Flight changes now no longer offering option to accept or change/refund?

[eminere]

Thought I'd check in with the brains trust here on this.

So I have a Classic Flight Reward where the flight out (and therefore also the flight in) has been brought forward by 30min. I received an email notification about this change which said:

An updated ticket is on its way
You don’t need to do anything. We’ve automatically updated your booking and a new e-ticket is on its way. All other conditions of your booking remain unchanged.

View alternative options
We appreciate this change may impact your plans. If you’d like to view your other options including a refund or where applicable a Flight Credit, visit Manage Booking or the Qantas App (page in English).

In the past I'd always be able to see this change (showing both the previous and the updated flight details) on the app and on MMB online, with the options presented to accept the changes or choose another course of action. However, this time my booking had automatically updated on both with no option to accept or change, and less than ten minutes after I first received the change notification email the updated e-ticket with the new flight times came through my inbox. (FWIW I note the e-ticket number has remained the same.)

Question is, is this normal and what we can expect now when bookings change?

 

[serfty]

Revalidation - no new e-ticket.

 

[justinbrett]

Thought I'd check in with the brains trust here on this.

So I have a Classic Flight Reward where the flight out (and therefore also the flight in) has been brought forward by 30min. I received an email notification about this change which said:



In the past I'd always be able to see this change (showing both the previous and the updated flight details) on the app and on MMB online, with the options presented to accept the changes or choose another course of action. However, this time my booking had automatically updated on both with no option to accept or change, and less than ten minutes after I first received the change notification email the updated e-ticket with the new flight times came through my inbox. (FWIW I note the e-ticket number has remained the same.)

Question is, is this normal and what we can expect now when bookings change?

I had heaps of changes and some had this template and others had the option to change.

It doesn't matter though, all will give you the option to change for free if you call them.

 

[RnD]

I had a time change on a CX flight, 20min, and it was automatically reticketed. No option to accept the change, not sure if that is because of the small time change or not.

So even with a small change can I cancel for free?

 

[justinbrett]

I had a time change on a CX flight, 20min, and it was automatically reticketed. No option to accept the change, not sure if that is because of the small time change or not.

So even with a small change can I cancel for free?

Technically speaking it has to be a significant change, but that's defined very vaguely as "a change that significantly impacts you and your travel plans".

In practice it's any change.

There are fewer options when it's events outside of QF's control, which a CX change would fit into, but should still allow cancellation.

 

[eminere]

I had heaps of changes and some had this template and others had the option to change.

Interesting, I've never seen this before and all my past flight changes have always given me the option to accept or not.

 

[justinbrett]

Interesting, I've never seen this before and all my past flight changes have always given me the option to accept or not.

Yeah, I'm talking about the recent batch of emails that came through in the last few weeks as a result of the NH summer schedule being finalised. It is a new thing.

 

[Matt_01]

I had a time change on a CX flight, 20min, and it was automatically reticketed. No option to accept the change, not sure if that is because of the small time change or not.

So even with a small change can I cancel for free?

You still can but you need to call up, I had 2 bookings a week or so back that were 5 minute time changes and auto reticketed. My flights were booked last year and I no longer needed them, I just informed the agent the change was not suitable and the flights were cancelled without penalty.

Just me careful with partner airline changes around 4-6 weeks back MH made some changes to their schedule and I did not accept the change, they ended up cancelling my flights and QF had to get them back. I posted the detail here

 

[eminere]

You still can but you need to call up, I had 2 bookings a week or so back that were 5 minute time changes and auto reticketed. My flights were booked last year and I no longer needed them, I just informed the agent the change was not suitable and the flights were cancelled without penalty.

So in the event we want to cancel or change without penalty, we now have to call up to get something done what we could previously do ourselves online. Hmm.

 

[justinbrett]

So in the event we want to cancel or change without penalty, we now have to call up to get something done what we could previously do ourselves online. Hmm.

It's still offered. I don't know what the criteria is for one vs the other.

As I said I received a bunch of emails within about a week, some had it, some didn't.

To be honest, only one of the changes didn't have the option. Most had it.

 

[Matt_01]

So in the event we want to cancel or change without penalty, we now have to call up to get something done what we could previously do ourselves online. Hmm.

I am stretching my memory and to be honest not sure it this is 100% correct. Prior to Covid when ever there where flight changes I think I was only ever given the option to accept the change and if you did not want to accept it you had to call up. I know this option was introduced over the past couple of years to stop people calling up and at the time the pop ups with the cancellation details only caused more confusion. One thing I have learnt over many years of using the QF web site is that any changes they make normally leads to more confusion, sometimes they roll back to the way it was and others they do not.

IMO taking away the option to cancel online is a step backwards if you actually want to cancel but also a step forward when it involves partner airline changes and reticketing issues and there has been many threads on the problems that has caused.

 

[eminere]

I am stretching my memory and to be honest not sure it this is 100% correct. Prior to Covid when ever there where flight changes I think I was only ever given the option to accept the change and if you did not want to accept it you had to call up. I know this option was introduced over the past couple of years to stop people calling up and at the time the pop ups with the cancellation details only caused more confusion. One thing I have learnt over many years of using the QF web site is that any changes they make normally leads to more confusion, sometimes they roll back to the way it was and others they do not.

Hmm my recollection differs, I have definitely used the cancel option online before when the change was unacceptable to me.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I had a flight change of one hour a couple months ago for a domestic flight and there was no option to cancel. I had to call and they said ‘no cash refund’, until I mentioned consumer rights (the flight was no longer suitable). Refund processed and in account a couple weeks later

 

[eminere]

I had to call and they said ‘no cash refund’, until I mentioned consumer rights (the flight was no longer suitable).

That's the problem with having to deal with the call centre if you don't get the option to self-service, you never know who you're going to get and how (unnecessarily) difficult the request is going to be.

 

[half-hour]

A couple of weeks ago I received notification that the schedule of my Classic Plus Reward flight had changed by one hour.

I phoned the call centre today, and they allowed me to change to a more expensive flight the day before, without paying any additional fees. The new flight is at a better time and on a better day.

Is this standard practice for Classic Plus and Classic rewards? Will any flight time change result in the customer being able to change to another flight the day before (or the day after) even if there's no advertised award tickets available / even if it's a more expensive flight?

 

[Matt_01]

When the change is involuntary fees and price differences are not normally charged.

 

[half-hour]

When the change is involuntary fees and price differences are not normally charged.

Great, thanks for the confirmation.

I feel this is an area where Qantas customer service goes above and beyond what is strictly necessary. The one-hour change to the time of my flight didn't necessitate me changing to a flight one day before, but I was happy to accept the better-timed (and more expensive) flight for free!