Qantas ruined our rewards booking 2 weeks before flying

[ChrisMars]

I can t beleive the seat convertion got declined. I would have swear that once you talk to the right person, things would get fixed, but apparently even there Qantas is falling appart. There is still some hope though.

 

[DrGear]

I can t beleive the seat convertion got declined. I would have swear that once you talk to the right person, things would get fixed, but apparently even there Qantas is falling appart. There is still some hope though.

I know, right? She seemed so upbeat about it all yesterday and seemed like it was gonna be a done deal. So for her to call up today and sound almost as despondent as I am, really shows just how much of a sinking ship that place is these days it would appear.

Post automatically merged: Mar 6, 2024

I am also truly shocked the escalation team seemingly hasn't even reached out.

This is truly one of their worse "efforts" and we've seen some doozies on here.

This is their failure yet somehow the notion to make it right for the customer seems to have gone missing internally.

Yeah, especially when I'm finally here speaking to a real person who's job is to resolve these issues. A billion dollar company penny pinching rather than fixing their own mistake for a single booking. Just, I am now at a loss for words about this whole situation.

 

[elanshin]

I know, right? She seemed so upbeat about it all yesterday and seemed like it was gonna be a done deal. So for her to call up today and sound almost as despondent as I am, really shows just how much of a sinking ship that place is these days it would appear.

Post automatically merged: Mar 6, 2024

Yeah, especially when I'm finally here speaking to a real person who's job is to resolve these issues. A billion dollar company penny pinching rather than fixing their own mistake for a single booking. Just, I am now at a loss for words about this whole situation.

It may be an availability situation.

On Mar17, QF59 has J0 available , QF25 has J5C4 (so 5 total seats left on business).

On Mar 18 there's a lot more. There's even I9 available for QF59 and I4 for QF25.

MEL and BNE both have a bit more availability on Mar17 but perhaps your operator was trying for the best solution first rather than any solution to get you to Tokyo.

 

[DrGear]

It may be an availability situation.

On Mar17, QF59 has J0 available , QF25 has J5C4 (so 5 total seats left on business).

On Mar 18 there's a lot more. There's even I9 available for QF59 and I4 for QF25.

MEL and BNE both have a bit more availability on Mar17 but perhaps your operator was trying for the best solution first rather than any solution to get you to Tokyo.

Yeah it was QF25 she tried getting us on.

 

[elanshin]

Yeah it was QF25 she tried getting us on.

Sorry if talking in booking class doesn't make sense, but J (business) is the last availability. For Qantas it goes J - C - D - I.
I being the sale fare business class. So having both I9 and I4 available for Mar 18 for QF59 and QF25 is a much better sign that something can be made for you than J0 (no possible business class seat - theyre all wiped) for QF59 and J5,C4 (very few left) for QF25 on Mar 17.

 

[DrGear]

Sorry if talking in booking class doesn't make sense, but J (business) is the last availability. For Qantas it goes J - C - D - I.
I being the sale fare business class. So having both I9 and I4 available for Mar 18 for QF59 and QF25 is a much better sign that something can be made for you than J0 (no possible business class seat - theyre all wiped) for QF59 and J5,C4 (very few left) for QF25 on Mar 17.

According to the reference details when it was booked the seats were D, least that's what it said on the class code when I checked the bookings. Dunno if that makes any difference or if maybe that was her tentatively booking it under that code. All new stuff to me.

 

[elanshin]

According to the reference details when it was booked the seats were D, least that's what it said on the class code when I checked the bookings. Dunno if that makes any difference or if maybe that was her tentatively booking it under that code. All new stuff to me.

What I was looking at was how full your flights the agent was looking to get seats for were. In the case of Mar 17 QF 59 there is 0 business class seats available for QF 25 there were only 5 without any discount fares. Whilst QF can convert anything, it's harder for the button pushers to agree when theres very low inventory available.

Conversely on Mar 18 the day after has a lot of inventory including discount businss fare tickets so theres much better odds of a seat being opened up for you.

At the very least however, with effectively a dedicated case agent now, it should be able to get things sorted out for you in some form or another. If for some reason Mar 18 also comes up negative, ask for QF61 via Brisbane to NRT or QF79 via Melbourne those 2 routes are always less competitive than the SYD - HND routes.

 

[Rich]

When she called her demeanour was far more dour than when she called yesterday

No wonder when "management" (I assume her immediate supervisor) says no after her efforts. How disheartening for a team member. For what reason would you deny this? What is wrong with the supervisor? Is it a power trip or are they more fearful of going above some guideline than copping flack for having an unhappy customer? Ie scared of their supervisor. Everyone bar that NZ operator has their priorities wrong it seems.

 

[DrGear]

What I was looking at was how full your flights the agent was looking to get seats for were. In the case of Mar 17 QF 59 there is 0 business class seats available for QF 25 there were only 5 without any discount fares. Whilst QF can convert anything, it's harder for the button pushers to agree when theres very low inventory available.

