Qantas Revenue booking cancellations (under covid19)

[SeatBackForward]

Hey @SeatBackForward , just wondering if you got around on how to cancel the tickets for your August trip? As mentioned earlier, I've got one to India booked via AMEX Qantas credit ... I tried calling AMEX a few times, but the waiting times were too long

Ade,

My situation is a little different to yours. I was going TO India using a Qantas classic Rewards booking using CX and EK as the carriers. My Return from india was with a Malaysian fare that was tied into a future trip back to KL and India. I've been able to get the classic reward fully refunded under the new QF policy in late may, and I still have the MH fare, and they've been changing dates on me so much - but ultimately I will either cancel for refund or as credit on this one.

By the Way Smarttraveller still has a Do not travel advice on India and no international flights are allowed into India, this may change by August, however my contacts in India seem to suggest the COVID situation there is getting worse not better.

 

[Condorflier]

Is a chargeback via your bank (or AMEX) a possible alternative course of action for you?

I expect QF to refund my AMEX card since that was where the original debit occurred
in any event I have reported the matter to ACCC. I suggest anyone similarly aggrieved does the sam via

Contacting a business to fix a problem

If you have a problem with a product or service, your first step is to contact the seller.

www.accc.gov.au

Is a chargeback via your bank (or AMEX) a possible alternative course of action for you?

 

[bPeteb]

I've just called again about a refund that is now 11 and half weeks in the waiting. First response was this was only applied for on June 16 and I said nope, that's when I called to escalate. Somehow it had half processed then dropped out into the queue again. I bet the credit card fees don't get included and I'll have to ring again... How can BA process refunds in < one week but QF is so unwilling to give our money back.

Only four more weeks and I can escalate my final refund, the largest one of course, J to SA...

 

[Ade]

Thank you @JB expat - I will get on the phone with AMEX and see how I go. Will report back

Hey @JB expat & @SeatBackForward

So I had a call with AMEX and it seems QF had cancelled the first leg of my onward & return - which were both domestic SYD-MEL-SYD, and, given the current situation, AMEX is happy to cancel my tickets with no penalty. In addition, the $450 travel credit will be reinstated into my account with the expiry date set to one year from the date refund is processed. I've been advised that the refund could take up to 12 weeks from the date of initiation (which was yesterday).

So far, so good.

Now, got into a call with Sri Lankan for my leg from CMB-MAA-CMB, which was booked on the cheapest fare class and hence me initiating a cancel would mean a US$45 penalty. I was advised to hold off making any decisions until UL cancels the flight, in which case, I'd be refunded the cost of the ticket in full.

So need to wait until end of July and give UL a call again

 

[Ade]

this may change by August, however my contacts in India seem to suggest the COVID situation there is getting worse not better.

That's what I hear from my family as well. The situation is getting worse by the hour, in certain places. I was talking to my parents two days back and the new cases were at 1200 around mid-day IST for that day.

And I don't see intl flights into India allowed anytime until early to mid next year.

The population in India is massive and the opportunity for a community transfer is like a thousand times more than other countries.

Besides, I know some of my neighbours in India were infected and the government has sealed off their properties. The infected are taken away in an ambulance to the hospital. Those that living in the address can't leave the building. Any shopping they need is to be organized by a home delivery, left at the door. An official from the health department visits them everyday and take temperature and other checks.

Qantas classic Rewards booking using CX and EK as the carriers. My Return from india was with a Malaysian fare that was tied into a future trip back to KL and India. I've been able to get the classic reward fully refunded under the new QF policy in late may, and I still have the MH fare,

Now, that's an amazing, yet, complex booking

My situation is a little different to yours.

Now, I see why

 

[JB expat]

Hey @JB expat & @SeatBackForward

So I had a call with AMEX and it seems QF had cancelled the first leg of my onward & return - which were both domestic SYD-MEL-SYD, and, given the current situation, AMEX is happy to cancel my tickets with no penalty. In addition, the $450 travel credit will be reinstated into my account with the expiry date set to one year from the date refund is processed. I've been advised that the refund could take up to 12 weeks from the date of initiation (which was yesterday).

So far, so good.

Now, got into a call with Sri Lankan for my leg from CMB-MAA-CMB, which was booked on the cheapest fare class and hence me initiating a cancel would mean a US$45 penalty. I was advised to hold off making any decisions until UL cancels the flight, in which case, I'd be refunded the cost of the ticket in full.

So need to wait until end of July and give UL a call again

That's not bad progress and is consistent with what AmEx told me re: my cancellation. Good luck with the Sri Lankan leg - hope you get 100% refund.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Hey @JB expat & @SeatBackForward

So I had a call with AMEX and it seems QF had cancelled the first leg of my onward & return - which were both domestic SYD-MEL-SYD, and, given the current situation, AMEX is happy to cancel my tickets with no penalty. In addition, the $450 travel credit will be reinstated into my account with the expiry date set to one year from the date refund is processed. I've been advised that the refund could take up to 12 weeks from the date of initiation (which was yesterday).

So far, so good.

