Qantas poor service with Delayed Flight missing connection

stil

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Apr 26, 2023
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I just wanted to give my experience regarding Qantas customer service.

I booked directly with Qantas for a return flight for three from Syd to Colombo (codeshare Sri Lankan airlines CMB to SING leg).

Six hours before the syart of our return leg, Sri Lankan airlines sent an email advising the flight was delayed by 5 hours, meaning we would miss our connecting flight Singapore to Sydney.

Noone from Qantas contacted us. We had to call Qantas help centre multiple times at our own expense, to sort out our final flight to Sydney. After more than 2 and half hours on the phone, a new flight leaving Singapore 24 hours after the original flight, was booked.

We were told multiple times Qantas could not allocate our seats, and would have to wait until 24 hours before departure from Singapore. Customer Service agent kept reassuring us that family groups are always seated together, and were dismissive of our concerns that we would end up with being seated apart.

The reason given for not allocating seats was that the seating plan had not been released. However at check in at Colombo airport, only one hour after our call with Qantas, the check in staff told us seats had been allocated, and were NOT together. This was still more than 24 hours before Singapore departure.

When we contacted Qantas again, we were told seats cannot be changed by Qantas, even though this seat selection had been already been made by Qantas. Of note, they also advised they would not assist us with accommodation for our unexpected stop over in Singapore. We had to find and pay for hotels on our own, with no mention of compensation or assistance from Qantas.

The whole experience has been disappointing and frustrating. So much for Qantas Customer Service trying harder to meet our expectations! The change in CEO has clearly not changed their attitude to customers.
 
I just wanted to give my experience regarding Qantas customer service. I booked directly with Qantas for a return flight for three from Syd to Colombo (codeshare Sri Lankan airlines CMB to SING leg). Six hours before the syart of our return leg, Sri Lankan airlines sent an email advising the flight was delayed by 5 hours, meaning we would miss our connecting flight Singapore to Sydney. Noone from Qantas contacted us. We had to call Qantas help centre multiple times at our own expense, to sort out our final flight to Sydney. After more than 2 and half hours on the phone, a new flight leaving Singapore 24 hours after the original flight, was booked. We were told multiple times Qantas could not allocate our seats, and would have to wait until 24 hours before departure from Singapore. Customer Service agent kept reassuring us that family groups are always seated together, and were dismissive of our concerns that we would end up with being seated apart. The reason given for not allocating seats was that the seating plan had not been released. However at check in at Colombo airport, only one hour after our call with Qantas, the check in staff told us seats had been allocated, and were NOT together. This was still more than 24 hours before Singapore departure. When we contacted Qantas again, we were told seats cannot be changed by Qantas, even though this seat selection had been already been made by Qantas. Of note, they also advised they would not assist us with accommodation for our unexpected stop over in Singapore. We had to find and pay for hotels on our own, with no mention of compensation or assistance from Qantas. The whole experience has been disappointing and frustrating. So much for Qantas Customer Service trying harder to meet our expectations! The change in CEO has clearly not changed their attitude to customers.
As the delayed flight from CMB to SIN was operated by UL they are actually responsible for rebooking your onward connection.
Nothing to do with QF regardless of the codeshare flight number / ticket.
 
Please don’t let your boring facts get in the way of this thread ;) :)

A bit of leniency towards a newbie might be in order; obviously the 'way things work' was not evident to them and dare I say this wouldn't be uncommon. Its a reason people come to AFF.

Welcome to AFF @stil - flying across airlines can be complicated - keep asking any further questions and hopefully we can sort things out for you.
 
Codeshares can be very confusing, and really don't blame the OP, QF should be able to give clear advice over the phone that they should speak to UL at the airport who will sort out the rebooking. But is anyone surprised that that advice was not given?

I also recall in the early days of the EK codeshare arrangement through DXB, EK staff referred QF codeshare pax back to QF even when EK caused the disruption.

Sadly, it's all too easy to fob people off, and most regular travellers would not have any idea who they should deal with, and it shouldn't be left to either ESP or a passenger posting on an obscure forum on the web to find the answer to their problems.
 
Codeshares can be very confusing, and really don't blame the OP, QF should be able to give clear advice over the phone that they should speak to UL at the airport who will sort out the rebooking. But is anyone surprised that that advice was not given?

I also recall in the early days of the EK codeshare arrangement through DXB, EK staff referred QF codeshare pax back to QF even when EK caused the disruption.

Sadly, it's all too easy to fob people off, and most regular travellers would not have any idea who they should deal with, and it shouldn't be left to either ESP or a passenger posting on an obscure forum on the web to find the answer to their problems.
Its a bit sad .. implication by some to the OP that he was not ‘match fit’ to understand the intricacies of code share (or posting on the forum)
Ok they got it wrong
We are here to support fellow travellers and encourage expanding the knowledge base
If you book w airline X but the responsibility in these areas lies with Airline Y - X is still responsible for their part of the customer service chain.
Maybe I am just naive
 
Its a bit sad .. implication by some to the OP that he was not ‘match fit’ to understand the intricacies of code share (or posting on the forum)
Ok they got it wrong
We are here to support fellow travellers and encourage expanding the knowledge base
If you book w airline X but the responsibility in these areas lies with Airline Y - X is still responsible for their part of the customer service chain.
Maybe I am just naive
That’s not the way I read the replies at all. More people having a gentle dig at me for supplying correct information rather than commiserating over the appalling QF phone service experienced by the OP.
Just part of the overall anger online about QF I guess.
Nobody has said anything about the OP not being “match fit”.

