- Joined
- Jul 12, 2012
- Posts
- 410
- Virgin
- Platinum
I recently traveled MEL-DXB-CDG on EK and then returned LHR-MEL with my wife and 13-month old daughter on classic award bookings in J. Traveling so far with an infant so far was never likely to be all smooth sailing, but there were numerous things that were out of our control that made it so much more difficult and unpleasant. I've contacted Qantas Customer care about this but their response, after 3 weeks of waiting, was basically: "we're sorry, we value your feedback but we hope you keep flying Qantas". Underwhelming to say the least. So here I am sharing my experience - probably my last one on Qantas as I'll be actively avoiding them in the future and re-routing all of my points-earning activities towards VA.
1. Chauffeur drive to Tullamarine.
I received the call the day before and told the company that it was my wife, myself, my daughter (baby seat required), 2 large cases and 3 smaller cases.. suggesting we'd need a large vehicle. They sent a sedan that couldn't even fit two large suitcases in the back. Needless to say it was not a comfortable ride to the airport.
2. Dubai connect.
We had a 6-7 hour gap between our flights so were looking forward to using Dubai connect for some rest, particularly for our daughter. There was no help or assistance or no instruction given as to where we were meant to go to use this service. When leaving the plane in Dubai I asked numerous Emirates staff, none of whom had any idea on where we were meant to go. When I finally found a staff member that said he did, he directed us to the hotels within the terminal (incorrectly). Finally we were told to go to the lounge for assistance. They knew where we were meant to go, but after having spent 90 minutes getting off the plane and wandering around aimlessly we weren't comfortable to spend who-knows-how long transferring to a hotel that is 20 minutes away from the airport, checking-in and then basically having to come back again. So we had to hang around in the lounge for 7 hours, straight on the back of a 14-hour flight, with no possibility of sleep or privacy.
3. Chauffeur drive on arrival in Paris.
Finding myself with 5 hours to kill by the time we got into the DXB lounge and wanting to avoid a repeat of point 1 I spoke to the lounge crew about confirming a larger vehicle on our arrival in Paris, particularly given it was going to be after 30 hours of us travelling. What was waiting for us in Paris? An even smaller vehicle - small enough that the driver couldn't even fit all of our luggage in. After he spent 15 minutes playing tetris with our gear he finally realised it wouldn't fit, and we were resigning ourselves to another whole hour of waiting. Thankfully my wife flagged down another couple who had been allocated a mini-van and they were more than happy to swap with us. But we should never have been in that position.
4. Check-in at LHR.
When we went to check in for our flight home we were greeted by a rude gentleman at the business class check-in that abruptly informed us that he couldn't see our daughter on the booking, so he couldn't check us in. "Not my problem, you'll have to call Qantas ticketing, bye." I'd checked "manage my booking" plenty of times and she was definitely listed on the booking. I'd even called Qantas to ensure we had bassinet seats. But for some reason she hadn't been "ticketed". So this left us in a separate queue to wait to speak with one person holding two phones and trying to have four different conversations with different passengers. By the time she got to us, then we waited for her to deal with the ticketing office, we found out that we actually had to pay $82 or we couldn't get on the flight. Great, right? Just the news you want to receive when you've been waiting around for an hour at the check-in counter with a screaming infant who was in desperate need of a change. By the time all of this got sorted and we got checked in we basically had to run to the lounge, change my daughter (throwing the clothes she had been wearing into the bin - I'll spare you the details) and then run to the plane. Perfect preparation for a 23-hour flight home. All 3 of us were stressed, flustered and really angry with what we'd just been put through.
Whether you're paying $9,000 per person or over 500,000 QFF points for a couple, surely it's within my expectation to expect better than this when flying long-haul business class? Am I being unreasonable to expect compensation?
1. Chauffeur drive to Tullamarine.
I received the call the day before and told the company that it was my wife, myself, my daughter (baby seat required), 2 large cases and 3 smaller cases.. suggesting we'd need a large vehicle. They sent a sedan that couldn't even fit two large suitcases in the back. Needless to say it was not a comfortable ride to the airport.
2. Dubai connect.
We had a 6-7 hour gap between our flights so were looking forward to using Dubai connect for some rest, particularly for our daughter. There was no help or assistance or no instruction given as to where we were meant to go to use this service. When leaving the plane in Dubai I asked numerous Emirates staff, none of whom had any idea on where we were meant to go. When I finally found a staff member that said he did, he directed us to the hotels within the terminal (incorrectly). Finally we were told to go to the lounge for assistance. They knew where we were meant to go, but after having spent 90 minutes getting off the plane and wandering around aimlessly we weren't comfortable to spend who-knows-how long transferring to a hotel that is 20 minutes away from the airport, checking-in and then basically having to come back again. So we had to hang around in the lounge for 7 hours, straight on the back of a 14-hour flight, with no possibility of sleep or privacy.
3. Chauffeur drive on arrival in Paris.
Finding myself with 5 hours to kill by the time we got into the DXB lounge and wanting to avoid a repeat of point 1 I spoke to the lounge crew about confirming a larger vehicle on our arrival in Paris, particularly given it was going to be after 30 hours of us travelling. What was waiting for us in Paris? An even smaller vehicle - small enough that the driver couldn't even fit all of our luggage in. After he spent 15 minutes playing tetris with our gear he finally realised it wouldn't fit, and we were resigning ourselves to another whole hour of waiting. Thankfully my wife flagged down another couple who had been allocated a mini-van and they were more than happy to swap with us. But we should never have been in that position.
4. Check-in at LHR.
When we went to check in for our flight home we were greeted by a rude gentleman at the business class check-in that abruptly informed us that he couldn't see our daughter on the booking, so he couldn't check us in. "Not my problem, you'll have to call Qantas ticketing, bye." I'd checked "manage my booking" plenty of times and she was definitely listed on the booking. I'd even called Qantas to ensure we had bassinet seats. But for some reason she hadn't been "ticketed". So this left us in a separate queue to wait to speak with one person holding two phones and trying to have four different conversations with different passengers. By the time she got to us, then we waited for her to deal with the ticketing office, we found out that we actually had to pay $82 or we couldn't get on the flight. Great, right? Just the news you want to receive when you've been waiting around for an hour at the check-in counter with a screaming infant who was in desperate need of a change. By the time all of this got sorted and we got checked in we basically had to run to the lounge, change my daughter (throwing the clothes she had been wearing into the bin - I'll spare you the details) and then run to the plane. Perfect preparation for a 23-hour flight home. All 3 of us were stressed, flustered and really angry with what we'd just been put through.
Whether you're paying $9,000 per person or over 500,000 QFF points for a couple, surely it's within my expectation to expect better than this when flying long-haul business class? Am I being unreasonable to expect compensation?
I am sure there are other members on here whom would know the drill. As a matter of fact Princess Fiona has already obliged while I was typing this.....
