frappant

Had a flight for MEL to BNE this morning.

Got an alert from Kayak that the flight is canceled.

I tried managing booking on the VA website, says to call in.

I called in very early, after all the recording they said their customer center isn't open.

Then I get an email from VA, they rebooked me on a 17:10 flight, 7 hours after the fact.

I call in after 6 AM and they said that 17:10 was the only flight with business class seats and the only flights with economy seats are 15:10 and 16:10, so not much gain.

Then I check Google Flights and they're selling tickets on all the earlier flights, so there must be space on flights earlier than 15:10.

I called again and he found a space on the 13:10 flight. Not business but supposedly extended seating. Much better. Kind of a pain because I have a 2 hour drive from BNE to Noosa.

Now I have to pursue any credits for the fare difference later.

Mwenenzi

AU passenger loads are high and Monday morning - Friday afternoon always very busy.

Enjoy Noosa,
The nearest airport to Noosa is Sunshine Coast Airport MCY
VA has non stop MEL-MCY seats for sale today, but non in business class
https://www.sunshinecoastairport.com.au/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Coast_Airport

frappant

Well I have a car rental in BNE and have to return there as I will be staying in Brisbane before leaving.

Kind of ticked off though that I had to call 3 times.

If I had more of a notice, maybe I would have been able to book a better schedule.

It's annoying paying for business and having to take coach but it's only about a 2 hour flight.

I suppose at MEL, I may not be allowed in the lounge -- not that the lounges in BNE or SYD are something to write home about -- since I'm flying in economy, though I paid for a business ticket.

Mwenenzi

No lounge access with economy ticket IMHO

Do you have UA status? [UA in your profile]
https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/e...unge/domestic/
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...australia.html

frappant

Yes I am Star Alliance Gold.

UA Gold, will be 1K next year.

I also wonder if my baggage allowance will be reduced.

In my previous flights on this ticket, my check in was 25-27 kg.

Mwenenzi

So should be OK for lounge access
Business class or eligible status(VA, UA) will get lounge access

Koru Flyer

I would also explain the situation in the lounge. You never know with no shows etc your situation could improve.

frappant

The agent checked in my bag, said it was a kilo or two over. But I only checked one and explained that I bought a biz ticket.

at the lounge , she wanted to see my United card showing status so I had to go through the app looking for it.

what are the laws in Australia for flight delays?

in this case, they canceled the flight I booked and rebooked me to a flight 7 hours later. I had to call in and agree to sit in economy in a flight 3 hours later than tHe one I booked.

Mwenenzi

Nothing, zilch zero. Getting you from A to B,some time is what you paid for.
For cancellation a cash refund or a credit voucher (what all the AU airlines like to give out in lieu of full cash refund).
Compensation (cash or ff miles) for delay or disruption is not paid out

AFF --->Does Australia Need EU-Style Air Passenger Protections?

Exec_Plat

I would not be surprised if you get screwed on the $$$ refund. When they say 'apply for the refund later' is is airline speak for 'we are going to screw you but will do it when you are not standing in front of us at the ticket desk'

They will say that economy seat is a full economy fare- NOT the economy fare when you booked a discounted biz. For some airlines, it is not unusual for the fare refund to be $0 (ie "advanced purchase biz fare" versus "last minute, day of travel full coach")

Could be wrong....

frappant

Well the replacement flight was an hour late from Adelaide.

So I landed in BNE an hour late.

Was a long drive to Noosa because there was a lot of road construction delays.

Arrived after 6 PM, started to get dark.

What a difference in weather though. I knew I was taking a chance with Victoria in early/mid November. Didn't rain as much as forecast but very little sun this time. Had planned to go to Mornington and Lorne but because it seemed like there would be a lot of rain, I canceled the car hire.

happiest_at_40000

I've not sure I've never dealt with more incompetent agents before. I will say they are nice but they are horrible. It def. seems like outsourced work to people who are learning on the fly and I am not sure they are learning much of anything. I was put on hold 7 different times to simply switch a J ticket BNE to MEL to SYD to MEL. The new ticket is less and I should have some money back but the person only knows how to do it as an even exchange and this is even after putting me on hold 7 different times throughout the call. This makes all the frustrations with AA seem trivial. I could not imagine having to deal with this if it was my main airline I was doing business with.

Mwenenzi

HUCA?
Could you have cancelled for a full cash refund? And then purchase a new ticket.

happiest_at_40000

I've actually had to deal with VA a few times now in recent times and its always been this same type of person who doesnt seem to know much, puts you on a hold a lot and takes so long to get anything done. Last night it was just as bad as it ever has been.

It got even crazier too b/c I was told that they cant change tickets to a lower price, only to same or more So my 459 one way J I wanted would cost me 890 as that was a refundable fare for it and the only fare to put it at or above my 680 I had in the existing reservation BNE to MEL one way in J. That is absolutely obnoxious and she said there is nothing she can do. I asked for a supervisor who said the same thing, that I needed to pay 210 more to make the switch to a ticket that was 200 less. Ridiculous !!

i then saw something online about a Travel Bank with VA and brought it up and they immediately said "oh no problem you said you wanted to switch you ticket not cancel it and move it to travel bank". Pretty silly of them not to offer this option. And then right onboard with VA customer service, it took 3 more holds and 28 total minutes to do all this and get me set up w/ a new ticket how I wanted it and a travel bank with the excess in there for future travel.

serfty

All that can be done online, but you were not to know that initially.