Qantas- One world, Status cheat by Sri Lankan Airline

[siri]

SriLanakan Air Lines is trying to cheat people by downgrading their One world status and try to charge for extra baggage. I bought a Business. class ticket to colombo -Singapore-sydney, and some one in SriLanka Airlines interfered with my lifetime Qantas status by downgrading Colombo to Singapore so that they charge for extra 12 Kg as extra baggage. I paid nearly A$ 180 for extra luggage.
Although my Singapore to Sydney indicate my true Qantas, lifetime status. SL AIR are bunch of thieves that never learn how to treat customers. I NEED ANSWERS FROM ONE WORLD ALLIANCE.
Try to talk to Qantas re. this and QF lady did not know that One world status qualify for extra luggage if Sri Lankan air is a [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]member. I gave up.
Does any one know One world direct customer complain details. ( waste of time talking to SL air)[/FONT]

 

[Mattg]

SriLanakan Air Lines is trying to cheat people by downgrading their One world status and try to charge for extra baggage. I bought a Business. class ticket to colombo -Singapore-sydney, and some one in SriLanka Airlines interfered with my lifetime Qantas status by downgrading Colombo to Singapore so that they charge for extra 12 Kg as extra baggage. I paid nearly A$ 180 for extra luggage.
Although my Singapore to Sydney indicate my true Qantas, lifetime status. SL AIR are bunch of thieves that never learn how to treat customers. I NEED ANSWERS FROM ONE WORLD ALLIANCE.
Try to talk to Qantas re. this and QF lady did not know that One world status qualify for extra luggage if Sri Lankan air is a member. I gave up.
Does any one know One world direct customer complain details. ( waste of time talking to SL air)

While I don't see this as a Qantas issue (rather a Sri Lankan issue) I'm sure that would have been quite frustrating if true.

How much luggage did you have in total? Did you show the check-in staff in Colombo your Qantas Gold card? I'm trying to understand why they would have charged you.

 

[dajop]

What is your actual current status with Qantas? Platinum, Lifetime Gold or Lifetime Silver?

 

[siri]

I am lifetime silver, and from colombo to Singapore SL air shown as bronze... I would say some one at SL air deliberately downgrade my status to charge extra 12 kg I am entitle as one world member. Sin to sydney status is life silver even though same booking done in colombo.
Question is how SL air mange to interfere with the Qantas FF status on one leg?

 

[dajop]

I am lifetime silver, and from colombo to Singapore SL air shown as bronze... I would say some one at SL air deliberately downgrade my status to charge extra 12 kg I am entitle as one world member. Sin to sydney status is life silver even though same booking done in colombo.
Question is how SL air mange to interfere with the Qantas FF status on one leg?

OK. Qantas Silver = Oneworld Ruby. This does not come with any extra luggage benefits on oneworld partners, only when flying Qantas, see here.

 

[Mattg]

I am lifetime silver, and from colombo to Singapore SL air shown as bronze... I would say some one at SL air deliberately downgrade my status to charge extra 12 kg I am entitle as one world member. Sin to sydney status is life silver even though same booking done in colombo.
Question is how SL air mange to interfere with the Qantas FF status on one leg?

I doubt it was deliberate. I would make 3 points here:
1. If the problem was that it showed no status on your boarding pass, why didn't you show them your Qantas silver card?
2. Qantas silver/oneworld ruby are only entitled to an extra 5kg of luggage anyway.
3. You will need to contact Sri Lankan to sort this out. Qantas have nothing to do with it.

I hope I don't sound harsh here; I am trying to be helpful.

 

[siri]

I am not saying it is a Qantas issue... I publish here because I booked the ticket under QFF.
Re 5Kg is not correct, for business class it is extra 12kg. I have the print out and showed to them. Also I had my QFF card with lifetime status and it did not help either.
I publish this here to warn other passengers about SL air corruption and cheating to charge customers downgrading their status.

 

[Mattg]

According to the Sri Lankan airlines website, business class customers get an allowance of 40kg, and oneworld ruby customers have an additional 5kg allowance. So unless there's something I'm missing, your allowance should have been 45kg.

I take it you booked this using QFF points? Even so, the baggage allowance depends only on UL's policy.
How much baggage did you actually have?

 

[dajop]

With business class as a Qantas Club silver, you should have been entitled to a total of 45 kg, as detailed here. How much did you have? Silver does not automatically entitle you to extra luggage across oneworld, although it appears Sri Lankan does offer extra 5kg holding oneworld ruby/Qantas silver.

 

[siri]

I had a printout that says 52 kg (40+12), I have thrown it away and they accepted 52 kg for my status if it is silver. I had total of 57 Kg.
Issue was they told be I am not silver from colombo to Singapore . How come?
I paid extra SL Rs 18000, around A$ 180.

 

[dajop]

I had a printout that says 52 kg (40+12), I have thrown it away and they accepted 52 kg for my status if it is silver. I had total of 57 Kg.
Issue was they told be I am not silver from colombo to Singapore . How come?
I paid extra SL Rs 18000, around A$ 180.

If you were a Sri Lankan FlySmiles Silver member, you would have been entitled to the extra 12 kg. That may be the source of the confusion, different types of Silver. As a Qantas Silver (oneworld Ruby) you were only ever entitled to an extra 5kg. With 57kg you they should have charged you for an extra 12kg of luggage. That is likely driven by the programming in the check in system, not an individual agent anyway.

 

[Mattg]

I had a printout that says 52 kg (40+12), I have thrown it away and they accepted 52 kg for my status if it is silver. I had total of 57 Kg.
Issue was they told be I am not silver from colombo to Singapore . How come?
I paid extra SL Rs 18000, around A$ 180.

