Hey there AFF readers. I have been a lurker, then a member for a while, but have not been active before. A recent experience with Qantas shocked me to my core, as a life-long QFF and loyal customer. I thought I would post this here as a warning, and to get advice from others who are more experienced travellers. Also, I it is worth noting how AMAZING the American Airlines staff were. This story started quite some months before taking our actual journey overseas.
We have been funnelling business spend through Qantas and their affiliated points programs. This is for both business and personal expenses, including wine, health insurance, petrol, plus a large monthly credit card spend via AMEX, MasterCard and VISA; all going to Qantas Frequent Flyer points. Typically, accumulating approximately 50,000-100,000 Qantas points per month.
Around 2 months before commencing our journey we booked our trip on the Qantas Classic Awards program. Some great business class flights came for approximately 450,000 points for 2 passengers. The flights were from Miami returning home to Melbourne and went via New York to Tokyo, which we confirmed was a valid transfer without a visa. Fast forward a month and we received a notification from Qantas that some changes had been made to our flights. This included a shorter layover in New York which reduced our time in Japan so that it was now impossible to make the connecting flight to Melbourne (arrived an hour after it was supposed to take-off) The connecting flight was with Qantas and purchased at the same time! After several days went by, we were notified that further changes were made, which finally adjusted the layover times yet again (now adding a 30 hour layover in Japan) so we thought they had detected the issue and left it alone.
So we started our trip and were nearing the end of it, when I came across an article on social media purely by chance regarding Japan. It that they would ‘soon’ be allowing foreigners to enter the country with a VISA – but not yet. At once this raised concerns for us as we knew we needed to transit from Haneda to Narita to make our connections. It turned that if you had to stay overnight or enter the country, you would be in violation of their covid laws.
We immediately started trying to contact Qantas via phone. This proved extremely difficult as the wait times were very lengthy and there was no number to reach for travellers overseas with current problems to their flights. It took approximately 15 phone calls and over 10+ hours on the phone, having to speak with around 10 different representatives to make any progress. We explained the situation again and again, each time giving a phone number to call back on if the call dropped. No one would ever call back (calls would often drop out) and they ABSOLUTELY refused to ever put us on to a supervisor; despite being asked more than 50 times. Each call to Qantas would incur a 15 minute to 1+ hour wait on hold, before we would have to explain again that it wasn’t possible to take the current flights booked as we didn’t have a VISA for Japan and could be deported or imprisioned.
Finally, on one of the many calls and after an hour or so of being told this was not their responsibility in any way, that were no other options for flights, we managed to get a change made that added in an additional leg to Chicago. This had us leaving Chicago and arriving to Tokyo, Narita instead of Tokyo, Haneda. This was even into the same terminal as the departing flight to Melbourne (T2). We confirmed with the Qantas representative multiple times that our bags would be checked through to Melbourne and we would not have to leave the terminal to clear immigration in Japan; thus, be OK to land without a VISA and transit in Narita.
The evening of starting our return trip, we arrived at Miami airport well before our flight and started our check-in process with the American Airlines business counter. The representative handed us our tickets all the way to Melbourne and was about to place our checked bag on the conveyor belt when we queried why the luggage tag only showed to Narita. The AA rep told us we would simply need to clear customs at Narita airport and collect our bag, then check it for the final leg of the journey back to Melbourne. We explained that we couldn’t do that because Japan wouldn’t allow us through to get our bag without a VISA.
It was at this point we realised we had a major problem. There was no way that Japan Airways would allow us to board that flight. We spent over 5 hours with the amazingly helpful AA staff, who had 8 different team members (including two senior administration staff) helping us throughout that time. The staff tried to call OneWorld, then Qantas, both of which told them it was our fault and that there was nothing they could do to help us. This was further frustrating the American Airlines team (of who we weren’t even really customers), determined to make sure we got home, who were all being very understanding of our situation but were limited in what they could do due to the flights being booked through Qantas and completely locked to them.
Finally, after more than 5 hours at the desk, where one of the AA staff was on hold to Qantas for 1 hour and 58 minutes (as he put it “a new coughking record”), they managed to get us new flights that would leave Miami the following day to Dallas Texas, then Sydney and finally Melbourne. This was only made possible by the American Airlines staff putting a hold on 2 premium economy flights from Dallas to Sydney with Qantas, then insisting for over an hour to Qantas the flights on hold were available and that they should be assigned to us, so we wouldn’t be stranded. AA arranged for us one of their domestic flights free of charge and made several changes internally before the Qantas staff would even consider making this change on their end.
