Travel Pass eligibility

[aweingar]

Hi all,
Back in December I had to cancel a flight to Fiji due to a covid close contact scare. I was asked by the agent whether I would like a refund, and I mentioned that I'd like to have a Travel Pass instead. He said no problem, and issued the request.
By late January there was still no trace of the TP, so I called again. I was told that it can take up to 6 weeks to process, so it might take another week or so.
A week later, still nothing.
Called again yesterday. Spoke to another agent (Fiji this time), she said I was not eligible for a travel pass. When I asked why she could not explain. Later she said she will sort it all out by the end of today (Monday) and call me back to confirm. End of day came and went but I've heard nothing further.
Today I called again. This time the agent left me hanging on hold for over 30 minutes, then returned to say that the TP should be processed within 24 hours and sent to me.
I was happy. For a short period.
An hour later I receive another call from a different agent with a terrible phone line, who again claimed I was not eligible for a TP. She could not explain the reason, or maybe she did but I could not understand due to the poor connection. She suggested if I want to challenge this decision I can contact Qantas refunds and they might be able to help further. She gave me the number for Refunds and hung up. I tried to call the number she provided, 1300 422 070, only to find that it is out of service.
I now had to call Qantas yet again, waiting for a callback. I am not hopeful that it will be resolved anytime soon.

Any insights or suggestions? Does anyone know what is this mysterious number for Qantas Refunds? What makes you ineligible for a TP?

Qantas customer service is utterly hopeless. It seems to be getting worse rather than improving.

 

[RichardMEL]

wow. terrible.

So if you were eligible for a refund, you absolutely should have been eligible for a travel pass. The question I have though is - was your booking eligible for refund since it was a voluntary cancellation by you (which I fully understand) but in general a voluntary cancel was not grounds for refund (only if QF cancels). However of course if the fare was flexible and refundable then you should have been able to go that route. After the first agent offered you the TP and "processed the request" you should have had an email within minutes confirmingyour election to receive a TP for booking xx_xx_. Did you get this at all or not? (this is different to the actual TP information email once issued)

So... they may be right, or they may be wrong in my view (and the mixed messaging is not in any way helpful).

Were you offered a flight credit at any stage? QF has been processing flight credits as travel passes, but that seems to be a separate process to a cancel to flight credit process, which iirc, still will give an old style flight credit.

(I'm sorry you could not have your time in fiji)

 

[aweingar]

As per the Qantas Fly Flexible policy, bookings made from 1 October 2021 are still entitled to a flight credit if your plans have changed. My booking was in class I

Post automatically merged: Feb 7, 2022

Received another callback, another agent in Fiji. She had no idea what a TP was, said that I currently have a credit voucher which will be automatically converted to a Qantas Pass (whatever that is). I tried explaining what a TP was, she then said their systems had no access to it and they can't do it. I explained to her that I currently have no record at all of this credit, neither as a credit voucher nor as a TP, and she sent me this "Travel Document" which seems to contain a made up itinerary with my name on it (random dates, wrong travel class, "Fictitious Point" as the departure and destination, and no $ value), said this is my credit voucher. I asked for the number for Qantas refund but she said the only contact they can give me is the general Qantas number.
Seeing I'm getting nowhere I asked to speak to a supervisor. She said all supervisors are busy and put me on hold. A minute or two later she promptly disconnected the call.

Called again now, have to wait another couple of hours for a callback.
6 calls to Qantas so far to try to resolve this issue. The results? FAIL, FAIL, FAIL, FAIL, FAIL, FAIL

 

[RichardMEL]

OK so yes you were entitled to a flight credit, which it seems you have (check the original PNR reference).

I am uncertain if agents can push these flight credits to be converted to TP. As I noted above that seems a separate process QF are doing, and for reasons only known to themselves new credits are still issued via the old (bad) system and not directly as TP.

For clarify if I were you I'd not mention refunds futher as that will confuse the situation.

The "travel document" with ficticious location etc i correct. If you go to QF website with the redeem flight credit page, pop in your PNR and name and it should show the value. Ignore the details in that document re class and origin and destination, it is a dummy booking (the way they manage these flight credits). You should see the value there. You should also have receied an email of the flight credit.

It seems to me you have a flight credit for the flights you cancelled and that is correct. You should still be able to use it, knowing the conditions of it though can be restrictive. Of course a TP would be preferred, but as I said I do not believe this is something QF agents can action, as it seems to be a back office process to my way of thinking.

good luck!

 

[dylarr]

The Fly Flexible policy entitles you to a flight credit but not a Travel Pass — they are two seperate things. From my experience the Travel Pass is only offered in situations where you would be entitled to a refund (i.e. Qantas cancels the flight), but not for customer initiated cancellations.

 

[aweingar]

Conflicting advice from different agents I speak to. Very frustrating.

Another callback, another agent to explain all this to. Again, she put me on hold, then disconnected.

Anyone knows when the Fiji call centre goes offline? Maybe I'll have better luck with a different call centre.

 

[RichardMEL]

to be honest I think we have explained the situation to you. The agents have been poor but essentially the majority of them appear to have given you the correct information (even without good explanation).

Have you managed to access your flight credit at qantas.com?

 

[aweingar]

Actually 2 agents told me that I am definitely getting a TP, two others said I can't, but then changed their mind to say that I can, one said I definitely can't and gave me a fictitious number to follow up with, and one insisted that their system will automatically give me a Qantas Pass. One offered me a full refund as well, before disconnecting the call.
Disconnecting the call regularly is unforgiveable.

When go to Manage Booking, there is no mention of any credit. The original itinerary is gone, all it has on the page is passenger details and booking contact . I do not know how I else can see my alleged credit voucher on the Qantas site.

