Full Refund for Classic Reward seats .. or Not?

[coralda]

So, I thought I knew the difference between Classic Reward seats and Points Plus Pay seats. One is great value, the other is not.

We recently booked return flights from Vic to WA with QF. Classic Reward seats, usual points, usually taxes. Statement said "CLASSIC FLIGHT REWARD"

However when the WA Government introduced retrospective quarantine, we decided to come home early. Couldn't change the return leg online, couldn't contact Qantas on the phone (understandably) so we cancelled the return leg and booked new Classic Reward seats.

Given all the "fly flexibly" advertising by Qantas, we were expecting half the points back, however, when they didn't come through, we called Qantas to check. We were told repeatedly that the original booking was NOT Classic Reward but was Points Plus Pay. Hence the "full refund" guaranteed didn't apply and we were to receive a fraction of the points used to book the original flights.

Has anyone else come across this issue?

 

[JackMiles]

I had a related issue with a Classic Reward booking that I needed to cancel. Couldn't cancel it online so called and was told that the reason I couldn't was that the booking was a Points Plus Pay booking. Mine was definitely not a PPP, but it appeared as such on her system. Lucky for me, given your story, I am due a full refund anyway. But don't know what happened. Maybe a glitch with that stage of the booking process where, even if you selected Classic Reward to begin with, you are offered the chance to change the balance of points and cash with a slider; ie, convert the booking to a PPP booking. Not sure.
I would think if you have documents stating Classic Reward you should be able to argue your way to a full refund. Maybe since you had already taken the first flight, that complicates the situation, but that's a different issue to the PPP reason given.

 

[Matt_01]

I cannot answer your question however it seems QF have changed something recently as reported in this thread it is not quite on the same topic however got me thinking. From the outset, I generally distrust any changes made on the QF website and to the best of my knowledge the booking engine is from the likes of Amadeus, Sabre etc. (I do not know which one QF uses) and are just re-skins of a third party product to look QF branded.

Anyhow not knowing what you clicked on to make your booking or when it was made I will attempt to share my observations.

As you mentioned MEL-PER I just did a random search.

The following results were returned


From the above image you will notice that the "Classic Rewards" (under the dates) slider is greyed out however the "Classic Rewards" bookings are still displayed. My initial reaction was what "dumb freddy" approved this layout. Even for the average punter who would not select the 18000 points +$38 (Y) or 41,500 points +$38 (J) over the other options.

Out of curiosity I moved the "Classic Rewards" slider to the right and the following screen was displayed



This result is what I am more used to seeing.

Furthermore and this seems to be hit and miss when scrolling to the bottom of the page this may appear

It seems more common when searching for international flights and once clicked the legacy search display is rendered.



I suspect that if QF have updated/ changed something it was not tested thoroughly and the API's are most likely broken. This may explain the difference between what you booked in good faith and what the agents are seeing in the backend system. The Call Center agents are normally the last to know about large scale or wholesale changes made by ITS and often work from outdated scripts.

 

[astrosly]

If you pay for the taxes on a Classic Reward booking with points this part of the total fare is charged at Points + Pay rates and may change the booking to P+P. I always pay the Classic Reward taxes with cash and not more points so as not to complicate such bookings.

 

[JackMiles]

If you pay for the taxes on a Classic Reward booking with points this part of the total fare is charged at Points + Pay rates and may change the booking to P+P. I always pay the Classic Reward taxes with cash and not more points so as not to complicate such bookings.

For sure, and also not to squander points.

 

[Rich]

Not the same but I am getting pretty tired of being unable to change Award bookings on line (tends to happen after Qantas change a flight time) and they expect you to ring instead and go on hold for a couple of hours. A couple of times I have just cancelled and rebooked, but then comes the long wait for the refund of points and money. Yesterday I was going to try accepting a voucher instead but it didn't give me the option.
Having read this thread, I am now worried I will have to fight to get the refunds I am entitled to.

 

[eminere]

If you pay for the taxes on a Classic Reward booking with points this part of the total fare is charged at Points + Pay rates and may change the booking to P+P. I always pay the Classic Reward taxes with cash and not more points so as not to complicate such bookings.

