Horrible service

If there is one service I am never ever using again, it's Qantas airways.

I've had about 4 flights with them and all of them were an issue. Initially it was annoying but tolerable. The flights were delayed because the aircraft was overheated and we had to rush for connecting flights. On Saturday, we were delayed because they didn't fill up the early morning flight with fuel as yet. The staff were pretty unfriendly and the on board entertainment was mediocre. Which still is fine.

We then had a 12 hour flight to South Africa from Australia. Randomly at the gate, we were told we couldn't board the flight as the flight was misconnected. From what myself and some of the other 47 displaced people could gather, it was a case of overbooking.

Immediately a lavish speech was made by the supervisor on duty that we would some flights to SA via another route immediately or we could choose to have accommodation for the flight and fly directly the next day.

Qantas left us sitting for 4 hours to sort out our issue. As people of colour, they left us unattended and waiting at the counter until everyone else was taken care of. When we did have some communication earlier in the queue, we were told that accommodation was not possible and we had to fly a long route, yet, as we stood at the counter, people were being offered and given accommodation based on the preference of the person serving them at the time.

Qantas then gave us a flight of 22 hours instead of letting us stay over night and travel for 12 hours to make up for the fault. We waited at the airport from 11 am until 10 pm, caught a flight and then another flight for 8 hours. They offered voucher cards to make up for the inconvenience, some of which had no money on them and some had less than stated.

After a total waiting time and travel time of 32 hours, drained and exhausted, the cherry on the top - we didn't receive any of our bags and no one knows where they are. When we asked for baggage taga at the australia airport, Qantas insisted we didn't need it, but Emirates on this side advised that it was a basic procedure to retag bags and provide luggage tags. This process took 4 hours at the airport again.

Now I have a few hours left for work and no time to recover from jet lag as planned nor to plan for my week. Myself and other passengers who confirmed that this was not their first issue with Qantas, will never be using this service again. I am livid.