Lucky_man

My wife was on QF730 this morning ADL(6:00) -SYD(8:25) to meet QF129 SYD(9:35)-PVG. It landed at 8:47 which was 22 minutes late. At 7:40 (SYD time) I rxed an email with her next flight rebooked onto China Eastern.

This is hardly a substitute. When I finally calmed her down a bit and she got to the Qantas sales desk at 9:00 she was advised it was really too late to get on the flight. He checked there were still empty seats but could not get her on the flight.

Does this seem like really over keen misconnect action on what I would have thought would have been tight but very do-able?

QF129 ended up leaving at 9:45

In the end we got a "We completely understand you not wanting to fly MU" and she was re-accomodated via HongKong QF/KA - after I called Qantas Premium (booked with my points). So in the end - not too bad - but speak up or lose out certainly applies.

Have other people had similar 'apparently' over the top misconnect remediation.

og

The MU flight is scheduled to arrive in PVG 50 min after the QF flight. Seems a logical flight to be transferred to as a connection via HKG wouldn't have arrived until 21:35 (ie 2hr 15 min after the MU flight). I assume QF staff thought they were doing the right thing for the passenger.

Lucky_man

The main frustration is she wasnt able to get onto QF 129 which she would have plenty of time to get to. Being told the option was MU just compounded it.

moa999

QF129 for a 935 departure should be closing its doors at 925.
less 5min walk to gate,
less 5-10min for departure clearance and security
less 5-10min for the bus
less however long to wait for the bus,

tend to agree its getting too late.
Particularly if it took her until 9am to get to the sales desk.

I assume that QF has a 60min MCT for the Dom - Int transfer, so you can only afford a 10min delay on that flight before they bump you

It certainly does make it difficult for non-SYD pax.

RadioGirl

There are two issues: one is the choice of substitute airline (which og has addressed) and the other is the timing of making a rebooking, where they're "fixing" what might not be a problem after all.

On SYD-LAX-DEN several years ago, the QF SYD-LAX flight was delayed. Despite immigration and the silly baggage collection/drop game, my colleague and I were at the gate for the AA flight to DEN at least 10 minutes before boarding started. (I'd allowed a four hour gap and promised my colleague a visit to the QC. Oh well.)

When we tried to board, we were told we'd been rebooked on a UA flight leaving from another terminal and (maybe?) 30 minutes later.

On that trip I was using wheelchair assistance prior to a hip replacement. I only needed help for the longer distances, so my wheelchair assistant had dropped me off at the gate area for the AA flight and was now long gone. When I told the gate agent that they'd need to get a wheelchair to come back and take me to the UA terminal, suddenly we were rebooked on our original AA flight (although not in our original seats).

With the OP, as I read it, at least 45 minutes before the scheduled arrival time (pre-7:40 vs 8:25), QF assumed that QF730 was going to be too late for the connection and made the rebooking. In the event, it appears this was pre-emptive and the passenger could have made her original flight. (Or maybe not, according to moa999.)

The other extreme is waiting until the first flight has landed and making alternative arrangements for passengers who actually miss their next flight. I guess this could lead to additional delays for some passengers as there might be another option shortly after the missed flight.

I assume the airlines have worked out (to the last decimal point) the most cost-effective breakpoint, but I share the OP's annoyance when they jump the gun.

jmastron

Well, the proper handling *should* be in the middle of those extremes: "Protect" the passenger on an alternate flight while keeping the reservation on the current flight.

This is done all the time (at least on United and Delta, which is where I've experienced it); you do sometimes have to prompt the agent with that magic "protect" word:

1) Last time I flew through EWR, my intl inbound was delayed ~30 minutes. Landed to an email from UA showing a new flight YY, clearly noted as "if you do not make your original flight XX". I had no checked bags and was quickly through immigration, so made it to the original flight's gate with plenty of time to spare, got on, and the other was automatically removed.

2) Family was flying via ORD, and before takeoff were told they'd have to divert to DEN for a lavatory issue. Called UA and insisted the agent protect them, not rebook, as the alternate connection was 5 hours later. Once in the air, the first flight was able to continue to ORD without diverting, and they made their original flight just fine.

In both cases, I would have been mightily annoyed if the original flight reservation was cancelled preemptively -- once it gets to 10/15 minutes before boarding, sure, load standbys then, but until then leave my reserved flight and seats alone if there's any chance at all I can make it!

Dave Noble

In this instance it looks to me that Qantas has done the right thing by the passenger. Arriving at 48 minutes before departure into the domestic terminal is too short to get to the international terminal with a realistic chance of being at the aeroplane in time.

Having the passenger already rebooked and ready to go on a flight running 1hr 25minutes after the booked flight seems like good service by Qantas

og

Agree that UA is very good with "protection". Some years ago I was on a UA SYD-SFO flight in F ( ) that was 2 hrs late. During the wait, the ground staff came on board and gave each F pax with SFO connections a list of flights they were protected on. Ahhh - the good old days when UA was a great airline ...

RadioGirl

That's what I meant by a breakpoint between too early (unnecessarily changing people's flights, often at the airline's expense) and waiting too long (rebooked flights are later than necessary and airline can't accommodate standbys to fill original seat).
Yes, if there's an agent to talk to before a decision is made. In my case (some years ago, before smartphones), there was no communication until I was boarding the AA flight. On the incoming flight we were just told to contact ground staff IF we missed our connection, but I thought (correctly) that I would make it; on arrival there was no further way to contact me until I got to the gate.
This. In the OP, QF decided more than 45 minutes before the scheduled arrival of the first flight, and ~2 hours before the scheduled departure of the second flight, to rebook the passenger. It's hard to understand the motivation for making the decision that early.

serfty

Maybe QF129 was oversold... ?

... this is pure conjecture as I have no idea of the fare bucket loadings...

Himeno

A few years ago, I was flying LAX-SYD-CBR. Once I got to the transfer desk, they claimed I was too late for the connection and moved me from the 737 I'd booked to the following dash 8.
Even with waiting for the bus and the ride over to T3, I still got there before my original flight boarded.

Lucky_man

For the people thinking you need long connection times - I have travelled this pair when there has been 55 minutes between the scheduled times. The times of each flight moves around a bit over the year. This is on a single ticket. If the flight is on time I have time for eggs benedict and coffee at the lounge. This connection was 53 minutes this time.

Does any one know if it was oversold. That may explain why they could not get her back on it.

Lucky_man

I think if my wife joined the forum she would have to take the screen name of Unlucky_woman. Finally landed in Pudong after midnight - no bags. Still no bags 1 day later - expecting them tomorrow night.

They did no get loaded on QF127 and did not leave Sydney that day at all. They were sent to Pudong (should be there tonight) but the only way to get to her current location (LYG) is either to move the bags to SHA airport for SHA-LYG or fly them PVG-PEK-LYG. Or 7 hour drive.

Awesom Andy

I tend to agree with others, a 48 mins transfer in SYD together with the terminal bus, immigration, and security, it is definitely very silly. Personally, if I know I'm going to be running that tight, I would have requested for a move even before I have left my original point of departure. Also, the manifest needs to be completed and sent off before the international flight, so it is not possible to add a pax back onto the flight at such a short notice.

Lucky_man

Luggage finally arrived 3 days late.