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Qantas has quietly increased the service fees charged when making or changing a booking, including Classic Flight Rewards. The airline has also raised the cap on credit card fees, meaning customers booking expensive tickets may now be slugged an even higher credit card surcharge.
Increases to Qantas booking & change fees
The fees for bookings made via the Qantas call centre, Qantas airport locations or social media increased from 18 December 2019. The fees do not apply to bookings made on the Qantas website.
For domestic and trans-Tasman bookings, the fee has increased from $40 to $45 (or from 3,500 Qantas points to 4,500 points for Classic Flight Reward bookings made with Qantas points, which can be paid for using either points or cash). For other international bookings, the booking fee has increased from $70 (or 6,000 Qantas points) to $77 (or 7,700 Qantas points). This booking fee should be waived for bookings that cannot be made online, such as tickets originating in Points of Sale not supported by the Qantas website.
There are also various amendments to Change Booking fees, as outlined in the Qantas schedule of fees. Most fees are increasing, while the fee for changing an international booking is being reduced from $80 to $77.
It still costs 5,000 Qantas points per passenger (plus any price difference) to change a Classic Flight Reward booking, or 6,000 Qantas points to cancel a reward booking. There is an additional change fee that applies to changes made via Qantas Contact Centres, however this is waived for Classic Flight Reward bookings in Business or First class.
There is a discussion about some of these changes in AFF’s Oneworld Award booking thread.
The increased service fees come as the Qantas call centre service continues to get worse and worse. Waiting times remain unacceptably high, with even Platinum frequent flyers reporting hold times of more than 3 hours. Meanwhile, more and more calls are being answered by staff in The Philippines and South Africa that lack knowledge and experience. There are many reports of these outsourced agents providing inaccurate information or being unable to deal with basic requests.
Increased credit card surcharge caps
Qantas has also recently increased the maximum credit card surcharge per passenger when paying for flights by credit card.
The maximum credit card surcharge payable when booking a Qantas domestic or trans-Tasman flight has been doubled from $11 to $22. Meanwhile, the fee cap for international bookings has increased from $70 to $120 per ticket. This is the first time the cap has been increased since Qantas implemented percentage-based credit card fees in September 2016.
The credit card surcharge for Qantas bookings is currently 1.03%, with a lower 0.69% surcharge for Paypal payments and a 0.36% surcharge for debit card payments. This fee is rounded up to the nearest 10 cents for each ticket.
You can avoid paying credit card surcharges by using Qantas gift vouchers. Gift vouchers can be used to book one-way and return flights originating in Australia, and there are no credit card fees when redeeming a voucher.
Frustratingly, card payment surcharges continue to be added to the taxes & carrier charges payable when booking a Classic Flight Reward, even though no other payment option is available.
Nothing new here. And a $1200 fee for a QF Titanium credit card. They are dreaming. Just see how bad QF business class lounges are at busy periods. TWO hour wait on QF customer assistance line last night, I called AA in the USA, instant pickup. Any airline but QF where ever possible.
I recall that the ACCC set maximum limits on what surcharges airlines can add on to credit card fees not so long ago.
I doubt if it has changed, so Qantas might have to rethink this grab for more $$$$
We abandoned the Qantas brand for overseas travel several years ago when I retired. We now enjoy the benefits and much lower costs of using other great airlines.
bloody mongrels, I’m sick of these people. Done
service / standards definitely slipping.member for many years.recent trip to Japan was questioned when pouring drink in lounge.to crown it all business class seat did not convert to bed / tv program not working.was given 6000 points for my trouble
QANTAS lost me forever after calling the (Philippine) call center last week – she had no idea and changed her story 3 times in the hour. It was like she’d never heard of an airplane as soon as I started asking baggage questions 🙁
The end result is my booking only has the standard baggage of 30kg as the leg from SIN to SGN is codeshare with Jetstar Asia (QF flight number:) My QANTAS baggage club allowance is only valid from Melb-Singapore. What a joke. I joined QANTAS club in 1995 but my loyalty is now lost forever.
It’s just a bloody rip off!!
Recently tried to book a flight in Business on Emirates with QF points from SIN->MEL. The fees were approx $850. Booked the same flight on SQ. The fees were around $120. What a ripoff
Qantas have become a cowboy opperation. They basically rip people off. I used to fly to Europe every year with Qantas. However due to their poor service and outdated hard product I have flown with other carriers since 2014. It has saved me thounds and I have a far better product (compare CX and MH business class products with pathetic offering that QF has. I will say no more.
Surprise surprise there other airlines that travel within Australia and also overseas
You need to shop around the cost of being a Qantas Frequent Flyer member isn’t cheep
( we are life time members so it’s free ) however how many beers can drink to justify the cost airport lounges these day are getting better all time overseas you can have “pay as go” lounges if you have 2/3 layover
Shop around!!!!!
The Qantas Group has 60% market share of Aus domestic market Their worsening customer service pre-during-post flight, inconsistent and substandard quality of hard product, boringly unimaginative and crowded QC and Intl J lounges, devaluation of QFF scheme and most recently a leg aching refurbed A380 PE cabin cramming in 60 seats without a single proper extra legroom option and now this shameless grab for cash. This has all slowly crept in since Joyce grounded the airline in 2013 and implemented his “Turnaround” program or whatever it’s called. It has worked marvellously for the Airline. However, this comes as no surprise to me, we all see the unofficial Qantas website when we make our bookings. The real QF website is investor.qantas.com. If any of you are wanting something to do whilst waiting 3 hours for that call back from customer service, I highly recommend that you read their Financial reports over the recent years, maybe even the 2019 Qantas data book and you will realise that QF exists for its shareholders, not the customers.