Qantas

[Travel Mum]

Yep, they could do it. They reserve the right to reschedule us whenever they like but would have to offer us a full refund though. I would also think that, if you accepted to be re-booked on Jetstar, they would have to include the meals and give you one of those hand held DVD players free. But I still don't want to be put in that situation and, as two of our tickets are frequent flyer redemption tickets, I'm suspect they would have to be on Jetstar

My Dad used to work in QF management and says that October 25 used to be the switchover date for airlines to change their schedules for the new season. We depart LAX on October 24 so it's cutting it close!!!

 

[Travel Mum]

Oh and Karen, I also used to work for QF and, with big news like this, the staff will almost be the last to know. They will probably be told the night before the big press announcement Still no excuse for the staff member to be so rude to you though!

 

[Franrose]

Yep and rumour has it that, in the big annoucement at the end of August, they will annouce that they are pulling out of Sydney to Honolulu plus Auckland to L.A. and give it to Jetstar

Interesting... I was given the job of researching some options for a cousin's Honeymoon and was playing around on the Qantas site last night looking at flights Brisbane - Hawaii just after Christmas. Every date combo I looked at gave me Brisbane - Sydney with Qantas, and Sydney - Honolulu with Jetstar. I just assumed Jetstar was the only airline that did that route because there was no Qantas option. I'd be really wary of booking someone on their honeymoon with Jetstar (ie I wouldn't do it!).

 

[hellosue]

Hey Guys,
Just a quick question if I dare ! What is wrong with Jetstar?
I have never flown with them but was thinking of doing Melb - Honolulu 2013
need you opinions/experiences

I would rather fly V/Australia

 

[gippaloo]

I had a choice between Qantas and V Australia this time around for my flight to Australia in September. I chose Qantas because of their baggage allowance policies, they allow 2 checked bags and I am packing heavy for this flight lol When I flew out there in May I didn't have any major issues with them really. The only complaint I think I had was that their seats in Economy can get extremely uncomfortable if you are a taller person and whomever is sitting in front of you reclines their seat all the way back. I could barely move in my seat when that happened....other than that I don't really have any major complaints about them. My boyfriend said that when he flew V Australia the seats were ridiculously uncomfortable, but I have never flown them to compare...

 

[bondgirl]

I had a choice between Qantas and V Australia this time around for my flight to Australia in September. I chose Qantas because of their baggage allowance policies, they allow 2 checked bags and I am packing heavy for this flight lol When I flew out there in May I didn't have any major issues with them really. The only complaint I think I had was that their seats in Economy can get extremely uncomfortable if you are a taller person and whomever is sitting in front of you reclines their seat all the way back. I could barely move in my seat when that happened....other than that I don't really have any major complaints about them. My boyfriend said that when he flew V Australia the seats were ridiculously uncomfortable, but I have never flown them to compare...

We're flying V-Australia in September and we are allowed 2 checked bags! Lots of shopping for us

 

[DVCAustralia]

Originally posted by bondgirl
We're flying V-Australia in September and we are allowed 2 checked bags! Lots of shopping for us

The issue is not the two bags, the issue is that Virgin Australia has a total cap of 32kg for both bags rather than 2x23kg bags. With Virgin Australia if you could actually fit everything in one bag you would evectively get an extra 5kg or so as the weight of the second suitcase is included in the 32kg total.

 

[5ofus]

I've flown Jetstar domestically and also to Japan and had no issues with them. I think it might be that they are not a full service airline, which is a bit harder to live with on longer flights?

 

[Travel Mum]

I think it might be that they are not a full service airline, which is a bit harder to live with on longer flights?

Yes, that is exactly it for me as I like the comforts of a full-service carrier

 

[gippaloo]

The issue is not the two bags, the issue is that Virgin Australia has a total cap of 32kg for both bags rather than 2x23kg bags. With Virgin Australia if you could actually fit everything in one bag you would evectively get an extra 5kg or so as the weight of the second suitcase is included in the 32kg total.

Yes! I remember that now when I looked into flying V Australia, they have a smaller weight allowance than Qantas. I am moving there in Sept so I need all the extra baggage allowance I can get...plus I am flying Southwest to LAX and Qantas and Southwest both have the exact same baggage allowances.

 

[australiankaren]

Oh and Karen, I also used to work for QF and, with big news like this, the staff will almost be the last to know. They will probably be told the night before the big press announcement Still no excuse for the staff member to be so rude to you though!

hey there,

I too am an ex-Qantas employee......how many are there of us
I took the redundancy package in 1991.........

Anyway, how the company has changed over 20 years..I understand re: not knowing the future,etc but she was really abrupt and a tad disparaging...maybe they need to send them back to customer service 101.

Maybe I still think of them as a first class airline....it certainly was when I was there.

Fingers crossed I keep my QF and not get the jetstar experience.Do you think fairy dust also works on airlines

re not wanting to fly jetstar...both my Dh and I are fairly tall, and enjoy a few bells and whistles........Maybe if we were 20, a tad smaller and didnt know anything else we would think Jetstar was awesome.......horses for courses....