I didn't even know this could be done! I thought the taxes and fees component of an award booking was always payable in cash?

 

[Doctore1003]

I've had to cancel several reward seat bookings the past few weeks, and upon pressing the "cancel" button, it came up with confirmation of a flight credit being issued - with a specific cash amount displayed on the screen (who knows where they got the number from).
I called up QF, they looked at the booking in the refund queue and confirmed it was listed as a "loyalty refund" with full points and taxes to be returned.
Definitely a glitch in the matrix.
Will wait to see what happens now.

 

[Rich]

I've had to cancel several reward seat bookings the past few weeks, and upon pressing the "cancel" button, it came up with confirmation of a flight credit being issued - with a specific cash amount displayed on the screen (who knows where they got the number from).
I called up QF, they looked at the booking in the refund queue and confirmed it was listed as a "loyalty refund" with full points and taxes to be returned.
Definitely a glitch in the matrix.
Will wait to see what happens now.

Was there any indication of how long to get points and/or money

 

[Doctore1003]

Was there any indication of how long to get points and/or money

My recent experience has been about 6 weeks.

 

[JackMiles]

I got points back today for a flight cancelled on the 14th of January - so, yeah, almost 6 weeks.

 

[drron]

All of which is why I am using AA miles for QF awards.Less points,less taxes,can cancel online and refunds of points and cash back in account in 2-3 days now.

 

[Lat34]

E

All of which is why I am using AA miles for QF awards.Less points,less taxes,can cancel online and refunds of points and cash back in account in 2-3 days now.

Earned / purchased AA miles or a combo?

 

[drron]

E

Earned / purchased AA miles or a combo?

All mine have been earn't Though the great majority were from transfers from DC when CC transfer miles qualified for lifetime elite status.So I got to 2 million miles and LTP a few months before they ended that system.Have never bought AA miles.
All thanks to @QF WP who started a thread way back on the Great Transfer of Points to AA.

 

[Rich]

Not the same but I am getting pretty tired of being unable to change Award bookings on line (tends to happen after Qantas change a flight time) and they expect you to ring instead and go on hold for a couple of hours. A couple of times I have just cancelled and rebooked, but then comes the long wait for the refund of points and money. Yesterday I was going to try accepting a voucher instead but it didn't give me the option.
Having read this thread, I am now worried I will have to fight to get the refunds I am entitled to.

Replying to myself.
I went on line to cancel the award booking I have been unable to reschedule without calling up, as it was for this Sunday. All of a sudden I was able to change it online. Weird.

 

[andyandy2005]

Recently called up the Qantas reservations team to cancel my booking and told me it will take 1-2 weeks for the points to come back to my account however (here’s the trick) if you call the frequent flyer service centre they can fast track your points and refund them to you straight away without waiting for 1-2 weeks since they apparently contact the “refunds department“ to process the request.
Saves you a lot of time!

 

[aikman]

I patiently waited the 12 weeks to chase a refund but was just told that my classic award flight was a points plus pay booking and I therefore couldn't get a refund. It is definitely a classic award but their system must have converted it to a points plus pay booking somewhere between me splitting passengers out of the booking and then cancelling the booking online. It is so frustrating and it makes me angry. New lesson for me is to not split bookings online or cancel award flights online.

 

[Matt_01]

New lesson for me is to not split bookings online or cancel award flights online.

I have split bookings and often cancel online without any issues, seems like you have had a bad experience.

 

[Formal Hall]

In the early days of the pandemic when going to cancel a classic reward online it would come up saying cancellation fee (6000) points would be waived; now when I go to cancel it simply says I will get a travel credit for an amount that appears to bears no relations to the taxes - do I need to call in situations like this, or just cancel online and hope I get a points and cash refund rather than travel credit?

 

[Matt_01]

In the early days of the pandemic when going to cancel a classic reward online it would come up saying cancellation fee (6000) points would be waived; now when I go to cancel it simply says I will get a travel credit for an amount that appears to bears no relations to the taxes - do I need to call in situations like this, or just cancel online and hope I get a points and cash refund rather than travel credit?

I have been cancelling online and all the points have been returned without penalty and taxes have been refunded to the original form of payment (credit card)