 

[RichardMEL]

OK what do you mean by "fictitious number"? was it wrong?

While MNB should take you to redeem your flight credit (it has for me in the past), try this page:

Qantas Flight Credits | Qantas

Find out about Qantas Flight Credits, usually offered on cancelled bookings and how to redeem flight credit online or via your local Qantas office.

www.qantas.com

scroll down to "Book your flight using your flight credit" and enter the details.

I have a funny feeling though from what you see in the MNB that someone has screwed it up royally and it is not a properly formed PNR. Just a guess.

I am unsure why agents would offer you a refund for a booking you cancelled UNLESS it was a fully refundable fare. I class fares are discounted Business, and while it may have a refundable condition it does depend on the exact fare conditions of the original booking.

At any rate if you are unable to bring up your flight credit from the above link, there's definitely something amiss.

If I were you I would forget mention of a travel pass at his point. I would want to ensure the flight credit is sorted out properly first. Yes, I fully understand how frustrating this must be. With QF sometimes it is best to take things in simple steps.

That is just my thoughts on the situation as presented.

 

[aweingar]

what do you mean by "fictitious number"? was it wrong?

Yes, it was wrong. The number she gave me (repeated it twice) is out of service.

I followed your suggested process, it gives me the same info as Manage My Booking: just passenger and contact details, nothing else. There's an Edit button, but all I can do there is update my contact details, add meals and special requests.

I don't know whether the agent who offered a refund would have been able to do this. As you point out it was not a flex booking. It might have been an empty promise, just like the agents who promised me the Travel Pass.

I'm just trying to get someone to talk to who can actually help. It seems to be a tall order when all you have is the general Qantas enquiry line and a measly gold status.

 

[RichardMEL]

I'm truly sorry you're stuck like this. so very frustrating!!!

I think the original agent did not fully process the flight credit correctly, or there's something wrong with the PNR (gah!).

I think this is the thing to focus on. Basically that you are unable to access your flight credit to use it (worry about TP later imo).

I would be royally pissed off if I were you for sure. This just should not be an thing, and all the people you have talked to now have either been useless or made things worse. aggravating !

 

[RichardMEL]

btw I would suggest trying the numbers pinned at the top of this thread, but it seems they are no longer useful alas

Qantas Call Centre Long Wait Times

My understanding (from unofficial sources) is that there is a pool of priority phone numbers that airport staff give to passengers which rotates every few weeks. I will attempt to publish the currently active number(s) in this post: 1300 304 318 1300 659 161 1300 025 396 1300 659 116 1300 024...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

however you can always add your ongoing saga to the stories there....

 

[aweingar]

you can always add your ongoing saga to the stories there

Haha yes I will. I'll do this when I finally get a resolution.
Hopefully it's a "when", not "if"

Post automatically merged: Feb 7, 2022

Thanks for your assistance

 

[Matt_01]

I'm just trying to get someone to talk to who can actually help. It seems to be a tall order when all you have is the general Qantas enquiry line and a measly gold status.

Good Luck, I have access to the VIP line and posted this earlier today. IMO QF is all over the place at the moment.

 

[aweingar]

Update on this issue:
Very late on Monday night (after midnight) I called again, this time reaching the South Africa call centre. The agent confirmed that I have a "Qantas Pass", which seems to be just a fancy name for a credit voucher. I told him that I have no record of this anywhere, and he proceeded to send this to me via email. After waiting on the line for 10 minutes, the email had still not arrived. The agent promised to chase this up and call me again in the morning to let me know what is happening. He never called back.
On Tuesday morning, having given up on the South African agent, I called again, reached the Fiji centre once more. The lady I spoke to said that I cannot see this voucher online because making a booking using a voucher must be done over the phone and cannot be done online. I insisted that I must be able to see it online and eventually she passed me on to a supervisor who was much more helpful, and some 15 minutes later I was able to see (and use) my voucher online.
Now that the credit voucher issue was resolved, I proceeded to explain to her that I was actually promised a TP back in December, a promise that was not kept. She said she will try to follow up. Will update here again if there's another development.

 

[RichardMEL]

Well I am glad you finally have your flight credit as you should have had all along.

the misinformation though is horrendously bad. I was wincing reading that.

 

[aweingar]

A final update on this sorry saga.

Subsequent calls since my last update (a different agent each time):

17/02 The agent I spoke to again agreed to refund to the original travel pass
28/02 Still no refund. This time the agent said the refund is not there yet because it takes 2 weeks to process
03/03 (2 weeks are up) Still no refund. This agent said it might take another 3-5 days. She will call back tomorrow to confirm. She didn't
10/03 Another agent said the request submitted by the agent on 17/02 was not done properly and we have to start all over again(!). She re-submitted it yet again, this time she said it will take 6-8 weeks to process
08/04 Another agent, confirmed that the request on 10/3 was properly submitted. Said it can take up to 8 weeks
02/05 (8 weeks are up): still no refund. Agent says it is indeed overdue and she will send a follow-up form to the refunds department, and the refund should be issued within 24-48 hours
04/05 (48 hours are up) Still no refund on the travel pass. Spoke to another agent, she said she will check with the refund department and call me back soon. Needless to say, no one called me back.
05/05 Checked the balance of the travel pass, the refund had finally been issued!!!

All it took was around15 calls to Qantas and an overall wait time of approximately 15 hours. Numerous agents gave me conflicting advice, submitted requests incorrectly, never bothered to call back when promised. Overall resolution time from start to finish - nearly 5 months. Nice.
I'm glad it's all behind me.