A cautionary tale of the Qantas Airpass
Jan 9th, 2006 | 11:33 AM
#1
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Joined: Jan 2003
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A cautionary tale of the Qantas Airpass
Thought I'd post this story as a one to remind people that the Qantas airpass is cheap for a reason...it is a restricted fare!
This is probably not news to many of you seasoned travelers. Considering that I had paid $1800 USD for a month long stay in Adelaide back in July, my cousin and her husband had a major steal for their 2 week trip to Oz (which included stops in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide) for under $1000.
After they booked the ticket in the U.S., my boyfriend (who is Australian) realized we would be in Melbourne the day they flew in (last minute plans for us). The plan was originally that they would meet us in Adelaide to help us move my boyfriend back to the U.S. Adelaide was the last leg of their trip. We asked them if they would prefer to forgo their Melbourne-Adelaide flight and simply do the Great Ocean Drive with us.
My cousin's husband (who I will call KT) called Qantas in the U.S. while he was still in the U.S., who told him that with 24 hours notice it would be no problem to skip the Melbourne-Adelaide leg and start again in Adelaide to get back to the U.S.. No fee. The customer service rep said it would be fine to do this once in Oz so they could hold off the decision until then. They decided to go with us, so we picked them up in Melbourne and were off!
The next day, we called Qantas to inform them that we were making the change. We were hundreds of miles from Melbourne...halfway to Adelaide in fact. To our horror, KT was told, "Sorry, it's a restricted fare, you can't change it, and if you miss your flight from Melbourne to Adelaide, you will have to buy a new ticket from Adelaide back to the U.S." To the tune of $1400 each!!! We were told the verbiage on the ticketing said it was a non-changeable fare.
KT tried to explain our situation to no avail. He was told that Qantas U.S. gave him the wrong info, and that the Qantas office in Australia could not honor it. My boyfriend then got on the phone and asked to speak with the supervisor, whose name was Scott. Again to no avail. I think by this time, everyone was frustrated and a bit freaked out, and it must have showed. My boyfriend was a bit terse when speaking to Scott the supervisor. He was told that if KT and my cousin had just not called, it may never have been noticed and they may have been able to take the flight from Adelaide to the U.S. without any issues. But because we now called them, they were making a note to void out the rest of the ticket if the flight was missed. Aghast, my boyfriend said 'So what you are telling me is that you are going to punish these people because they are being HONEST???" Affirmative. He hung up the phone swearing (at himself, not to the supervisor, thank god).
They got on the pay phone to try again with someone new, and asked to be connected to Qantas' US office. This seemed more promising. But again, my boyfriend was told that KT was given the wrong information. However, there was a possible loophole! The TICKETING said the fare was non-changeable, but the BOOKING said it was changeable with $100 fee (I didn't understand the difference, but we were going with our last hope). After what seemed like hours on the phone, the ultimately again said sorry, the ticketing is final. The U.S. office was more helpful, and advised that since we were closer to Adelaide, we drive there and take them to the Adelaide airport. There, they would fly back to Melbourne to catch their original flight back. With our schedule, this would mean that we would get them to the airport first thing in the morning and skip our planned Coonawarra trip to catch their flight. They would catch the flight back an hour later. If for any reason their flight into Melbourne was delayed, they would miss their Melbourne-Adelaide flight...again resulting in screwdom. However, at only $150 each for the one way flight back to Melbourne, it seemed a better option than the $1400 new tickets to the U.S. We would have driven them back ourselves, but we had prior engagements we needed to get to.
For some reason, I thought that maybe a softer, feminine touch might work better here (don't ask me why) so I picked up the opposite pay phone and dialed the toll free Qantas number. I got a nice man named Paul, and explained our situation. He looked up the record and I noted to him the ticketing comments vs. the booking comments. He said, "Ah yes, I see that" then then also noted that Scott the supervisor had made a note on the record that he had spoken to KT and refused their request. Since Scott had made that note, Paul told me there was nothing further he could do for me.
I took a deep breath and have no idea why I said what I said next. "Please Paul, if you could help me, I'll send you a jar of peanut butter from the U.S."
It seems to be the general consensus from the Australians that I've met that peanut butter is pretty disgusting. They seemed to think of my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the same way I think of their vegemite on toast. Paul seemed very amused, and I guessed he was included in the "Peanut Butter is disgusting camp." He told me he could get PB in Oz, but it was probably different from U.S. PB. We got into a brief discussion of PB&J sandwiches. Then Paul asked me to hold to see what he could do.