The final moment of absurdity was when Qantas finally agreed to unlock the flights so that AA could process it, they then told the AA rep “it can’t be done as these passengers are already on the flight to New York”. In exasperation he had to again tell Qantas, the passengers are standing in front of me at the desk (we had already spoken to Qantas on that call, which further shows you just how far from reality they actually are). This change meant we not only didn’t get to see our very good friend in New York, but we had to pay out of our own pocket for a hotel the night and we lost all our business class flights returning to Australia.
The AA staff would not accept tips for their incredible efforts, so we ended up buying food to help keep them there assisting us, as they stayed hours past their break; and then well past even the end of their shifts to assist us. The section closed 20 minutes after we arrived and we were there for 5 hours till most of the airport was closed. Qantas staff made no mention of what would occur to the $1500~ in taxes paid for the return flights not taken, nor the 450,000 points redeemed for business class tickets not taken.
Thanks to the help of American Airlines staff and our own persistence, we are now back in Australia, and yet there is still no mention of a reimbursement, credit or even an apology from Qantas. This entire experience not only cost us $1000’s of dollars, dozens of hours in wasted time while overseas, but also forced us to miss out on meetings/catching up with friends of which we hadn’t seen in years.
This was all since Qantas sold flights that were impossible to actually fulfill and assured us that there would be no issues with the routing, etc.
Throughout the entire process, every single Qantas staff we spoke to on the phone was extremely unhelpful and were very unaware of the damage and massive inconvenience this was causing us on multiple fronts. The only “solution” was simply to cancel our existing flights and book new ones at over 5x the cost (just for economy), and that we “might” get them refunded…
During our return journey, we attempted to speak to multiple Qantas staff on the ground and the same response was given each time. They were all “apologetic” and “sympathetic”, but nothing could be done as everything needs to be submitted online.
Hopefully this sheds some light to others on how the airline treats it passengers, especially the ones using their Frequent Flyer “rewards” program. The sentiment shown to us was at all times was that because we chose to book these flights with points, we were somehow beneath vermin “Oh it seems this was an award flight - ” (with disgust) “- sorry there is nothing that can be done to help you”
Even though the return flights alone cost approximately 450,000 points, which equates to around $500,000 spent with cards going to Qantas rewards program. You might assume they would show some more appreciation and respect for their more dedicated customers or failing that, just some understanding for Australians stranded overseas.
Sincerely,
S.B and B.B
We have been funnelling business spend through Qantas and their affiliated points programs. This is for both business and personal expenses, including wine, health insurance, petrol, plus a large monthly credit card spend via AMEX, MasterCard and VISA; all going to Qantas Frequent Flyer points. Typically, accumulating approximately 50,000-100,000 Qantas points per month.
Around 2 months before commencing our journey we booked our trip on the Qantas Classic Awards program. Some great business class flights came for approximately 450,000 points for 2 passengers. The flights were from Miami returning home to Melbourne and went via New York to Tokyo, which we confirmed was a valid transfer without a visa. Fast forward a month and we received a notification from Qantas that some changes had been made to our flights. This included a shorter layover in New York which reduced our time in Japan so that it was now impossible to make the connecting flight to Melbourne (arrived an hour after it was supposed to take-off) The connecting flight was with Qantas and purchased at the same time! After several days went by, we were notified that further changes were made, which finally adjusted the layover times yet again (now adding a 30 hour layover in Japan) so we thought they had detected the issue and left it alone.
So we started our trip and were nearing the end of it, when I came across an article on social media purely by chance regarding Japan. It that they would ‘soon’ be allowing foreigners to enter the country with a VISA – but not yet. At once this raised concerns for us as we knew we needed to transit from Haneda to Narita to make our connections. It turned that if you had to stay overnight or enter the country, you would be in violation of their covid laws.
We immediately started trying to contact Qantas via phone. This proved extremely difficult as the wait times were very lengthy and there was no number to reach for travellers overseas with current problems to their flights. It took approximately 15 phone calls and over 10+ hours on the phone, having to speak with around 10 different representatives to make any progress. We explained the situation again and again, each time giving a phone number to call back on if the call dropped. No one would ever call back (calls would often drop out) and they ABSOLUTELY refused to ever put us on to a supervisor; despite being asked more than 50 times. Each call to Qantas would incur a 15 minute to 1+ hour wait on hold, before we would have to explain again that it wasn’t possible to take the current flights booked as we didn’t have a VISA for Japan and could be deported or imprisioned.
