Qantas’ 24-Hour “Change of Mind” Policy

Have you ever booked a flight, only to discover that you accidentally selected the wrong date, misspelt your name, or even booked the wrong direction?

Yes, we’ve all been there! Luckily, numerous airlines including Qantas let you cancel or change your booking for free if you act quickly.

Qantas “Cancel for any reason” policy

If you’re a Qantas Frequent Flyer member and book a flight directly with Qantas, you can cancel for any reason within 24 hours of booking. You’ll get a full refund, including for any ancillary products you might have paid for (such as seat selection or additional baggage). This policy also applies to Classic Reward bookings.

While you need to have booked with Qantas (i.e. on the Qantas website, Qantas App or through a Qantas Contact Centre), you don’t necessarily need to have been a Qantas Frequent Flyer member at the time of booking. You can join Qantas Frequent Flyer (which you can do for free), then cancel your flight immediately after. You just have to do it within 24 hours of booking and meet the other eligibility criteria.

Speaking of eligibility criteria, these are the other conditions for using Qantas’ “cancel for any reason” policy:

• The first flight in your booking departs in 30 days or more
• Your booking originates in Australia

Qantas doesn’t offer free cancellations within 24 hours if you paid with a flight credit or “Buy Now, Pay Later”, the booking was previously changed, or it’s for an unaccompanied minor.

To cancel your flight within the 24-hour cooling-off period, simply click the “Cancel Flights” button when managing your booking on the Qantas website. If you’re eligible for “Cancel for any reason”, the website should show this. If you can’t cancel online, you can also try calling Qantas.

Qantas “Same day, no mistake” policy

Separately, Qantas also has a policy that lets you change your booking without penalty if you notice a mistake on the same calendar day that you booked. This is available if you booked on the Qantas website or App. You don’t have to be a Qantas Frequent Flyer member, and your flight can be departing in less than 30 days.

You can call Qantas by midnight on the day of booking to correct the following types of mistakes, without paying a fee:

• The time or date of your flight
• Booking in the wrong direction
• Booking the wrong fare type or cabin
• Incorrect spelling of a passenger’s name (for Qantas-operated flights only)

If the new flight you wish to book is more expensive, you’ll still need to pay any fare difference. But any additional change fees would be waived.

Officially, Qantas says that you need to contact them by midnight in “the timezone you’re in” to use this. In practice, I assume this refers to the timezone of the airport where the first flight on your booking departs. And yes, if you book at 11.30pm, this does mean you only have half an hour.

If you booked within the last 24 hours but don’t qualify for “Same day, no mistake”, your best option is probably to cancel for a refund and make a new booking.

Jetstar’s One-hour Quick Fix policy

Jetstar offers a similar policy to Qantas’ “same day, no mistake”, except that you only have one hour from the time of booking. You must have booked on Jetstar.com to use Jetstar’s One-hour Quick Fix guarantee.

If you notice that you booked the wrong Jetstar flight, want to change your fare/bundle type or want to transfer your booking to a different person within 60 minutes of booking, you can do so without paying a change fee. A fare difference may apply if the flight you want to change to is more expensive.

You can change your flight date or time on the Jetstar website, by managing your booking. For other changes, you would need to call Jetstar or use the airline’s online chat. You’ll be allowed to make fee-free changes as long as you entered the call centre or online chat queue before the one-hour window expires (even if you’re left waiting on hold beyond that time).

Virgin Australia does not offer this kind of flexibility

Virgin Australia does not have a publicly available policy regarding fee-free changes or cancellations if you simply make a mistake or change your mind immediately after booking.

Instead, Virgin lets you buy “Cancel For Any Reason” insurance as a paid add-on at the time of booking.

That said, if you discover an obvious mistake right after booking, you might want to call Virgin Australia and ask if they’ll change your ticket for you. While there’s no guarantee, the contact centre may be able to exercise a bit of discretion if you call within 24 hours of booking.

You can always cancel Virgin Australia Business Class flights for a full refund, as that’s a benefit of that type of ticket.

What about other airlines?

Here are a few other airlines that offer a 24-hour cooling-off window:

• Air Canada allows free cancellations within 24 hours of booking.
• So too does Cathay Pacific, but only if you’re a Cathay member and didn’t use a promo code. If you entered a Qantas Frequent Flyer number on your booking – or that of any other partner airline – you won’t be eligible.
• Air New Zealand only allows changes within 24 hours if you booked a “flexi” fare.

The USA requires airlines to offer refunds within 24 hours of booking

Regardless of your airline’s policy, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) requires airlines to offer free cancellations within 24 hours of booking if you book at least 7 days in advance. This applies to all flights departing and/or arriving in the USA, including on non-US airlines.

Note that this policy doesn’t necessarily apply if you booked through a travel agent.