Qantas was under fire over a 'ridiculous' stuff-up. Photo / Unsplash
Qantas was under fire over a 'ridiculous' stuff-up. Photo / Unsplash
A young family has fumed after a colossal stuff-up from Qantas meant they had to fight tooth and nail to get home in one group.
A young couple was left "seething" at Qantas after realising the airline had rebooked their 13-month-old daughter onto a different flight from them in the middle of their family holiday.
Stephan and Andrew Braham said they had to spend 20 hours on hold to fix the issue while on a trip through Europe with their baby daughter.
Their flight home to Australia was cancelled, meaning they had to be rebooked onto a different flight. Their daughter was booked onto a different plane.
"They said they hadn't done anything wrong because they did book her a ticket. Initially, they denied any liability. That's Qantas," Ms Braham told Channel 9's Today Show.
"We spent 20 hours 47 minutes and 13 seconds on the phone to Qantas over a 24-hour period, and over 55 separate phone calls, before they finally agreed to book us on new flights home."
"This is just ridiculous," a bemused Karl Stefanovic noted.
The family have now been forced to pay up for another two weeks of accommodation in Rome, with their flights pushed back by 12 days.
After almost an entire day on the phone with the airline, the trio finally locked in tickets on the same plane.
"We're seething. I'm meant to be home," Mr Braham said.
"Hopefully, in 13 days, eventually we will. I don't think we will really feel assured until we get on that plane and the plane is in the air at this stage."
In a statement to The Daily Mail, Qantas said it "sincerely apologises" to the family. The airline blamed a "back-end administrative error" which caused the 13-month-old child to be moved to a different flight automatically.
It committed to reimburse the Brahams for the cost of their additional accommodation.
'Trying to fix this farce'
Another mother took to social media after facing a similar issue when Qantas booked her and her young child on separate flights.
In a post on Reddit, the woman said she had been kept on the airline's offshore call centre.
"Qantas just booked my three year old onto a different flight to me (his mum). Is there any end to their incompetency?" she said.
"Currently on hold trying to fix this farce."
The incidents came after unions slammed Qantas for handing out millions of dollars in bonuses to executives while the airline is plagued by flight cancellations, delays and baggage losses.
In a statement to the ASX in June, the company announced it would reward four executives with shares worth more than $4m despite the ongoing commuter chaos.
The announcement comes as Qantas attracts heavy criticism for its flagging performance, which resulted in aviation analytics site OAG ranking Qantas 92nd out of 130 airlines for on-time performance.
OAG data reveals the national airline had more than one in three flights delayed in June, and more than 7 per cent of the flights were cancelled in May.
Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association federal secretary Steve Purvinas said the executives didn't deserve bonuses after Qantas's poor performance.
"The airline is being destroyed by these people," he said.
"They should not be receiving a bonus at all. They should be sacked."
