Need Help Concerning Award Ticket!
 

Hi guys,

here's my problem. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions you can make!

I recently booked an award ticket from Qualiflyer for a doemstic flight in Australia on Qantas with miles from my dad’s account. Unfortuantely, Qualiflyer was not able to either send me the ticket to Australia or arrange a possibility for me to pick them up here in Sydney (where I am located right now). I was told, the only possibility would be to have the ticket sent to the sponsor's (i.e. my dad's) address (which is in Germany) and then have him send me the ticket to Australia. Strangely enough, the first time I called Qualiflyer, I was told that I could in fact pick up the ticket at some place in Sydney, it was only when I finalized my booking that I was told Qualiflyer could only send it to the sponsor's address!! The first leg will be on Friday, September 20, but I am still waiting for my ticket to arrive. Obviously, either the German or the Australian Post are doing a pretty bad job here, since the ticket was mailed EXPRESS three weeks ago (Aug 27).

What could I do in case I should not receive the tickets until Thursday, September 19 to still be able to use my flights. Where would I get a new ticket from (maybe assuming that the ticket has been lost or stolen), could I possibly get an e-ticket?

Thank you so much for your help!! I appreciate it.

yogimh49, it appears that the Qualiflyer staff you spoke to must have been ill-informed. I have had several tickets for friends - for whom I was the sponsor - directly sent by Qualiflyer to foreign addresses. Qualiflyer always gave me the choice between sending the tickets abroad (without extra charge) or having them ready for pick up in the respective city office.

This seems to be another example of Qualiflyer call centres in various countries providing unqualified or wrong information, and the Aussie call centre doesn't have the best reputation (see the thread by kurz). Try to get through to the Swiss or South African call centres, they usually know what they are talking about.

HajoFlyer and yogimh49,

Oh dear... the difficulties in getting tickets sent to foreign addresses!
I have just have a similar experience where I was firstly told it was possible, then it wasn't, then it was again.

Quite frustrating.

I was told that a ticket has to be sent to the sponsor's address, or to the billing address of the credit card which is being used to pay for the taxes.

Another possibility is for the person travelling to pick the ticket up directly at the airport, provided they are able to pay the taxes. Yogimh49 - you may have to do this if the ticket fails to show.

In the end, with my problem, I had to fax Qualiflyer a copy of both sides of my credit card and a copy of my driver's licence before they would agree to send the ticket to an address other than stated on my Qualiflyer account - and even then it was only allowed because I had previously been given the conflicting advice as to where the ticket could be sent.

Regards

WG

Basically the Qualfilyer Centre issuing the ticket will want an authorization from your father. This can be done in the form of a fax.

As the ticket cannot be issued by QANTAS but by SWISS INTL AIRLINES Ticket offices in SYDNEY or QUALIFLYER themselves based in Brisbane, the authorization must be faxed there.

As you are currently in Australia, your calls are taken at the Australian Call Centre as it is run 24 hours. You will very unlikely be able to call other call centres unless you call Switzerland long distance. \

Last but not least, you father has to be the one arranging this and not you, even if you know what to do. QUALIFLYER is just worried about fraud.

[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 09-17-2002).]

Just came back from the post office with the ticket in my hand!

As it turns out the ticket has been lying there since September 5, and I just was not informed. Only after calling Australia Post this morning I found a notice in my mailbox dated September 16 (strange).

Anyway, I also called Qualiflyer this morning and they actually confirmed that the person I finalized my booking with gave me the wrong information. It IS possible to have award tickets sent to an address other than the one of the sponsor, but they need an authorization from him (which they do in any case if the ticket is for another person). Also, would I have not got my ticket today, I would have had to go to their Qualiflyer's Sydney office and pay USD100 to be issued an indemnity ticket (that's what one gets when the original ticket has been lost or stolen).

Thanks again for your comments!!