Qantas Shutdown - Keep getting runaround

[Twirly]

Back in October when Qantas chief Joyce abruptly stopped all flights I was forced to return home on British Airways. As usual the seats were broken, entertainment poor and service non-existant. I complained to Qantas and to my surprise, was promised a partial refund! All sounded good at the time but six weeks later still no refund. When I called to enquire they tell me they have changed their minds and that I should contact BA.

Was it my fault I had to travel with BA? NO!

If they make a commitment to give a refund they should stick to it. Liars!

Has anyone else had this experience?

Thanks a lot Qantas. For NOTHING!

 

[medhead]

Re: QANTAS- Not to be trusted!

Ok firstly, how did you end up on the BA flight? By you paying for a seat with BA or by Qantas transferring you to the BA flight. If you paid for the BA flight and Qantas cancelled your Qantas flight. Then you are entitled to a refund for your Qantas flight and also the difference between the cost of your Qantas flight and your BA flight. Full details can be found on the qantas website along with the online claim forms:

Qantas free flight offer | Qantas grounding

and

Expenses and Refunds from the Grounding of Qantas Flights

You can also claim for incidental expenses there. Plus as your flight originated outside Australia you could be eligible for a $250 voucher.

Did you claim for an Original Routing Credit on your originally booked Qantas flight? If not you should do so by contacting customer care using the online email contact form.

Other Qantas Contacts

 

[Twirly]

Re: QANTAS- Not to be trusted!

I contacted BA after I couldn't get through to QF, voicemail etc. BBC had said BA were accepting QF tickets. BA did accept the tickets and no money changed hands.

The reason I complained to QF was the quality of the flight was not up to QF standards, and they agreed. I had paid Premium Economy and BA put me in Traveller Plus, but it was worse than economy.

QF said they would give a refund even though I was not out of pocket, but because I did not get what I had paid for. Then almost 6 weeks later they changed their minds and that I should take it up with BA. Why should I have to go to all the trouble when it was QFs fault that I had to travel on BA in the first place?

If they had said "no" to start with I could understand it, but I had numerous conversations about the amount and when it would be paid ony to have QF renege on the whole process. Very poor behaviour in my opinion.

I have been a QFF since 1991, at various levels and do not expect to be treated with such little respect.

 

[medhead]

Well I'm not sure about your specific situation. Did BA issue a new ticket? If they did I'd claim a refund from qantas for the cancelled flight.

I also strong suggest you put in an original routing request for the cancelled qantas flight.


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

 

[Twirly]

Re: QANTAS- Not to be trusted!

I'm told BA issued a new ticket and claimed from QF, so I cannot claim.

 

[Storyteller]

Re: QANTAS- Not to be trusted!

As Medhead suggested, request the Original Routing Credit for your QF booking. When you receive this, you will be pleasantly surprised.
Also there should be a few other things coming your way from QF as a result of being caught up in the disruptions, that all of us in that situation received. Have you received any of these?

BA should be interested to hear about your on board issues, where things should have worked. You would have notified the FA on board about these especially seeing it was so many things, so they would have a record of it. You no doubt asked for a different seat as well. I'd be approaching BA because you were their customer, not Qantas'.

All other carriers would have been scrambling to pick up the extra load that couple of days. And QF would have been dealing with thousands of extra calls & requests, yours & mine included. If I had more than the usual problems with UA I would be expecting them to make pretty with me, not QF.

Unfortunately from what you have posted, QF offered to clean up BA's mess, whereas in a normal situation they would have pointed you in the direction of other avenues available for the responsibility for inflight issues. Better IMO to have a can do answer, than having "no" as the default answer in those first few wild days, which is what seems to happen with many o/s carriers. Stonewalling, refusal to even discuss, put it in writing Sir, go to the website for the complaints department, click.....Would you have been happier if they had said no first up?
I can understand that you thought you had an answer, & were surprised by their offer & looking forward to a part refund! which is something I have never experienced for inflight issues, only to find that it has changed. In my experience, if something sounds like an unusually good unexpected bonus, it's probably a mistake. If it ends up not happening then I cope. Liars is a bit strong. And thanks for nothing? What about all the other things they are doing? Return fare, voucher, original routing credits ....

Please let us know what BA end up doing, and how they handle your complaint, as well as what you end up with from QF.

 

[medhead]

Oh. Well that is not good and the lack of equivalent service level is disappointing.

I still suggest you should put in an original routing request to get credit for the points etc for your original qantas flight.


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

 

[Simo]

Re: QANTAS- Not to be trusted!

IMO

At least you got home in a reasonable time frame i am assuming and not waiting days longer than expected.

Request the status credits/FF points you would have received.

If you are not happy with that then take it down the legal avenue.

If you paid for PE and didn't get it the i would assume you have a gripe, but it will be a long process of fighting.

 

[The Rok]

Re: QANTAS- Not to be trusted!