He kept me on hold for what seemed like another eternity. My boyfriend was STILL hold with Qantas U.S. as well, while they figured out exactly what they should do. Paul came back and asked me to hold awhile longer. He said I seemed very nice and he was really trying to help me out and was speaking to Scott. I thought...uh oh...the same Scott that spoke to my irate boyfriend? Oh no.
Right when my boyfriend was about to pay for the $300 worth of tickets which would fly my cousin and KT back to Melbourne, Paul came back on the phone and told me that because of the inconsistency between the booking info and ticketing info, they would be happy to change the itinerary for $100 per ticket. I nearly sank into a relieved heap right there. Two hours later, we had a solution that everyone could live with. No one would have to fly back to Melbourne.
It was quite an experience. It all just seemed so inconsistent with the wrong info from the U.S. office, a denial from the Qantas supervisor, hope from the U.S. office re: the booking and ticketing loophole - yet ultimately refusal to honor it, then finally an approval from the same supervisor who denied us any help in the first place.
Bottom line, I do think it was our fault...it seemed strange to me that the ticket could have been altered without a fee, since it's such a low fare to begin with. But from a logical standpoint, it seemed unreasonable to want to charge customers $2800 in new tickets for not flying one leg and leaving everything intact.
The moral of the story is: Know what you are buying...cheaper U.S. based Qantas tickets are far more restrictive than many of the tickets they sell in Oz.
The bigger moral of story: Don't underestimate the tempting powers of a jar of disgusting American peanut butter.
This is probably not news to many of you seasoned travelers. Considering that I had paid $1800 USD for a month long stay in Adelaide back in July, my cousin and her husband had a major steal for their 2 week trip to Oz (which included stops in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide) for under $1000.
After they booked the ticket in the U.S., my boyfriend (who is Australian) realized we would be in Melbourne the day they flew in (last minute plans for us). The plan was originally that they would meet us in Adelaide to help us move my boyfriend back to the U.S. Adelaide was the last leg of their trip. We asked them if they would prefer to forgo their Melbourne-Adelaide flight and simply do the Great Ocean Drive with us.
My cousin's husband (who I will call KT) called Qantas in the U.S. while he was still in the U.S., who told him that with 24 hours notice it would be no problem to skip the Melbourne-Adelaide leg and start again in Adelaide to get back to the U.S.. No fee. The customer service rep said it would be fine to do this once in Oz so they could hold off the decision until then. They decided to go with us, so we picked them up in Melbourne and were off!
The next day, we called Qantas to inform them that we were making the change. We were hundreds of miles from Melbourne...halfway to Adelaide in fact. To our horror, KT was told, "Sorry, it's a restricted fare, you can't change it, and if you miss your flight from Melbourne to Adelaide, you will have to buy a new ticket from Adelaide back to the U.S." To the tune of $1400 each!!! We were told the verbiage on the ticketing said it was a non-changeable fare.
KT tried to explain our situation to no avail. He was told that Qantas U.S. gave him the wrong info, and that the Qantas office in Australia could not honor it. My boyfriend then got on the phone and asked to speak with the supervisor, whose name was Scott. Again to no avail. I think by this time, everyone was frustrated and a bit freaked out, and it must have showed. My boyfriend was a bit terse when speaking to Scott the supervisor. He was told that if KT and my cousin had just not called, it may never have been noticed and they may have been able to take the flight from Adelaide to the U.S. without any issues. But because we now called them, they were making a note to void out the rest of the ticket if the flight was missed. Aghast, my boyfriend said 'So what you are telling me is that you are going to punish these people because they are being HONEST???" Affirmative. He hung up the phone swearing (at himself, not to the supervisor, thank god).
They got on the pay phone to try again with someone new, and asked to be connected to Qantas' US office. This seemed more promising. But again, my boyfriend was told that KT was given the wrong information. However, there was a possible loophole! The TICKETING said the fare was non-changeable, but the BOOKING said it was changeable with $100 fee (I didn't understand the difference, but we were going with our last hope). After what seemed like hours on the phone, the ultimately again said sorry, the ticketing is final. The U.S. office was more helpful, and advised that since we were closer to Adelaide, we drive there and take them to the Adelaide airport. There, they would fly back to Melbourne to catch their original flight back. With our schedule, this would mean that we would get them to the airport first thing in the morning and skip our planned Coonawarra trip to catch their flight. They would catch the flight back an hour later. If for any reason their flight into Melbourne was delayed, they would miss their Melbourne-Adelaide flight...again resulting in screwdom. However, at only $150 each for the one way flight back to Melbourne, it seemed a better option than the $1400 new tickets to the U.S. We would have driven them back ourselves, but we had prior engagements we needed to get to.
