Exorbitant Online Booking Change Fees

[aviator]

Has Qantas recently increased it's penalties for changing flights?

 

[oz_mark]

Change fees were increased in May.

 

[aviator]

Qantas charged a $191 fee, which worked out at 20% of the original fare for changing the return flights from NZ to Perth and this was not to change class and was a long time before starting the trip form Perth. We had 3 of these today and another 2 weeks ago. This is rather excessive do Virgin and Air NZ have similar charges? IS Qantas trying to deliberately alienate their passengers?

 

[nuxie1]

You have multiple fare options, maybe you should book more flexible fares in future?

 

[mannej]

I am guessing you booked a low level economy fare.

As others have stated, there are more flexible options. Out of that, that $191 would not solely have been a change fee, rather a change fee and fare difference.

	Sale	Red e-Deal	Fully Flexible	Business Saver	Business
	Before day of departure	After day of departure	Before day of departure	On day of departure	Before day of departure	After day of departure	Before day of departure	After day of departure	Before day of departure	After day of departure
Flight Change fee	Any fare difference plus: A$100.00*	Any fare difference plus: A$100.00*	Any fare difference plus: A$80.00*	Any fare difference plus: A$80.00*	Any fare difference	Any fare difference plus: A$100.00*	Any fare difference plus: A$100.00*	Any fare difference

 

[Archphoto]

I just needed to change my ADL-SYD-BKK flight, with no restrictions other than the usual stuff, (admittedly it did originate in BKK). Changed online - 810THB all up (or $25.00). Had to call the call center to verify my CC as I obviously couldn't go to the BKK office - QF charged me $50, for the same flight. . . . . . go figure

 

[aviator]

But there is apparently an underlying 100$ to change any booking. However there is flexibility to book with another airline who do not charge this much.

 

[aviator]

Thanks for the table explaining the difference I checked and the extra was from our travel agent there was no difference in the underlying fare. No-one who has bottom-line responsibility would book FULLY FLEXIBLE or BUSINESS to save the flight change fee. I would doubt that anyone except Government employees would book FULLY FLEXIBLE or BUSINESS.

 

[nuxie1]

But there is apparently an underlying 100$ to change any booking. However there is flexibility to book with another airline who do not charge this much.

What airline allows free booking changes on their cheapest fare class?

If you need the flexibility, book the flexible ticket or accept the change fee, its pretty clearly shown during booking the conditions on each fare type.


Maybe you should also find a better travel agent that doesn't charge $91 to change a flight, when you can do it for free online?

 

[anat0l]

Just checked Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand, and assuming in each case the cheapest fare was bought, the charges for each airline are quite comparable to Qantas (especially if you use the call centre to make the change - changes online are cheaper).

Assuming the cheapest fare bought and checked baggage is not required, and the change can be made online, Virgin Australia is the cheapest at AU$80 + fare difference (Short-haul International Saver). Qantas (Australia to New Zealand Sale) and Air New Zealand (Australia to New Zealand Tasman Smart Saver) are both AU$100 + fare difference. Air New Zealand waives the change fee if you change your fare to Business class.

In all cases, the fare you change to must be of equal or higher value than what you booked. The exception is Air New Zealand - the only time fares must be changed to an equal or higher fare is if you bought your NZ fare during a published sale, in which case if the published sale is over, you must upgrade to an equal or higher fare.

 

[mannej]

Thanks for the table explaining the difference I checked and the extra was from our travel agent there was no difference in the underlying fare. No-one who has bottom-line responsibility would book FULLY FLEXIBLE or BUSINESS to save the flight change fee. I would doubt that anyone except Government employees would book FULLY FLEXIBLE or BUSINESS.

That is a bit of a generalisation there...

Perhaps you should be having a go at the Travel Agent and not the airline?

 

[robd]

What airline allows free booking changes on their cheapest fare class?

Southwest Airlines do it.

No Change Fee - Southwest Airlines

Wouldn't that be nice in Oz?

 

[aviator]

Thanks for that. I must have missed any advertising of the new increased flight change fees - 100$ is a bit high - 50$ would be more reasonable. I guess Australian don't mind these charges and they do tend to veil the unbelievably high cost of fully flexible economy or business class fares. Maybe the problem is that the discounted fares are too low in the first place otherwise the airlines would not need to use these techniques to improve their profitability.

 

[gibspmuh]

I've noticed that for flights sold from CGK-SYD that the change fees are pretty much non-existant so long as you buy a Super Saver fare (US$25 if the ticket requires a reissue, but that's only if there's a change routing as part of the date change), and even on a Sale fare they're only US$50 for a date change. Given the extra cost for the Super Saver fares is only US$40 more each way it's not too painful an option to pick if plans will possibly change.

Compare that with tickets from SYD-CGK and the fees associated with any changes are in line with those outlined above. The cost of a Super Saver fare is roughly double the cost of a Sale fare as well, so it's a costly option if wanting any flexibility.

 

[eosphoros]

Thanks for the table explaining the difference I checked and the extra was from our travel agent there was no difference in the underlying fare. No-one who has bottom-line responsibility would book FULLY FLEXIBLE or BUSINESS to save the flight change fee. I would doubt that anyone except Government employees would book FULLY FLEXIBLE or BUSINESS.

That is a ridiculous generalisation. When the situation requires it, I have booked fully flexible in the past and it certainly did pay off!

In any event, you should be speaking to your travel agent and taking up the change fees with them. They usually tack their own fees on top of what the airline charges.