Booking double up - poor advice from Qantas costs [now sorted with refund promised]

[AIRwin]

I have tried to cancel a booking within 24 hours (J to the US, leaving Australia) and was charged the cancellation fee. I tried to argue based on the 24 hour thing but they said I could only correct errors, not cancel the whole thing.

Was it within 7 days of travel?

 

[justinbrett]

Was it within 7 days of travel?

5 months prior.

 

[caduncan]

Assuming you successfully cancel your flight (and you may have to wait a while to get the points refunded), how many points do you actually have?

SYD/JFK return in economy is 55200 points per person each way, so you would need 220,800 points for a return journey for 2 people (plus taxes).

Note that most users here will argue that economy flights are a poor use of points. When sales are on, the taxes and other charges that you have to pay on a reward booking can often be a significant proportion of the total fare (so you, e.g., end up spending 55000 points to save a couple of hundred dollars).

Hi,

I had enough to cover the flights to the US (and there were no rewards seats coming home anyway). 55,200 + $284 (x2).

My points have already been refunded, thank heavens - and they've said they'll refund the cash within 4-6 days.

All my previous experiences with Q have been fantastic - but this is the first time I've tried to use points!!
But I've learned something ...

 

[Vic]

The Qantas policy lets you change, not cancel.

And when the mistake is to book the same flight twice??? How do they fix my mistake without cancelling one of the bookings? Same day, No mistake

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi,

I had enough to cover the flights to the US (and there were no rewards seats coming home anyway). 55,200 + $284 (x2).

My points have already been refunded, thank heavens - and they've said they'll refund the cash within 4-6 days.

All my previous experiences with Q have been fantastic - but this is the first time I've tried to use points!!
But I've learned something ...

It seems the advice given to you by Qantas was correct... if you have purchased the one ways to the USA on points, the cash booking would need to be completely separate coming back. This is a one way ticket... which it appears is around AUD1700 per person.

Where did you see the $1100 fares?

 

[caduncan]

It seems the advice given to you by Qantas was correct... if you have purchased the one ways to the USA on points, the cash booking would need to be completely separate coming back. This is a one way ticket... which it appears is around AUD1700 per person.

Where did you see the $1100 fares?

My point being that they should have told me that it would require two bookings and therefore cost vastly more to book the return trips separately.

 

[TheInsider]

My point being that they should have told me that it would require two bookings and therefore cost vastly more to book the return trips separately.

You can do a classic award on one way with a paid 'cash' flight on the way back.

One way flight are usually always more expensive than return for most international carriers.

 

[JessicaTam]

Hi,

I had enough to cover the flights to the US (and there were no rewards seats coming home anyway). 55,200 + $284 (x2).

My points have already been refunded, thank heavens - and they've said they'll refund the cash within 4-6 days.

All my previous experiences with Q have been fantastic - but this is the first time I've tried to use points!!
But I've learned something ...

Good to hear the points and $ are coming back.

Do let us know how you enjoy the flights when they eventually happen!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You can do a classic award on one way with a paid 'cash' flight on the way back.

Wow. I had no idea this was possible! I thought paid + cash could not be combined as 2 x half the applicable fare(s).

So QF were wrong in their advice. Hopefully the OP can make a fresh booking now.

 

[Aus ATC]

You can do a classic award on one way with a paid 'cash' flight on the way back.

One way flight are usually always more expensive than return for most international carriers.

View attachment 201698

Pretty poor use of points though - less then 0.5c/point for the cash difference of a fully paid fare.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Pretty poor use of points though - less then 0.5c/point for the cash difference of a fully paid fare.

yes yes but.... it seems to work for business class! So there can be some savings (although the 1/2 return fare can still be pretty high on QF... pretty close to a return fare on a chinese carrier)

 

[TheInsider]

yes yes but.... it seems to work for business class! So there can be some savings (although the 1/2 return fare can still be pretty high on QF... pretty close to a return fare on a chinese carrier)

Eh... Was only providing an example.
People value their own points in their own ways, nothing is right or wrong.

 

[get me outta here]

Thanks dajop, but what happens when you can't reach QF by any communication means, within the 1 calendar day?

To clarify/for future reference aren’t there two types of changes free? Namely:
1) For all QF bookings: if you make mistake you can change on same calendar day free of charge as per QF policy: Same Day No Mistake | Qantas
2) For QF booking (direct with the airline) purchased/originating in the US, it is a DoT requirement that you can cancel within 24hrs free of charge (applies to all airlines). I think this is the one applicable to the OP.