barnetda

I would like some advice on a frustrating day trying to make a booking on QF.

Yesterday i tried to book a SYD - DFW return to take advantage of a flight FROM $1049 advertised on their website. When i put my dates in i was taken to the booking page and the cheapest flight for ANY day for the next year was $2041 !

I understand that it was "from " and my dates may have not been available but to only have availability at $2041 for the next year is clearly misrepresenting and false advertising.

I contacted QF though Twitter and was told "seats are subject to availability etc" and then once they began to understand that it was unethical they said they passed it to the web team for their comments.

I didnt get a further reply but today the web site has miraculously changed to $2041 .

The price of $1049 had been there for quite a few days so wasnt a fare error but i assume they had sold out of that fare but hadnt changed the banner.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have copies of all correspondence and here is a screen shot :

http://f.cl.ly/items/2K3d17282v1D2f0...53.28%20PM.png

steveholt

Among the possibilities:
1) The fare had been available for a short period of time and by the time you saw the ad, it was no longer available
2) The availability with that fare/in that fare class had been exhausted
3) You may not have been searching with certain day minimums or through certain routings

I'm not sure what you're looking for here. You want them to sell you a ticket at $1049 because they had a sale at that price? I don't think this is false representation, misleading, or unethical. If they actually sold you a ticket at $1049 and then changed the price afterwards to $2041, that would be unethical.

DH188

The sale ended at 23:59(AEST) 18 August 2015, about 25 hours ago at the time posting.

Advertised availability was:
Travel periods: Between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Los Angeles - 11 October to 20 November 2015 and 19 January to 15 March 2016. Between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Dallas/Fort Worth - 14 October to 19 November 2015 and 14 January to 25 March 2016.

barnetda

Steve

thanks for the quick reply, much appreciated.

To clarify :

1. I tried to book it for 4 hours while it was still advertised.
2. The ad was clear FROM $1049 but there werent fares available for any day below 2k.
3. No i was searching correctly. I did it so many times !

What i am saying is that the fare was advertised at a price and i recognise it was "from " . However there werent any fares available for any day below 2k. They might as well have advertised them for free !

I restarted my computer on a few occasions and used a different browser. The banner was still there and only got changed many hours after i alerted them.

If you think i am wrong i am happy to put it to bed but i cant see where i am in the wrong.

barnetda

I wasnt aware of the sale dates and it wasnt on the advert even in the small print.

In addition on the 3 occasions i contacted QF yesterday they didnt mention a sale date at all .

barnetda

Thinking about , it looks as though the sale ended as you say on 18th aug 23.59 AEST but they hadnt changed the banner headline advert. So even though the sale had ended 18 hours previously no one had got round to updating the web site .

Not a stellar performance by QF in my opinion.

DH188

The info I posted was from an email I received.
I can't say if it was on the website or not.

DH188

That does seem the most likely explanation.

barnetda

It categorically wasnt . The only small print was about Bpay charges and that the flight was only available monday to thursday and on QF 7 and QF 8

Nothing i can do about it. It irritates me though as i contacted QF various times yesterday without any satisfactory answer. Well at least they corrected the web site ad today.

Exec_Plat

Op

If you wait a bit, there is a high probability (speculation?) that AA will have a sale on their SYD-lax service. Lots of empty planes to fill.

In the particular circumstances you cite, I belive QF may indeed have been guilty of advertising and offer that didn't exist. While you might press your case, it would be hard to prove..at the end of the day it wouldn't result in them giving you a seat for $1049

barnetda

Thanks very much for the heads up, I really appreciate it. i will keep checking.

I did contact qf via twitter and pointed them on various occasions to the website. So its proof but i think its just going to end up with waffle within QF.

17h17 hours ago
@Qantas I am trying to book your flight to DFW from SYD price of $1,049 . the cheapest date is $2000+ Can you check http://f.cl.ly/items/2K3d17282v1D2f0...53.28%20PM.png …

Qantas @Qantas 16h16 hours ago
we're currently following up with our Web team as the lowest fare on this route is AUD2041.00. Pearl

@Qantas thank you pearl here is the web site. http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airl...s-dallas/au/en … clearly shows from $1049. Can you let me know when u hear back.

@Qantas Pearl please let me know any update. Its completely unethical to advertise a price of $1049 when NO flights are available below 2k.

So as you can see i pointed this out to Qantas on a few occasions.

MSPeconomist

IIRC some years ago USA regulators implemented a rule that when an airline advertises a sale fare, there must be some minimum number or fraction of seats actually available at the sale price. You might want to try to check the details, if it's still applicable, and then file a complaint with the responsible regulatory agency.

barnetda

Thats exactly my point. If just 1 seat had been available in the future be it tomorrow or nov feb etc etc it would be fair enough. But by their own admission the cheapest fare available was double the advertised fare.

I will look into the ruling , thanks for sharing the info.

Exec_Plat

And after 9 months of investigation- if the charge is proved- the regulatory agency will fine QF $50,000

And you will still pay $2k.

Dave Noble

US regulations on advertising in the US are unlikely to be relevant to Australia advertising

Even so, the only issue seems to be that the promotion had just ended but that the website had not been updated. It is not as if Qantas had been misrepresenting that it had been offering the fare

Even complaining to an appropriate Australia authority is likely to lead to nothing other than Qantas being reminded to update its advertising in a timely fashion