Qantas Staff Incompetence - Ticketed 2 adults and not infant, leading to denied boarding

[tdimdad]

I'm in the same camp of having PNR + seeing 'Confirmed' in the MMB as equalling "good to go".

I see three levels here:
1) The advanced pax who have a more intricate understanding of these know to chase for an e-ticket number. But QF has been effective in "simplifying" things for the pax, it needs specific knowledge to know what to look for. These pax are also the ones who know to double-check for changes in ticketing after any modifications to their itineraries.

2) Middle of the pack, those who know to go to MMB to check the booking actually has stuck and is confirmed. If confirmed, they move on and potentially won't come back just for the sake of it.

3) The vast majority of pax probably belongs to the group who sees an email from QF (or their chosen airline or TA) with their itinerary and confirm the money has been taken from their bank/card. They don't even thing they'd need to check for the status of the booking, let alone check for an individual code (e-ticket #) in the microscopic print section.

The airline systems should be customer-friendly enough to alert the pax loud and clear if there's a potential issue with the booking. In this case, it might have been an email or text within a few days "We have an itinerary for you but it's not fully confirmed and ticketed yet. Please contact QF to finalise the booking."

It should never be the customer's job to look over the shoulder to ensure the service provider's internal process has completed successfully (even though, in Australia you need to do that a lot - too often the customer needs to be smarter than the vendor).

 

[Must...Fly!]

Your maths is good.

Thanks.

Now, how old would said infant be if the family was away travelling for 6 months and the return ticket was booked for say October 2024?

OK, now this is an interesting point.

The IATA standard for infants is less than two years old at the commencement of travel.

Qantas meets that standard - https://www.qantas.com/agencyconnec...ting-guidelines.html#when-an-infant-turns-two

MH on the other hand...well, it appears they have their own separate rule on this. https://askmh.malaysiaairlines.com/...ns-2-years-old-during-the-trip?language=en_US

Following safety standards and regulations, if your child turns 2 years old during the onward journey or before the return flight, you must reserve a seat for them. Please contact our Contact Centre or walk into our Local Reservation Office for reservation and ticket issuance/ reissuance for the new fare.  

The reservation must be done before the travel has started. If a child turns two years during the trip, they need to have a child ticket instead of an infant ticket, due to the seat requirement on the return flight. There will be a certain payment that will be collected between the child and infant fare.  

If the above has not been done at the booking or ticketing stage, then check-in staff will arrange this at the airport on departure, provided there are seats available  as the child may not be able to board without a seat and ticket reissuance.  

Now, while this is certainly an interesting development, we have no confirmation from the OP as to

1. How long the trip duration is
2. If it exceeded the date at which the infant would become a child in the eyes of MH

I would also add, I can't see how this would have restricted Qantas from issuing the ticket.

Let's take the assumption that somehow this did stop Qantas from issuing an e-ticket for the minor concerned. All we have done here is identify another point of failure - especially if one assumes this was the case and also assumes Qantas did not contact the passengers to attempt to advise or rectify the situation.

Remember Qantas is essentially acting as the agent here. Imagine how you'd feel if you'd gone to Flight Centre to book these flights and then had the same issue? You'd be a paying customer well within your rights to demand it be fixed and compensated accordingly.

 

[DC3]

Paging the OP to the white courtesy phone. There’s a bit of conjecture creeping into your thread.

 

[JohnK]

So I don't have access to a printer. I work from home and even though office is only 5 minutes walk I don't want to go to office. How do I print things out? Library? Waste time going to library to print things out?

If I am not mistaken there were times where my daughter was not on our booking. There were times where I specifically did not bother adding my <2 year old daughter to booking as I could add her at the airport. Admittedly these were domestic flights but these were fixed at airport.

I feel sorry for OP. It shouldn't be up to OP to keep checking making sure all is correct. I've got flights booked to Thailand in June with SQ. Should I have to keep going into the booking to make sure nothing's wrong? The airlines, especially Qantas, are able to get away with way too much due to their incompetence. Shouldn't be in business if they cannot manage simple things.

 

[DC3]

I feel sorry for OP. It shouldn't be up to OP to keep checking making sure all is correct.

I understood that the OP had no direct involvement in the drama, and is relaying some details that came from relatives who were travelling. In any case, regardless of who was travelling, some members are asking for more information, since last Saturday, from the OP, but nothing else so far.

Edited

 

[DC3]

So I don't have access to a printer. I work from home and even though office is only 5 minutes walk I don't want to go to office. How do I print things out? Library? Waste time going to library to print things out?

Some home printers are pretty cheap and come in handy at times, printing from smart phone, tablet, desktop. I wouldn’t be without one at home, for the convenience.

Edit: Horses for courses as the saying goes

 

[skylabsea]

While I don’t disagree that with the knowledge of this forum I always print my ticket, this is another case of Qantas (deliberately?) causing confusion and trickiness, why call it an e-ticket (ie electronic) if you actually need a physical copy?