Now, got into a call with Sri Lankan for my leg from CMB-MAA-CMB, which was booked on the cheapest fare class and hence me initiating a cancel would mean a US$45 penalty. I was advised to hold off making any decisions until UL cancels the flight, in which case, I'd be refunded the cost of the ticket in full.

So need to wait until end of July and give UL a call again

Yeah sounds similar a domestic SYD>BNE booking I had with Amex Rewards for earlier this month. Amex rang me and told me it would cancelled and refunded in full with the credit valid for a further 12 months - sounds consistent to what you are receiving also, even to the 12wk refund period.

The suggestion to wait is a good idea. I'm getting frustrated with SpiceJet regarding some domestic flights I had booked, they refuse to give me credit and want to stick to a policy of only returning 50% of the value for cancellations. I'm tempted to just do online check in and see what happens when they try to contact me, I'll tell them I'm almost at the gate...from my chair here in Sydney.

Post automatically merged: Jun 25, 2020

That's what I hear from my family as well. The situation is getting worse by the hour, in certain places. I was talking to my parents two days back and the new cases were at 1200 around mid-day IST for that day.

And I don't see intl flights into India allowed anytime until early to mid next year.

The population in India is massive and the opportunity for a community transfer is like a thousand times more than other countries.

Besides, I know some of my neighbours in India were infected and the government has sealed off their properties. The infected are taken away in an ambulance to the hospital. Those that living in the address can't leave the building. Any shopping they need is to be organized by a home delivery, left at the door. An official from the health department visits them everyday and take temperature and other checks.



Now, that's an amazing, yet, complex booking



Now, I see why

Yep I don't see travel to India until Mid 2021 at the EARLIEST.

 

[Ade]

I'm getting frustrated with SpiceJet regarding some domestic flights

Whoa!! I have had some experience with SpiceJet (SG).

I used to fly Jet Airways (9W) domestically in India, however, sometimes the price difference between 9W and SG would be humungous, that I choose to fly SG for short legs and they were always challenging ...

I had to cancel a short leg, a 30 minute flight between Chennai & Tuticorin, a small port in Tamil Nadu. SpiceJet was the only operator, at the time and they had a very tight cancellation policy. Also, they are sometimes inconsistent with bags.

But I had to tell,I enjoy their on-board meals, especially, the traditional meals they serve as a pre-order. I enjoyed their idly-sambhar-vada combo

I'm tempted to just do online check in and see what happens when they try to contact me, I'll tell them I'm almost at the gate...from my chair here in Sydney.

Ha ha That would be hilarious

 

[bPeteb]

My refund for our Perth flights landed on the weekend. You’d think it would be easy to get amount exact but I guess not. Maybe the gst calculation is proving problematic. A tiny amount out but a relief I’m down to just one more refund to go.

 

[CaptJCool]

Any idea when flight credits got extended out until December 2022?

 

[Mqrko]

I was told it is not possible to pay a classic flight reward with the flight credits that I have accumulated since.

Is this true?

 

[Port Power]

I was told it is not possible to pay a classic flight reward with the flight credits that I have accumulated since.

Is this true?

Classic flight rewards use points to purchase. Your flight credit is money. You would have to cancel the award flight for refund of points (less points fee if applicable) and rebook using credit vouchers at the current price.

 

[Port Power]

Any idea when flight credits got extended out until December 2022?

Email was dated 18 June 2020. On March 26 the vouchers were extended to end of December 2021, then on June 18 extended to December 2022..

 

[Mqrko]

Classic flight rewards use points to purchase. Your flight credit is money. You would have to cancel the award flight for refund of points (less points fee if applicable) and rebook using credit vouchers at the current price.

Sorry, I was wondering about the taxes which we need to pay with money

 

[Berlin]

Just an update on my last outstanding refund, just under $3,000. Did my once a month call to Qantas and ended up with the very same person in the Philippines for the third time (!!!) which is just bizarre in itself if you ask me. She was clueless and not very helpful as per the other two times, just with crazy dog bark noise in the background this time. I asked her what's this with the dog barking and that threw her off her script entirely. Once I went through the relocs of my outstanding bookings, she insisted that the very last one remaining she had never heard of. Even though it was her (literally HER) that I had spoken to about all these bookings from the very beginning.

I told her that this is not acceptable, reiterated that I had 4 bookings in total at the beginning and that one had always been part of the conversation and once she did not budge, I told her in every detail which call on which date I had spoken to her and then usually someone else in Australia once having been put through. She just replied that "We also have records here on everything we have spoken Sirrrr" so essentially accused me of lying.

In the end I was finally put through to a lovely Aussie lady who first confirmed that Qantas is taking ridiculously long with those refunds and apologized profoundly. After a lengthy hold while she tried to call the god-like person in power who can actually process those refunds, I finally was told that it's all being sorted and I should see the refund on my Amex by next week Friday. I was totally blown away for this, very grateful and thanked her several times. Let's hope this has really, finally, worked and I will of course update on here as soon as I've received that final amount.

