Award assistance fee when route not available online

[ermen]

Thinking of booking CMB - MLE but this is not available online. Not sure why some cities are not available on QFF... most frustrating...

Anyone got any luck getting the 6,000 point / A$60 fee waived when booking using a call centre?

Spoke to one agent who was willing to waive the fee, but when I called back post firming down my itinerary, it seems that this fee cannot be waived now...

 

[clazman]

They waived my fee last week on a booking when I told them I couldn't do online

 

[opusman]

You may get lucky but there's no general rule that they will waive the fee in these cases. Certainly not for a lowly WP anyway!

 

[boomy]

They waived my fee last week on a booking when I told them I couldn't do online

+1

If it can't be done online there should not be any phone booking fees.

You should insist on that and wort case HUACA.

 

[ermen]

Thanks all.
Call about 5 times to the QF Premium Line. Finally got an agent who was willing to book through something without the Award Assistance Fee. Didn't end up booking because the taxes were too usurious in my opinion.
Still believe that if the flight can't be done online, they should waive the Award Assistance Fee.

Better still, I also encountered an agent who said that I could not book UL from CMB - MLE. I got a bit exasperated and had to politely insist that it was most possible.

The advice to the call centre should be, if its a QF WP from AFF, the are most probably right.

 

[Isochronous]

Thanks all.
Call about 5 times to the QF Premium Line. Finally got an agent who was willing to book through something without the Award Assistance Fee. Didn't end up booking because the taxes were too usurious in my opinion.
Still believe that if the flight can't be done online, they should waive the Award Assistance Fee.

Better still, I also encountered an agent who said that I could not book UL from CMB - MLE. I got a bit exasperated and had to politely insist that it was most possible.

The advice to the call centre should be, if its a QF WP from AFF, the are most probably right.

We should be able to have that designation added to our QFF profiles so they defer to our superior collective knowledge of the system!

 

[Croupier]

I recently booked NRT - SYD in F on JAL, for 2 x Pax, the agent asked how I found the flight I politely told her through the BA site and that I would like the booking fee waived which she did.

The taxes were reasonable at only $172 per person.

 

[Deleted member 26544]

I've booked two award flights over the phone in the past 2 weeks (SCL-SYD and SCL-LIM) which I couldn't do online. I opened the conversation by saying I tried to book something online but the website wasn't letting me (and read out the error message) and asked if the operator could help. In both instances the assistance fee was waived.

 

[MrJetset]

You may get lucky but there's no general rule that they will waive the fee in these cases. Certainly not for a lowly WP anyway!

Actually there is indeed a general rule to waive the fee. RR confirmed this when a family member was charged and did so just to get the itinerary ticketed. RR arranged for a refund.

It appears that some call centre agents, and even supervisors still do not know this.

 

[opusman]

Actually there is indeed a general rule to waive the fee. RR confirmed this when a family member was charged and did so just to get the itinerary ticketed. RR arranged for a refund.

Perhaps RR has a split personality, because in another thread RR has (implicitly) confirmed that the fee is supposed to be charged.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Try booking a flight to Doha - it doesnt even exist according to Qantas website

 

[trixydoza]

Try booking a flight to Doha - it doesnt even exist according to Qantas website

You can book a flight there, you just can't get back again...

 

[Aussie_flyer]

You can book a flight there, you just can't get back again...

Quite right. very weird

 

[trixydoza]

You can book a flight there, you just can't get back again...

To be a bit more precise, you can book a one-way or a return to Doha, but you can't book anything originating in Doha.

 

[MrJetset]

Multi city can overcome some of these issues.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

There are a lot of destinations served by oneworld or other partner airlines to which you can book an award flight as a destination but from which as an origin you cannot book anything.

Also, in the course of booking a reward flight a few weeks ago I was told that call centre staff have been instructed to no longer use the term "waive" in relation to service fees.
Instead, in appropriate situations, they are inow meant to say that Qantas will pay the service fee.

 

[JohnK]

Still believe that if the flight can't be done online, they should waive the Award Assistance Fee.

A lot of agents have proactively offered to waive the assisted booking fee. If an agent perseveres then simply hang up and try again later.

 

[QPProletarian]

I recently booked NRT - SYD in F on JAL, for 2 x Pax, the agent asked how I found the flight I politely told her through the BA site and that I would like the booking fee waived which she did.

The taxes were reasonable at only $172 per person.

Nice one, definitely one to note, how many points?

 

[JohnK]

Can someone confirm if the award assistance booking fee has been removed?

Asked the question today over the phone and was told this was removed long time ago.

 

[Croupier]

Nice one, definitely one to note, how many points?

It was 228K points for 2 of us.