Qantas cancelled my booking, no notice, no refund made

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KMc

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Hi all, advice sought.

I am due to fly home from Rome in a few days, ticket purchased in March using classic rewards. Last night I went to check my seat, and the return flight no longer existed. It said ‘trip completed’

I phoned Qantas. What occurred was, I booked my flight in March... I’m august (4 days before I departed) the airline contacted me to modify my departure time on my flight to London. At this point, they accidentally cancelled my booking for the return flight home. Hence why under the same booking number it was saying ‘trip completed’

They did not notify me of this. They made no refund of points or taxes. I would not have been allowed to board my flight.

Thankfully, they were able to book me a seat on the same flight home. BUT it’s a new booking, I’ve had to pay again with points and taxes.... awaiting the ORIGINAL flight to be refunded.

The new flight I booked and paid for last night cost more in points and taxes!

I don’t think I should be penalised and have to pay extra, when this was 100% an error by Qantas.

I am awaiting contact from the FF team, but they’re only M-F.

Is it worth going to the Qantas office in Rome to discuss compensation for this ridiculous stuff up. How can they cancel your booking without it trickling a refund or an email notification?

Does anyone have advice - has anyone been in a similar situation?

Thanks in advance!
 
An awful situation for sure. I would not waste any time going to see anyone in Rome. Take the flight back and upon your return send a succinct email with the details including dates/times/calls to Qantas frequent flyer. They should refund you the points difference and the difference in taxes plus I would be asking for some FF points in compensation for you having to interrupt your trip to sort this out.
 
Sound advice, thank you for your reply.
I was considering asking them for some points and also a lounge pass for my layover in Hong Kong... but we’ll see what eventuates!
It was lucky I had enough points to re-book the flight... it would have been quite a pickle.... !
 
Incredible they made you pay for it and then you have to wait for them to process a refund! Their error, they should fix it and work out their own internal accounting without bothering the passenger who has already been inconvenienced. Where's the customer orientation in that?!
 
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Agree!! And if I wasn’t so nervous about not having a flight home (to get back to my job...!) I would have pushed that point further. Tricky situation to be in when you *neeed* the security of having a booking secured. It’s almost business hours Monday now in australia, so I’m hoping FF calls me today as promised
 
That’s just awful for you and just as well you checked before arriving at the airport. And I’d make it more public by tweeting.
 
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Agree!! And if I wasn’t so nervous about not having a flight home (to get back to my job...!) I would have pushed that point further. Tricky situation to be in when you *neeed* the security of having a booking secured. It’s almost business hours Monday now in australia, so I’m hoping FF calls me today as promised

As Princess Fiona has pointed out, it will all come out in the wash and get sorted once you get back to Australia. I doubt the Rome office is QF staffed anyway - it will likely be an agent. And they won't be able to sort anything out at this stage.

Similarly the airport staff in Rome won't be of much use. And probably won't have the authority to grant you lounge access. Someone from QFFF may be able to arrange lounge access in HKG, but it's not a normal compensation that we hear about here on AFF.

You can, and should, request compensation. But don't leave it up to the airline to determine. It will never be as high as you want. Go in with a specific point value in mind... for example 20K FF points. Or whatever it is you want.

Having the points in your account made this relatively easy to fix. If you hadn't had the points available, or if there hadn't been award seats available, , QF would still have got you home (they can't abandon you). But you would have had a day or more's stress waiting while they did whatever they need to do.
 
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OMG that is shocking - that's what travel insurance is for thank god!
I would have just rocked up to the airport in Rome, showed them my ticket... and then let them deal with it.
There are all sorts of rules that come into play when you are actually on the ground, at an airport, with a ticket in your hand. I know not everyone has the stomach for that kind of stress but I say "bring it on"!
 
Incredible they made you pay for it and then you have to wait for them to process a refund! Their error, they should fix it and work out their own internal accounting without bothering the passenger who has already been inconvenienced. Where's the customer orientation in that?!
I had issues with a Qantas hotel booking and they asked me to make a new booking and chase up a refund on existing booking. I refused and asked them to fix existing booking which they did.

Asking for new booking could be a lazy way out for them.
 
I had issues with a Qantas hotel booking and they asked me to make a new booking and chase up a refund on existing booking. I refused and asked them to fix existing booking which they did.

Asking for new booking could be a lazy way out for them.
Surely that cannot be the case from Australia's leading and best ever airline?
 
OMG that is shocking - that's what travel insurance is for thank god!
I would have just rocked up to the airport in Rome, showed them my ticket... and then let them deal with it.
There are all sorts of rules that come into play when you are actually on the ground, at an airport, with a ticket in your hand. I know not everyone has the stomach for that kind of stress but I say "bring it on"!

I dunno if this would be covered by travel insurance.

Turing up at Rome airport might be fine, and the airline may be able to accommodate you on another flight, but that won't help if the other flights are full. A potential major issue is that a cancelled ticket might not hold much sway, and airport staff may not be able to reinstate it.

Always best to sort these things out as early as possible when you have more options available.
 
Did you book the original return Classic rewards under the same booking as the outgoing flight?

Travel insurance will not be a party in this case. There were no other costs other than the points and taxes for the reinstated flight. The points and taxes for original flight will hopefully be refunded in due course. So there will not be any out of pocket claimable expenses.
 
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