Any way to avoid the $40 call centre fee?

[MiLK_MaN]

So we all know that there's a $40 call centre fee when using them to book flights.

I had a booking that was MEL-SYD-BNE-MEL, and had to cancel the SYD-BNE-MEL due to changes in my work schedule. I opted to have the legs put in credit, knowing that I'd be using it again sometime soon. The legs that were cancelled were booked as Flexi Savers, and the cancellation was done well before 24 hours before.

I had no issues paying a $50 rebooking fee, the nature of my business means we have to cop that sometimes. But what jacked me off is the $40 call centre fee, when there was no other method for me to rebook the flight. I could see the booking reference within my FF account listed as a 23/10/11 fly date with what I imagine were some internal Qantas airport codes, but there was no way to change the flights myself online.

I don't mind if they want to charge a fee for people that want to book flights and hear someones voice while doing so, but I totally oppose the fee if there's absolutely no other way to rebook the flight.

So for my own knowledge, if I have future changes in work schedule and need to cancel flights, what's the best method in doing so?

 

[markis10]

Best method is to cancel the booking online so it creates a voucher that's rebookable online, and avoid multi city bookings as they tend to be very inflexible when it comes to changes.

 

[Stealth]

I don't know why, but some of the functions on the web don't seem to work for me. Actually they don't, but maybe they won't woork for you sometimes either