Qantas Flight Changes: How to Claim Original Routing Credits

Many Qantas flights cancelled — If Qantas re-routes you, you can still claim the full frequent flyer points and status credits. Photo: Matt Graham.

If Qantas cancels your flight and rebooks you onto a different itinerary, frequent flyer points are probably one of the last things on your mind. That’s fine, because you can relax knowing that you’re still entitled to the full points and status credits that you would have earned if you’d flown as originally booked.

However, if crediting your flights to Qantas Frequent Flyer, the points and status credits for your original itinerary are unlikely to post automatically. You may need to apply for an Original Routing Credit.

Contents

What is an Original Routing Credit?

An Original Routing Credit is an adjustment on your frequent flyer account of the difference between the points and status credits you actually earned, and what you should have earned if you flew as originally booked.

You can apply for an Original Routing Credit if you are involuntarily re-routed or rebooked on another airline due to a flight disruption. This could be needed if the new itinerary would leave you with fewer points and status credits than you would have otherwise earned.

For example, you might have booked a Qantas flight from Canberra to Perth via Melbourne – but the flight to Melbourne was delayed, so you were re-booked via Adelaide instead. The new routing would earn fewer Qantas points and status credits than what you had originally booked. So, you could claim for the difference.

Another instance where you might apply for an Original Routing Credit is if you’re re-booked onto another airline. For example, perhaps Qantas cancelled your Singapore-Sydney flight and rebooked you on British Airways. Ordinarily, you would only earn around half of the usual Qantas status credits for the British Airways flight. But as you had originally booked on Qantas, you could claim the difference.

British Airways Boeing 787-9 at Changi Airport — A British Airways plane in Singapore. Photo: Matt Graham.

Original Routing Credits require manual intervention

This process is not automatic! If you don’t take any action, you’ll probably just receive the points & status credits for any flights you actually flew.

This may mean that you receive more points and status credits than you would have originally received. In that case, there’s no need to do anything. But if the disruption results in you getting fewer points and status credits (or none at all), you can submit a claim for an Original Routing Credit.

Qantas Boeing 737s at Brisbane Airport — If your Qantas flight gets changed, you can claim the points & status credits you would have originally earned. Photo: Matt Graham.

How to apply for an Original Routing Credit

To apply for an Original Routing Credit from Qantas, you’ll need to contact the Qantas Frequent Flyer Service Centre. The easiest way to do this is to send an email to [email protected].

Include your Qantas Frequent Flyer number in your email and include the phrase “Original Routing Credit” in the subject line. You may wish to write a brief explanation of how and why the flights you took were different to what you originally booked.

Attach copies of both your original ticket and boarding passes for flights you actually flew. Make sure your ticket number and booking reference (PNR) is visible.

If you know how many points and status credits you should have earned, you might wish to include these details and state how many additional points & status credits you’re expecting to receive.

You can check how many Qantas points and status credits you should earn for a given flight using the tables on the Qantas website.

Rather than emailing, you could also try calling the Qantas Frequent Flyer Service Centre on 13 11 31. But some people have reported a higher rate of success when emailing.

Do other airlines offer Original Routing Credits?

Yes. Most airlines will similarly credit you any difference in points and status credits if you’re rebooked onto another itinerary that results in a lower earn rate.

For example, you can similarly apply for an original routing credit from Velocity Frequent Flyer if your Virgin Australia flight is disrupted. Some AFF members have had a bit of trouble claiming their entitlements from Velocity. But you can usually get a resolution in the end.

Join the Original Routing Credit discussion on the AFF forum

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.

________________________

Community Comments

Join the discussion →

Loading new replies...

JohnK Aug 08, 2017 #1

You are entitled to original routing credit regardless of what Qantas tries to decide.

Reply 1 Like

mannej Aug 08, 2017 #2

Have you actually contacted QF, or just waiting for the flights to credit?

Reply Like

GoldCanyon340 Aug 08, 2017 #3

I'd be proactive and contact QF. You're entitled to ORC.

oz_mark Aug 08, 2017 #4

Anyway it has been 5 days now and still waiting for QF to decide whether or not to award the Original Routing Credit based on what I had booked and purchased instead of what I had flown on.

Not sure if you are waiting for it to just happen, or you have contacted them.

If you are expecting it to just happen, then it is worth being aware that it probably won't. You need to get on the phone and have the discussion.

snabbu Aug 08, 2017 #5

When you say decide, do you mean you have already contacted QF and made a claim? If not, send an email to frequent_flyer at qantas dot com dot au with a your purchased itinerary, a copy of your boarding pass and a brief explanation.

You will receive an automatic reply within a few minutes then between 2 hours and 2 weeks a reply from a human advising your claim has been processed.

kermatu Aug 08, 2017 #6

In my experience you have to contact them. System will only register the flights you took, not those you were booked on.

C Cynicor Aug 08, 2017 #7

This is not a decision to be made. It's just call them, claim ORC and be done.

Haplo Aug 08, 2017 #8

So the first email I sent last Thursday went to their contact center, and was told on Friday that it is too hard for them and escalated my email to a specialised department. On Monday I got a response from their specialised center that they need to match the boarding pass to the ticket purchased in order to credit (which obviously will not match), I went back to them on Monday saying I am trying to get ORC and not missing flight credit.

To date haven't heard anything from them so I'll most likely call them later to get someone to process it on the spot.

serfty Aug 08, 2017 #9

Their contact center is pretty useless these days with staff coming and going, and knowledge being lost. I suspect whomever was assigned you case has never heard of "ORC".

Start again!

Send an email to Frequent_Flyer@Qantas.com.au.

Attach your original e-ticket email (if you have it, otherwise scan of any paper documentation) and scans of your boarding passes.

Make sure the documentation includes your ticket number (starts with 081-) and the Booking reference (PNR).

Clearly state what you booked was not what you flew and want points and SC "Credit" in line with that booked for the "Original Routing" ; i.e. "Original Routing Credit".

click to expand...