Qantas Cancellation Catastrophe

One member is bitterly disappointed after Qantas cancelled their booking without notifying them. Adding insult to injury, the airline even charged a cancellation fee.

This member had redeemed their hard-earned Qantas points for a flight to Tanzania on oneworld partner Qatar Airways. The points were debited from the member’s frequent flyer account and the additional taxes paid in full. About a week later, our member noticed that the booking had been inexplicably cancelled and the points refunded – minus a 10,000-point cancellation fee! Qantas did not even bother to advise that the booking had been cancelled; the anomaly was only discovered by accident. Now, Qantas is unable to provide the reward seats originally booked as they have since been snapped up by someone else.

Our members are shocked and disappointed by this series of events. The cause is believed to be Qantas taking too long to issue the ticket for the booking.

To their credit, Qantas has refunded the cancellation fee. They have also contacted Qatar Airways asking for the originally booked seats to be made available again. However, Qantas has so far been unable to offer our member an equivalent seat or any other compensation.

To avoid this happening to you, our members recommend keeping a sharp eye on Qantas bookings to make sure they are ticketed promptly. This is especially important for reward bookings and flights operated by Qatar Airways. If your ticket has not been issued within a few days, the suggested course of action is to call the airline.

Follow the debacle HERE.

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.
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