Qantas help needed

Sue M

We booked the air on our own with Qantas. When I recently checked our reservation on their website, two notices came up. One stated that we had to get an electronic Visa. I know Tauck is getting that for us.
The other notice said that we had to provide additional information called APIS (Advance Passenger Information).
I called Qantas last week and was told we should fill out that form. The form for asks for our names, passport info, destination and nationality (among other things)...here is the problem...
When I started to fill in the form, I clicked on "Nationality"- America or United States was not listed.
This made me wonder if this form is meant for non US citizens.
I tried to call Qantas and was on hold for over an hour. I finally hung up.
I then called Tauck and spoke to someone in their air dept, but was told that they could not help me since I booked directly with Qantas.
Does anyone know anything about this APIS form and who it is for?
Trying to take care of all details with such an expensive trip on the line, it is very frustrating not being able to get through to Qantas and not getting any help from Tauck.
We don't want to have any problems when we get to the airport.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sue

[Deleted User]

A little Googling around suggests that you should be able to (and need to) enter the APIS info on the Qantas site.

Since it appears (description on the Qantas web site) to be a drop-down menu, are you sure you checked all possible places where USA/United States might be? Sometimes it appears in the alphabetic position (politically correct) or often with the usual suspects at the top of the list (not PC, but practical if in this case most of their passengers are Australian or American).

British

Sue, I also looked around on the Qantas site just now, I was probably on the Australian site because it does seem to assume a passenger is Australian, but I gave up because unless I wanted to spend more time than I have just now, or maybe booked myself on a flight to Australia. We went to Australia two years ago, I can't remember this, and I am American despite my name on this site, but Tauck did book the flight for us, and of course things can change, I do hope someone replies. It does seem that you need the API.
I am aware Tauck cannot help us when we book on our own, which is why these days we more often than not book with Tauck. Please be aware they will book ANY flights for you at the same prices you find on the day. Not many people realize this. Then if something changes before ticketing they will be able to help you. For our latest trip the airline changed a flight and made the layover about a half hour, impossible, so Tauck took care of it for us and we ended up with two better flights for the way home.

Sue M

Thank you for your help!! The folks on the Travel Forum are always so helpful.
I took a closer look at the drop down menu and found the US. It was not where I thought it would be. I was looking for United States...spelled out, since most of the countries were not listed as abbreviations (United Kingdom, for example). I was also looking for it to be listed in alphabetical order. But upon scrolling down carefully, I spotted "USA" listed right before Uganda and Ukraine. It was abbreviated and I guess they list abbreviations first.
Problem solved. Live and learn.
Sue

mazalea

Thanks - this is helpful. Tauck had previously told us that while they could book a flight at same rates, they could not guarantee seat assignment. On a long flight like tho, that's important. Thanks again~

British

They have to say that they cannot guarantee seat assignment but it has never been a problem.

AlanS

I think many (most?) airlines have a disclaimer in the fine print that says they can not guarantee your seat selection (if done at the time of booking.) It is probably mainly a CYA kinda thing. Sometimes it has to do with the actual aircraft being flown for that particular flight- different model, different seating arrangement. BillWest66 had seats changed when he flew ET because they changed aircraft from an older 777-200 which has 2-3-2 seating in business to a new 787-8 Dreamliner which has 2-2-2 seating, for his flight to the US- I don't think he complained about that one .

British

Yep, how many times have we booked a flight ourselves, picked seats and then find they have not been assigned. Even more annoying, how often have we booked a flight many months in advance, choosing direct non-stop flights that depart at lovely convenient times to find that flight gets cancelled or it becomes not a non-stop flight with a layover in a city you had not been expecting to see. Even more annoying, to get a free upgrade to business class for part of your journey and then to find the plane got switched to a smalller one and you get bumped back into Coach and are sitting miles away from each other. Plus you thought you were getting the free meal and you were lucky to get pretzels instead. Yep, been there got the T-shirt on that scenario too. Thank goodness when we get to our destination on a Tauck tour, it always goes smoothly-I'm touching wood here. One month to go until our next tour!

AshvEd

Hi Sue,
Thanks for your posting as we were unaware of the APIS. In fact we looked at out flight and no warnings came up. We did enter the information and hope that eliminates one possible snafu.
Best,
Ed

Sue M wrote:

We booked the air on our own with Qantas. When I recently checked our reservation on their website, two notices came up. One stated that we had to get an electronic Visa. I know Tauck is getting that for us.
The other notice said that we had to provide additional information called APIS (Advance Passenger Information).
I called Qantas last week and was told we should fill out that form. The form for asks for our names, passport info, destination and nationality (among other things)...here is the problem...
When I started to fill in the form, I clicked on "Nationality"- America or United States was not listed.
This made me wonder if this form is meant for non US citizens.
I tried to call Qantas and was on hold for over an hour. I finally hung up.
I then called Tauck and spoke to someone in their air dept, but was told that they could not help me since I booked directly with Qantas.
Does anyone know anything about this APIS form and who it is for?
Trying to take care of all details with such an expensive trip on the line, it is very frustrating not being able to get through to Qantas and not getting any help from Tauck.
We don't want to have any problems when we get to the airport.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sue