I completely agree that we should be welcoming and respectful towards our fellow travellers and part of that is sharing our knowledge.
The OP was of the belief that because they had booked a flight through QF that any and all delays at any part of the journey are the responsibility of QF to fix it.
In fact it’s the operating carrier’s responsibility to rebook if their delay causes a misconnect.
It’s great that the OP took the time to detail the issues they had as now everyone reading this thread knows that :
1. QF call centre customer care continues to be very sub par
2. They should contact the operating carrier when a flight is delayed or cancelled regardless of who they booked the ticket with.
 
I find this confusing. We booked Qatar through Qantas points. When the Qatar flight was cancelled as we were about to board, while Qatar put us up in a Hotel, they said it was up to Qantas to rebook us, and which they did the next day. How is this any different?
 
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That’s not the way I read the replies at all. More people having a gentle dig at me for supplying correct information rather than commiserating over the appalling QF phone service experienced by the OP.
Just part of the overall anger online about QF I guess.
Nobody has said anything about the OP not being “match fit”.

I completely agree that we should be welcoming and respectful towards our fellow travellers and part of that is sharing our knowledge.
The OP was of the belief that because they had booked a flight through QF that any and all delays at any part of the journey are the responsibility of QF to fix it.
In fact it’s the operating carrier’s responsibility to rebook if their delay causes a misconnect.
It’s great that the OP took the time to detail the issues they had as now everyone reading this thread knows that :
1. QF call centre customer care continues to be very sub par
2. They should contact the operating carrier when a flight is delayed or cancelled regardless of who they booked the ticket with.
Apologies if you read it that way
That was not the intent and I was not taking a dig at you
You’re right I said the words ‘match fit’ …
My use of that description was if I was the OP and a newbie I would think twice about posting given some of the attitude about how they went about it
 
In which case this calls for a level of sophistication of the knowledge of how airlines operate that is way above 95% of travellers. Whether using cash or points, really, what is the difference.

Note I wasn't saying it's definitely the case - it was just a guess in response to your "what's the difference" question. The other possible difference I can think of is if your Qatar flight originated in the EU - the EU261 regulations come into play, which they wouldn't for the OP's itinerary.

Points are cash equivalent aren't they?

Points plus pay yes definitely. These are revenue seats. With "classic" reward seats, these seem to be treated differently.
 
As the delayed flight from CMB to SIN was operated by UL they are actually responsible for rebooking your onward connection.
Nothing to do with QF regardless of the codeshare flight number / ticket.
This begs the questions "Why didn't Qantas tell the OP to contact UL?" and "Why didn't UL deal with it when they contacted the OP about the first flight delay?".

Seems like QF dealt with something they didn't have to, albeit with a less than stellar outcome for the OP. I would also have contacted QF in the first instance as they ticketed it, so I learned something :)
 
To add to the confusion is the common line or practice that you should contact the seller of the ticket, if it's a travel agent ("only your travel agent can make changes to your ticket..."). It's fertile ground for confusion and palming off all around.
A good agent, of course, both knows the rules and expected practices, and can point customer to the right place - in the best of cases equip the customer with the right wording for their request to get the matter resolved on the first call / interaction.

@stil , one avenue to cover the extra accommodation costs will be your travel insurance. They usually expect you to seek compensation first from the airline and then the insurance covers what's still outstanding (less your potential excess).
And welcome to the forum! Enjoy your time here!
 
Welcome to AFF @stil.

I had similar issue back in March travelling with wife/daughter on separate bookings.

SYD-SIN-BKK with first leg Scoot and second leg SQ. Technically it is an SQ booking but booked through Expedia for me and Webjet for wife/daughter.

Scoot flight delayed for 17 hours meaning we would miss the SIN-BKK leg. Called Expedia and they couldn't see anything delayed. Wanted to charge me money to change flights. By the way this was last minute as we went to airport to fly out.

Scoot cannot do anything either. They gave us hotel for that night and we flew out a day later. The next day we received email from SQ that they rebooked the SIN-BKK leg for following morning.

I know it doesn't help your situation but sometimes best to just let them sort everything out rather than trying be proactive.
 
I know it doesn't help your situation but sometimes best to just let them sort everything out rather than trying be proactive.
Exactly. It's good to do a quick look at the alternate options so you are prepared to confirm on spot if the suggested new arrangements are reasonable or if you'd like to suggest something different. But these kinds of delays happen all the time so the check-in and service desk agents are (usually) very adept in figuring out a solution.
 

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