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

[dajop]

It;s all the fault of the OP, of course. Qantas never stuff up ticketing with partner airlines! Never!!!

 

[dajop]

The problem with a lot of these complaints is that they are often light on detail

What is the flight number?. Is it a QF codeshare flight?
A booking is not a ticket
What names were on the issued e-tickets.
And who issued the e-tickets

I thought the clue would have been in the phrase "booked a flight on Malaysia Airlines in J through QFF awards"

I would therefore assume it is not a codeshare, and QF would have issued the e-tickets for the 2 adult passenger.

 

[DC3]

Third-party reports don’t always include the nitty-gritty.

 

[jb747]

Third-party reports don’t always include the nitty-gritty.

And almost every time they report in detail something nasty that was said to them, they leave out all of the preliminary discussion.

 

[kylebb]

Had the same thing happen with 1/2 LATAM bookings this year - they were able to ticket the infant at check-in however (for a fee!)

 

[DejaBrew]

A booking is not a ticket

Don’t disagree with you, but always feel like this one is a copout for the airlines. They took the money, provided you with an itinerary and a reference number for your booking, but failed to do their job in terms of issuing the actual ticket (either at all, or correctly per the booking). Hardly the consumer’s fault, but the consumer is always made to feel like they’re to blame. Of course the consumer should check everything as a matter of course, but not everyone is match fit with air travel and it’s easy for the uninitiated to confuse a booking with confirmed ticketing.

 

[HSB44]

Don’t disagree with you, but always feel like this one is a copout for the airlines. They took the money, provided you with an itinerary and a reference number for your booking, but failed to do their job in terms of issuing the actual ticket (either at all, or correctly per the booking). Hardly the consumer’s fault, but the consumer is always made to feel like they’re to blame. Of course the consumer should check everything as a matter of course, but not everyone is match fit with air travel and it’s easy for the uninitiated to confuse a booking with confirmed ticketing.

Agree
This is like saying - we outsourced our training, made it substandard, pocketed a bonus, and now because our poorly trained or underqualified staff couldn't issue you a ticket properly, we will take your money and then blame you.

Having said that - it would be good to hear more of the details in this case... some of it does seem odd...

 

[Quickstatus]

I thought the clue would have been in the phrase "booked a flight on Malaysia Airlines in J through QFF awards"

I would therefore assume it is not a codeshare, and QF would have issued the e-tickets for the 2 adult passenger.

That is not a clue to me
And if its not a QF codeshare (on MH metal) then it is not QF who issues the e-ticket.

But that firms the point I was trying to make - there is insufficient info when readers have to infer facts from "clues"

Without clear facts it is almost impossible to even speculate about the root cause.
Other missing facts are:
How was the infant booking made
How old was the infant - ie was the infant occupying a seat or not.

What payment was made for the infant booking. If not occupying a seat, no points are deducted for infant but there are fees and charges. if occupying a seat, then adult classic points are deducted. At least thats the QF policy for QF ticketing. So were there 3 or 2 lots of classic rewards points deducted

Why were they all denied boarding
If the infant was under 2 and not occupying a seat it is a simple matter of adding the infant to a PNR and just pay the relevant fees and charges
If the infant was over 2 they would need to find a seat for the infant but that does not mean that everyone will denied boarding. While not ideal, one adult could have travelled, though many would say they would prefer to travel together.

I dont know what the truth is because there is a lot of missing info.

 

[Quickstatus]

Hardly the consumer’s fault

On one scenario yes, the customers bears some responsibility and could have solved this way before day of departure. Why did they turn up at the airport without e-tickets. Why did they assume a booking is an e-ticket.

But who knows if this is the correct scenario

 

[DejaBrew]

On one scenario yes, the customers bears some responsibility and could have solved this way before day of departure. Why did they turn up at the airport without e-tickets. Why did they assume a booking is an e-ticket.

As I said in my earlier post, I don’t disagree with you and it’s true that the customer does bear some responsibility to check that all is in order. My point was simply that not everyone is clued up enough to know that a booking does not equate to a ticketed flight. Qantas - or any other airline for that matter - can’t absolve themselves of all responsibility (no matter how much they may wish to believe otherwise).

It would be like a major retailer offering click and collect, accepting an order, packing it it and then having the customer collect. The customer fails to check the packaged item at the store, gets home and discovers it’s the wrong thing. Upon returning to the store, the retailer tells the, there’s nothing they can do about it. That just wouldn’t fly (pun intended). Sure, the customer might be a goose for not having checked that the right item was received on collection, but that doesn’t mean the retailer is absolved of their responsibility to deliver the item for which the customer paid in the first instance.

 

[Must...Fly!]

That is not a clue to me
And if its not a QF codeshare (on MH metal) then it is not QF who issues the e-ticket.

But that firms the point I was trying to make - there is insufficient info when readers have to infer facts from "clues"

Without clear facts it is almost impossible to even speculate about the root cause.
Other missing facts are:
How was the infant booking made
How old was the infant - ie was the infant occupying a seat or not.