 

[Sugarglider]

I've flown Deathstar rtn to Japan and my main complaint was trying to sleep overnight in an economy seat - which is an issue with any airline. I was surprised - the plane was quite new and comfortable. and we bought all the extras in advance - the meals package, the video machine (which annoyingly has to be propped up on your tray table - so when your meal comes nothing fits) and you even have to pay for pillows and blankets. the food was not fantastic quality. The other issue is having to change flights. So we flew in and out of Cairns but they don't fly to Canberra. I like to fly direct but it was not possible on the sale fares. But it really wasn't that bad. The Japanese staff were lovely.

 

[OziJo]

Hi fellow Aussie travellers. We just booked 11 nights in WDW for Jan flying Qantas. We fly to Fort Worth then change to QF operated AA for Orlando leg. After reading all your posts here I'm going to convince DH to fork out the extra $200 and choose our seats. Even though our 3 DDs are teenagers and would probably be ok on their own I still want us to be together and I certainly don't want to get stuck in the middle of a group of strangers!

Both DH and I come from QANTAS families, though have never worked for Q ourselves, and we don't really consider other airlines. I did do a search and found that you could get cheaper deals but they required more stopovers. So we went with QANTAS.

We booked online through a multi-city booking as we are coming home via Honolulu It took us so long that we timed out it sent us back to the start. so we went through the process again. Little did we realise that we had then double booked. I only worked it out when I got two e-mails for our QBE insurance checked our booking and lo and behold there was two for the same flights. I rang QANTAS at about 6.30 am and got straight on and the girl was very nice and fixed it for me straight away. I know I was lucky because I tried to get on to QANTAS another time and it took nearly an hour.

They hadn't charged us because we had used all our FF and FF had knocked back the second payment and they didn't send it off to the bank. Phew!!

In this case customer service had helped us out but by then we were really annoyed because the online booking process is such that you don't know what you are truly in for until you get past each step. We had lost sale price tickets as we had tried to book the night before thinking we could pay by BPay and then had to try again the next night with our credit card. Then they charged us $30 per person for using our credit card as well as losing out on the sale costing us $1500!

So when we saw that we had to pay extra to choose our seats we said forget it thinking that with a family of 5 they would keep us together. I now see the light...

As to Jetstar on our last trip 3 years ago to Disneyland and Honolulu we flew Jetstar back from Honolulu though it was booked through QANTAS. We were treated as QANTAS passengers and given the care package plus meals. Good for us but I felt a bit guilty as the people around us had nothing or had to pay. Otherwise Jetstar service and comfort was the same as Q. We have also flown JS domestically with no probs.

 

[Busy Busy]

Friends of ours are flying with Qantas on the 10am flight on 16th September, we are meeting them in NYC

They have decided to pay the extra money to choose their seats, they have 3 kids, 13, 10 & 6, so it would be a nightmare to be separated.

So cheeky of Qantas to charge extra for this, that $200 could have gone a long way at Sephora!

 

[ame]

Yep, they could do it. They reserve the right to reschedule us whenever they like but would have to offer us a full refund though. I would also think that, if you accepted to be re-booked on Jetstar, they would have to include the meals and give you one of those hand held DVD players free.
!

If you accept the new airline, you lose the right to the food/entertainment.

We were booked V Australia to Fiji and when they changed back to Pacific blue we got nada, zip. We couldn't even preselect seats as per PBs policy. We got no complimentary food, drinks or entertainment (Despite my family's silver status)

My ILs had booked through flight centre and when the carrier was changed FC offered to reimburse them for food/drinks/digiplayer. Who knows what QANTAS will offer if they change carrier, but I'd be checking with them if/when if happens.

 

[Sugarglider]

Hi OziJo - what a palaver for you. I hope you feel it is all sorted

 

[OziJo]

Right. So sucked it up and went online to choose our seats. Went through the process filled out the payment info clicked the send button waited and it came up with an error message. "Unable to price your options at this time call ..." Aaaargh!!! So I called. It's still 4 months before we leave but I just wanted to get it out of the way. Anyway I got on straight away. The nice lady said the system was probably down and she fixed it for me.

I've managed to get on to customer service quite quickly 2 out of 3 times and they have been very helpful but their internet booking system is hopeless. I've managed to book and confirm by e-mail easily with our Disney World and Honolulu accommodation. But QANTAS...sheesh.

 

[australiankaren]

morning all,

so the saga of QF continues for us.....flying syd-hnl in feb, booked exit row seats $640 extra...ouch..anyway, yesterday check credit card and not on it...tickets yep, exit row, nope.

So 50 min on hold this morning finally get onto QF, seems I put in the expiry date on my card incorrectly, they rejected payment for exit row seats but didnt tell me although on my booking it said i was in exit row.

just as well i chased it up, as we would have got to airport, no exit row seat and then my 43yr old DH would be thrashing around on the floor like a cranky toddler
phew...

so check, check, check your flights etc......saves a lot of angst when at the airport.....

back to my WDW planning now