Award Ticket Issue

[JohnK]

Yes I know this a dumb question but I will still ask it. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

We can all use the award booking engine to select origin, stopovers, transits and destinations, the system then calculates the points required, taxes & surcharges required and we are issued with e-ticket or paper ticket after providing payment details.

Does anyone have any knowledge or personal experience of the detailed process, if any, involved in issuing award tickets. Is there any human involvement in the verification process? If any human involvement, what sort of routings would trigger it? I have been told by customer service that if the award booking engine allows a specific routing then QF is obliged to honour the booking.

 

[kyle]

I'd say go for it if you think Qantas has been ripping you off with the number of points required for an award.

 

[serfty]

Hi John; YGPM ...

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

I'd say go for it if you think Qantas has been ripping you off with the number of points required for an award.

Sounds to me more like the reverse - coming up with less points than he expected.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Yes I know this a dumb question but I will still ask it. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

We can all use the award booking engine to select origin, stopovers, transits and destinations, the system then calculates the points required, taxes & surcharges required and we are issued with e-ticket or paper ticket after providing payment details.

Does anyone have any knowledge or personal experience of the detailed process, if any, involved in issuing award tickets. Is there any human involvement in the verification process? If any human involvement, what sort of routings would trigger it? I have been told by customer service that if the award booking engine allows a specific routing then QF is obliged to honour the booking.

JohnK - I suggest if you are okay with the standard cost then in the event QFF uncovers they have undercharged you and attempts to reclaim the difference then you're okay and the risk is worth taking if you can get the award for less.

For paid tickets, once ticketed they can't ask for an increase if they accidentally undercharged you. They could, however, void the ticket and give you a refund.

For award tickets I don't think it is as clear cut because it depends on the interpretation of whether points (+ associated surcharges) are deemed monetary consideration. This could be an area where having surcharges is in your favour!

 

[bravoecho1]

JohnK,

I had a situation early this year when my wife and I were flying J CX MEL-HKG-DXB-HKG-SYD.

On the way back from DXB we were stopping over (flight arrived at 1230) in HKG and were then departing the next day at 1915. At the time you couldn't book DXB through the web so the bookings were handled through the call centre. Points were debited but up until 1 week before the flights no e-ticket had been issued. Turns out that when booking we weren't charged for the stopover (our original preference was the 0900 departure which would have negated the 24 hour rule) but their system picked it up and wouldn't automatically issue it because we didn't have enough points for the stopover.

Many frantic phone calls later and Qantas agreed to absorb the point difference, but not before trying to move us to any flight that would bring us under 24hrs in HKG.

So long story short, when their system generates the tickets it may pick up any problems and you may get into the same situation.

Caveat Emptor

 

[kyle]

Sounds to me more like the reverse - coming up with less points than he expected.

Sorry, what I meant was, if he thinks that Qantas has been ripping him off with the standard number of points required and if he's able to get it for less points on the award booking engine, then go for it.

Hope that's clear.

 

[NM]

For paid tickets, once ticketed they can't ask for an increase if they accidentally undercharged you. They could, however, void the ticket and give you a refund.

I had a DCIR22 fare that included an extra stopover in the USA that was not picked up at the time of ticket issue and was not included in the fare paid. About 6 months later, the TA got a request from Qantas to charge me an extra US$75 for the extra stopover.

So in my example they did ask for an increase after they found they had accidentally undercharged me.

I queried with our corporate accounts department whether I should authorise the payment on my corporate credit card and was told that I should pay it as it was a legitimate undercharge. Obviously I was reimbursed through our internal expense claim process so did not affect me personally. But I would not make the assumption that an accidental undercharge will not be found later and billed to you.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

NM - sorry I didn't post more clearly. Your case refers to undercharged taxes. Airlines do have the right to collect them from pax (and yes it has happened to me to, at the airport not allowed to check in until correct tax paid).

I meant to refer to undercharged fares. Once ticketed they can't turn to you later and say, oops the fare was a mistake you need to pay us an extra $x.

 

[NM]

NM - sorry I didn't post more clearly. Your case refers to undercharged taxes. Airlines do have the right to collect them from pax (and yes it has happened to me to, at the airport not allowed to check in until correct tax paid).

I meant to refer to undercharged fares. Once ticketed they can't turn to you later and say, oops the fare was a mistake you need to pay us an extra $x.

No, it was not an undercharge of taxes. It was a fare undercharge. For a DCIR22 fare, you only get a maximum of 2 stopovers included in the USA. I had three stopovers in my itinerary. According to the fare rules, additional stopovers are charged at US$75 each. That is not a tax but part of the fare calculation.

I was not charged any extra taxes, just the extra US$75 for the extra unpaid stopover.

 

[Dave Noble]

NM - sorry I didn't post more clearly. Your case refers to undercharged taxes. Airlines do have the right to collect them from pax (and yes it has happened to me to, at the airport not allowed to check in until correct tax paid).

I meant to refer to undercharged fares. Once ticketed they can't turn to you later and say, oops the fare was a mistake you need to pay us an extra $x.

This isn't an undercharged tax but an undercharging of the ticket price since there is a $75 fee for an additional stopover.

Dave

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

In that case my understanding is there may be no obligation on the pax to pay. The TA likely has to pay the ticketing airline due to terms of their agency agreement. Of course you may (probably) want to pay to ensure your TA is not out of pocket (if done through corporate travel agreement there may be no choice depending on your terms).

But for general public an accidental omission on the charges does not create a liability to pay the shortfall.

 

[NM]

In that case my understanding is there may be no obligation on the pax to pay. The TA likely has to pay the ticketing airline due to terms of their agency agreement. Of course you may (probably) want to pay to ensure your TA is not out of pocket (if done through corporate travel agreement there may be no choice depending on your terms).

But for general public an accidental omission on the charges does not create a liability to pay the shortfall.

In my specific case the bill come through about 6 months after the trip ended, and about 3 months after we had changed corporate TA providers. My company's account dept certainly believed it should be paid as they fare rules clearly showed the extra charge should have been included. Perhaps our company had some contractual commitment to make good any fare undercharges that are later found?

This was the same TA that accidentally booked me into A class for the AA codeshare of a CX operated HKG-LAX segment on a DONE4. But that is now well over a year ago and I am assuming they are not going to come seeking payment for that mistake! I wonder if Qantas ever found the issue and sought recompense from the TA?