Well what a pain in the a55 exercise this is turning out to be. So after anchew sent me the screen shot I forwarded on to Pinpoint just before heading to bed. Got a few missed calls at lunch time when they said they would call but couldn't get to it. They called again at 6.30 and Pete the CSR said that they could process the claim........BUT they need the screenshot with the date/time on the comp (which was not on the screenshot).
Was the date/time that the printout was made not shown in the footer of the printout? That's normal behaviour when you print from most web browsers. Or was it shown, but wasn't sufficient proof for them?
ZOMFGROFLCOPTER - I nearly ripped this guy a new one. He said that in order for Citibank to refund the cash component that they charge on your cc with points they need the date/time on the comp. So we went ahead with the booking and I've just emailed anchew to see if he can help me out again. Seriously thinking this was really not worth the pain. Anyway got the PNR and all is booked but the points won't get deducted and I'll get charged the full cash component which was $320 (32,000 point equivalent) + 136.48 + 2%. So have emailed anchew (which I feel so bad about since he was so kind to help me out) and hoping this experience just ends.
Seems weird that they let you go ahead with the booking without them being 100% satisfied that the "QFF have offered you this flight" requirements had been met... I wonder why they did that? It actually wouldn't be too bad an outcome if they just charged you the 1c/point dollar cost and never refunded this / charged the points - would still represent a pretty big saving over what the fare would normally cost you (and a
massive saving in other cases - e.g. the Aus-USA trip I price matched was charged at ~$3,500 before the refund, compared to a commercial value of over $16k). Not suggesting we should be aiming for this, but interesting to think about none-the-less
Now here's the kicker for all involved. I questioned him about why they need to see the review screen with taxes specifically pointed out the irony in having to have the required points in both QFF and Citibank. Turns out they expect the people who take advantage of the PM to have not only a QFF account but the points as well. Sigh* So I try explaining how pointless this was and I think he understood where I was coming from but was unable to provide a good answer.
This is just bizarre. The cynic in me wonders if the PMG was only ever really intended as a marketing tool, with this requirement ensuring they don't have to actually make good on it very often. Or, as others have suggested, it was costing them too much money and this is their way of curbing the expense. I just can't think of any other reason why they'd have such an unworkable rule in place, given that you
can prove that a flight was offered to you via QFF, including the points and the taxes / surcharges cost (albeit in a round-about way), without having to have the required QFF points in your account.
Unbelivable. Like what is the point and whom would want to collect points in 2 different programs (Citi and Qantas) for the same end product (since its a PM with Qantas) and have them just sitting in their Qantas account incase you need to provide Citi with a screenshot for a trip?
So you can book J with Citi points via the PMG and then submit your J->F upgrade request with QFF points ;-)
Surely they haven't thought this through if they wish people to spend exclusively on the Citi card. Luckily I have access to someone with a lot of points with QFF that could provide me a screenshot but that just seems a superfluous requirement.
The potential problem here is that you're technically not meeting the conditions of the offer - the screenshot you're sending through does not demonstrate that
you have been offered the flight by QFF, but rather than
your friend with lots of points has been offered the flight. I doubt this would cause an issue in practice, but it'd be nice not to have to bend the rules just to be able to make reasonable use of the service they're offering.
What they want is proof that Qantas were willing to provide you the flight you are claiming. As per the T&C's
But you can do this (provide proof that QF are willing to provide the flight that you're claiming)
without having to get all the way to the "review booking" page - the prior pages showing available flight options and total points cost (down the bottom, once flight(s) have been selected) are enough to demonstrate that a flight is on offer. You can even show the taxes and surcharges cost in a round-about way on these earlier pages (by viewing the source code of the page). What Citi are asking for with a screenshot of the "review booking" page doesn't add any additional data that you can't get from the earlier pages AFAICS.
Does anyone know how a cancellation refund would be issued if I booked a Qantas flight via the price match guarantee.
I've been wondering this too. Assuming the ticket is booked into a cancellable booking class then you'd logically expect a cash refund would happen, as from QF's point of view PMG tickets are commercial fares not award bookings. Whether QF would pay this directly to you or whether they'd pay it to Pinpoint (Citi Travel) - and what Pinpoint would do with it - are an unknown though. If QF paid the refund directly to you then you could hypothetically use the PMG to turn your CitiRewards points into a
lot of cash, given you'd get the full commercial value of your booking in return for your points (e.g. over $16,000 for ~210k CR points in the case of my recent Aus-USA and vv QF J PMG booking). I'm not suggesting this is a good idea to try for - definitely against the spirit of the PMG - but it would be nice way to burn points...
Can someone ask Citi Travel about cancellations and refunds next time someone speaks to them? I will ask next time I speak to them if no one has posted an answer before then.
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Given all the "bad press" about the PMG in recent posts, I thought I'd at least say something positive about it: once you jump through all the hoops and get a fare price-matched, it really is a good offer. I just got back from my MEL-xSYD-LAX;DFW-xBNE-MEL trip that was converted from a QF award ticket into a QF commercial ticket using the PMG. It cost me a little more in $$, but in return I earned ~950 SCs (via DSC promotion), ~40k QFF points and was able to successfully upgrade the SYD-LAX leg from J to F
