cost $150.

Long story short, trying to learn the "why" will simply send you around the bend, however as you where discovering in the example above learn the "how to exploit it" and you'll save decent dollars.

 

[doubleplatinum]

This has been standard issue for so long I'm surprised you don't know about it, any airline not just qantas. Non flight of the original leg of a multi leg booking cancels subsequent legs

 

[amp-qld]

This has been standard issue for so long I'm surprised you don't know about it, any airline not just qantas. Non flight of the original leg of a multi leg booking cancels subsequent legs

Am I right in thinking that it only cancels subsequent legs if you're actually a no show? If either you or the TA (as appropriate) cancel the leg in advance, my understanding is that subsequent legs will be honoured. While it's natural that a double platinum FF will know the details, I only found out the problem about 10 years ago.

 

[harvyk]

Am I right in thinking that it only cancels subsequent legs if you're actually a no show? If either you or the TA (as appropriate) cancel the leg in advance, my understanding is that subsequent legs will be honoured. While it's natural that a double platinum FF will know the details, I only found out the problem about 10 years ago.

If you pre-cancel one or more legs beforehand, then the rest of the trip will remain booked. If you are a no show for even one of the legs, the rest of the trip is automatically cancelled.
I've cancelled a leg of a trip before and still had my return flight remaining booked without a problems.

 

[GalaxyNexus]

It's the standard practice of all airlines world-wide. not just QF.

Not quite true, at least not all airline. E.g. I missed a VA flight (although this one is domestic) on the outbound sector, went to the airport and asked the service desk "what would happen on my return flight?" and was given "don't worry, it's still valid but let me check for a bit.... yeah it's still valid" answer. No idea if the same would happen for international VA flights, but I have heard multiple times that if you accidentally miss a flight and give the airline a call, they can make sure the remainder is not cancelled.

 

[mannej]

Not quite true, at least not all airline. E.g. I missed a VA flight (although this one is domestic) on the outbound sector, went to the airport and asked the service desk "what would happen on my return flight?" and was given "don't worry, it's still valid but let me check for a bit.... yeah it's still valid" answer. No idea if the same would happen for international VA flights, but I have heard multiple times that if you accidentally miss a flight and give the airline a call, they can make sure the remainder is not cancelled.

I do believe that domestic flights are booked as a series of one-way tickets (I believe some LCC do the same), hence the difference.

 

[harvyk]

I do believe that domestic flights are booked as a series of one-way tickets (I believe some LCC do the same), hence the difference.

They are priced as a series of one-way tickets, but AFAIK, they are still all interconnected, no show on one with out explanation have the rest cancelled.
LCC's which are point to point carriers only (eg TT) are most certainly booked as a series of one way tickets.

I think the difference is that GalaxyNexus spoke with VA about the missed flight (airlines certainly know that people miss flights). It's when you are a no show and don't speak to the airline that all future flights on the ticket are automatically cancelled.

Ultimately it comes down to why would they save your seat on a SYD-MEL flight if you never boarded your MEL-SYD flight with no explanation? As far as the airline is concerned you're in MEL not SYD, and that's now a SYD-MEL seat they could sell.

 

[GalaxyNexus]

Nope. When I spoke to the service desk the answer was straight "it's usually fine, don't worry" (before I even hand over the booking#). The only time the agent checked with the computer was afterwards to make sure that the booking is still valid (just in case) - which it is.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

This is nothing new for Qantas. They've twice let me down in life threatening situations - both involving violent changes of government. Qantas were totally unhelpful at the time and then just sent irrelevant pro forma responses to my complaints. In one case, I just wanted to get on a flight at an intermediate stop (I already had an allocated seat).

Jumping on a flight mid-way through a journey can completely alter the fare as what may have been a return journey may now be two one way fares between different countries ie if you had a ticket SYD BA SIN BA LHR BA SYD then you couldn't just call up BA and say hey I want to jump on in SIN instead of SYD because that would change the fare construction to a SIN/LHR one way then a LHR/SYD one way fare.

If you no-show at the commencement port where you were booked and ticketed to board then your seat allocation would be deleted for that entire sector when they close of the flight at the initial point of departure as they'd have no reason to believe you were suddenly going to show up midway through the journey.

How did the airline "let you down in life threatening situations"? If you're going to publicly accuse them of doing that how about some facts of what actually happened?