Dan Makovec’s blog

Tsunamis

The thing that got me about the situation in Asia is the suddenness of it. With wars, hurricanes, droughts and just about any other disaster, there’s some warning, even if it’s a few hours. In this case though there was nothing. Out of the blue, in the middle of breakfast, 1000km of continental shelf dropped 30 feet, and (as of this morning’s figures) 125,000 lives are snuffed out. It’s an event that, unfortunately, makes Ash Wednesday, Cyclone Tracey, September 11 and the London Blitz all combined look like a sunday picnic.

The tragedy is that, like many disasters, it’s happened in some of the poorest areas of the world. The Maldives, where Graz and Andrea had their honeymoon 9 months ago, have been completely wiped out. Phuket, a massive tourist resort where some of my work colleagues had just left to go on holiday this Christmas (and we haven’t heard anything from) has also been wiped out. Everywhere from Indonesia to Kenya was hit by the waves. We even felt some of the effects on the (thankfully sparsely populated) northwest coast of Australia.

I’ve already given my first donation and will be following this up. I’m appealing to anybody who reads this to help out. If you’re broke, give $50. If you’re in work, give a couple of hundred dollars. It’s a tiny portion of your future income and can hopefully make some difference, especially to people who have lost their entire families, homes, jobs and cities. If that’s not enough to convince you, there are several thousand Europeans, Australians and Americans who were over there on holiday who have lost either their families or their lives.

Money matters

Transitioning cities is fun. Juggling bank accounts as you move them is not. At the moment, I’ve got:

- a fair sum of money scattered over 3 UK bank accounts
- one UK credit card that needs paying off
- one Singapore account with a bit of dough
- an Adelaide-only bank account with the majority of my cash
- an Australian credit card that’s hopelessly overdrawn
- a new Australia-wide account that pays my rent and credit card, and that my salary goes into, which is currently empty
- a stock broking account with a bit of money waiting for me to dip my toe back in the market,
- an internet banking account with money locked away for a rainy day.

Bit by bit I’m trying to shuffle money from one account to another in order to simplify things without having to pay rediculous exchange and transaction fees. This is no trivial task! Gradually I’m paying off my UK card and syphoning my UK accounts into my new Australian account. I’m also filling in paperwork to get the money from Singapore into the same account. When that all is sorted, I put the UK card on ice, pay off my Australian credit card and set aside money for rent and other expenses, and deposit the rest into the internet account or stock broking account to make a little interest.

All while I’m trying to set up a new fee-free (a rarity) Australian credit card, which can’t be established until I have statements from my other Australian banks confirming my new address, and a second stock broking account with E-Trade in order to get free access to the tools that Sanford (my primary stock account) used to give me for free but now wants to charge a monthly fee for. Oh yeah, and keep up the installments I’m paying on the bed, and the lump sum that’s going to hit me next week for the sofa and dining table for the apartment.

Here’s to a more financially civilized 2005.

Simple pleasures

There’s nothing I enjoy more during an afternoon at work than a fresh hot cup of coffee and some lovely sweet bickies to dip in it.

I think I’m going to go for a pilot’s licence next year.

Fuck Qantas

I’m through with Qantas. I’m putting them in the same basket as Telstra. Not only are their planes crap (the oldest fleet of jets I’ve been on ex-Australia), and their in-flight service mediocre, they’re also rediculously expensive, and as the mail dump below shows, their customer service is shit. I’m sticking with Virgin from now on. Quick, simple, and cheap. And Branson writes a decent autobiography, which I’m reading now.

Here’s the end of my conversation, for posterity, and with the hope that Google scans my page and has it come up when people look up Qantas.

For background, I sent Qantas some scans of my boarding passes for the flight from London to Adelaide, in order for them to credit my frequent flyer account with the points from the trip. I’d done this 2 years ago with no problems, and over the past four years have built up about 90,000 points in my account (that’s a lot). I wanted to top the account up with the significant number of points I’d expect to earn in travelling half way around the world (especially given that I’d delayed my return to Oz by two weeks in order to take a One World flight). But poor customer care means that I get no points, and as a consequence I’m taking my business elsewhere.

