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.
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.
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.
Community Comments
Loading new replies...
Join the full discussion at the Australian Frequent Flyer →