jaycoh22

I booked 2 business class seats from BOS-DOH using my Alaska miles 10 months ago.

Qatar overbooked business class on my flight by 2 seats. I was told my companion and I were to be downgraded to economy, explicitly because we booked with Alaska miles.

We were willing to reroute through JFK the following morning but we�re told they would�ve done that if we paid cash, but could not change the award ticket. Further, they owed us no compensation because the ticket was booked with Alaska and to request compensation from them.

None of this feels right. An award ticket booked 10 months ago shouldn�t be a gamble. And I can�t imagine Alaska wants customers booking through Mileage Plan to be treated this way.

Am I owed compensation? From who and what would you ask for in my place?

eponymous_coward

https://www.transportation.gov/airco...umer-complaint

Go after the airline that downgraded you. Why would Alaska be at fault here?

https://www.qatarairways.com/en-us/l...-carriage.html

notquiteaff

Oh nice, so they got to keep whatever AS paid them for the business class seats? Sounds like a great deal for them.

Kacee

QR has a nice inflight product but the cs can be absolutely awful.

File a DOT complaint for sure.

J.Edward

Are you still at the airport?

Also can you share any more details - the more info you (feel comfortable) sharing, the better the advice we can offer.

Things like routing, mileage redemptions, booking date, schedule changes in the interim, check in with QR (please be as detailed as possible), EXACTLY what QR said as to the why for the downgrade and the why NOT for the reroute.

Be sure to document all interactions you�ve done with QR as well. Employee names, times, etc.

jaycoh22

I am on the plane right now

The routing is BOS-DOH-MLE for 85k miles per person. Booked January 2022.

One minor schedule change that was a 15 minute retiming about 6 months ago. I had Alaska confirm the change and I was able to select seats through Qatar.

Upon checking at the airport Qatar explicitly said they had oversold business class by two seats. We were told that BECAUSE we booked via Alaska miles we �paid the least� so we were chosen for downgrade.

I spent the next few minutes seeking alternative routings and found a JFK-DOH the next morning that would connect to our DOH-MLE - I was willing to make that switch.

They told me that even though seats were available they could not make that change - again BECAUSE it was an Alaska award ticket and only Alaska could make that change. I asked what my compensation would be and they said none - I would have to contact Alaska but they would �note the record�.

With only one hour to board one passenger in business no showed. My travel companion got that seat but I�m in the very last row of the plane. Empty middle at least.

Xrayman

Isn’t this a classic bait and switch???

J.Edward

Gotcha.

Glad to hear you�re on your way at least.

To your earlier point QR overselling J should have promoted them to solicit volunteers and that�s setting aside the hypocrisy of �we can�t change your ticket unless we need to move you out of J to CYA�teehee!�

Follow up with AS is a must, even though it appears they did nothing wrong.

On another note if QR can�t manage their overbooking properly maybe the community should help them avoid the same mistake in the future. Sure would be a shame if someone started making placeholder J reservations on their award flights under the names of top brass � especially if one knew how to crack the whip and suck up
inventory without supplying payment info � not of course that I would suggest that.

jaycoh22

Thanks J.Edward for the laugh! Needed that

J.Edward

Hope it helps; silly way from QR to start a vacation but at least you�re headed to MLE.

Might want to reach out to AS with a clear, concise documented email advising them of what�s happened as well as filing a DOT complaint against QR.

Maritimer78

When this happened to me and a fellow traveller, I wrote a very short, friendly but stern letter to the CEO. With the offer to provide a very detailed account of what happened.
The reply was rather friendly and generous.
Maybe it helped that I use custom made Venetian / Florentine stationary.

Visconti

Seriously, these days, I always want to see someone's cursive long hand. If they can't do it or do it well, my estimation of them goes down at least several notches!

*tongue in cheek*

PES_B1

DOT them!

ssk244

I have no advice but I am so sorry this happened to you. I would be livid - esp finding out AT the airport.

mixmastermark

But...but...