The learning here for all of you who are still being held in limbo by Qantas: Call them. Call them often. Do not just take anyone's word about the 8-10 weeks and then only check once you haven't received it by then as chances are, someone at Qantas will try and claim that they've never started the process. I had this happen several times now. And never ever even engage much with the initial person on the phone if you end up in one of the off shore call centres. They are only there as a gatekeeper and not empowered to even follow up properly. So always insist for your call to be escalated and then push push push again once you get through to someone in Australia. Worked for me in the end, every single time. But it's stressful, time consuming and pretty much the opposite of customer-focused service. No excuses Qantas- this is atrocious. Some companies have excelled in this crisis, some have at least done their jobs and some have behaved really really badly and done nothing much more than laying off staff. You, Qantas, are one of the latter. As a long term customer who spends half my income on your airline, this is a real disappointment.

 

[colche]

Been following this thread and I finally got my main refund today, so here are some reference timings for anybody interested

Mid Nov 2019 - Booked international flights departing late May 2020
25th March 2020 - Email from Qantas saying flight converted to voucher with a link to "Manage Booking"
26th March 2020 - Clicked link on email, went to bottom of page and clicked "Refund" option. Got confirmation screen with refund $ amount and that was it. A few days later I recall it disappeared off my bookings.
10th May 2020 - Rang (6 week mark) about an hour on hold. Friendly aussie girl said could see it with refunds department, ring back if nothing in 2 weeks.
11th June 2020 - Rang (11 week mark) 1.5 hours on hold. Friendly aussie guy said would escalate and expect an email by the end of the day and funds in account a few days after (these did happen but took longer).
16th June 2020 - Got an email from Qantas saying refund had been processed
3rd July 2020 - Funds landed in account (POLI Payment)

So just over 14 weeks from clicking on that refund button and funds landing in account.

During that time, I also had domestic classic reward flights refunded (points and taxes on credit card refunded), but from memory that only took 3-4 weeks.

 

[Melburnian1]

Been following this thread and I finally got my main refund today, so here are some reference timings for anybody interested...

16th June 2020 - Got an email from Qantas saying refund had been processed
3rd July 2020 - Funds landed in account (POLI Payment)

So just over 14 weeks from clicking on that refund button and funds landing in account...

Apart from the desire of airlines (QF being far from the only 'offender') to preserve cashflow for as long as possible, why does it take 16 or 17 days from a refund being 'processed' to you receiving the funds?

Is QF using a carrier pigeon that decided to stop off somewhere for a two week holiday?

 

[serfty]

Apart from the desire of airlines (QF being far from the only 'offender') to preserve cashflow for as long as possible, why does it take 16 or 17 days from a refund being 'processed' to you receiving the funds?

It a bit like banking over the weekend, such transactions don't traditionally show up until Tuesday morning (or even Wednesday over 'long' weekends). Banks often leverage this to hang onto funds for longer. There is no technical reason for this to be these days, it just is.

On the same "traditional" basis, when credit cards first appeared, refunds generally took six week. Now they happen quicker but airlines appear to often deliberately delay refunds as long as "they can get away with".

 

[NM]

On the same "traditional" basis, when credit cards first appeared, refunds generally took six week. Now they happen quicker but airlines appear to often deliberately delay refunds as long as "they can get away with".

Of course, one of the reasons airlines have continued to take 6+ weeks to process refunds is to deter people making fully refundable bookings on the credit cards, and then cancelling last minute. Such booking/cancellations plays havoc with the airline's inventory management and some people would use this to their advantageous, such as book a First Class refundable ticket, go the airport and use the F-lounge, then cancel before boarding commences, get a refund and go home, or book three tickets and allocate seating on the same row, then when boarding commences cancel two of them for a refund and get a row to yourself.

So by ensuring the refund takes longer than the credit card billy cycle, the airlines have built a deterrent into their process, ensuring anyone trying those practices will be paying interest or funding the process between credit card billing cycles.

There are ways they could implement the process that might better serve customers who are doing the right thing (I expect most fall into this category), such as immediate refund if the credit card payment was processed more than 6 weeks earlier. And I expect the mine their systems to identify customers rorting the system with bookings they never intend to actually use.

When system rorting is clearly not the customer's reason for cancelling, there really is no excuse for taking more than 1 week to process a refund. And using teh excuse that they are very busy due to so many cancellations does not make sense at this time when Jobkeeper is available to allow then have as many people as it takes to get the job done.

 

[RAM]

...and Q's cash situation was much worse than the media were suggesting. Hence after saying in May that Q would not need any capital raising they went for the absolute maximum, permitted under the ASX rules, recently.

Q seemingly no longer has any assets left to borrow money against (security) & given the 'official valuations' for popular airframes have fallen now by 30+% since Dec 31 vaulations - many of the secured lenders are partially unsecured (not good for banks' end of financial years).

Expect Q to become more 'consumer friendly' on the flight credit front vs refunds in coming weeks with offers of 10%+ additional credit, lounge passes, status credits etc getting much more common. Then add-in a pay $95 get $100 Q-voucher promotion and the circle will be complete....