Upgrade confirmed in morning, but cancelled on check-in

[pugwombat]

My wife and I had applied for a points upgrade to Business on QF22 (Tokyo - Sydney) last Monday. I'm a Gold FF, she holds spouse membership. I knew there was a chance it wouldn't come through and I would have taken it on the chin if it hadn't.

At 7.30am on Monday we each got a confirmation text from Qantas. We were pretty delighted. It would have been a first in 25 years of Qantas Club membership.

When we got to check-in, however, we were given Economy boarding passes. The check-in staff said there were no J seats available. I was mightily annoyed. My wife was ready to lynch someone.

Is it common to have your upgrade cancelled after having it confirmed? Is there any point in my further complaining to Qantas? I sent them an email earlier in the week, which went unanswered.

I spend $80-$90K a year on airfares. Mostly for my employees. I'm tempted to take my business elsewhere.

 

[smit0847]

My wife was ready to lynch someone.

Charming......

 

[N860CR]

I'd imagine that was a figure of speech. And I dare say every other member here would have a similar reaction. It's not good enough without an explanation at least (I'd say it was an aircraft swap). Did the points come out of your account?

 

[craven morehead]

If I was spending $80-90k a year on flights for work I would be spending the extra for guaranteed Business Class and claiming on tax ... Did you get any explanation for the reversal of upgrade ?? :mrgreen:

 

[JohnK]

Not good. I have not heard of it happening a lot.

One of your options is to send PM to Red Roo. Perhaps they are able to get more information on what has happened.

I dont think you can send PM directly so perhaps send a PM to a moderator to pass on to Red Roo.

 

[pugwombat]

If I was spending $80-90k a year on flights for work I would be spending the extra for guaranteed Business Class and claiming on tax ... Did you get any explanation for the reversal of upgrade ?? :mrgreen:

I would have booked Business Class, but it was holiday travel and I'm pretty sure my accountant would have knocked the claim on the head.

I was told that there were no J seats available and that Qantas in Australia had made a mistake. The points were deducted and then reinstated.

 

[craven morehead]

Very disappointing no doubt when you go to the airport with the mindset that you are flying international J and get booted back to whY !! Ouch

 

[N860CR]

I don't get that one… the aeroplane sits around all day in NRT so unless something big happened to cause a swap during the day (unlikely), they would have known the configuration when you were issued the upgrade. Not really sure what happened Could potentially have been disrupted passengers from JL… but i'm not sure if they'd revoke an upgrade for that.

 

[Hvr]

I would be very annoyed and thought things much worse than your wife did. This is a fail by Qantas and now they need to recover your confidence. Part of this will include providing an explanation as to why this occurred.

Hope they can do it and would be interested to hear the outcome.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Truly disgusting. There should have been an immediate offer of compensation at the airport. You have arrived fully expecting a business class flight and been screwed over at the last possible moment. It's this kind of cough that is ruining Qantas!

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

It's pretty poor form on QF's behalf. My guess is they sold the seats or upgraded someone higher in the pecking order at the last minute, or had to reaccomodate other high value pax.

They should not have confirmed.

 

[Pushka]

Charming......

It's just a figure of speech for goodness sakes.

I'd be peeved too. Not because it wasn't upgraded but because I'd received the text saying it was. And been mighty pleased. Only to be completely disappointed.

 

[opusman]

My wife was ready to lynch someone.

Fully understandable, I would be ropeable if it happened to me!

 

[docjames]

I tend to agree with the OP in wanting an explanation at least. Disappointing.


Would be interesting to see what they would have done if you'd showed up with J luggage allowance.

 

[nonpop]

Fully understandable, I would be ropeable if it happened to me!

+ 1 and I'd be F'N p!ssed. There, I said it.

The confirmed upgrade would change your mindset knowing you were flying J vs whY especially since it was a points upgrade and it sounds like the OP may not have had a lot of success previously. So I'm sure there would have been some happy-joy-joy emotions prior ... then to have it squashed at the airport. The other side effect is that I wonder what happened to the original whY seat selection i.e if you've got 'good' economy seats are they lost in the upgrade process only to then be randomly given seats by QF at the gate. That would suck big time as well.

 

[JohnK]

The other side effect is that I wonder what happened to the original whY seat selection i.e if you've got 'good' economy seats are they lost in the upgrade process only to then be randomly given seats by QF at the gate. That would suck big time as well.

I would lose the plot if that happened to me.

They would need to move the person now allocated my coveted bulkhead to that middle seat down the back they just tried to offer me.

The more I think about it the worse the downgrade looks. Confirmed upgrade and then to be told you are back in economy. Yes I know it happens but it should never happen. Simply not good enough service. I hope Qantas makes it up to the OP with complimentary confirmed upgrades on their next flight.

 

[pugwombat]

Got a bulkhead seat in the middle, surrounded by crying babies. Not even the window seat I requested. But it wouldn't have mattered where it was when we found out it wasn't up the front of the plane.

 

[amaroo]

Geez, that's terrible.

Mucking about with customers hopes/expectations like this is not good.....

 

[OzEire]

Got a bulkhead seat in the middle... wouldn't have mattered where it was when we found out it wasn't up the front of the plane.

Not the bulkhead separating J from Y, that would mean you could see the J seats, smell the J food and almost reach out and touch.... how taunting!

 

[pugwombat]

Yes! It was that bulkhead!