QATAR AIRWAYS *****ULENTLY OVERBOOKS ON BUSINESS CLASS AND DOWNGRADES TO ECONOMY CLASS

I wish to express my total dissatisfaction with Qatar Airways' booking procedures.

I booked my group of 13 persons to Istanbul from 12 May 2024 - 24 May 2024.

12 of the tickets were bought and issued for Economy Class and 1 ticket was purchased for Business Class.

The Business Class ticket is in the name of my client with booking reference: 1A/WNJ642 QRWNJ642 Ticket number: ***762.

To our dismay, my client was advised that since she didn’t check in online, her seat in Business Class was not available. The most horrific thing transpired at the airport, my client was DOWNGRADED to economy class. There were no available Business Classn seats available, but my client paid for a Business Class ticket. Please note that both myself and the client tried to check her in online since the 10th May 2024 and Qatar Airways online check-in was not working. This is a FALACCY and a violation of my client's rights as a passenger. I tried checking her in as well as she tried checking in, however, the system directed both of us at different times to check in at the counter because she is part of the group. I’ve never heard of this, as a person who travels with various airlines regularly.

This is totally unacceptable as my client also has a medical problem with her leg, hence the fact that she purchased a Business Class ticket.

I urgently required a meeting with the Country Manager or anyone Senior at Qatar Airways South Africa, with numerous emails from myself and the client, but no one at Qatar Airways deemed it necessary to contact us to resolve the issue. We have been aggrieved, both my company and the client and are claiming full compensation for this and demand an explanation of their non-response to this serious matter. The check-in Manager was extremely biased, and unprofessional and showed absolutely no empathy or compassion to my clients' plight. Her medical condition deemed it necessary for her leg to be raised during the flight as she had a previous accident and had a steel plate inserted. This is *****, Where does an airline overbook when they know they only have a few seats, this is total greed and we will not leave the matter like this. This is appalling, to say the least.

Please escalate this situation as a matter of urgency.

To crown it all, Qatar Airways advised that the client need to take the matter up with my company for refunds etc, where they have the full benefit of the ticket costs in their banking account. It seems as it they do not want to take responsibility and are eager to pass the buck, but they have it all wrong. This is *****.