First and Business Flights Booked Using Points Cancelled

shertiger on 20/04/2022 - 10:59
Last edited 22/04/2022 - 18:15 by 1 other user

So I managed to get some good flights to go to the UK using my Qantas points. Got an email after the booking confirming all flights a month ago. Well last night got an updated itinerary with the first and business legs missing.

So I rang Qantas last night and after a 4 hour wait finally got someone. They confirmed the flights were missing and they could see that they were there before. They said they had to call Qatar airlines and would get back to me in about an hour. I got no call so this morning rang again. I spoke to a lady who I knew from the onset was not going to be helpful. She stated the obvious that the flights were missing and that the Qatar flights don’t even exist! She said it was normal for flights to get changed and cancelled and there was nothing else she could do. Tough luck basically!

I decided to call Qatar and they said they had changed nothing and that it was all on Qantas. Even this lady said my flight didn’t exist. So after the call I looked to see if I could book Syd to Doha on the day I was flying. No surprise that the flight I had booked was there! I thought I would give Qantas another call and find out why if the flight was still flying I had got cancelled. The agent I spoke was really helpful and explained that basically there was change in flight time (10pm to 9pm) and the back end systems are supposed to manage transition of seats. For some reason it didn’t happen for me and Qatar based on me not having an allocated seat cancelled my flights. There’s now no first or business class flights on classic rewards so I’ve got no flight (even economy) at this stage for me to go to the UK. The agent said that my only option is for Qatar to honour the original booking. Qantas is going to give this a go through the One World service desk.

Very disappointing that this can happen and no other avenue to escalate.

Update 22/04 finally after a few hours on the phone I got confirmation flights have been reinstated and I can see them in app. Just waiting for new flight tickets now!

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Comments

  • ThithLord on 20/04/2022 - 11:09
    +8

    That's horrible. Thanks for the update

  • wallet72 on 20/04/2022 - 11:11
    +10

    I love the whole 'something that you have no control over and is all our fault screwed up but we are going to tell you that you are SOL and you can just live with it' attitude

    not to mention 4 hours on hold. It's like Qantas has gone back to the days of treating passengers like a burden.

  • stirlo on 20/04/2022 - 11:17
    +6

    Ouch, This is the downside to reward bookings. I've had confirmed legs just drop off for no reason and as you said it's nearly impossible to get something similar honoured.

    Considering Qantas's recent support (particularly from their new Fiji location) I'm actually pleasantly surprised you could get through to someone who knew what had happened and could escalate to the OneWorld service desk. Normally they have no idea and just stonewall rather than even transferring you to someone who might be able to help.

    Good luck

  • eatcroissants on 20/04/2022 - 12:36
    +1

    That's not good. Thanks for letting us know.

    I was planning on booking a business rewards flight from sydney with qantas. Not anymore.

  • Seraphin7 on 20/04/2022 - 13:24

    Say "Qantas" with a Japanese accent and it explains everything.

  • bitesized on 20/04/2022 - 13:38
    +2

    Dang so sorry to hear about this. Hope the best case works out for you but goes to show how crappy the whole partner airline redemption issues are.

    Also why I stay away from Qantas points and stick to other frequent flyer programs… 4 hour wait times are just ridiculous.

  • ddhar on 20/04/2022 - 15:04
    +1

    That's concerning as I also have a reward seat booking later this year (with Emirates).
    I did enter my booking reference with Emirates and directly obtained an official itinerary. I hope that is evidence of an existent booking.

  • Howdydoo on 20/04/2022 - 16:54
    +1

    Hi this is terrible. I had something similar happen to me pre-covid. I had a family of 4 business class seats booked round the world. They had to make a change to the arrival airport in Japan (when they were switching from flying into haneda instead of narita). Anyway, it meant they had to change a connecting flight I had from narita to another airport in Japan. All seemed fine. When I got my updated itinerary back, one of the international legs had dropped off between Japan and the US (I only noticed by chance). I had now lost my 4 business class seats and no flight from Japan to the US that I had booked months before. Long story short, after ringing up (on hold for multiple hrs and 2 qantas staff attempts in figuring out what happened and stating that I had changed it which of course I hadn't) they said there were now only 2 business seats available as someone had already grabbed two of them. So they had to do what you said, and call Japan Airlines to beg them to let us have 2 extra business class seats. Was very stressful and took almost 48hrs to have them sort it out. Managed to get the seats back thankfully …….. but then the entire trip was cancelled due to covid.
    Turns out the person didn't finish ticketing the entire journey and this is why it just "dropped off".

  • Blue Suby on 20/04/2022 - 17:44
    +2

    Similar to my daughter's experience. She booked economy from Mel-Syd and then business to Japan. Arrived in Syd yesterday to be told flight cancelled until 9pm. Then told had to pay extra for a rapid PCR (Time had run out for her neg test) before boarding (result within 4 hours). Waited around airport to be told flight now changed to ANA economy all the way and has to try to claim points back via Qantas. Had worked the day before (12 hour shift) so was very tired and cranky! Booked a short stay room at Rydges hoping to get back on her travel insurance. Next bad news around 5pm -couldn't get a boarding pass before then- that pilot was sick and flight cancelled to next morning. at least ANA gave her a room and dinner at Novotel and promised to get her at 4am this morning. As I've not heard any more I'm assuming she's somewhere between Syd and Japan!

  • GourmetFoodie on 21/04/2022 - 07:15
    +1

    What a shit sandwich! Good luck with Qatar. Let us know what happens.

  • capslock on 21/04/2022 - 15:37
    +3

    Some partner airlines like Qatar cancel bookings if they are not ticketed in time. Qantas for some reason is experiencing massive delays in issuing tickets resulting in bookings being cancelled. There is something wrong with the processes at Qantas but they never take responsibility. They just blame COVID. It's their excuse for everything.

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