Qantas flight credits online - rort or system issue?

mitti

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Like many people I have some qantas flight credits up my sleeve that I accepted for an international flight that I couldn't take last year.

I have looked a few times at options for redeeming these internationally, and have found that the options that come up on searches are significantly more expensive than the standard fares available for the exact same flights, and for the same ticket type.

E.g. Syd-Mel on 09/03 shows the cheapest Red e-Deal through the credit is $383. The same red e-deal tickets are $200 to buy outright.

Syd-Bnk (Ballina) on the same day shows the cheapest qantas ticket through the flight credit is $425 for a flex fair, red-e deal not available. Outright red e-deal is available for the same flight for $160, while a flex fair is $351.

This seems pretty outrageous to me, I get that perhaps there are different buckets that these fairs are coming from, but why don't credits have access to the same cheaper buckets? I am not happy to throw this credit away like it is play money on a flight that is inflated, because it was real money that I spent on it!
 
I thought the conditions of credits were that you would have to use each credit up in a single transaction. I wonder if that is related.
 
I thought the conditions of credits were that you would have to use each credit up in a single transaction. I wonder if that is related.
For credits issued for most of last year after May or around then they made an exemption that credits could be used over multiple flights. Could be that the system isn’t set up for it properly, though.
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I think this is a common issue and sadly you need to ring and talk to someone to get this sorted
What a pain!

(and also a bit dodgy)
 
I get that perhaps there are different buckets that these fairs are coming from, but why don't credits have access to the same cheaper buckets?
As @VPS mentioned the issue is pretty common, I think the QF system looks for an equivalent or higher fare based on the original booking class (fare bucket). I have run into this multiple times over the past few years and calling QF will normally get the outcome you are after, well it has in may case.
 
As @VPS mentioned the issue is pretty common, I think the QF system looks for an equivalent or higher fare based on the original booking class (fare bucket). I have run into this multiple times over the past few years and calling QF will normally get the outcome you are after, well it has in may case.
Ok, good to know that calling them is the way forward with this.

Thanks!
 
Unfortunately the credits generally are limited to same far bucket and require equal or higher spending on the new ticket.

Perhaps call up and try to have the credit converted into a travel pass, which Qantas have been issuing recently. These travel passes are a UATP prepaid credit card effectively and don’t have the restrictions on using.

I think only certain cancelled flights were eligible for the travel pass but it can’t hurt to try.
 
As above a long standing issue with the way the credits were implemented on top of Amadeus. Having said that clearly QF had little incentive to deal with this since it works out to their advantage. Covid has changed this a little but yes still requires manual dealing with by staff because of the limitations of the online platform.
 
As above a long standing issue with the way the credits were implemented on top of Amadeus. Having said that clearly QF had little incentive to deal with this since it works out to their advantage. Covid has changed this a little but yes still requires manual dealing with by staff because of the limitations of the online platform.

Actually no. It handles it just fine.

The OP's PNR is likely missing the flag that allows for a lower fare and all QF needs to do is add that flag. The online system will then automatically issue a new voucher for the balance - in the exact same way it handles gift vouchers.
 
Actually no. It handles it just fine.

The OP's PNR is likely missing the flag that allows for a lower fare and all QF needs to do is add that flag. The online system will then automatically issue a new voucher for the balance - in the exact same way it handles gift vouchers.

yes, but that would need to be added manually. that QF has not set up (or changed) the code that creates them in the first place is the issue.. and again the incentive for them to do so is not there as in the past most people grumbled but "accepted" the conditions.
 
yes, but that would need to be added manually. that QF has not set up (or changed) the code that creates them in the first place is the issue.. and again the incentive for them to do so is not there as in the past most people grumbled but "accepted" the conditions.

QF did actually setup that mechanism. I have a few PNRs that were correctly auto tagged (I could see it in the PNR history). Unfortunately the auto tagging was not perfect and there were some scenarios that resulted in PNRs being missed. I had one where it met the conditions but was missed in the auto tagging but a quick call to QF fixed that, then I could redeem for a lower fare online.
 
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QF did actually setup that mechanism. I have a few PNRs that were correctly auto tagged (I could see it in the PNR history). Unfortunately the auto tagging was not perfect and there were some scenarios that resulted in PNRs being missed. I had one where it met the conditions but was missed in the auto tagging but a quick call to QF fixed that, then I could redeem for a lower fare online.
From what I read in this forum, there is no such thing as a ‘quick call to QF’...
 