I'm afraid Sri Lankan appear to be correct here. From the Sri Lankan website:


and...


So, the regular business class baggage allowance is 40kg. Oneworld ruby members (such as yourself) get an additional 5kg. That's 45kg. You say that you had 57kg - the difference is 12kg, or precisely the excess baggage you were charged for. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[love_the_life]

The OPs signature block is showing WP. If this is correct, they should have been OWEmerald rather than Ruby; however, the OP would need to confirm this as they have only mentioned LTS.

 

[equus]

Beaten to it - same info as many others posting. Qantas Silver is not Sri Lankan Silver.

 

[moa999]

Agree that the OP needs to give additional information on their actual status here, what there actual baggage was and what they were charged.


I also note that the SriLankan policy does seem at odds with the recently released oneworld policy for oneworld Sapphire
Extra baggage allowance - oneworld

• On international or domestic itineraries using the baggage allowance "weight" system you receive 15 kgs in addition to the ticketed Economy allowance.
• On international itineraries (including domestic sectors flown as part of international itineraries) using the baggage allowance "piece" system, you will receive a second bag, weighing up to 23 kgs, when the ticketed allowance is one bag.
• On domestic itineraries only with flights using the baggage allowance "piece" system, you are guaranteed at least one piece of checked baggage, weighing up to 23 kgs, even when the regular ticketed allowance has no free allowance
• Customers travelling in First and Business Class cabins will in most cases receive an even greater free checked baggage allowance.

Would suggests a oneworld Sapphire (Qantas Gold) should receive at least 15kg (not 12kg when in Business)

That said Sri Lankan is being generous providing oneworld Ruby (Qantas Silver) with an additional 5kg, as there is no required oneworld benefit.

 

[Mattg]

Agree that the OP needs to give additional information on their actual status here, what there actual baggage was and what they were charged.


I also note that the SriLankan policy does seem at odds with the recently released oneworld policy for oneworld Sapphire
Extra baggage allowance - oneworld

Would suggests a oneworld Sapphire (Qantas Gold) should receive at least 15kg (not 12kg when in Business)

That said Sri Lankan is being generous providing oneworld Ruby (Qantas Silver) with an additional 5kg, as there is no required oneworld benefit.

The oneworld extra baggage allowance policy States that the extra 15kg for sapphire/emerald is on top of the economy allowance (which is 30kg). So actually UL is giving oneworld sapphire and emerald more.

 

[dajop]

Agree that the OP needs to give additional information on their actual status here, what there actual baggage was and what they were charged..

When asked if they were Platinum, LT Gold or LT Silver, they replied LT Silver. They replied that they checked in 57kg of luggage. They have indicated that they were charged 18000 LKRs for an excess of 12 kg of luggage.

They don't need to provide any more information, it is all there, which has led Mattg and I to conclude that UL were correct in the excess baggage charges they imposed.

I think as the problem is the confusion with/difference between the entitlements of someone who is UL silver and someone who is QF silver.

 

[RichardMEL]

I am lifetime silver, and from colombo to Singapore SL air shown as bronze... I would say some one at SL air deliberately downgrade my status to charge extra 12 kg I am entitle as one world member. Sin to sydney status is life silver even though same booking done in colombo.
Question is how SL air mange to interfere with the Qantas FF status on one leg?

You mention SIN-SYD showed your Silver status. Was this on a QF operated flight? If so, of course it would reflect your QF status within the QF system.

Sri Lankan only gets, like any other OW partner airline, the general status (eg: oneworld ruby/sapphire/emerald). You also mentioned the CMB-SIN sector showed as "Bronze" - but Sri Lankan has no Bronze. I think it should have shown as Ruby or possibly Classic (from the earlier postings indicating UL's tiers and their OW equivalents).

There may be confusion here - all oils are not equal in this case. One FF program's "Silver" Level does not equal another's "Silver" level. 2 classic examples of this are BA Gold= Oneworld Emerald, unlike QF Gold which is Sapphire and AA Gold which is Oneworld Ruby - 3 golds do not equal the same thing - after all it is just a marketing term. This is why oneworld have the ruby/sapphire/emerald monikers to show equivalances (more or less) across the alliance

I do agree with the others that based on the information at hand UL (Sri Lankan) did the right thing and this was not a person thing towards you or a revenue raising exercise - you were over the published limits and were charged accordingly.

 

[moa999]

The oneworld extra baggage allowance policy States that the extra 15kg for sapphire/emerald is on top of the economy allowance (which is 30kg). So actually UL is giving oneworld sapphire and emerald more.

Gotcha on re-reading it tend to agree - had assumed it meant Business got a minimum of 15 more.

Thus if Business > Economy + 15
Eg. 40 > 20 + 15 - in many cases you get no benefit as Sapphire if in Business or First

Thus UL is being more generous than the requirements for Business and First by providing 12kg additional for both

(Albeit an Economy Sapphire should by rights get 15kg more)

 

[love_the_life]

When asked if they were Platinum, LT Gold or LT Silver, they replied LT Silver. They replied that they checked in 57kg of luggage. They have indicated that they were charged 18000 LKRs for an excess of 12 kg of luggage.

They don't need to provide any more information, it is all there, which has led Mattg and I to conclude that UL were correct in the excess baggage charges they imposed.

I think as the problem is the confusion with/difference between the entitlements of someone who is UL silver and someone who is QF silver.

Agree that when reading the posts that the OP says they are LTS, but I noted their signature block as saying they were WP. If this was correct (and possibly based on the posts, it is not), it would make a difference.
Silver is not equal the airlines over. I have never even come close to reaching J luggage limits so they must have had mega luggage!