What payment was made for the infant booking. If not occupying a seat, no points are deducted for infant but there are fees and charges. if occupying a seat, then adult classic points are deducted. At least thats the QF policy for QF ticketing. So were there 3 or 2 lots of classic rewards points deducted

Why were they all denied boarding
If the infant was under 2 and not occupying a seat it is a simple matter of adding the infant to a PNR and just pay the relevant fees and charges
If the infant was over 2 they would need to find a seat for the infant but that does not mean that everyone will denied boarding. While not ideal, one adult could have travelled, though many would say they would prefer to travel together.

I dont know what the truth is because there is a lot of missing info.

If it's a QF award then QF issues the ticket

 

[Quickstatus]

If it's a QF award then QF issues the ticket

Thank you, i stand corrected.

 

[burmans]

Don’t disagree with you, but always feel like this one is a copout for the airlines. They took the money, provided you with an itinerary and a reference number for your booking, but failed to do their job in terms of issuing the actual ticket (either at all, or correctly per the booking). Hardly the consumer’s fault, but the consumer is always made to feel like they’re to blame. Of course the consumer should check everything as a matter of course, but not everyone is match fit with air travel and it’s easy for the uninitiated to confuse a booking with confirmed ticketing.

Totally agree, those on this site have special knowledge but a consumer should not need this and IMO is entitled to believe something saying you are booked as meaning exactly that, you shouldn’t need to have specialist knowledge.

 

[bPeteb]

On one scenario yes, the customers bears some responsibility and could have solved this way before day of departure. Why did they turn up at the airport without e-tickets. Why did they assume a booking is an e-ticket.

But who knows if this is the correct scenario

Especially after stating that this had happened previously

 

[Must...Fly!]

Especially after stating that this had happened previously

My mother, father, brother, uncle, auntie, cousins and friends except two (who previously worked for another airline so might have some clue as to the importance of an e-ticket) would have NFI what any of this thread is talking about.

The only thing they would know is - why don't I have a boarding pass for the flight I have paid for, and why can't I find anyone to fix it for me.

Enough excuses and apologies for a business that has had literally YEARS to fix systemic problems that continue to arise week after week on this forum alone. Imagine how many people this is catching out every day???

 

[moa999]

My point was simply that not everyone is clued up enough to know that a booking does not equate to a ticketed flight.

Exactly and not everyone knows the difference between a reservation and e-ticket.. particularly when domestically there isn't so much of a difference.

That said the OP had seemingly experienced something similar before so should have been more cautious.

But it's all speculation unless the OP comes back to this thread.

 

[DejaBrew]

But it's all speculation unless the OP comes back to this thread.

Agreed, and to be clear, my comments were purely general in nature rather than being specific to OP’s case.

 

[randompunter]

Booking award travel with an infant can be quite tricky even if you know the lingo. I think your average joe public could easily be caught out. I also agree with the above that none of my relatives and possibly most friends too would know the difference between a PNR and an actual e-ticket.

Not sure about the specifics of OP's scenario but I had issues in 2022 booking a QF J dom award via AA. Wasn't possible to book the infant online and when I called AA they couldn't add the infant (or possibly wanted some insane $$ amount to do it, can't recall). I called QF and got an incompetent agent (South African?) who said they couldn't do it either because they didn't issue the ticket but I had found a thread on flyertalk where someone had had success so I pushed back and QF escalated it and eventually added the lap infant. Being a domestic flight I could have prob just shown up at the airport but given it was an AA ticket the check-in agent may have struggled. International would be more complicated again given most airlines like to charge 10% of the adult fare for a lap infant (SCAM!) plus the immigration fees/taxes etc.

I had issues only a few weeks ago with a VA booking. I was on a cash fare through work and tried booking a separate award ticket for my 2 year old. The system wouldn't permit that as I guess it looks like an unaccompanied minor who is too young to be flying solo.. So I booked it as an adult then rang up to have it changed to a child and link the bookings (mainly wanted to ensure I could get the free pram and car seat luggage allowance; it prob wouldn't have been an issue at check-in but you never know and I like to avoid complications). Anyway I got passed back and forth between the VFF call centre and VA reservations and both sides told me they couldn't do it. Eventually VFF escalated it to a manager who happily made the change.

 

[Seat0B]

Why did they turn up at the airport without e-tickets.

This is a real thing - turning up without an e-ticket.

I got totally flamed in an FB forum for pointing out that for flights on QF at least, it is a requirement that each passenger must have a PRINTED copy of their e-ticket. If you tried to print your e-ticket, you would know whether you had one or not.

Of course, this requirement is printed on your e-ticket - so maybe you only know this if you actually receive your e-ticket, a classic Catch 22.
Or if you bother to read the e-ticket and then do what you have been asked to do - ie print the e-ticket.

 

[maroonone]

And not helping matters with QF reward bookings on CI eticket and flight itinerary are one and the same but with AY They are separate emails and the etcikets are emailed separately for each pax. How can anyone know what paperwork is required Especially as the email for AY bookings is titled Confirmation and E-Ticket Flight Itinerary but on opening it is only an itinerary document. The email subject is the same for the CI booking but the document when opened actually says etIcket.