Rewards seats changed from QR to QF without approval and from J to Y

[davidhes]

@davidhes did you get an email with e-tickets etc from the original Award booking on QR ?

Yes I did.

 

[VPS]

Sorry should have also mentioned that. Yes I’ve emailed her. No response.

that phone call from the supervisor could have been instigated by your email though

 

[davidhes]

that phone call from the supervisor could have been instigated by your email though

Possibly. However the supervisor said she was sorry she hadn’t called back yet, she’d just been hoping to call with an actual response from Qatar so had been waiting. But then thought she’d better call as it had been a few days and she knows she’d promised me a call. So to me that doesn’t sound like any input from Stephanie. But who knows.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I would say to exercise a bit of patience. See where the QR request goes first. At the end of the day it's a far superior seat and service anyway. If that does not yield results, then it's time to turn the pressure dial up a notch or two on Qantas. You have a manager apparently aware of your situation which is further ammunition you can use to further facilitate your complaint to the ACA.

 

[davidhes]

I would say to exercise a bit of patience. See where the QR request goes first. At the end of the day it's a far superior seat and service anyway. If that does not yield results, then it's time to turn the pressure dial up a notch or two on Qantas. You have a manager apparently aware of your situation which is further ammunition you can use to further facilitate your complaint to the ACA.

To be fair this has been going on for over 3 weeks now. But I agree with what you’re saying.

 

[Must...Fly!]

To be fair this has been going on for over 3 weeks now. But I agree with what you’re saying.

Oh I didn't mean to infer you have been impatient. Quite the opposite really. But it seems you finally do have some traction with someone who is apparently willing to help so I think it is probably worth seeing where that goes over the next few days.

 

[drron]

Maybe the call back was the response from Stephanie. Wouldn't put it past QF.

 

[antycbr]

General question here, would this be admissible as a small claims tribunal/state civil and administrative tribunal matter?

Price the QR fares to give you the cash equivalent value, and ask for that?

Does QF get to ignore the ACCC and fair trading legislation?

At what point do we say that the customer has done a reasonable job at seeking redress from the supplier without success?

 

[justinbrett]

General question here, would this be admissible as a small claims tribunal/state civil and administrative tribunal matter?

Price the QR fares to give you the cash equivalent value, and ask for that?

Does QF get to ignore the ACCC and fair trading legislation?

At what point do we say that the customer has done a reasonable job at seeking redress from the supplier without success?

If travel had already commenced and real expenses were incurred, maybe.

But if they give you a full refund - that's all the ACCC will be asking for.

If you order a product and the company takes your money, but when you go to pick it up they actually don't have it, the company doesn't have to find you another one - they just have to refund you.

 

[justinbrett]

I wouldn’t go down the ACCC path. I’d go NCAT with a hearing.

No dice.

Air carriage and maritime matters​

NCAT is unable to determine matters involving:

• International and domestic carriage by air falling within the scope of the Civil Aviation (Carriers’ Liability) Act 1959 (Cth)
• Claims relating to contracts for the carriage of goods by sea, as they fall under the Admiralty Act 1998 (Cth).

Federal jurisdiction

NCAT will not be able to determine your matter if it involves an exercise of federal jurisdiction.

ncat.nsw.gov.au

 

[antycbr]

No dice.

Air carriage and maritime matters​

NCAT is unable to determine matters involving:

• International and domestic carriage by air falling within the scope of the Civil Aviation (Carriers’ Liability) Act 1959 (Cth)
• Claims relating to contracts for the carriage of goods by sea, as they fall under the Admiralty Act 1998 (Cth).

Federal jurisdiction

NCAT will not be able to determine your matter if it involves an exercise of federal jurisdiction.

ncat.nsw.gov.au

Yep just read that. You’d end up in the federal court system. $$$.

And QF know that.

Wait till someone cancels a barristers F redemption one day.

 

[justinbrett]

Yep just read that. You’d end up in the federal court system. $$$.

And QF know that.

Wait till someone cancels a barristers F redemption one day.

They'll refund the points and that will be the end of it.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If travel had already commenced and real expenses were incurred, maybe.

But if they give you a full refund - that's all the ACCC will be asking for.

If you order a product and the company takes your money, but when you go to pick it up they actually don't have it, the company doesn't have to find you another one - they just have to refund you.

I don’t believe the last sentence is true. If you have a contract there may be other remedies available other than a refund. Depending in the nature of the product you may seek to enforce delivery of that product or service.

I’m not sure of the relevance of the Air Carriers Liability Act… that refers to compensation for injury or death.

