We can’t guarantee you’ll be able to board

[aaronm]

Long story short, flying tomorrow, booked several months ago, was an A330 downgraded to 737 a little while back. Checked in this morning, boarding passes issued, happily in J.

Wife just received a call from QF stating they were punting her to a (many hours) later flight because the one we’re on is oversold. Seems odd as I made the booking and have not received any such call, though this might be due to my having higher status. In any case I joined the call and explained we’d already checked in and it was too late to change, the response was along the lines of “ok but you may not be able to board when you get to the airport”.

Has anyone had a similar experience lately? This seems appalling service to make the change so close to departure when the aircraft was swapped out quite some time ago. My wife initially thought it was some kind of scam and didn’t believe an airline would be so unprofessional. I get that operational changes have to happen from time to time but if this is their standard procedure it just seems very odd.

 

[lovestotravel]

What is your status and was this a paid ticket or on points ?

 

[justinbrett]

Long story short, flying tomorrow, booked several months ago, was an A330 downgraded to 737 a little while back. Checked in this morning, boarding passes issued, happily in J.

Wife just received a call from QF stating they were punting her to a (many hours) later flight because the one we’re on is oversold. Seems odd as I made the booking and have not received any such call, though this might be due to my having higher status. In any case I joined the call and explained we’d already checked in and it was too late to change, the response was along the lines of “ok but you may not be able to board when you get to the airport”.

Has anyone had a similar experience lately? This seems appalling service to make the change so close to departure when the aircraft was swapped out quite some time ago. My wife initially thought it was some kind of scam and didn’t believe an airline would be so unprofessional. I get that operational changes have to happen from time to time but if this is their standard procedure it just seems very odd.

What route are you flying?

If you are holding a boarding pass, and it's still valid (you can still see it via the app or website) you should be pretty safe - QF would have to actively downgrade you or remove you from the flight (digitally - not UA style) which they might still do if there's a lot of pax with higher status. A330 has a lot more J seats than a 737.

Let us know the flight number and we can look it up.

 

[aaronm]

Let us know the flight number and we can look it up.

QF702. Wife is red, I’m gold, assume that’s why she got the call first. I understand that these things happen, my annoyance is more that the aircraft was swapped out >1 month ago and they’ve waited until the night before to sort out the overbooking.

 

[justinbrett]

QF702. Wife is red, I’m gold, assume that’s why she got the call first. I understand that these things happen, my annoyance is more that the aircraft was swapped out >1 month ago and they’ve waited until the night before to sort out the overbooking.

OK, relax. You're fine.

They're still selling one J seat on the flight. If you are still checked in now, you will be fine.

 

[aaronm]

Thanks, good to know

 

[encryptededdy]

I take it you were able to board OK? What a weird phone call from Qantas...

 

[aaronm]

I take it you were able to board OK? What a weird phone call from Qantas...

Yes, all worked out. Just a serve of unnecessary stress.

 

[levelnine]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1526287760604426240

Not an isolated incident, it seems. QF trying hard to outcompete the LCCs for worst treatment of customers at the moment.

 

[MrJetset]

Were you on the same or separate bookings? Was this an award?

 

[encryptededdy]

This is such weird messaging from Qantas. Telling a customer that they "may be denied boarding"... what is the customer supposed to do with that information? You either rebook the customer onto a new flight because the current one is overbooked, or you don't. With this information the customer still has to go to the airport and try...

I don't know the exact wording Qantas used in the calls but putting my tinfoil hat on I would almost want to say this could be trying to bait the customer into a voluntary rebooking instead of causing a involuntary rebooking, so that they're not eligible for refund etc.?