Australian mum’s Qantas complaint after ticketing error turns holiday into nightmare
An Aussie mother left stranded at a Paris airport when Qantas canceled their flight home with a ticket error has branded the ordeal devastating and “un-Australian”.
“We’ve been Qantas customers for decades and we’ve flown with them all over the world so to be treated like this is just so disappointing, it’s completely un-Australian of them,” Brisbane mum-of-two Tarnya said Allen said. A Current Affair host Ally Langdon.
Allen said when she arrived at the airport with her family to check in for their flight home, she was told there was no record of a reservation for her young son Caden and that the next flight with a economy seat was available in two weeks. .
Tarnya Allen and her family were stranded in Paris. (A Current Affair)
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“There was a ticket for me and my daughter but not for my 10-year-old son. I spent hours and hours on the phone with Qantas and every time I tried to call them they just rang me.” said the mother.
“Apparently there were no extra seats on that flight.
“On the next flight, there were business class seats available, but they wouldn’t give them to us.”
A Current Affair host Ally Langdon and Brisbane mother-of-two Tarnya Allen. (A Current Affair)
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Although Allen had the receipt for the tickets, which she had bought six months earlier, her staff claims they could not offer her any reason or alternative for the error.
Despite the blunder being Qantas’ fault, Allen said the airline would not upgrade them from economy on the next flight.
“For them it’s really just about making a profit, not putting their passengers first and it just wasn’t fair,” said Allen.
Brisbane mother-of-two Tarnya Allen. (A Current Affair)
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“I just had to leave the airport, the children were very upset, it was their first flight.”
While they were told that the next flight would not be for another two weeks, they managed to catch a flight home two days later.
“It wasn’t until they kicked up a stink and really pushed back that they were able to get us a co-op seat on another carrier,” Allen said.
She said she had been saving up for the family holiday to Paris for over four years and although they had a great time while there, they are now happy to be home after such a stressful time trying to get home.
Brisbane mother-of-two Tarnya Allen (right) and her family. (A Current Affair)
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“It’s not what we signed up for and it’s just not acceptable and really it shouldn’t happen to anyone again, so the law really needs to be changed and Qantas needs to straighten up,” Allen said.
Qantas has since apologized and offered compensation, but Allen claims this was only after she went public with her story.
“We only heard about Qantas when the news broke,” she said.
“I spent three weeks trying to get in touch with them to arrange a refund.”
She said that while she is happy to have her expenses reimbursed, she does not want this to happen to anyone else and may miss out on flying with them again.
“It’s just not worth it.”
Qantas statement:
Due to a ticket error, Ms Allen and her family were unable to fly on their original flights. We moved them to a flight out of Paris on another airline two days later, and they joined a Qantas flight out of London. We were unable to book them on earlier flights as they were full over the busy holiday season.
We are looking into what caused the ticket error and have apologized to Ms Allen for the inconvenience.