But that does raise a good point… I’d forgotten that there are state Consumer Affairs offices which will provide free advice. It might be worthwhile giving them a call… they’d give all the options and avenues for resolution.

 

[davidhes]

Ok everyone new update. Qantas supervisor I’ve been dealing with called back. As expected Qatar have denied the request as those seats are now gone and they are under no requirement to create new ones. The supervisor advised after that denial she put in a request again to create 2 reward seats on QF but that has been denied. She attempted to ask if premium economy would be suitable as she has found 2 reward seats in it.

At this point I could barely contain my frustration and anger. As calmly as I could I expressed that was not a suitable replacement, I had confirmed and ticketed business seats and Qantas screwed up and they are now gone. We saved for several years to have enough points to do this trip in business and it is not ok what we have been put through. Advised I’ve spent upwards of 15hrs on hold and 6hrs speaking to agents across the various calls to fix this.

She said she would keep her ear to the ground and see if she could find anything else. Which I advised wasn’t acceptable. There are flights to London from Sydney, Perth and Melbourne on QF on the day we are due to travel. With business seats still available on all of them. All that needs to be done is 2 seats created for us, however that occurs. We should not be being punished because of a Qantas call centre stuff up.

She’s now asked for another 24hrs to see what she can come up with.

Honestly guys I’m at my wits end. I feel so drained from trying to fix this Qantas screw up. Whilst trying to look after a 2 week old baby and wife who is recovering from surgery.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

sounds like a ‘supervisor’ (cough) that isn’t very experienced. She probably did request two seats be opened up on Qantas, without telling them she needed them because QF reservations, possibly one of her team, made an error with the original booking.

Asking for two seats to be opened up for a non-platinum would be hard at the best of times… she really needs to tell them why she needs them!

 

[davidhes]

sounds like a ‘supervisor’ (cough) that isn’t very experienced. She probably did request two seats be opened up on Qantas, without telling them she needed them because QF reservations, possibly one of her team, made an error with the original booking.

Asking for two seats to be opened up for a non-platinum would be hard at the best of times… she really needs to tell them why she needs them!

That’s what I was thinking. If she’s just sending through a request to create 2 seats without fully expressing that this is a Qantas screw up, and has caused so much stress to the customer and time wasted; of course they’re going to be denied.

Obviously Stephanie hasn’t gotten involved though and I’ve even re-forwarded my email to her with a more attention grabbing title. Still no response.

I’m feeling pretty deflated and angry atm… it shouldn’t be this hard.

 

[DC3]

Not happy, Stephanie.

 

[davidhes]

Not happy, Stephanie.

Sadly I don’t think she’s reading this forum… or even her email anymore for that matter..

 

[MrJetset]

That’s what I was thinking. If she’s just sending through a request to create 2 seats without fully expressing that this is a Qantas screw up, and has caused so much stress to the customer and time wasted; of course they’re going to be denied.

Obviously Stephanie hasn’t gotten involved though and I’ve even re-forwarded my email to her with a more attention grabbing title. Still no response.

I’m feeling pretty deflated and angry atm… it shouldn’t be this hard.

Call the supervisor back. State "I am not asking for a standard award release request, rather I am demanding you resolve your mistake by getting approval to have two revenue seats converted to awards like during flight cancellations or changes. The resolution I expect is for Qantas to secure two Business seats on this route and I will not accept anything less.

I have already suffered the downgrade from Qatar's superior product, am now being routed via SYD and all of the time and stress in trying to resolve this."

I am not a fan of calling in the media, as many threaten this without actual cause, but in this instance I would email Stephanie and cc Olivia Wirth and [email protected]

I would also Express Post a hard copy version to AJ.

Might help to copy in Fairfax/Nine, ACA and Daily Mail addresses, but to be effective, you would need to describe everything from scratch.

Good luck!

 

[ricco]

David I agree with MrJetset. Time to hit the media. I think 4BC is your talkback radio in Brisbane. Call the show producer after the show the day before and tell your story. You have a very just cause here. I know Qatar has knocked Qantas back once but you might try this person rather than dealing with an intermediary from Qantas. My sense is that the relationship between Qantas and Qatar is not the best at present.

Abdulla Al Hanout
Senior Manager Customer Care
Qatar Airways Tower 1, next to Al Manna Building
Airport Road
Doha, Qatar
[email protected]
+974 4023 0031 or +974 4023 0000
Call beforehand to check if he still has this position. If so, email or phone and have a chat.
No harm in trying.