- Frequent flight points denied widow
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A widowed grandmother says she is “grumpy” with Qantas after the airline refused to credit her with her late husband’s frequent flyer points.
Rhonda, 72, said after her husband of 52 years, Brian, died in May, she contacted the airline to claim the 6,800 frequent flyer points on his account.
That first letter was answered with a brutal rejection letter.
While offering “sincere condolences”, it stated that Qantas’ “terms and conditions” did not allow such a transfer.
Instead, the shocked widow was asked to send a copy of the death certificate to close the account immediately.
Rhonda (front photo) had to fight a frustrating battle with Qantas to get her late husband Brian’s (back photo) frequent flyer points transferred to her
“I know it’s not a lot of points, but it’s the principle of it because damn, you’re barely getting anything out of it anyway,” Rhonda said. Yahoo.
“I just thought it would come to me naturally, so when I told them he had passed away, I could have easily gone in and turned them over to myself without telling them, but I wanted to do the right thing.”
However, in September the airline announced it was changing its policy to allow surviving relatives to claim frequent flyer points from early October.
When Rhonda heard Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson flag this issue as an attempt to repair the airline’s weak reputation by addressing customer “pain points,” she asked about the points again.
“I immediately wrote back (to Qantas) and said, ‘After hearing the news report I was under the impression that you were watching this now,'” she said.
‘I haven’t heard a word since. I don’t know if they just ignore me.’
The grandmother of five said her frustration reached boiling point.
“I’ve just had enough,” she said.
“Everywhere I go there’s a barrier, and what’s 6,800 points to them?
“They’re trying to keep their reputation intact and until I heard that announcement, I was done with it.
“Now I still haven’t heard it and I’m grumpy.”
After telling her story to the media, the airline eventually relented and gave Rhonda the points.
From October, Qantas changed its policy to allow surviving relatives to claim frequent flyer points from a deceased customer
She remained less than impressed, saying it was “ridiculous” that it took media attention to get them.
A Qantas Loyalty spokesperson said the airline has sincerely apologized to Rhonda.
“Our customer team has been in contact with her to let her know that her husband’s points have now been transferred to her frequent flyer account,” a Qantas Loyalty spokesperson said.
Rhonda said she had hoped to use the points to go on holiday and fly from her home in Sydney next year to catch the iconic Outback train the Ghan.
Qantas rival Virgin will pass on Velocity points to a deceased person’s loved ones, but only if specified in a will.
“If the deceased member has left instructions to transfer their points balance to a beneficiary, we will let you know the next steps to complete this,” Virgin’s website says.
Other major regional airlines such as Athay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways and Emirates do not transfer frequent flyer points as they are considered the property of the airline and not the property of the customer.