What is Qantas playing at?

[mrsterryn]

Have you edited your post that I was responding to to be more specific?

I can't edit it . No button there

 

[JWILLS]

My husband is heading to the UK from Tasmania - booked Hba-Mel-Per-LHR for 7 June and paid extra $180 for exit seat as he is 6’4” tall. Received email confirming his preferred exit row seat. Checking in on 6 June, he is allocated a seat three rows back (non-exit row). Two hours on the phone to the call centre, plus a trip to the Qantas desk at Hobart and he is basically told that someone with a higher status will have been given his seat and he should put in a claim for a refund of the exit seat cost. Not really acceptable as he needs the legroom because of his height. And not morally right either.

During the night, a flight cancellation comes in on his app (no email) rerouting him Hba-Syd-Darwin-LHR. The Hba-Syd flight is delayed and he misses the connection to QF1, so they reroute him again for tomorrow via Bangkok and then onwards to LHR on Thai airlines with an 8-hour layover in Bangkok. He asked to be switched to QF1 tomorrow, to avoid the layover in Bangkok, and was told there was ‘no flight until Friday, and even that was full’. However, it is possible to book online a Flex economy seat for tomorrow on QF1. He is currently stuck in a hotel in Sydney - oh and they have lost his luggage as well. So what are they playing at? Are they bumping lone travellers on cheaper tickets for people paying more? They have been utterly unhelpful on all fronts.

Qantas have completely stuffed up his trip to see family in the UK and he is unwilling to transfer in Bangkok as he is unsure of boarding restrictions/tests and does not want to be stuck outside of UK or Aus. Anyone have any insights?

How things have changed- I recall flying Qantas always great. Recall our Qantas flight from Melb to Sydney to go to South Africa was late so missed the flight so Qantas put us up at a hotel in Sydney with food voucher. But that was prior to covid and Joyce!

 

[FL360]

It seems that the airline industry is still waking up from the pandemic. At least in Australia.

In this case, I would do it in the 70s style! Go to Singapore first, have a bit of layover, then next to London!

 

[sapho]

How things have changed- I recall flying Qantas always great. Recall our Qantas flight from Melb to Sydney to go to South Africa was late so missed the flight so Qantas put us up at a hotel in Sydney with food voucher. But that was prior to covid and Joyce!

I was a platinum ff with Qantas for years. JWILLS is correct, service used to be great. That finished about 10 years ago after traveling HKG to SYD in first, when it existed in sorts. After delay of 2 hours of the late night flight they closed the lounge and threw everyone out to sit in a standing room only lounge. On board some food was placed in front of us, after which no staff was seen until prepare for landing. Find your own bedding, make your bed. Stack the dirty dishes on the floor, which were still there in the morning and the staff complained about the mess. The complaint brought a short response offering $100 voucher which could only be used for base fare excluding taxes , fuel surcharges. No apology of course.
As this is the way they treated first class passengers, I think you are deluding yours self the economy passengers will get even that. I suppose we are supposed to be grateful we didn't get off loaded.
I have flown SQ and Emirates since and the difference is mind blowing. I think all is lost at QF until the management is turfed out.
Sapho

 

[Ellen88]

Yes had bad experiences with Qantas as well. Changed flights from Port Macquarie to Melbourne. Turned a 1hr layover in Sydney to 6hrs. Gave no other options online. On hold for 2hrs just to change it. They had flights going every 1hr to 1/2 hr so why do this. Will be flying REX next time. Then flew to Thailand. Daughter had surgery but recovery was way worse than expected. Applied for upgrade with points 3 weeks prior to travel on the way back for business. Hubby was on hold for 3hrs to split the booking as we only needed her to be upgraded. Never ever got a reply from Qantas re the upgrade and there was one empty business class seat. Thankfully check in staff and hostie allowed her to lay across 3 back seats as plane wasn’t full. We had a letter showing her medical procedure. It was the 3hr hold my hubby had to endure and the fact they never advised us. Tried calling Qantas Thailand but they couldn’t do anything but say ring Australia. Couldn’t do this from Thailand and be on hold for 3hrs. Thinking I won’t be flying Qantas when I go overseas next even though I have been a very loyal customer since 1996.

 

[bmam]

The problem is both on reward and revenue fairs. There have been airline initiated changes to 4 of my upcoming trips both paid and award, and etickets have not been reissued for any of them. Prior to May when this happened e-ticket would automatically arrive once changes were accepted. Since May no new tickets, and if you call and ask the incompetent staff in Cape Town just resend you a ticket from April or earlier which does not reflect new flights times/numbers/routing. Its a complete joke.

I have bookings from CNS to TVL and TVL to BNE in July. Three changes have been made (two a change of time, the other a change of aircraft) and I've yet to receive a new e-ticket.
I spent over 5 hours on hold trying to get a new ticket only to receive a new itinerary, followed up by a 4 hour wait for yet another itinerary. I was assured by the rep in Cape Town that the itinerary was the only documentation I needed. I'm sceptical and am worried that when I arrive at CNS I will actually NOT have a ticket! Any advice would be most appreciated.

 

[wombatpatties]

I wont be flying anywhere soon, getting tired of hearing these experiences. Dreading the booking in debacle, not I.T. savvy, and cannot envisage me ever managing it. Too old now to bother. Yet I yearn to visit family in the U.K, it's been over 4 years and this saddens me so much.

