Later this year we’re planning on travelling in Africa. Last night I was checking through some paperwork that needed to be dealt with in relation to the travel and figured I’d confirm the flight times since we made the booking about 6 months ago. Turned out to be a good thing because although we’re flying on a Qantas service it’s actually a South African Airways plane and they had changed their flight times by 12 hours and we had not been informed.

Their records indicate that on 24 July we were advised but, unusually, there is no record of who told us nor a record of who was told. Obviously airlines record that sort of information so that if there’s a dispute later on they can say “but we told X on Y date so you knew” but this was just rubber-stamped as “we told them” without telling us. Great. After some considerable time on the phone with a very helpful and concerned Qantas employee, it looks like we’re now changing our flight path so we’re not stuck in Perth airport for 14 hours. Hurrah.

Still, I’m glad I didn’t just follow the instructions on the letter we received with the tickets…

It is no longer necessary to confirm Qantas flights.

Categories: SPOTD, Africa 2007