[Timtammi]

Hi there all

I'm a fairly new member who has been lurking and learning from all of your very informative posts. I now need some advice and am hoping you will all bear with a novice (don't know all the acronyms yet) and help me out.

As way of background both myself and my husband are Qantas Club members and fly fairly frequently as we have a business with an office in New Zealand and suppliers in Asia and the USA. He is QC Silver (OW Ruby) and I'm QC Bronze.

In Feb of last year I booked 3 QF FF award tickets Dubai - HKG HKG-MEL for myself, my husband and our 2 year old as part of a cruise holiday we are doing in Feb-Mar of this year. As it could not be booked online we sacrificed the points for a phone booking.

Flights booked: 13/3/07 CX0746 Dubai-HKG, 16/3/07 QF0030 HKG-MEL. All was well and I got e-tickets etc.

Skip to about 2 months ago. I needed to book hotels in Dubai and Hong Kong so went online to the QF website to check flight times etc. I noticed that while booking showed all as above when I clicked on more detai for flight CX0746 it indicated Monday 12/3 not Tuesday 13/3. Rang QF and was told that was some glitch and not to worry we were definitely booked 13/3. So went ahead and booked hotels.

Skip to today. I dont know what made me do it but I checked our flights online again today and the details for the flight still showed 12/3. On a whim I got to the Cathay website and check that flight. It shows it operates Monday (12/3) but not Tuesday (13/3).

Major alarm bells!

Ring QF again. After much on-hold and stuffing around it is confirmed that the flight does not exist on Tuesday and that CX are instead holding a booking for us on CX738 on 13/3. I say thats no good as it leaves at 1 am and will stuff up all of our pre-paid hotel bookings (not to mention the drama of catching a 1am flight with a 2 year old). I say I at least want CX738 on 14/3 ie leaves 1 am on the 14th which is 6 or so hours after when the non-existent flight we were booked on. More on-hold music. I'm then told Cathay can't confirm that flight right now, we will get back to you Monday. When I asked if they could anything for us re the stuff up I was told that it was not QFs fault as CX had not advised of the schedule change which happened in August (?!?! and its Jan and they still haven't realised?) and that no they couldnt help with access to the lounge in Dubai seeing as we had such a late flight as we didnt qualify and its not a QF lounge. I asked if they could ask CX for a pass to the lounge (assuming we can get on the flight!) and they just said "NO".

I wanted to take it further but thought I had better wait until I know what flight we CAN get on.

Advice or thoughts to sort this out?

Thanks in advance

Timmi

[Kiwi Flyer]

Welcome to AFF Timtammi

In my opinion, first priority is sorting out flights. It sounds like there has been a schedule change, or the booking was made incorrectly. Either way the airline needs to make good. They need to confirm you on alternative flight.

Once your flights are confirmed, then ask for assistance in form of lounge access. It is a bit of a long shot IMHO, but you could point out that you had specially chosen an early evening flight. I am not sure you will get far as the airline's obligation is to get you from A to B rather than at a set time.

[stryker]

Originally Posted by Timtammi

Hi there all

I'm a fairly new member who has been lurking and learning from all of your very informative posts. I now need some advice and am hoping you will all bear with a novice (don't know all the acronyms yet) and help me out.

As way of background both myself and my husband are Qantas Club members and fly fairly frequently as we have a business with an office in New Zealand and suppliers in Asia and the USA. He is QC Silver (OW Ruby) and I'm QC Bronze.

In Feb of last year I booked 3 QF FF award tickets Dubai - HKG HKG-MEL for myself, my husband and our 2 year old as part of a cruise holiday we are doing in Feb-Mar of this year. As it could not be booked online we sacrificed the points for a phone booking.

Flights booked: 13/3/07 CX0746 Dubai-HKG, 16/3/07 QF0030 HKG-MEL. All was well and I got e-tickets etc.

Skip to about 2 months ago. I needed to book hotels in Dubai and Hong Kong so went online to the QF website to check flight times etc. I noticed that while booking showed all as above when I clicked on more detai for flight CX0746 it indicated Monday 12/3 not Tuesday 13/3. Rang QF and was told that was some glitch and not to worry we were definitely booked 13/3. So went ahead and booked hotels.

Skip to today. I dont know what made me do it but I checked our flights online again today and the details for the flight still showed 12/3. On a whim I got to the Cathay website and check that flight. It shows it operates Monday (12/3) but not Tuesday (13/3).

Major alarm bells!

Ring QF again. After much on-hold and stuffing around it is confirmed that the flight does not exist on Tuesday and that CX are instead holding a booking for us on CX738 on 13/3. I say thats no good as it leaves at 1 am and will stuff up all of our pre-paid hotel bookings (not to mention the drama of catching a 1am flight with a 2 year old). I say I at least want CX738 on 14/3 ie leaves 1 am on the 14th which is 6 or so hours after when the non-existent flight we were booked on. More on-hold music. I'm then told Cathay can't confirm that flight right now, we will get back to you Monday. When I asked if they could anything for us re the stuff up I was told that it was not QFs fault as CX had not advised of the schedule change which happened in August (?!?! and its Jan and they still haven't realised?) and that no they couldnt help with access to the lounge in Dubai seeing as we had such a late flight as we didnt qualify and its not a QF lounge. I asked if they could ask CX for a pass to the lounge (assuming we can get on the flight!) and they just said "NO".

I wanted to take it further but thought I had better wait until I know what flight we CAN get on.

Advice or thoughts to sort this out?

Thanks in advance

Timmi

Hi Timtammi,

Sorry to hear about your problems.

On the issue of lounges in Dubai (DXB), there is a very nice first class lounge which has free entry to Diners Club cardholders.

If you have a Diners Card your lounge worries are over.

Good luck with your travails.

[Timtammi]

Thanks for the advise guys. Just an update, we are now confirmed on the CX flight that leaves at 1.25am on the 14th March so I guess thats the best outcome we will have as it doesnt muck up our hotel bookings in either city although its a hellish time to fly with a 2 year old.

No go on getting Qantas to help with lounge access but a bit of research shows me there are some pay for entry lounges at Dubai airport. We dont have a Diners Club card so thats a no go. Does anyone know which is best lounge that we can crash at for a few hours before the flight?

Cheers