Conversely on Mar 18 the day after has a lot of inventory including discount businss fare tickets so theres much better odds of a seat being opened up for you.

At the very least however, with effectively a dedicated case agent now, it should be able to get things sorted out for you in some form or another. If for some reason Mar 18 also comes up negative, ask for QF61 via Brisbane to NRT or QF79 via Melbourne those 2 routes are always less competitive than the SYD - HND routes.

Thanks for the tips. I’ll put them to good use if necessary.

 

[CMA222]

Calling @TheInsider - what is your solution to this mess or is it regarded as acceptable from the inside ?

 

[CMA222]

@DrGear try an email to Ben Fordham with the details.

email: [email protected]

text: 0460 873 873

He might put a call through to the new CEO to discuss how things have improved since she took over.

 

[Guvner]

@DrGear try an email to Ben Fordham with the details.

email: [email protected]

text: 0460 873 873

He might put a call through to the new CEO to discuss how things have improved since she took over.

Would be a very short discussion...

 

[JohnK]

So sorry to hear yet another problem.

These things happen. Mistakes happen. But what is not acceptable is the resolution. This is atrocious. It's beyond belief that Qantas is distancing themselves from an issue they've created.

Noone deserves to be treated this way. Noone should have to go through this much stress on what is supposed to be a relaxing time away. I know this doesn't help but we have to treat QF contact centre staff as totally incompetent which means don't make any changes to bookings.

 

[DrGear]

FINALLY A RESOLUTION!!!

After all the nightmare that has happened, the bouncing around between call centers, emails going unanswered, staff members literally laughing at me and being stonewalled every step of the way, we received our etickets for new flights to Japan. We've been moved to QF59 and are travelling together.

We altered our itinerary and skipped out on Taiwan this time round but we will one day in the future if that's possible.

The operator, Sarah from Auckland, was an honest to god life saver and truly amazing throughout the process. I will be forwarding emails to contacts that I have accumulated throughout this ordeal to sing her praises, and let them know of the abysmal state of their general customer service across multiple call centers and even email teams.

For the first time in weeks now I can finally relax slightly and hopefully make the most of this holiday and buying trip.

Truly, thank you to everyone who offered advice and ways to get this noticed by the right people. I hope nobody has to go through what I did but to be frank, we all know that it's almost the norm nowadays. If there were more staff with a little more power and better training, then things would probably be better for everyone including Qantas bottom line.

Now to be like a kid leading up to christmas for the next 10 days.

 

[Lat34]

FINALLY A RESOLUTION!!!

After all the nightmare that has happened, the bouncing around between call centers, emails going unanswered, staff members literally laughing at me and being stonewalled every step of the way, we received our etickets for new flights to Japan. We've been moved to QF59 and are travelling together.

We altered our itinerary and skipped out on Taiwan this time round but we will one day in the future if that's possible.

The operator, Sarah from Auckland, was an honest to god life saver and truly amazing throughout the process. I will be forwarding emails to contacts that I have accumulated throughout this ordeal to sing her praises, and let them know of the abysmal state of their general customer service across multiple call centers and even email teams.

For the first time in weeks now I can finally relax slightly and hopefully make the most of this holiday and buying trip.

Truly, thank you to everyone who offered advice and ways to get this noticed by the right people. I hope nobody has to go through what I did but to be frank, we all know that it's almost the norm nowadays. If there were more staff with a little more power and better training, then things would probably be better for everyone including Qantas bottom line.

Now to be like a kid leading up to christmas for the next 10 days.

sooooooo very happy for you and your partner. It's been quite stressful just watching from the sidelines and sincerely hope the nightmare is over so you can finally enjoy your much-anticipated holiday ❤♥❤

 

[elanshin]

FINALLY A RESOLUTION!!!

After all the nightmare that has happened, the bouncing around between call centers, emails going unanswered, staff members literally laughing at me and being stonewalled every step of the way, we received our etickets for new flights to Japan. We've been moved to QF59 and are travelling together.

We altered our itinerary and skipped out on Taiwan this time round but we will one day in the future if that's possible.

The operator, Sarah from Auckland, was an honest to god life saver and truly amazing throughout the process. I will be forwarding emails to contacts that I have accumulated throughout this ordeal to sing her praises, and let them know of the abysmal state of their general customer service across multiple call centers and even email teams.

For the first time in weeks now I can finally relax slightly and hopefully make the most of this holiday and buying trip.

Truly, thank you to everyone who offered advice and ways to get this noticed by the right people. I hope nobody has to go through what I did but to be frank, we all know that it's almost the norm nowadays. If there were more staff with a little more power and better training, then things would probably be better for everyone including Qantas bottom line.