 

[stm1sydney]

I wont be flying anywhere soon, getting tired of hearing these experiences. Dreading the booking in debacle, not I.T. savvy, and cannot envisage me ever managing it. Too old now to bother. Yet I yearn to visit family in the U.K, it's been over 4 years and this saddens me so much.

There are many other airlines that will look after you better than Qantas.

 

[danpez]

This is exactly why I will never fly Qantas. Can't stand them or their CEO.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF @Ellen88 , and the Qantas of today.

 

[oz_mark]

It seems that the airline industry is still waking up from the pandemic. At least in Australia.

In this case, I would do it in the 70s style! Go to Singapore first, have a bit of layover, then next to London!

I guess it depends when in the 70s, but certainly in the early 70s getting from Singapore to London was still an odyssey.

 

[bradnjayne]

Flew from Sydney to Melbourne on Friday - no problems. Went to check in via the app on Saturday for Sunday's return trip (QF448) and noticed we had been allocated 4 seats for two of us. Closer inspection revealed we had been bumped from our exit row seats because of a change of plane from the 737 to A330. Were we notified? Of course not. Were the seats in-line with our usual requests of window/aisle - no again. Two seats in the middle of a row of four.

I phoned Qantas. International call centre I assume. He had to refer the problem to a "support" agent, whatever that is. Time spent waiting on the phone. Ultimately, tough luck. The extra row seats had been reallocated. I would have thought Platinum status might have assisted, but no.

I had to request a refund. I'm sure had I said nothing Qantas would have pocketed the $60. I've worked hard to get to Platinum and have remained loyal to Qantas right through, but that loyalty is now hanging by a thread.

 

[wombatpatties]

There are many other airlines that will look after you better than Qantas.

But I have points so I am obligated to use them. Even that procedure on line is ridiculous enough! No wonder I say bring back the olde days haha!

 

[Guvner]

Ha! Heathrow was one of the worst airports in terms of losing and mid-routing luggage decades ago already.

Not much has changed.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1537871467932704769

 

[Rosege]

Qantas gold here. Travelling to Europe in a couple of months. Very glad I gave my $ to Singapore now! Don't think I'll be back to Qantas as they are very expensive and have too many incidents like this.

 

[AIRwin]

Qantas gold here. Travelling to Europe in a couple of months. Very glad I gave my $ to Singapore now! Don't think I'll be back to Qantas as they are very expensive and have too many incidents like this.

Not even EK?

 

[Sidkn33]

Exactly, which is why the EU, UK, Canada, Israel, and to some extent the USA have consumer protection laws in place to try and discourage this behaviour. Sadly Australia does not.

Actually, that isn't the case. The EU Regulation 261/2004 is equally as worthless as the paper it is written on. Airlines can change flights with little or no notice (up to 5 hours before they need to do anything), will only offer flight credits as refunds. Airlines don't have to honour the departure or arrival times. It only provides very limited protections. Sadly the aviation industry in Australia is fast spiralling to the lowest minimum possible service levels.

Until we as the flying community start to make these airlines accountable through legislative imposition then things will only get worse. Changing airlines to a competitor who is no better isn't a practical solution.

Maybe it's time for a Royal Commission into the Consumer Airline Industry. But hey that's probably just going to be window dressing with our politicians watering down or not implementing the majority of past Royal Commission findings.

 

[AVV]

My husband is heading to the UK from Tasmania - booked Hba-Mel-Per-LHR for 7 June and paid extra $180 for exit seat as he is 6’4” tall. Received email confirming his preferred exit row seat. Checking in on 6 June, he is allocated a seat three rows back (non-exit row). Two hours on the phone to the call centre, plus a trip to the Qantas desk at Hobart and he is basically told that someone with a higher status will have been given his seat and he should put in a claim for a refund of the exit seat cost. Not really acceptable as he needs the legroom because of his height. And not morally right either.

During the night, a flight cancellation comes in on his app (no email) rerouting him Hba-Syd-Darwin-LHR. The Hba-Syd flight is delayed and he misses the connection to QF1, so they reroute him again for tomorrow via Bangkok and then onwards to LHR on Thai airlines with an 8-hour layover in Bangkok. He asked to be switched to QF1 tomorrow, to avoid the layover in Bangkok, and was told there was ‘no flight until Friday, and even that was full’. However, it is possible to book online a Flex economy seat for tomorrow on QF1. He is currently stuck in a hotel in Sydney - oh and they have lost his luggage as well. So what are they playing at? Are they bumping lone travellers on cheaper tickets for people paying more? They have been utterly unhelpful on all fronts.

Qantas have completely stuffed up his trip to see family in the UK and he is unwilling to transfer in Bangkok as he is unsure of boarding restrictions/tests and does not want to be stuck outside of UK or Aus. Anyone have any insights?

As previously posted. A Joyce must go .He does not care for his customers. In fact he blames them. Let him go and sort out EI problems. He is an arrogant person.

 

[serfty]

Actually, that isn't the case. The EU Regulation 261/2004 is equally as worthless as the paper it is written on. Airlines can change flights with little or no notice (up to 5 hours before they need to do anything), will only offer flight credits as refunds. Airlines don't have to honour the departure or arrival times. It only provides very limited protections.

Welcome to AFF @Sidkn33

While COVID may have given EU/UK airlines and those departing same some leeway, the regulations do have some teeth.

There are threads on forums all over dedicated to sharing experinces of claiming compensation as well as being reimbursed for duty of care costs.

 

[beaglex]

I wouldn't bother with the Airline Customer Advocate (ACA), a toothless tiger!