> > > > > The Qantas Club & Frequent Flyer Service Centre
> > > > >
> > > > > Dear Mr Makovec
> > > > >
> > > > > I'm writing to let you know that we received your request for Qantas
> > > > > Frequent Flyer points.
> > > > >
> > > > > I'd like to confirm that we have received the relevant boarding passes
> > > > > associated with your claim. However, as we're unable to access the
> > > > > confidential flight records of the airline(s) to which your claim refers,
> > > > > we'll also need a clear copy of your flight ticket in order to confirm
> > > > > your class of travel.
> > > > >
> > > > > Once we've received the documents, all valid points will be credited to
> > > > > your account upon confirmation of the details. To check your account,
> > > > > just visit qantas.com at any time.
> > > > >
> > > > > Please bear in mind that some classes of travel with our partner airlines
> > > > > are not eligible for Frequent Flyer points. If you'd like to know more
> > > > > about our airline partner and oneworld alliance airlines' earning
> > > > > conditions, please refer to the Qantas Frequent Flyer Member's Benefits
> > > > > Guidebook.  Alternatively, visit our website at qantas.com  Here you'll
> > > > > find full details of our Terms and Conditions.
> > > > >
> > > > > If you'd like to know more please visit our website or call 13 11 31 to
> > > > > speak with one of our consultants.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Regards
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > X X
> > > > > General Manager
> > > > > The Qantas Club & Frequent Flyer Service Centre
> > > >
> > > >  From:    Dan Makovec
> > > >  Received 01/11/2004
> > > >
> > > > Hi X,
> > > >
> > > > I'm afraid I don't have access to the original tickets, as I'm now based in
> > > > Sydney and the original ticket papers are in archives in Adelaide.
> > > > Getting over there to pick them up will be very difficult!
> > > >
> > > > When I've contacted Qantas in the past, I have only been required to send in
> > > > in boarding pass information for previous partner airline travel (see any
> > > > discussions referring to ref "Re: CN:123445 / FF:1234567 / NM:Mr D M
> > > > Makovec /...", beginning 11 December 2002, with your representative Z
> > > > Z).
> > > >
> > > > Can you help me out with this please?  I'm reachable on 040 160 1133 any
> > > > time if you need to contact me.
> > >
> > > 05 November 2004
> > >
> > >   Dear Mr Makovec,
> > >
> > >   Thank you for your correspondence addressed to X X, General
> > >   Manager of the Qantas Club and Frequent Flyer Service Centre regarding
> > >   your claim for missing flights. Mr X has asked that I respond on
> > >   his behalf.
> > >
> > >   Irrespective of previous arrangements, I'd like to confirm that we're
> > >   unable to access the confidential flight records of our partner airlines.
> > >   As such, they do require us to ask for your original tickets and boarding
> > >   passes. Your boarding pass confirms your travel, while your ticket
> > >   enables us to check that your class of travel is eligible to earn points.
> > >
> > >   While I appreciate the inconvenience, in order to investigate your claim
> > >   for points we will require the above documentation. You can send your
> > >   tickets and boarding passes to us at:
> > >
> > >   Qantas Frequent Flyer Service Centre
> > >   GPO Box 4357
> > >   Melbourne VIC 3001
> > >
> > >   Alternatively, you can fax us on 61 1300 305 747. If you prefer, copies
> > >   of your documentation may be forwarded as e-mail attachments. Once we
> > >   receive this information we'll do our best to credit all the valid points
> > >   to your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership as soon as possible.
> > >
> > >   If you'd like to know more, please visit qantas.com or call 13 11 31 to
> > >   speak with one of our consultants.
> > >
> > >   Regards
> > >
> > >   Y Y
> > >   The Qantas Club & Frequent Flyer Service Centre
> >
> >  Received 03/12/2004
> >
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > I've just dropped into Adelaide, and by pure luck it appears that I didn't
> > throw out my original ticket!  I've attached a scan of it here.  I'm only in
> > Adelaide until Sunday, so if there is a problem with the scan, can you please phone
> > me on 123 456 7890 immediately (Friday) so that I can re-send it.  Otherwise,
> > please confirm by email that you've received it and that it is sufficient
> > for me to claim my FF points.
> >
> > Much appreciated, thanks for your help.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > d
>
>   Dear Mr Makovec,
>
>   Thank you for sending us a copy of your Cathay Pacific ticket.
>
>   I'm unable to credit you with points for your recent travel with Cathay
>   Pacific on this occasion. Our agreement with Cathay Pacific includes some
>   restrictions, and discounted fares booked in E, G, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T,
>   U, W, X or Z Class aren't eligible to earn Frequent Flyer points.  In
>   this instance your travel was booked in O class.
>
>   If you'd like to know more, please visit qantas.com or call 13 11 31 to
>   speak with one of our consultants.
>
>   Thank you for your support of Qantas and the Qantas Frequent Flyer
>   program.
>
>
>   Regards
>
>   Y Y
>   The Qantas Club & Frequent Flyer Service Centre

My final reply, just penned. Screw them - I’m bored with playing games.

I don't understand.  I paid for a flight half way around the world, and
paid a higher rate to fly with OneWorld, as opposed to Singapore Airlines,
and only didn't go with Qantas because I was unable to get a Qantas flight
to Adelaide from London.  How then can the flight which I have paid for,
and extended my time in London by a further two weeks until it became
available, not be eligible for any points whatsoever?

I've been a loyal member of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program for 4 years
now, and the way which I have been treated is disgraceful.  As a member of
the traveling public, I understand the following classes:  First, Business
and Economy - not E, G, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, W, X or Z.  How is anybody
not familiar with the internals of the airline industry expected to have
the faintest idea of what these codes actually mean?

As far as I am concerned I have paid for an Economy class ticket and
therefore should be entitled to some sort of recognition of this.

I'm paying an extraordinarily high amount of money to maintain my Frequent
flyer membership, as well as the Qantas credit card which I am using on a
regular basis to build up my points.  To have this sort of treatment thrown
at me as a paying customer is, frankly, insulting - doubly so coming from
my national carrier.

In light of this, you can assured that I will be redeeming all of my
existing Frequent Flyer points as soon as possible, terminating my membership
and Qantas card, and switching to Virgin Blue for local flights and other
airlines for international services.

Yours

What’s the use of having a Frequent Flyer account when a ticket for a flight half way around the world isn’t enough of a guarantee that you’ll get any points? Forget that, I’m outta here.