For some reason, I thought that maybe a softer, feminine touch might work better here (don't ask me why) so I picked up the opposite pay phone and dialed the toll free Qantas number. I got a nice man named Paul, and explained our situation. He looked up the record and I noted to him the ticketing comments vs. the booking comments. He said, "Ah yes, I see that" then then also noted that Scott the supervisor had made a note on the record that he had spoken to KT and refused their request. Since Scott had made that note, Paul told me there was nothing further he could do for me.
I took a deep breath and have no idea why I said what I said next. "Please Paul, if you could help me, I'll send you a jar of peanut butter from the U.S."
It seems to be the general consensus from the Australians that I've met that peanut butter is pretty disgusting. They seemed to think of my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the same way I think of their vegemite on toast. Paul seemed very amused, and I guessed he was included in the "Peanut Butter is disgusting camp." He told me he could get PB in Oz, but it was probably different from U.S. PB. We got into a brief discussion of PB&J sandwiches. Then Paul asked me to hold to see what he could do.
He kept me on hold for what seemed like another eternity. My boyfriend was STILL hold with Qantas U.S. as well, while they figured out exactly what they should do. Paul came back and asked me to hold awhile longer. He said I seemed very nice and he was really trying to help me out and was speaking to Scott. I thought...uh oh...the same Scott that spoke to my irate boyfriend? Oh no.
Right when my boyfriend was about to pay for the $300 worth of tickets which would fly my cousin and KT back to Melbourne, Paul came back on the phone and told me that because of the inconsistency between the booking info and ticketing info, they would be happy to change the itinerary for $100 per ticket. I nearly sank into a relieved heap right there. Two hours later, we had a solution that everyone could live with. No one would have to fly back to Melbourne.
It was quite an experience. It all just seemed so inconsistent with the wrong info from the U.S. office, a denial from the Qantas supervisor, hope from the U.S. office re: the booking and ticketing loophole - yet ultimately refusal to honor it, then finally an approval from the same supervisor who denied us any help in the first place.
Bottom line, I do think it was our fault...it seemed strange to me that the ticket could have been altered without a fee, since it's such a low fare to begin with. But from a logical standpoint, it seemed unreasonable to want to charge customers $2800 in new tickets for not flying one leg and leaving everything intact.
The moral of the story is: Know what you are buying...cheaper U.S. based Qantas tickets are far more restrictive than many of the tickets they sell in Oz.
The bigger moral of story: Don't underestimate the tempting powers of a jar of disgusting American peanut butter.
Jan 9th, 2006 | 03:27 PM
#2
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 128
Likes: 0
Interesting situation... the fare rules do state:
Revalidation & reissue permitted on date changes only for an additional US$100 per transaction.
Rerouting not permitted anytime.
This situation is really wierd because all you wanted to do was give up a segment in the middle of the itinerary. Seems that in that scenario, it shouldn't make any difference to Qantas.
As an aside, in the US, there are lots of occasions where people in Cleveland (for example) would want to book a routing (say Detroit-Cleveland-Los Angeles) which might be considerably cheaper than the non-stop Cleveland to LA, and then just throwaway the Detroit to Cleveland segment and pick up the flight in Cleveland. If you miss the Detroit to Cleveland portion, the rest of the ticket is canceled.
Not sure what you could have done differently to avoid the situation. Especially if the first agent sounded knowledgable, no reason to think twice about the info you received.
Glad it all worked out!
Revalidation & reissue permitted on date changes only for an additional US$100 per transaction.
Rerouting not permitted anytime.
This situation is really wierd because all you wanted to do was give up a segment in the middle of the itinerary. Seems that in that scenario, it shouldn't make any difference to Qantas.
As an aside, in the US, there are lots of occasions where people in Cleveland (for example) would want to book a routing (say Detroit-Cleveland-Los Angeles) which might be considerably cheaper than the non-stop Cleveland to LA, and then just throwaway the Detroit to Cleveland segment and pick up the flight in Cleveland. If you miss the Detroit to Cleveland portion, the rest of the ticket is canceled.
Not sure what you could have done differently to avoid the situation. Especially if the first agent sounded knowledgable, no reason to think twice about the info you received.
Glad it all worked out!
Jan 9th, 2006 | 03:52 PM
#3
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 158
Likes: 0
Warning to Dave_261 Clever idea you got there! but be warned: you will be in violation of your contract with the airline. The following is from the Delta website (and I bet they are not the only airline). Never the less, best of luck to you in your travels.
