… and Australia. The most unpleasant travel experience ever, and a US$ 680 loss

I have made my last booking with BOOKING.COM, QANTAS and I will never attempt to return to Australia

In combination, they all have given me the worst travel experience in 30+ years of business and private travel with about 20 annual flights and corresponding hotel bookings.

What happened?

What happed, in a nutshell is outlined below: You might think -that is not in a nutshell. But actual communication over several months was a lot more than those summary points below. Totally wasted my time and caused us a US$ 680 loss.

I book a flight on BOOKING.COM from Nadi (Fiji) to Manila (Philippines) with transfer in Sydney (Australia), Airline was QANTAS. The reason I booked this particular flight combination was that in BOOKING.COM it did not say “self transfer” of luggage, as it was the case in most of the other connections. Why should I transfer luggage anyway if the airline of both flights is the same and you are only in transfer? (A fellow traveller went through exactly the same experience, she had made her booking separately, so that is a different, but connected story. But that’s why there are “we” references in the following).
The day before the flight I check the Australian Government web site for requirements. No visa required for transfer. No mention of an ETA, at least not in the pages that usual users go to. Maybe there was something in the “fine print” somewhere? Anyway, I did not find anything.
We are at the check in counter of QANTAS in Nadi 2.5 hours before the flight. There we are told that we need an ETA because we have to leave the Sydney airport overnight (transfer time 16 hours). That was NOT stated in the BOOKING.COM booking documents, was NOT mentioned in any of the QANTAS communiction and it was also NOT (easily accessible) in the Australian Government web site.
We then download the App for the ETA application from the Apple Store (Australian ETA). Internet connection was very slow, but after 20 minutes the had the App. Should be straightforward from here, after all we did the same on the airport in Taipei on the flight going to Tahiti for a stopover in New Zealand and were able to get the Kiwi ETA in 10 minutes using the App.
We both tried for more than 2 hours to apply for the Aussie ETA using the App. It continued to reject our passports. When I finally got through this process, it rejected 4 (four) credit cards for doing the payment. My daughter did not even get to this stage, her passport was just rejected. Checking the user feedback on the App in the AppStore showed that many Germans had similar experiences. (Just be honest and tell us that you don’t like us and we won’t even consider visiting your country).
When I finally got that far, with still no ETA, the checkin counter was closed. Could not have boarded anyway because we had no ETA.
In panic mode we then went off to travel agents and managed to get a flight the next day on Cathay Pacific, tremendous experience in the whole process and flight, no problems at all.
I then tried to refund the ticket cost. BOOKING.COM and QANTAS just referred to each other, many emails written, calls made, no result. They basically all say that I need an official letter from the Australian embassy that my visa application got rejected (there was no visa application). Since when, except for the US, do you need a visa for a transfer.
1. Contact BOOKING.COM. They referred to GOTO GATE, somebody they subcontracted to deal with complaints. How convenient is that for BOOKING.COM? The more intermediaries you have the more you can discourage customers to follow-up on their complaints. They did some stuff and then said I should contact the QANTAS office in Manila (Are they not my travel agent?)
2. Hours in the telephone waiting list and finally the QANTAS office in Manila tells me that they are not in charge and that I need to contact QANTAS in Berlin.
3. QANTAS in Berlin tells me that the travel agent is in charge with the refund. Travel agent? Which is BOOKING.COM.
4. I contact BOOKING.COM again, since in the meantime GOTO something has closed the case.
5. BOOKING.COM tells me that they can’t do anything since I don’t have cancelling protection with them. I should contact the airline. And are suggesting that I should contact my travel insurance.
How much BS am I willing to take? No more in this case.

BOOKING.COM and QANTAS both referred to “regulations” for their specific actions.

Implications

When airlines and online travel agents rigidly hide behind “regulations” in response to customer complaints, they miss a critical opportunity to show empathy and accountability—especially when the issues stem from factors outside the customer’s control, like sudden cancellations, booking errors, or system failures. While policies are important, robotically enforcing them without considering the human impact sends a clear message that customer experience takes a back seat to bureaucracy. This not only deepens frustration but also erodes trust and brand loyalty, as travelers increasingly turn to social media and review platforms to share their dissatisfaction. In today’s competitive travel industry, reputation is currency—and cold, rulebook-driven responses are a fast way to bankrupt it.
Quote: From a supposedly smart entity. But I fully agree.

Erodes Trust and Brand Loyalty? Correct: Und Tschüss…

BOOKING.COM did NOT have the information that you need to do do a self transfer, which they had for other connections, so there is no excuse for not having it. So they are at fault here. I have more than 66 bookings with them in the last couple of years and I am a Genius Level 3 member. For that, I would have expected better customer orientation.
Customer is King: Good bye BOOKING.COM

QANTAS did not mention in any communication in connection with the flight that you need to leave the airport in Sydney. Only at the end of the many emails exchanged they said that that is the case when your transfer is more than 8 hours. Excuse me?
Customer is King: Good bye QANTAS. There are lots of more pleasant airlines around in the region. No need to choose an arrogant one that does not care about their customers.

AUSTRALIA? I have been there before with the family and really enjoyed it. I also have a lot of Aussie friends and former colleagues from the country. But that ETA App is total crap. How can you run an official App for an essential task that rejects a huge number of German passports? Many of the comments about the poor performance of the App were more than a year old, so it is not a teething problem.
Customer is King: As a customer, you go through this once, there are so many other nice countries on this planet. After this experience I have no intention anymore to return to Australia.

I lost US$ 680 because of the combined Bullshit of BOOKING.COM, QANTAS and the Australian Government office that deployed the App Australian ETA.

I have better things to do with the rest of my life than to ever deal with those companies/institutions again.