Originally Posted by
artee
"My booking on QF126 Auckland to Brisbane on September 10 was cancelled at 8.30pm (technical reasons?) and I was transferred to QF120 early the next morning. At 10.30pm, another text advised that the QF120 booking had been cancelled, and I was being transferred to Jetstar JQ154, with a change from business class to economy.
At the Jetstar check-in at Auckland Airport, I had to pay $98 for baggage, which was free in the original Qantas booking. I didn’t receive a food voucher for the flight and with no advance notice, could not bring my own entertainment. I’m now awaiting a response from Qantas, but I’m not holding my breath."
Qantas operates two direct flights between AKL and BNE daily - QF120 at 7.15am and QF126 at 4.55pm. Jetstar (the Qantas Group low-cost airline) operates JQ154 three-times per week (Fri, Sun, Wed). Qantas codeshares on these flights with flight number QF5568.
In addition to the two direct Qantas flights, there are ten daily Qantas flights between AKL and BNE which travel via MEL (3 times daily) and SYD (7 times daily).
The QF126 was indeed cancelled on Wednesday 10 September 2025. The Boeing 787-9 didn't operate from BNE to AKL either.
It is not entirely clear from the letter, but it appears as if the Customer was notified of the flight cancellation by SMS at 8.30pm on Tuesday 9 September with the booking changed to QF120, leaving at 7.15am on 10 September 2025.
The letter then states that the Customer received a further SMS at 10.30pm on Tuesday 9 September 2025 offering a change of flight to Jetstar JQ154, a single-class low-cost airline, leaving at 5.05pm on Wednesday 10 September 2025.
From my reasonably extensive experience, if Qantas makes a change to a Customer's booking the Customer has to first review and accept the change. This is because it is open to the Customer to change to ANY available Qantas flight travelling in the same booking class at no extra cost or to seek a full refund of the ticket.
It looks as if Qantas offered to change the Customer's flight to QF120, but the Customer didn't confirm the change. From 'Manage my Booking' section of the Qantas website, the Customer could select any available Qantas flight if the Customer didn't want to travel on QF120.
This would allow transfer to QF5568 (the Qantas codeshare on JQ154). But a transfer to QF5568 (the Jetstar operated flight) would include free luggage as the original flight ticket, beginning with '081' is issued by Qantas. The Customer would also be entitled to a refund of 75% of the value of the ticket if it were an involuntary downgrade.
I consider it highly improbable that a Customer with a Qantas issued ticket (particularly a business class ticket) would be transferred onto a Jetstar flight on anything other than the Qantas codeshare flight number which would always include checked luggage.
But why would Qantas force an involuntary downgrade on a business class Customer when there are a dozen Qantas flights each day?
Which makes me think the entire complaint is somewhat economical with the actualité.