Now to be like a kid leading up to christmas for the next 10 days.

That's great to hear and I hope you get to enjoy Japan!

If there's anything you need to ask about Japan, feel free to as well - plenty of people here that are also very well travelled in Japan.

 

[MelbFlyer]

FINALLY A RESOLUTION!!!

Glad to hear it's all worked out for you in the end and on time even despite the hours of anger / stress and whatnot.

What happened in the end? Did you call in as an ongoing effort to get it resolved, or was this "Sarah" a case manager or similar and you got a callback?

If it was a random call-in, you've finally struck some luck and got an educated consultant and more / most importantly, had the correct tools to assist.

Also, just make sure to keep an eye out that there actually is an e-ticket number (even if you already have your PDF via email) on the Royal Jordanian website (as the QF MMB portal doesn't even show it).

We Fly Together - Royal Jordanian

If you see e-ticket numbers, you'll be all good. I've got a trip planned in Q3 of this year - all reward business redemptions and even now weekly I'm checking my booking to ensure all is still above board.

 

[drron]

FINALLY A RESOLUTION!!!

After all the nightmare that has happened, the bouncing around between call centers, emails going unanswered, staff members literally laughing at me and being stonewalled every step of the way, we received our etickets for new flights to Japan. We've been moved to QF59 and are travelling together.

We altered our itinerary and skipped out on Taiwan this time round but we will one day in the future if that's possible.

The operator, Sarah from Auckland, was an honest to god life saver and truly amazing throughout the process. I will be forwarding emails to contacts that I have accumulated throughout this ordeal to sing her praises, and let them know of the abysmal state of their general customer service across multiple call centers and even email teams.

For the first time in weeks now I can finally relax slightly and hopefully make the most of this holiday and buying trip.

Truly, thank you to everyone who offered advice and ways to get this noticed by the right people. I hope nobody has to go through what I did but to be frank, we all know that it's almost the norm nowadays. If there were more staff with a little more power and better training, then things would probably be better for everyone including Qantas bottom line.

Now to be like a kid leading up to christmas for the next 10 days.

Fantastic Even i feel relieved what an absolute gut wrenching experience but you proved that Winston churchill was right in the speech he gave at Harrow over 82 years ago now.
"never give in, never give in, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give
in except to convictions of honor and good sense."

I take my hat off to you. Now go and enjoy Japan.

 

[DrGear]

sooooooo very happy for you and your partner. It's been quite stressful just watching from the sidelines and sincerely hope the nightmare is over so you can finally enjoy your much-anticipated holiday ❤♥❤

Thank you, we sure will.

That's great to hear and I hope you get to enjoy Japan!

If there's anything you need to ask about Japan, feel free to as well - plenty of people here that are also very well travelled in Japan.

Thanks. I used to go to Japan regularly as I do business with companies there (own a music shop that specialises in vintage and used gear and a lot of it comes from Japan). I'm always looking out for new interesting places to check out as I spend a lot of time exploring the regions and getting away from the usual spots. This time we're doing Niigata and some parts of Tohoku.

Glad to hear it's all worked out for you in the end and on time even despite the hours of anger / stress and whatnot.

What happened in the end? Did you call in as an ongoing effort to get it resolved, or was this "Sarah" a case manager or similar and you got a callback?

If it was a random call-in, you've finally struck some luck and got an educated consultant.

Also, just make sure to keep an eye out that there actually is an e-ticket number (even if you already have your PDF via email) on the Royal Jordanian website (as the QF MMB portal doesn't even show it).

We Fly Together - Royal Jordanian

If you see e-ticket numbers, you'll be all good. I've got a trip planned in Q3 of this year - all reward business redemptions and even now weekly I'm checking my booking to ensure all is still above board.

There's a post up above in the saga that explains how of all things to get attention, a throwaway complain I lodged on the site to get a case number for the advocate ended up being picked up by a member of the team and she put it to the top of her pile to get resolved. Truly a wonderful person and I will sing her praises and let those in the company know that she was a standout. She kept on top of the whole thing and even though she wasn't able to get us on the first flight, she got us on the second one.

Fantastic Even i feel relieved what an absolute gut wrenching experience but you proved that Winston churchill was right in the speech he gave at Harrow over 82 years ago now.
"never give in, never give in, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give
in except to convictions of honor and good sense."

I take my hat off to you. Now go and enjoy Japan.

Thanks. The feeling of helplessness throughout all this was horrendous and I'm the kind of person who will fight just because I don't want the b*****ds get away with kicking me around. I can imagine how much we would have been out if I didn't keep chipping away at every option I could and the assistance of people here has been invaluable.

I'm honestly convinced now that I should start trying to lobby for better consumer protections for flyers and trying to change the system after this whole ordeal.

 

[RichardMEL]

Brilliant to read. So rapt for this outcome for you both. Phew!