Card payment fee charged when booking a Qantas Classic Flight Reward

[eastwest101]

After yet more "back & forth" with Qantas Customer Care, the rep sent me a reply informing me that the Qantas website states that taxes, fees and carrier charges apply when booking a Classic Flight Reward. Therefore, the credit card surcharge is totally fine.

My issue is with Qantas adding the credit card surcharge to bookings over the phone (not on the website, where there are fee-free payment options) and not including this in the upfront price. Yet, after half a dozen emails, QF customer care still haven't actually bothered to address this. Instead, I just keep getting canned replies from somebody that I'm not convinced has a clue what they're talking about.

I replied yet again, making it clear that I was specifically talking about the surcharge applying to bookings over the phone, and included some relevant quotes from the ACCC website. The reply I received doesn't even really make sense:



I'm not really sure what to make of this or how to proceed from here. Clearly nothing will be gained by continuing to deal with Qantas Customer Care, because they don't care.

As you say - the replies you have got so far don't even make sense and are obviously from someone who's first language isn't english. I think it might need to come from the ACCC because then the complaint will go to some part of the legal department in Qantas where someone will be capable of understanding the issue and deciding if they are complying with the law. Unless you can directly get this to someone in Qantas management who can recognise this needs looking at by their legal people I agree that this seems like a waste of time.

Is there any easy way to send the whole train of emails to the ACCC and let them pick it up from here? To me (and you) its a pretty simple issue - they are advertising an un-achievable price point on the internet because the flights must be booked over the phone due to the configuration of Qantas IT systems the fees mean that the original advertised price is not possible. Qantas may think that they can bait somewhere (online) and do the switch somewhere else (phone) but its still bait and switch and any other company doing it would fall foul of the ACCC.

 

[Mattg]

Online award tickets do have a credit card fee. The same cc fee as booking on the phone.
There is no discrimination FYI.
I made one this month - pretty sure they announced this very issue when they made the changes to include the cc fee.

When booking online, there is a credit card fee but there are also fee-free payment options (e.g. POLi), so it is possible to book at the original quoted price. This is not the case when booking over the phone, as credit card is the only payment option.

 

[Kangol]

When booking online, there is a credit card fee but there are also fee-free payment options (e.g. POLi), so it is possible to book at the original quoted price. This is not the case when booking over the phone, as credit card is the only payment option.

True, the post I replied to was reasonably interpreted as being "cc fee free", similar to what happens with gift vouchers - which is not the case with an award booking.

Apples and oranges.

 

[jpp42]

The ACCC seems to be lenient about credit card fees being un-advertised as long as the amount is just a cost recovery of the fees imposed by the CC companies (the latter has been ruled on recently). The same thing happens in some brick and mortar stores these days, notably the duty free stores in Sydney Airport. This frustrates me as probably these fees are similar to their cash handling costs - which are included in the price if you pay cash. So it seems like a money grab since they know most people will pay by credit card.

 

[Mattg]

The issue here is not really about the credit card surcharge per-se, but about quoting a price which does not include all mandatory costs and is impossible to actually get.

 

[UP4014]

Rather than the ACCC what about dept fair trading, they contact the supplier and ask the questions directly?

 

[blacksultan]

Does anyone know if all Jetstar bookings ( made via QFF classic rewards) are cancelable with a ful refund of taxes and points after deductions?
We had originally made a booking for 2 Jetstar classic flights from osaka to cairns as no flight to mel.
However there are not biz class QF seats avl a day later to MEL via SYD.What is the most cost effective way to change? Is it possible to amend existing booking? or cancel and make fresh booking?
Will we get a refund for sure? on hold to cal centre for 20 mins now. pls advise.

 

[Kremmen]

The same thing happens in some brick and mortar stores these days, notably the duty free stores in Sydney Airport.

This is a totally separate issue. You have the option to pay cash to avoid the fee there. You don't have that option when you phone Qantas. In theory, they are required to provide a fee-free option or include the fee in the listed price.