Off topic, but e-tickets are issued electronically, as opposed to the physical stock agents and airlines used to use where coupons were torn off in exchange for boarding passes. In the IATA document(which I recommend the interested traveler to read cover to cover),it says

Electronic Ticketing is a method to document the sale and track usage of passenger transportation (Electronic Ticket) without requiring the issuance of paper value documents. A historical record of all actions which have occurred is maintained on the electronic ticket file. Electronic ticketing provides opportunities for cost reduction due to the fact the paper ticket is not required. The electronic ticketing data enables faster processing and capture of sales and flown data. The ticket is accessible by the Validating Carrier at all times and reduces the need for Prepaid Ticket Advices. As the electronic tickets are held in the Validating Carrier's database they cannot be lost and therefore there is no requirement for replacement of lost tickets.

An electronic ticket is used in exactly the same way as a paper ticket. However, instead of processing a paper document, all the data relating to the passenger's itinerary, fare, class, payment, TFCs etc. is stored in an ET record in the database of the Validating Carrier.

All the transactions are electronically supported and in the electronic ticket context the control of a coupon shall be requested and obtained from the Validating Carrier.

 

[Ade]

in Australia you need to do that a lot - too often the customer needs to be smarter than the vendor

Amen to that mate! Hit the right spot with this statement. Dealing with a few vendors and can hand-to-heart say you are absolutely right!

 

[MooTime]

OP family seemed to have possibly gone thru this similar scenario before or the actual OP telling this tale should've / could've mention to family is the infant booked properly, with ticket, check if you can.

I've gone thru having and booking many trips with 2 infants in recent years and you quickly understand that the infant is free or 10% Yada Yada and dealings of this scenario. Can't add, change booking ok I'll have to add infant at the end Yada again.

Happy to bash QF and I believe this could've been resolved at airport somehow, but onus here is on family imo.

Note that QF airport number was doing the rounds here on AFF couple years ago. Many posted the number, even listed the many variations as it changed, some will remember this.
That number should've been obtained from the apparent manager chat. Alas no.

OP must report back some of this missing info.

 

[dajop]

To confuse things more some LCCs don’t even issue e-tickets. The booking confirmation is the ticket to travel.

Consumers should not be expected to know the nuances.

 

[muppet]

IMO Part of the problem is, even for pax who do know all the ticketing hocus pokus, many ticket sales staff don’t understand it.

I have been at the airport with a unticketed booking changes (back when checkmytrip was useful), unable to get partner airline boarding passes for that very reason and had QF staff swear black and blue there’s nothing wrong and to get my boarding pass at the transit desk.

 

[p--and--t]

OP must report back some of this missing info.

No he/she doesn't, they had a rant and left without returning so not a genuine cry for help.

Regardless it is a third party rendition from somebody who wasn't there and not involved relating only partial information which may or may not be 100% accurate certainly missing relevant info.

It's the usual circling sharks of various camps in a feeding feeding frenzy and getting their knickers in a knot off a simple rant.

 

[DC3]

… they had a rant and left without returning so not a genuine cry for help …

Definitely seems that way. The OP has left the building, however, is still peeping through the window from outside. Maybe having a bit of a giggle at the carry on.

 

[Kerrodt]

No he/she doesn't, they had a rant and left without returning so not a genuine cry for help.

Regardless it is a third party rendition from somebody who wasn't there and not involved relating only partial information which may or may not be 100% accurate certainly missing relevant info.

It's the usual circling sharks of various camps in a feeding feeding frenzy and getting their knickers in a knot off a simple rant.

Did you not read the OP’s “rant” - your description, not mine - in full?

The OP clearly asks:

How is this still allowed to happen?? Has anyone got a way of helping please? This is the third time in 2 years this happens and we surely this cannot be legal. It has been a complete nightmare.

Despite what the OP has said they clearly don’t want any help because they would have come back and answered the many questions asked of them so they could get the help they sought.

 

[p--and--t]

Did you not read the OP’s “rant” - your description, not mine - in full?

The OP clearly asks:



Despite what the OP has said they clearly don’t want any help because they would have come back and answered the many questions asked of them so they could get the help they sought.

Did you read my post " and left without returning "

 

[JohnK]

Some home printers are pretty cheap and come in handy at times, printing from smart phone, tablet, desktop. I wouldn’t be without one at home, for the convenience.

Edit: Horses for courses as the saying goes

Understandable that some may want to have access to printer but that's not for everyone.

Then we have the clowns who don't issue boarding passes anymore and if you don't have boarding pass they charge an arm and a leg.

This is simple customer service that has gone completely wrong. Push everything onto the consumer.

 

[Kerrodt]

Did you read my post " and left without returning "

Apologies, I misinterpreted what you originally wrote. It seems we are most likely in strong agreement on the fact that they have vanished without much engagement making their initial request seem more like a rant.

 

[TheInsider]

Understandable that some may want to have access to printer but that's not for everyone.

Then we have the clowns who don't issue boarding passes anymore and if you don't have boarding pass they charge an arm and a leg.

This is simple customer service that has gone completely wrong. Push everything onto the consumer.

You're meaning Ryanair right?

 

[Must...Fly!]

I actually think LCCs have it much easier on themselves & for passengers. Almost everyone knows what to expect & they aren't necessarily tied down to the legacy systems or way of doing things.

 

[Seat0B]

I have a habit with overseas travel to carry hard copies of ticketing/ e-tickets, rental car and hotel accommodation confirmations just in case I ever need them. Usually not needed but I find that pretty easy to do. That’s just me.

Me too - the paper copy never runs out of battery or internet coverage.