I suspect that QF Customer Care staff were just trying to do everything they could to please passengers in the days following the grounding. Later on down the track they have discovered just how frivilous the claim is that they have opted not to pay.

As was suggested, put in for the original status/points routing credit, cut your losses and move on.

 

[laffer]

To be fair to the OP, there is a big quality difference between BA and QF PE.

 

[Twirly]

Re: QANTAS - Not to be trusted

Storyteller,

I've been in the industry long enough to know that complaining when the aircraft is full will get me nowhere. The broken seat, yes, I should have said something, but for the plastic cutlery and poor entertainment, that is standard BA.

I have received absolutely nothing from QF. I asked BA to credit my points to asiamiles, which is probably a good thing as if this doesn't get resolved I will be cutting up a total of 4 QFF cards including my family.

As I have said previously, it was QF that forced me into this situation and I think they should deal with it. In the end I may have to go to BA but I will pobably get another useless voucher that can only be used on BA like last time!

The Rok,

You're probably right, but they should have thought a little more before making these statements.

Laffer,

Very true!

T

 

[NM]

I still suggest you should put in an original routing request to get credit for the points etc for your original qantas flight.

As the trip was on the Kangaroo root, covered by JSA, the points and SC earning on a BA flight would be the same as for bathe original QF routing. So unless hoping for double credit from BA and QF, there is little point. Most QF agents will be aware that the points and SCs earned on the BA flights will be the same as the passenger would have received for the original routing.

In this case, the issue is that BA's WT+ is not as good as QF's Premium Economy, so the OP believes they did not get what they paid for. And this was complicated by the message the OP received from the initial conversation with QF customer service. There is no way for us to know if the QF agent misunderstood the initial complaint or if the OP misunderstood the agents response. But as others have said such an offer of a partial refund under these circumstances is most unusual. Such an offer normally only comes if the passenger was not able to be accommodated in the cabin type originally booked, and from a fare perspective BA WT+ and QF PE are considered the same. Compensation for poor service, broken seat/IFE etc is normally in the form of a voucher for future travel, FF points, or some arbitrary gift such as wine or movie passes etc. I have never heard of a partial fare refund for such service issues.

 

[TonyHancock]

As the trip was on the Kangaroo root, covered by JSA, the points and SC earning on a BA flight would be the same as for bathe original QF routing. So unless hoping for double credit from BA and QF, there is little point. Most QF agents will be aware that the points and SCs earned on the BA flights will be the same as the passenger would have received for the original routing.

I don't think that is quite correct. If flying on a BA flight number in Y+ I believe you get a 10% FF points cabin bonus, against a 25% bonus on a QF flight number. It changed back in May I think.

 

[medhead]

As the trip was on the Kangaroo root, covered by JSA, the points and SC earning on a BA flight would be the same as for bathe original QF routing. So unless hoping for double credit from BA and QF, there is little point. Most QF agents will be aware that the points and SCs earned on the BA flights will be the same as the passenger would have received for the original routing.

I did understand the issue, I made the suggestion as an extra thing to do. I will bow to your vast experience with things like ORC. But the point of my suggestion was exactly to get a double credit of points and SC. This would depend on the BA flight being made on a separate/new ticket. I got an ORC for my flight that was cancelled due to the grounding, without any consideration to what other flights/earning (at Qantas expense) I got in place of the cancelled flight. I would think the OP should get similar. A double lot of point/SC would not make up for poor service/experience on board, but it might help....

 

[NM]

I don't think that is quite correct. If flying on a BA flight number in Y+ I believe you get a 10% FF points cabin bonus, against a 25% bonus on a QF flight number. It changed back in May I think.

If that is true for JSA routes, then the OP should be entitled to receive the QF cabin bonus per original routing credit.

 

[Twirly]

NM,

I don't believe there was a misunderstanding, I had several phone conversations with one particular agent who asked me to call her and there were many emails to and fro.

T

 

[stomplad]

Re: QANTAS- Not to be trusted!

I suspect that QF Customer Care staff were just trying to do everything they could to please passengers in the days following the grounding. Later on down the track they have discovered just how frivilous the claim is that they have opted not to pay.

As was suggested, put in for the original status/points routing credit, cut your losses and move on.

I dont agree at all. They paid for a QF Y+ product and got a way inferior BA product, and then the basics like a functioning seat where there. Why were they flying BA oh thats right because QF was grounded. QF should deal with it.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

NM,

I don't believe there was a misunderstanding, I had several phone conversations with one particular agent who asked me to call her and there were many emails to and fro.

T

Did you keep the e-mails? I hope you did, because the proof is in the pudding right there.

 

[Twirly]

Stomplad,

THANK YOU!


Oneworldplus2,

Yes, I still have them.

T

 

[ajw373]

Re: QANTAS- Not to be trusted!

I dont agree at all. They paid for a QF Y+ product and got a way inferior BA product, and then the basics like a functioning seat where there. Why were they flying BA oh thats right because QF was grounded. QF should deal with it.

And deal with it how?