From what I read in this forum, there is no such thing as a ‘quick call to QF’...

There is if you're platinum or above. I agree for golds and lower though, the wait times can be long.
 
I received my first booking fee refund on 24/2 but after 3 days, no points refund. Should I be concerned? You would think points would arrive before or the same time as a credit card refund.
 
I received my first booking fee refund on 24/2 but after 3 days, no points refund. Should I be concerned? You would think points would arrive before or the same time as a credit card refund.
Normally they do. For a reward booking that I cancelled mid December I received an email on 10 Feb stating the refund for my booking has been processed and:
We’ve credited the amount back to the same form of payment that you used to make your original booking. Note: your bank or financial institution may take some time to process the funds back to your account.
If you requested a refund for a booking made using Qantas Points (eg a Classic Flight Reward or Points Plus Pay - Flight booking), your Qantas Points will be returned to the nominated Frequent Flyer account, however this may take some time.

I received the taxes back on my credit card the next day but after two weeks (a.k.a "some time") still no points. I called yesterday and the agent said the booking had been flagged that points had been refunded but she could see they never had so she processed the points back to my account immediately.
 
Normally they do. For a reward booking that I cancelled mid December I received an email on 10 Feb stating the refund for my booking has been processed and:
We’ve credited the amount back to the same form of payment that you used to make your original booking. Note: your bank or financial institution may take some time to process the funds back to your account.
If you requested a refund for a booking made using Qantas Points (eg a Classic Flight Reward or Points Plus Pay - Flight booking), your Qantas Points will be returned to the nominated Frequent Flyer account, however this may take some time.

I received the taxes back on my credit card the next day but after two weeks (a.k.a "some time") still no points. I called yesterday and the agent said the booking had been flagged that points had been refunded but she could see they never had so she processed the points back to my account immediately.
I'll let you know how I go. I actually have 4 cancellations in all so I will give it a little while before spending 2 hours on hold. No email as yet.
 
Normally they do. For a reward booking that I cancelled mid December I received an email on 10 Feb stating the refund for my booking has been processed and:
We’ve credited the amount back to the same form of payment that you used to make your original booking. Note: your bank or financial institution may take some time to process the funds back to your account.
If you requested a refund for a booking made using Qantas Points (eg a Classic Flight Reward or Points Plus Pay - Flight booking), your Qantas Points will be returned to the nominated Frequent Flyer account, however this may take some time.

I received the taxes back on my credit card the next day but after two weeks (a.k.a "some time") still no points. I called yesterday and the agent said the booking had been flagged that points had been refunded but she could see they never had so she processed the points back to my account immediately.
Still no email but I received some points yesterday.
Flight cancelled 18/1
Money refunded 24/2 (not 100% sure it is for that booking)
Points refunded 1/3
 
This is NOT an issue per se. The fare conditions have always been very clear that going via a fare refund pathway requires the purchase of the same or higher fare class. That's how the system is suppose to work (pre-covid). I totally get that things change for covid with the move to UATP cards etc. and I get that there are issues around this process. However, having to buy a higher fare class is the way the system was designed to work
From what I read in this forum, there is no such thing as a ‘quick call to QF’...
Just requested a domestic business award to be released, got confirmation, booked it and looked up passenger QFF details in 9 minutes. All with a phone operator at home in Tasmania. Great bird song sound track in the background.

platinum...
 
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I do agree with you re the fare conditions and all.. but the question is more that were those fare conditions (or rather, the conditions of the voucher) born of the limitations when the voucher system was first set up, or was this deliberate.. which more or less gets back to the subject of the thread. :)
 
I do agree with you re the fare conditions and all.. but the question is more that were those fare conditions (or rather, the conditions of the voucher) born of the limitations when the voucher system was first set up, or was this deliberate.. which more or less gets back to the subject of the thread. :)
Having the first opportunity yesterday to use the first of my cancellation vouchers, I vote against rort. I had not problem using the voucher, besides having to phone Qantas since online won't move beyond the flight search details screen. The only question about being able to us it from the phone operator was the original booking was return flights and the new booking was one way. That didn't end up being an issue.

I did end up buying a higher fare class business instead of return flexi...
 

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