On November 27, Qantas cancelled my flight from LA to Melbourne. Faced with what others have described as a four-to-six-week tussle to get compensation for the cancellation and significant knock-on impact and inconvenience, I made a pre-emptive strike to expedite by emailing federal Transport Minister Catherine King and my local member Zoe Daniel, copying in Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson.
Apart from fair compensation, my aim was to point out the company’s enormous decline in once excellent service standards and the folly in being a “loyal Qantas frequent flyer”. Now the airline seemingly only excels at lobbying, which has deferred and deflected reasonable competition, and regulated customer rights, unlike most other developed markets so dependant on air travel.
Here is the letter — I received a “sorry, not sorry” response (and 20,000 frequent flyer points) from Hudson’s office, but no refund yet.
I write with regard to our cancelled flight QF94 on November 27, 2024 from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Melbourne.
We arrived early-ish at LAX that afternoon given it was Thanksgiving eve. Having checked FlightAware before heading to the airport, QF94 appeared to be on schedule departing 8.35pm. Once at the airport, after check-in and through security, the boards indicated that it had been delayed until 10.35pm. We went to the club lounge to wait.
At or about the time we anticipated boarding, the screens indicated the flight had been cancelled without any announcement. I immediately went to the service desk and was advised we would be put on QF12 via Sydney and downgraded to premium economy. The staff member (probably a contractor I assume) advised we would be compensated and implied this would be automatic. As I knew from FlightAware that QF12 was an A380, I enquired as to why we were downgraded and whether first class was an option. The agent said she would look and would call me back. As we were also travelling with other family members, who are less experienced travellers, I asked to confirm they too would be on the QF12 as we did not want to be separated.
At this stage the agents were very professional in the face of a growing crowd at the service desk, as the word spread through the lounge with still no announcements.
I was called back and presented with premium economy boarding passes with no further explanation and economy passes for the other couple. I didn’t query this as clearly there were others that were still to be rebooked.
We then discovered the direct flight to Brisbane had also been cancelled (as it had also been the previous night, apparently), adding to the “quiet” chaos in the lounge, which must have been magnified at the gate. The Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne flights were all being consolidated into two Sydney flights. At no stage was there any explanation related to technical or “late arrival of incoming aircraft” delays. Subsequent announcements apologising, once in the plane, all related to the late departure with no further explanation. I can only assume this consolidation was purely for cost saving on Qantas’ behalf, without regard to disruption and inconvenience caused to paying customers. A survey on FlightAware of LAX flights showed there had been several other cancellations during the week prior, so I should not have been surprised.
At the gate, as part of the priority boarding group my wife went through the gate but I was rejected. She proceeded to the plane not realising I wasn’t behind her. I was directed to an agent. It transpired I had been reinstated to business class, separating us. I asked the agent if I could swap seats with my wife but was advised I couldn’t without the boarding passes being reissued. Given they were still dealing with rebooking passengers at the gate, it became clear my request was of lower priority.
I boarded the flight and asked one of the senior stewards if I could simply swap with my wife, which they were happy with. I found my wife in the premium economy cabin and explained what had happened. She had settled in, was happy as she could be with her downgraded seat and did not want to make a fuss.
It appears this is exactly what Qantas relies on; knowing that most people “won’t make a fuss”. But maybe we should.
Regrettably, the reason we avoid transiting for long haul in Sydney and opt (and pay) to fly direct to Melbourne came to pass. Weather was not great down the east coast last week, making Sydney operations challenging. We parked short of the gate while the docking guidance was turned on and then couldn’t proceed because ground equipment had been inappropriately parked.
Clearing customs and immigration was relatively straightforward but we waited in arrivals for our other family members to help them transfer to another terminal. This took longer than it should as one of their suitcases was still at LAX!
Our flight to Melbourne was then delayed due to the Sydney weather. When we arrived in Melbourne, eight hours after what would have been the QF94 arrival, our suitcases did not appear on the allocated baggage carousel. After some time, a fellow traveller suggested they may be on a different carousel where, without any guidance or announcement from Qantas staff, we found them. They had obviously come down on an earlier flight and, to add insult to injury, my suit-fold soft case was soaked through, obviously having been left exposed on the Sydney tarmac.
But it doesn’t end there.
It became apparent that any compensation wouldn’t be automatic, so I called the gold member “priority” phone line and after a 40-minute wait on hold was told I needed to apply online, which I did immediately. In the application, under my wife’s name as she was most impacted, I made it clear we both wanted compensation because we were separated, because of the stress caused and time wasted, and that any refund for the downgrade should be on the basis of the difference between discounted business to discounted premium economy fares (as we bought our tickets during a sale). Had we wished to fly premium economy — which we didn’t — it too would have been at a discounted price.
Further review of social media now suggests we will probably spend the next four to six weeks following up and in dispute over compensation.
Qantas scheduled and sold us direct Los Angeles to Melbourne return business class tickets, which we purchased in good faith. With the push of a button it chose not to honour them and, in the absence of other advice, it would appear it did so purely for cost saving. This is clearly false and deceptive practice. With that decision to push that button, it:
- Disrupted the plans of all those booked to Melbourne and Brisbane;
- Delayed those booked to Sydney;
- Assumed everyone sees Sydney as a convenient hub, even though it knew Sydney operations were hampered by weather;
- Burdened ground staff both at Sydney and LAX to deal with hundreds of variously frustrated, stressed, disappointed and/or angry customers;
- Downgraded service levels that were paid for in advance;
- Separated my wife and I;
- Wasted eight hours of our time which required rescheduling other plans for that day;
- Lost luggage;
- Provided no cogent explanation; and,
- Required me to now seek compensation, cap in hand.
A senior industry executive informs me that the LAX routes are well known as the most profitable for Qantas but moreover, on a cost-per-kilometre basis, are the most expensive of any route for any airline in the world. But this still isn’t good enough. Qantas still seeks more without regard to long-suffering, paying passengers, preying on their loyalty. I have travelled for work for more than 45 years and used to take pride in coming home on QF. Now even as a lifetime gold frequent flyer, I will avoid flying with Qantas where I can and feel rather stupid for being too loyal for too long to Qantas, which is clearly not reciprocated.
Some have suggested this is the result of the extended reign of the previous CEO. That may be a contributor, but I fear the root cause is simply a lack of appropriate regulation (unlike the EU and the recent US legislation) and undue protection from competition. Once a great airline, the only thing it now excels in is lobbying and PR.
I hope the compensation is fair and prompt, but I have been taken as a fool by QF before.
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