Booking QF Reward flights to Australia

[nonscenic]

I booked a one way rewards flight back home from Christchurch to Melbourne (to use some points up and also avoid the 6am horror flight with Jetstar). The Qantas website forces you to use its NZ site and quotes the taxes in NZD. I proceeded with the booking and the transaction on my credit card initially showed up on my internet banking site as a pending amount in AUD from Qantas Mascot. A few days later the entry on my statement shows it as Qantas Auckland and in NZD. My credit card then charged a foreign transaction fee for the conversion back to AUD. All because Qantas's website won't let you book one way to Australia from its Australian site.

 

[Pushka]

Yes, thats the way it is. I have recently booked Mumbai to Melbourne and been charged in rupees (and bank fee) plus Heathrow-Melbourne and charged in Pounds, this time, no bank fees. That is because the second time round I used the 28Degree Mastercard from GE which does not charge any transaction fees for overseas purchases. The first purchase I used a NAB Qantas Mastercard, which does charge the fee.

 

[nonscenic]

Several airlines seem to have this "feature" where to book a flight commencing in a certain country you have to go to that country's version of their website. Either this is poor IT systems design or it is deliberate so that they can charge certain markets much more.
In my case I had started with the Australian site and had logged in to my frequent flyer account to search for an award flight. I ended up using 18000 points plus $84 in taxes to get the afternoon flight QF46 back to Sydney then a domestic flight to Melbourne. At the time I could have paid $105 + $28 +$4 +$for "food" to get the direct 6am flight.
BTW I've just applied for my 28degrees Mastercard to pay for the NZ holiday expenses (I'd used my C'wealth Gold Visa for the travel insurance feature)

 

[oz_mark]

Several airlines seem to have this "feature" where to book a flight commencing in a certain country you have to go to that country's version of their website. Either this is poor IT systems design or it is deliberate so that they can charge certain markets much more.

In the case of Qantas, it seems to be more a business decision than an IT issue. They pretty much always ticket in the country of origin for your journey.

 

[Leumas]

I thought Foreign Exchange fee goes to your card company and not the merchant? No?

 

[nonscenic]

I thought Foreign Exchange fee goes to your card company and not the merchant? No?

It does, but then the customer pays for the cost of foreign exchanges. If the airline accommodated payments in the customers' own countries then it would have extra foreign exchange costs. By doing it this way the airline receives income already in the various foreign currencies from which it can pay local expenses.

 

[nonscenic]

Actually I just realised that Jetstar is one website that will let you book a flight one way from an overseas destination back to Australia and do it in AUD

Shhh! don't tell them else Omar Baba will change it or introduce an "Inbound one-way international booking fee"

 

[Pushka]

BTW I've just applied for my 28degrees Mastercard to pay for the NZ holiday expenses (I'd used my C'wealth Gold Visa for the travel insurance feature)

Great move..

Regarding this flight I booked from Mumbai - Australia; my travel Agent also quoted me a price for this - $900 each plus taxes - so around $2000 AUD. I got is for (converted) $1200 AUD. How weird is that - he could not get anywhere near my price. He then said to be very careful about correct ticketing - well, a couple of days later, like the website said, we got this form we had to fill in, and go through a complex credit card check through Visa, but it all was good in the end. The flight HRW to Australia was easy to do. The bookings appeared in Hubby's account immediately. $600 for a flight India-Singapore-Adelaide, with excellent connections is pretty good.

 

[nonscenic]

Regarding this flight I booked from Mumbai - Australia; my travel Agent also quoted me a price for this - $900 each plus taxes - so around $2000 AUD. I got is for (converted) $1200 AUD.

yes, travel agents are being forced out by online travel bookings, they are not being given access to the cheap airfares unless they go online themselves, so the only ones that will survive will be specialist travel agents coordinating region specific tours or those having extra knowledge of a particular region. If you hunt around on the internet you will be able to find a range of solutions that meet your requirements in terms of timing or cost. Certainly corporate travel agency staff from my experience will book the first thing that comes up on their computer screen and tell their clients to "take it or leave it".

regarding credit cards and online bookings, some transactions might prompt a range of security checks. I recall paying for the balance of a Russian cruise tour, in EURO with the merchant location in Riga, Latvia. Within two minutes of paying online I received a call on my mobile with an automated security check from Visa. I thought afterwards that such a security check could be used as a phishing scam by fraudsters.

 

[Pushka]

I recall paying for the balance of a Russian cruise tour, in EURO with the merchant location in Riga, Latvia. Within two minutes of paying online I received a call on my mobile with an automated security check from Visa. I thought afterwards that such a security check could be used as a phishing scam by fraudsters.

They actually blocked my husbands credit card while doing the India booking, but our other one went through fine! It's funny - the flight I booked Heathrow - Melbourne went through fine, PE for $2000 inc Taxes and some FF points; no query from the Mastercard; the next day I did a payment for $215 and they sent me an SMS to confirm the purchase.