Finally, on one of the many calls and after an hour or so of being told this was not their responsibility in any way, that were no other options for flights, we managed to get a change made that added in an additional leg to Chicago. This had us leaving Chicago and arriving to Tokyo, Narita instead of Tokyo, Haneda. This was even into the same terminal as the departing flight to Melbourne (T2). We confirmed with the Qantas representative multiple times that our bags would be checked through to Melbourne and we would not have to leave the terminal to clear immigration in Japan; thus, be OK to land without a VISA and transit in Narita.
The evening of starting our return trip, we arrived at Miami airport well before our flight and started our check-in process with the American Airlines business counter. The representative handed us our tickets all the way to Melbourne and was about to place our checked bag on the conveyor belt when we queried why the luggage tag only showed to Narita. The AA rep told us we would simply need to clear customs at Narita airport and collect our bag, then check it for the final leg of the journey back to Melbourne. We explained that we couldn’t do that because Japan wouldn’t allow us through to get our bag without a VISA.
It was at this point we realised we had a major problem. There was no way that Japan Airways would allow us to board that flight. We spent over 5 hours with the amazingly helpful AA staff, who had 8 different team members (including two senior administration staff) helping us throughout that time. The staff tried to call OneWorld, then Qantas, both of which told them it was our fault and that there was nothing they could do to help us. This was further frustrating the American Airlines team (of who we weren’t even really customers), determined to make sure we got home, who were all being very understanding of our situation but were limited in what they could do due to the flights being booked through Qantas and completely locked to them.
Finally, after more than 5 hours at the desk, where one of the AA staff was on hold to Qantas for 1 hour and 58 minutes (as he put it “a new coughking record”), they managed to get us new flights that would leave Miami the following day to Dallas Texas, then Sydney and finally Melbourne. This was only made possible by the American Airlines staff putting a hold on 2 premium economy flights from Dallas to Sydney with Qantas, then insisting for over an hour to Qantas the flights on hold were available and that they should be assigned to us, so we wouldn’t be stranded. AA arranged for us one of their domestic flights free of charge and made several changes internally before the Qantas staff would even consider making this change on their end.
The final moment of absurdity was when Qantas finally agreed to unlock the flights so that AA could process it, they then told the AA rep “it can’t be done as these passengers are already on the flight to New York”. In exasperation he had to again tell Qantas, the passengers are standing in front of me at the desk (we had already spoken to Qantas on that call, which further shows you just how far from reality they actually are). This change meant we not only didn’t get to see our very good friend in New York, but we had to pay out of our own pocket for a hotel the night and we lost all our business class flights returning to Australia.
The AA staff would not accept tips for their incredible efforts, so we ended up buying food to help keep them there assisting us, as they stayed hours past their break; and then well past even the end of their shifts to assist us. The section closed 20 minutes after we arrived and we were there for 5 hours till most of the airport was closed. Qantas staff made no mention of what would occur to the $1500~ in taxes paid for the return flights not taken, nor the 450,000 points redeemed for business class tickets not taken.
Thanks to the help of American Airlines staff and our own persistence, we are now back in Australia, and yet there is still no mention of a reimbursement, credit or even an apology from Qantas. This entire experience not only cost us $1000’s of dollars, dozens of hours in wasted time while overseas, but also forced us to miss out on meetings/catching up with friends of which we hadn’t seen in years.
This was all since Qantas sold flights that were impossible to actually fulfill and assured us that there would be no issues with the routing, etc.
Throughout the entire process, every single Qantas staff we spoke to on the phone was extremely unhelpful and were very unaware of the damage and massive inconvenience this was causing us on multiple fronts. The only “solution” was simply to cancel our existing flights and book new ones at over 5x the cost (just for economy), and that we “might” get them refunded…
During our return journey, we attempted to speak to multiple Qantas staff on the ground and the same response was given each time. They were all “apologetic” and “sympathetic”, but nothing could be done as everything needs to be submitted online.
Hopefully this sheds some light to others on how the airline treats it passengers, especially the ones using their Frequent Flyer “rewards” program. The sentiment shown to us was at all times was that because we chose to book these flights with points, we were somehow beneath vermin “Oh it seems this was an award flight - ” (with disgust) “- sorry there is nothing that can be done to help you”
Even though the return flights alone cost approximately 450,000 points, which equates to around $500,000 spent with cards going to Qantas rewards program. You might assume they would show some more appreciation and respect for their more dedicated customers or failing that, just some understanding for Australians stranded overseas.
Sincerely,
S.B and B.B
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