No refund when a booking change result in a -$ adjustment cost ?

[Austman]

In "Change" on the "Manage Your Bookings" part of the qantas.com website, I've noticed that Qantas willingly takes your money if the change results in an extra cost. But when the change results in a reduced cost you get no refund.

These can sometimes be smallish amounts of money. None-the-less, it seems to be a one-way street in QF's favour.

I recently changed a booking and the website calculated that the change cost would be +$9.90. I made the change, they needed a credit card for the $9.90 and they re-issued the ticket and charged me the $9.90 which is also stated in payment details of the new ticket.

I've made another change to a booking and the website calculated that the change cost would be -$60.00. I made that change too and guess what... the ticket was re-issued with a $0.00 cost in the payment details.

These were Business Saver Fares, and according to the fare conditions, any fare difference + a change fee is chargeable. Sometimes this calculation results in a minus amount.

Should Qantas give back the money when the fare difference calculation (by their own website) is minus?

 

[Ewing]

You're lucky.

Often it only lets you change to the same or higher fare. I've had circumstances in the past where I've been booked in D (Business) and tried to change my flight, but for some reason the new flight was cheaper.

As a result it would only give me options to book into J. I had to do a full refund and make a fresh booking.

 

[Austman]

You're lucky.

Often it only lets you change to the same or higher fare. I've had circumstances in the past where I've been booked in D (Business) and tried to change my flight, but for some reason the new flight was cheaper.

As a result it would only give me options to book into J. I had to do a full refund and make a fresh booking.

Why lucky? I've had many reverse experiences to yours. Where the new calculation has been cheaper. But I've never received a refund. Sometimes if the new fare calculation is just $1.00 or $2.00 more, the amount never gets charged.

In this particular case the new routing was a change to a direct routing rather than indirect and hence why (I think) the new calculation was $60.00 cheaper.

 

[Austman]

Sometimes if the new fare calculation is just $1.00 or $2.00 more, the amount never gets charged.

I should just add, that in these cases I still had to give my credit card details to make the change. But I guess Qantas decided the amount was not worth it ...

 

[Ewing]

Why lucky? I've had many reverse experiences to yours. Where the new calculation has been cheaper. But I've never received a refund. Sometimes if the new fare calculation is just $1.00 or $2.00 more, the amount never gets charged.

Just that your experience is the opposite of mine in that the system usually tries to force me into booking into a higher fare class and therefore paying extra (because otherwise my new fare would be less) so I sometimes have to go through the hassle of cancelling and booking a fresh ticket.

(99% of my domestic travel is booked as one way tickets)

 

[Austman]

Just that your experience is the opposite of mine in that the system usually tries to force me into booking into a higher fare class and therefore paying extra (because otherwise my new fare would be less) so I sometimes have to go through the hassle of cancelling and booking a fresh ticket.

(99% of my domestic travel is booked as one way tickets)

OK, but I can say for at least 10 times that has not been the case for my international Qantas bookings that I needed to change.

Still, the question remains: Should I get a refund when the qantas website calculates a -$ fare adjustment?

 

[Austman]

Looks like I got something back!

07 Aug 2012 QANTAS MASCOT AU AUD 29.39 Cr

I suspect it was a tax component refund and not a fare refund. The new routing was 1 stop less.