Outrageous ‘customer service’ at Qatar check in – who to complain to?
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Hi, my partner has flown lhr to Manila and back, on Qatar. She booked the flight on BA.com. She was subject to blackmail at Manila airport by the Qatar check in desk, in that we had pre chosen her seats several weeks ago online, exit row seats for all 4 legs. Out bound flights were fine, but when she checked in for the inbound at Manila they said they were reassigning her seats away from the exit row unless she agreed to pay the check in staff a further £100 cash… To be clear this was not simply a case of reassigning seats due to someone else needing them more than her, she was told she can still sit there as long as she pays the extra £100…
Question is , who do we complain to? BA as was booked through them or direct to Qatar?
- This topic was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Questions like this might appear more as a rant rather than a genuine question, due to lack of information. I realise it has been a frustrating experience, but it would be useful to know the following in order to help:
– What did the people at the desk say the fee was for?
– Did she pay? If so, was there a receipt?
– If not, did she lose her exit seats?
– How did she select the exit seats in the first place? Presumably status?
– Did she escalate it at the desk, asking to speak to a manager?Quite often this can be placed down to overzealous application of rules by the more junior (dont give away exit rows for free), which inadvertently override others (status passengers can select exit row seats for free), and are less likely to be the sinister (eg asking for a cash bribe).
Hi, I hadn’t provided lots of info as more just asking who do we complain to based on how we booked the flight however to answer your points…
The said the additional 6000php was to ensure she kept her exit row seat that was pre selected by her 4 weeks prior to the flight. She can pay it and keep the seat or not pay and they reassign her elsewhere.
She didn’t pay as was cash only and she didn’t have that amount of cash on her as returning back to UK. There would have been no receipt given
Didn’t pay and lost her exit seat
Seats for all 4 legs Selected online after buying the ticket. As mentioned she did exactLy the same for the outbound flights and there was no issue. She has the booking/seat confirmation emails
Yes was escalated after check in agent refused to give her name when asked. We have the name of the supervisor who backed up the staff member and repeated verbatim, pay the extra to keep the seat or don’t and lose it. She did argue the point but was also conscious that check in had been slow and there was a large queue for security so didn’t want to end up missing the flight…
Pulls out the Bank of Scotland £100 note that I keep in my wallet and wait for the tantrum.
Seriously though, if you are confident it is poor behaviour at the time you deal with it at the time. At the top of your voice shout “Manager, Manager, Help, Someone get the Manager, Help!” to capture the attention of someone more senior and explain the problem to them when they rush over.
Retrospectively you just contact the local police copying in Qatar to notify them of a crime.
In these situations I have usually taken my phone out. Put it in voice recorder mode. And repeated what I was being asked to pay for and by who. It works wonders in certain countries where these behaviours are allowed.
Unfortunately it is your word vs theirs now and unless other clients come forward neither BA or Qatar can do much about it. (You didn’t pay so cannot get a refund and they will simply see a seat reassignment which is normal).
Check-in employees may just be contractors.
Another thing you could have tried is that if they were willing to get bribed for an exit row maybe it was worth checking how much for an upgrade to business!
Hi, I hadn’t provided lots of info as more just asking who do we complain to based on how we booked the flight however to answer your points…
Thanks, so it sounds like she should have paid to select an exit row, as you didn’t mention status. Exit rows are normally charged. It is still poor show to do this however, as they let her select the seats.
I would complain to both Qatar and BA. Use the same text. Explain it is poor to demand cash at the airport, and you can allude to the implications of demanding a cash in hand payment.
In reality I think you will get an apology, but may be lucky and get a few thousand avios compensation.Check-in employees may just be contractors.
That’s not relevant.
They still represent the airline and they could be defrauding the airline by taking cash for themselves if this was indeed a valid fee.
@sloth and partner should indeed report this to QR. If QR do nothing that’s down to them but they can’t then say they weren’t ever told this sort of thing is happening.Hi, I hadn’t provided lots of info as more just asking who do we complain to based on how we booked the flight however to answer your points…
Thanks, so it sounds like she should have paid to select an exit row, as you didn’t mention status. Exit rows are normally charged. It is still poor show to do this however, as they let her select the seats.
I would complain to both Qatar and BA. Use the same text. Explain it is poor to demand cash at the airport, and you can allude to the implications of demanding a cash in hand payment.
In reality I think you will get an apology, but may be lucky and get a few thousand avios compensation.Yes correct, no status. Whilst I/we have flown numerous times it is our first time on Qatar hence when she was allowed to select the exit seats on all legs with no demand for payment online, unlike BA, we reasonable assumed that is the case with Qatar, ie no charge. And then when she got the exit seats she originally picked on both legs of the outbound with no issue/demand for payment that further reinforces the view that it’s correct. If they wanted her to pay then it should have been charged at point of seat selection like other airlines do
Will put in complaint to both BA and Qatar and see what happens. As chrisC says, it reflects badly on the airline as ultimately they employ the check in staff either directly or via the airport as contractors
Admittedly I don’t have a recent experience, but on an LHR-DOH flight back in 2016, with no status at the time, I was allowed at the time of booking to select upper deck economy seats on the A380 for no fee, which showed as ‘Confirmed’ with a green tick next to our names all the way till a day before departure when we were kicked off unceremoniously to the lower deck.
After a quick phonecall, I was told to plead our case at the airport, which I did. The story -then- was that the economy upper deck was reserved for OW status passengers only (which was indeed the case), hence why this happened, but I argued on the basis that I was allowed to select the seats to begin with. The agent conferred with her manager and within a few minutes, reinstated the original seats.
If such IT shortfalls persist, it’s very possible that this was one of them…
Were they offering to accept payment by credit card or for some reason were they insisting on cash?
this has got shakedown written all over it.
In the complaint could also mention if the cabin waa lightly loaded
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