Prohibited Ticketing Practices
Our fares apply only to the specific itineraries for which they are quoted and the restrictions that apply to our discounted fares are an essential part of our contract with you. These restrictions make it possible for us to offer these discounted fares.
Failure to comply with applicable fare restrictions, circumventing those restrictions, or misrepresenting your intended itinerary are all breaches of our Contract of Carriage. In particular, the following ticketing practices are prohibited:
Back-to-back ticketing—combining multiple overlapping round-trip tickets to circumvent Saturday or other overnight stay requirements
Throw-away ticketing—use of discounted round-trip excursion fares for one-way travel
Point-beyond ticketing—use of a fare published for travel to a point beyond your actual intended destination or from a point before your actual intended origin. These specific examples are not exclusive. Using a fare without complying with the fare rules of your ticket violates our Contract of Carriage. In such cases, we reserve the right to:
Cancel the remainder of the itinerary and confiscate any unused flight coupons
Refuse to board the passenger or check baggage
Charge the passenger for the difference between the fare paid and the fare for the passenger's traveled itinerary
Prohibited Ticketing Practices
Our fares apply only to the specific itineraries for which they are quoted and the restrictions that apply to our discounted fares are an essential part of our contract with you. These restrictions make it possible for us to offer these discounted fares.
Failure to comply with applicable fare restrictions, circumventing those restrictions, or misrepresenting your intended itinerary are all breaches of our Contract of Carriage. In particular, the following ticketing practices are prohibited:
Back-to-back ticketing—combining multiple overlapping round-trip tickets to circumvent Saturday or other overnight stay requirements
Throw-away ticketing—use of discounted round-trip excursion fares for one-way travel
Point-beyond ticketing—use of a fare published for travel to a point beyond your actual intended destination or from a point before your actual intended origin. These specific examples are not exclusive. Using a fare without complying with the fare rules of your ticket violates our Contract of Carriage. In such cases, we reserve the right to:
Cancel the remainder of the itinerary and confiscate any unused flight coupons
Refuse to board the passenger or check baggage
Charge the passenger for the difference between the fare paid and the fare for the passenger's traveled itinerary
Jan 9th, 2006 | 03:54 PM
#4
Original Poster
Joined: Jan 2003
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Dave, exactly. I didn't feel this was a different routing, as the first agent when we called in Oz claimed. We weren't changing the route...just not taking a segment. But I guess if one wanted to split hairs, that IS changing the route, since you are not following the original path. The whole thing just was exasperating...even more frustrating for me since it was not my ticket and I never got to closely examine the fare rules.
But I guess that was why I didn't question when I heard the KT's first comment that there would be no charge to drop the segment. My experience with the something like the airpass, called the Boomerang Pass back in 2001, seemed flexible. Anything booked on the boomerang pass could be changed (at least from what I remember, since I did get on an earlier flight to Port Douglas with it). I was hoping to leave Melbourne a day early and it was no go since that leg was actually booked with a Red e-Deal. THAT fare was totally inflexible. No changes whatsoever, even with a fee.
But I guess that was why I didn't question when I heard the KT's first comment that there would be no charge to drop the segment. My experience with the something like the airpass, called the Boomerang Pass back in 2001, seemed flexible. Anything booked on the boomerang pass could be changed (at least from what I remember, since I did get on an earlier flight to Port Douglas with it). I was hoping to leave Melbourne a day early and it was no go since that leg was actually booked with a Red e-Deal. THAT fare was totally inflexible. No changes whatsoever, even with a fee.
Jan 9th, 2006 | 04:31 PM
#5
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 158
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Thanks for the cautionary tale, I'm glad things worked out for you. I will carefully stick to my Qantas flights this April/May. I must say, however, that the Qantas people were quite nice when either (a) the computer lost our in country flight reservations or (b) our travel agent forgot to pay Qantas for our flights that we had prepaid. I know the feeling when simple problems with simple solutions come up against the impenetrable wall of some regulation or computer glitch. Good luck in your future travels.
Jan 11th, 2006 | 08:29 AM
#6
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
Well, interesting story. I've just booked my Qantas Airpass out of LA for this August. I do realize it is a restricted air ticket, but I cannot imagine having to make a change other than for reasons that are covered in my trip cancellation or interruption insurance.
The moral of the story in my opinion is that this cheap option is not meant for flexible and spontaneous travel.
The moral of the story in my opinion is that this cheap option is not meant for flexible and spontaneous travel.
