Please excuse me if this is a silly question, as we are not experienced travellers.

Please excuse me if this is a silly question, as we are not experienced travellers. Qantas has bumped us from a flight on Christmas day 2015 and transferred us to later flight which delays our arrival and thus we need to cancel a hotel booking. Qantas has refused to amend our booking made with Qantas Hotel without charge and is not willing to reimburse the points used to make the hotel booking . Has anyone had any success with complaining to the Airline Consumer Advocate in such circumstances described above. It seems Qantas has the power to change customer's flights as they please.

what kind of flight booking? award or paid?

It was an award booking.

Sorry to hear that.

Despite both travel providers sharing the common name of Qantas, you are dealing with two seperate operational entities (Qantas Airways and Qantas Holidays).

Qantas Airways does not reimburse your additional personal holiday costs (hotels, sightseeing, transfers, etc) if a flight changes for operational reasons and causes you to miss them... (imagine what a cost that would be for them!)

Of course, they will preserve your ability to cancel and recoupe the airfare costs if a considerable time change suddenly makes your accepting the flight untenable. For other costs (hotels etc), the onus is on the passenger to protect themselves by taking our travel insurance.

Qantas Hotels, similarly (as a mere booking agent), is not liable for reimbursing costs if you're not able to physically get yourself to the hotel. Any refunds would be in accordance with the rate and terms of the accom you booked under.

As unfair as it seems, they're two different businesses, and from each entity's perspective it's not really their problem.

Being that it's quite far ahead of time, I'd imagine you haven't yet taken out a travel insurance policy. My suggestion would be to assess whether the credit card you've used to book large portions of your trip offers travel insurance. Additionally, check whether you have taken out any multi-trip travel insurance in the past which might still cover you. Many insurance policies actually cover the loss of frequent flyer mileage used to reserve a flight or hotel.

Best of luck in your predicament.

Thank you kindly for your detailed answer ausJCP.  Very much appreciated. I guess we have learnt a valuable lesson the hard way! You have provided us with valuable information, ie I never knew insurance polices cover the loss of frequent flyer points. Cheers

I have similar situations few times and every time everything was fixed. However I booked ordinary commercial tickets. With points I am afraid your chances are slim because you dealing with two separate booking - this is how I understand it. Try to call hotel booking to see if they can reschedule their part. Sorry to hear about your ruined holiday plans.

wlee, you didn't say whether you were bumped from the flight because it is no longer operating. Or were you bumped because it is still operating but is e.g. overbooked. If the latter you have a stronger case for compensation from Qantas for the hotel because your being bumped from the flight would not be for "operational" reasons - in my opinion.

I agree with Wilsoni. Given its 4 months away, I'd suggest it couldn't be cancelled due to underselling, rather it's already hit capacity quotas and they've bumped reward seats onto another flight. If it were 3 days out and they bumped you, you could assume it had undersold.

Further, it's the Qantas brand you're dealing with. I wouldn't accept the situation they're asking you to accept. In my experience, speaking to someone and escalating it is more effective than emails. Give them an opportunity to amend before going to a 3rd party.

Hi Serg, I did call Qantas Hotel. They said the booking could not be amended and was non refundable. But thank you for sharing your experience and suggestion.

Hi Wilsoni, I can still see the original flight on the internet. Thank you for your comments.

Hi Riley, ok I will give them a call and try escalating the matter.  Just not very good at these situations.

Thank you for every one's time