Flexible T&C exclude peak seasons

[Rourke]

Making a tentative booking for QF5 / QF6 to Rome for July 2023. My experience has always been that a "Flex" fare is fully refundable if I cancel. There is nothing on the summary pages when choosing flights to indicate that this has changed, however I clicked into the fine print before paying and see a new clause (my underline below):

Cancellation (including no show)
Before departure:
Except where no show fee applies:

• Full refund, except: for travel 1 December 2022 to 31 January 2023 and 21 June to 31 July 2023, a fee of A$500 applies.

I can't find any reference to this change in conditions, and it certainly wasn't there when I bought my last Flex European fare in July. When this comes to nearly 20% of the total fare being withheld, it's a surprising and unwelcome condition. Has anyone spotted this before?

 

[Happy Dude]

Double sucks because you pay more for a flex fare. Would there be a similar fee on other carriers?

 

[ShrinkWrapped]

so it is clear that they are trying to fleece even more money off people who buy a flexible fare....

CX on the other hand have multiple fare levels filed within each level which makes it even more confusing to compare, but the flex fare class ex-AUS is changes permitted without fee and cancellation fees appear to be 100 AUD on the most flexible fares, even the discounted economy fare classes as long as you tag a 'flex' bundle for it (coded by -41 in the fare instead of -21/-31). The new CX fare structure is confusing as heck....

SQ flexi economy (E Class) still has a 130 AUD cancellation fee.

I guess in economy flexi that this has always been a thing? Change fees are generally waived at least. Imagine if they started charging that + fare difference for a change on flexi....

 

[RealtimeY]

It seems the same QF flex fares last year did not have this charge. You can still buy a fully flex fare though for $12k (+ taxes and fees).