skiwindham

Booked business on domestic flight. Since it was oversold, they chose us to downgrade to coach. Reason given was our ticket was on points whereas cash tickets have priority. Compensation was to refund our points but keep us on same flight in coach. It's a 4.5 flight syd to drw. Is that fair compensation?

jridge

If I understood correctly that they refunded all your points, then you've effectively been given a free economy class flight SYD-DRW at your preferred time. Only you know how much you value class of travel, but for me, I'd be happy with that.

Dave Noble

A refund of the points spent for the flight seems more than fair - giving a free flight seems quite generous
If the refund was a refund of points between cost of eonomy and cost of business class, then it has met its obligations

DownUnderFlyer

I disagree. The obligation was for QF to get the OP from DRW to SYD in J. Failing to fulfill this obligation should lead to compensation. If the difference in points was refunded then the OP would have received no compensation at all. The currency used for this ticket is irrelevant. Appropriate compensations could have been a J class flight the next day (with QF paying for accomodation), the cash difference between the business and economy booking classes, vouchers etc. etc.

fakecd

i would just chill. sh*t happens in life. u got there for free and points refunded. its good outcome. u r better off spending your mind on other productive stuffs

Dave Noble

If the airline refunded the difference , it met its obligations as far as any required compensation. If this was in Europe, where there are regulations covering specific compensation, then the airline would have been required to reimburse 50% for a flight of that distance - which is what the passenger got in this case

If the passenger chose not to travel, the passenger would have been entitled to a full refund , but once agreed to travel in economy class , then all that it is required to do is refund the difference

All sotts of things could have been offeered, but none is required. If the person didn't want to fly in economy but would rather rebook, then that might well have been offered. I doubt that hotel would be offered since it wasn't required, just desired

Whether Qantas would agree to offer compensation above the minimum requirements would be between the airline and customer relations


If however, as suggested by the OP, that he received a full refund, then I can't see that there is much to complain about - he got a free flight

dddc

Interesting that you were told you were selected because you were travelling on points. Does Qantas have a policy of valuing those travelling on points less than those paying cash? The reason I ask is because a couple of weeks ago I redeemed via BA a couple of J seats BNE to MEL. We had 2A and 2C, yet when the meal service came round we were the last to be served. The crew did make a point of saying after serving 2D/F that she'd serve us in a moment and would we like our drinks topped up in the mean time before going to serve row 3. There was one less meal option when she got back to us. It was no biggie, but I felt as if I was travelling as staff, which I've done as friend of mine works at QF, but it's been 2+ years since I used that benefit. Perhaps everyone else was status, but it did make me feel singled out because we were traveling on an award ticket. I guess reading the OPs tale, we should have been glad the flight wasn't overbooked completely.

sxc

dddc

No status anymore. Just a large number of points with a couple of FF schemes burning a hole in my digital wallet.

But as I said, it wouldn't surprise me that everyone else in the J cabin did have status with QF as it's a small cabin of only 12 seats.

SQTraveller

Seems fairly reasonable to me

Cedar Jet

That SYD DRW SYD flight is hell in a 737 - esp in Y arghhh.

og

Wow - thinking of the 707s that used to do the Kangaroo route - no different to the 737s now (in terms of cabin width). I'd love to know how much knee room there was in those beasts. When I was on those planes, knee room was absolutely no issue.

744

dddc

Interesting to hear. Would she have been able to tell you were ex-QF staff? I'm pretty sure there's no reason for my booking to have shown any link to having done staff travel (as a +1, not actual staff) unless QF have started a CRM and is tracking on other data like phone number. Even then, my points were hard earned and as a leisure traveler I'd still expect the same level as service as a business traveller. I could direct my spending and flying into other routes. As a non status passenger I only had row 3 available to us before check in opened and when it did, row 2 was available so I moved us. It may have been better if QF had not let us move and kept us in row 3 so that the service difference wouldn't have been so obvious.

Aidan