Qantas Points Booking Change

[borsa]

I have an eight leg points booking on Qantas - SYD-MEL-KUL-DXB-FCO- surface- IST -LHR- LGW - AMS -HKK-SYD. This cost 179,000 points and taxes of $942.The surface section is a cruise from Rome to Istanbul. The cruise company has now cancelled Istanbul and substituted Athens. I have now had to book a separate paid flight from Athens to LHR as no award seats are available on the day I wish to travel.

I phoned Qantas to split the trip into two parts SYD-FCO and LGW-SYD. This would have meant 68,000 points and $315 taxes for the first section, and 87,000 points and $375 taxes for the second section - a saving of 24,000 points and $151 taxes. Qantas say this can't be done, without cancelling the whole booking and starting again with two separate itineraries. This would be OK but one of the legs, LGW-AMS is no longer available, However the whole of the first section is still available.

If I go online I can rebook the whole of the first section. I would like to cancel the first four legs of the existing booking, leaving the second section intact, but it is not clear from the website whether I can cancel each leg in turn, or whether clicking on the cancel button will cancel the whole itinerary.

Phoning Qantas tonight is a nightmare - a wait time of over an hour. Can anyone give advice on the on-line cancelling function?

Also would an on-line change avoid change fees?

 

[Mark3000]

Could you buy your own ticket from Athens to Istanbul? Would that work, or not enough time?

 

[madrooster]

You will need to call QF and have them cancel the first lot of flights on your existing ticket. This will incur the change fee of 3500 points per passenger and the phone service fee, if you aren't booked in J/F. You can then rebook the first part of the trip as a separate ticket.

 

[borsa]

Thanks for that. That's what I thought I would have to do. I just wanted to know if there was any way in which I could cancel the first leg on-line, thus avoiding the phone service fee and the extra points, as the website does not make it clear whether each flight can be cancelled in turn or whether the whole booking would be cancelled. The extra points does not worry me as these days with all the taxes for award flights, they are barely worth having unless they are used on a RTW. It has already cost me some $660 for the separate flight for two passengers from Athens to LHR - and that was the best I could find.