armouredant

A travel companion of mine fell victim to a Qatar schedule change on a business class flight OSL-DOH-BKK/BKK-DOH-OSL. Her connection time at DOH on the outbound became 20 mins - less than the MCT. Qatar said they won't do anything as it was booked through GoToGate. Upon contacting them, they moved her onto a slightly later flight, but in the process the outbound sectors dropped from I to W (economy). GoToGate say they can't fix it because there's no availability in I on the new sector, so they need Qatar to authorise moving her into the J bucket. Qatar are saying the agent must contact them requesting the change.

Given that both the agent and the airline are shrugging and pointing at one another, what can I do to fix this for her?

Flyiboy

Sorry to hear that your having troubles. Here at FT we could check the availability on your specific flights to see if I class is indeed not available.

armouredant

Thanks; it's QR834 on the 20th of August.

Flyiboy

QR 834 DOH 2:10a → BKK 1:00p (point of Sale UK)

J9 C9 D9 I8 R1 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 T9 O9 W9

Matt4

I guess it's a matter of married segment availability. QR834 from DOH to BKK has I availability but married QR180 and QR834 from OSL to BKK has no availability in business class, even in J.

I don't know what OP should do but I find it very bad that QR told him to solve this problem with the OTA as it's not the OTA fault but QR fault for having changed their flight schedules.

msm2000uk

I can see your point regarding the fact that QR made the change, but that is how the rules have always been.

There were quite a few people with issues on their G2G bookings, both on this forum, and the Premium Fare Deals forum.

The OP may find it beneficial to have a look through, as the threads contained past experience and helpful tips to resolve the issue.

armouredant

Thanks guys, I'll have a look around.

dodgeflyer

Are you seriously saying that in this case this is QRs attitude? (I have not looked for the threads). That's some seriously poor customer service. Seeing this trip is originating in an EU country, this can only be considered a forced downgrade and as such, the traveler should at least be offered a refund given I assume departure is more than two weeks away.

My guess would be these are the lowly priced tickets about two months ago, and G2G do not want to change them as it probably was mispriced by them...

mlqsko

I had a similar issue with Seat24.de (same as G2G) on the OSL-DOH-BKK reservation. Illegal connection due to schedule change. Originally I had the 787/380 combo and they offered to move me on the later flight which is 777. I declined and requested to be rebooked a day earlier. Agent had no problem with that, I was rebooked in D instead of I.

After seeing the new booking on QR, agent informed me that it will take 24-48 hrs to receive my etickets as travel is not until September. Well, a few days passed and nothing, of course QR cancelled the flights as etix were not reissued.

I applied the same procedure again next week. Same thing, this time agent assured me that they are talking to QR ticketing to have it done in an hour max. Agent rebooked me in Economy (W) instead of business. Second call, things got sorted out quickly, and agent told me I am getting the new etickets in an hour. Well, two days later - nothing, rebooked flights got cancelled.

Today I called again, explained the issue and told the agent I will hold on the line until I get the new tickets and I am done dealing with this. It took good 20-30 mins, but I got rebooked and reticketed.

Just for your information.

Tickets were purchased through an OTA, even though QR made the schedule change and illegal connection, it is ALWAYS up to the OTA to fix things and talk with QR.

OP has to deal only with the OTA, QR cannot and will not help.

sepulveda

Same situation here, I booked a J ticket on seat24 CPH-DOH-BKK (787/380) in Sept., and the connection time has become too short now.

Two questions:
a) Does it even make sense at this point to try to change the ticket, considering that QR might change schedules again until Sept.?
b) In case the departure times stay like this, what would happen if I kept my ticket and just went to the check-in counter in CPH on the day of the flight? Wouldn't they just rebook me on a later flight from DOH?

Thanks for your thoughts/experiences.

mlqsko

a) if you wait and your desired date/flight gets sold out, you'll have no flexibility;

b) you will have far less options and yes, you'll be rebooked on later flight;

armouredant

Update: I chased GoToGate on this, and after consulting his supervisor, the agent called QR on the other line while I was on hold (thanks for that tip, mlqsko).

Qatar are having to make some kind of internal request for business cabin availability across both the OSL-DOH and DOH-BKK segments, which could apparently take a few days. Interestingly, if it comes back as refused, GoToGate informed me that they'd absorb the cost of a new ticket in J (but also that they'd hold out a while for another schedule change before doing so).

I'm tracking the booking using My Flights. Guess I'll call back next week if I don't hear anything.

mlqsko

You're welcome. I wouldn't hold my breath, they really need to be pushed hard to get things done. Monitor your reservation on QR, if you see the rebooked segments, call immediately and insist on reticketing or QR will drop the reservation in 48hrs and then you have to start from the beginning.

armouredant

Oof, thanks, I wouldn't have thought of that. Would it be QR or GTG I'd ring to get the ticket reissued?

mlqsko

GTG. They are responsible for everything.