Rewards booking fee

[bsb]

I’m sure I’ve seen something about this elsewhere, but can’t find reference to it in the forums.

What’s the deal on being charged a 6000 reward booking fee for a classic reward via the phone when the option was not available online (meaning the city pairs do not appear in the QF drop down box). I know It’s only 12k points between the two of us, but it irks me that it’s compulsory when I’d prefer to have done it online and use those points for something more productive.

BTW, the other half diligently booked this and happily agreed to the 12k.

Any insights here?

 

[snabbu]

If what you are attempting to do is not possible to complete online (an award with a JL sector for example) then you need to bring it up with the phone operator explaining exactly what you can't do and that the points fee should be waved.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I’m sure I’ve seen something about this elsewhere, but can’t find reference to it in the forums.

What’s the deal on being charged a 6000 reward booking fee for a classic reward via the phone when the option was not available online (meaning the city pairs do not appear in the QF drop down box). I know It’s only 12k points between the two of us, but it irks me that it’s compulsory when I’d prefer to have done it online and use those points for something more productive.

BTW, the other half diligently booked this and happily agreed to the 12k.

Any insights here?

No harm in emailing QFFF customer service and asking for a retrospective waiver if the award could not be booked on line.

 

[odysseus]

If what you are attempting to do is not possible to complete online (an award with a JL sector for example) then you need to bring it up with the phone operator explaining exactly what you can't do and that the points fee should be waved.

Some operators do not accept that as a valid reason to waive the fee, since unfortunately there is nothing officially in QF terms to justify that.

In the past year QF confirmed the fee would be waived in the case of a couple of specific airlines which cannot be booked online, but it sounds like this is something different.

 

[Mattg]

In my experience, QF will usually waive that fee if you can't book online. The cities not appearing when you try to search online would be a valid reason for waiving the fee. You do sometimes have to ask, though.

Having said that, I've had limited success with getting that fee waived when booking a Oneworld Award, even though it's generally impossible to book those online.

 

[tizey]

I had the booking fee waived this morning for 3 x JL awards. Initially they wanted 6000pts per ticket per person or $70 per ticket per person, but I confirmed that I'd had this waived previously for JL awards as I cannot book them online.

The agent was more than happy to waive it on the grounds of past precedent for JL awards.

 

[Stevo.1702]

I had an issue a little while ago booking a reward online and the operator said he can only waive the fee if I quote him the error number the was appearing on my screen.