How long did Qantas take to process your refund for cancelled flights?

[serfty]

We cancelled our Nov trip to Japan on 21/4/2020 and received a full refund of the ticket prices to our AMEX card on 28/6/2020. 68 days or almost 10 weeks. Qantas did not charge the cancellation fee listed in the conditions for the tickets (2 x business saver class return tickets).

Welcome to AFF. ~10+ weeks seems to be the norm these days with Qantas.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to posting on AFF @Anorax

 

[NM]

We cancelled our Nov trip to Japan on 21/4/2020 and received a full refund of the ticket prices to our AMEX card on 28/6/2020. 68 days or almost 10 weeks. Qantas did not charge the cancellation fee listed in the conditions for the tickets (2 x business saver class return tickets).

Welcome to AFF and thanks for your information. Just wondering if Qantas also refunded any credit card surcharges with or without prompting? My experience is that if you don't mention it they forget to include it.

 

[NM]

I received email confirmation from Qantas over the weekend that one of my 4 cancellations has been processed (all were "lodged" on the same phone call 2 weeks ago). However, the funds have not yet hit the credit card. The one referenced in the email was a paid I-class fare. The others include another paid I-Class fare and two QFF classic award trips (one for 2 pax and one for a single pax). I was told at the time of cancellation to expect 10 weeks for all of them.

 

[Anorax]

Welcome to AFF and thanks for your information. Just wondering if Qantas also refunded any credit card surcharges with or without prompting? My experience is that if you don't mention it they forget to include it.

Thanks for the welcome. I did not push for credit card charges to be reversed. To be honest we are more than happy to have 100% of our ticket prices refunded. We were expecting to have a fight on our hands to get the money back but this did not eventuate. I also enquired with NIB Travel about getting our travel insurance reversed but they declined and stated we were well outside the 14 day time limit.

 

[Steamrollersam]

ADL-SYD-KIX-HND-SIN-MEL-ADL J flights departing 12 April were cancelled by Qantas 23 March. Flights were half points half cash. First got told the refund would hit my CC within 4 weeks. I called again when this didn’t happen, and was informed the expected wait time had blown out to 8-10 weeks. At the 8 week mark I initiated and received a chargeback from Amex PC. At the 12 week mark I called Qantas again to ask where my points were, and helpful rep managed to get ~800k returned to my account within 12 hours.

 

[NM]

Thanks for the welcome. I did not push for credit card charges to be reversed. To be honest we are more than happy to have 100% of our ticket prices refunded. We were expecting to have a fight on our hands to get the money back but this did not eventuate. I also enquired with NIB Travel about getting our travel insurance reversed but they declined and stated we were well outside the 14 day time limit.

I had no difficulty getting the QF agent to agree to refund the credit card fees (no fight). I just had to remind her as it seems their system does not do it automatically and she had to "check the box" on the cancel/refund form for it to be included. I managed 65% refund on my travel insurance (Columbus Direct). There is another thread specifically discussing TI refunds and which insurers are covering and which are refusing.

 

[NM]

I received email confirmation from Qantas over the weekend that one of my 4 cancellations has been processed (all were "lodged" on the same phone call 2 weeks ago). However, the funds have not yet hit the credit card. The one referenced in the email was a paid I-class fare. The others include another paid I-Class fare and two QFF classic award trips (one for 2 pax and one for a single pax). I was told at the time of cancellation to expect 10 weeks for all of them.

First of my 4 cancellations arrived as full refund to my credit card overnight. Was two separate refund transaction, one for the fare cost and one for the credit card fee. That was 2 weeks. Now to see how long the other 3 take to come through (all processed by the same operator during the same phone call).

 

[samh004]

About 4 weeks, one was even done on the phone.

I think my mother is still waiting one one, but it was a Hong Kong-based booking and Qantas always seems to drag its feet when working overseas.

 

[Gary T]

I canceled tickets with AI on March 24th still awaiting my €5258.00 refund..

 

[Zulu0929]

My trip was with points to an international destination in June to connect with another flight. The flight was changed by them early on which then did not tie up with the connecting flight. They stated it would be 3 weeks for return of points and funds. It took 4 weeks to receive points and following two emails to them asking where the money was and copying two comments they posted on my FF points activity statement stating something happened, but it didn't, it was 12 weeks before they returned the money.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Not just refinds can be a problem. Vouchered a booking 19 March for a mixed revenue-award booking on 21 and 23 March. On the 4th WTF query, a few days ago and, this time to customer care, I got a voucher, hopefully for the right amount, but still waiting for the points. I’ll probably try again about 18 weeks.

cheers skip

 

[Scr77]

Just received a refund for Reward flight Mel to Sin in F. Just on 5 weeks without any chasing. QF might be catching up?

 

[thepumpkin]

Cancelled June flight to US on April 27 ---- took 9 weeks----received full refund including credit card fee

 

[EestiTiger]

I hit 10 weeks next week. I read in a thread somewhere (probably here on AFF) that if you ring up at the 10 weeks point, they might be able assist you by giving it a little nudge. If you call up before the 10 weeks they will trot out the line to call back after 10 weeks. That is just what I have read and I guess I will see how I go next week.

 

[William Kilner]

We had our 24 th of March flight to NZ cancelled by on the 21st of March but were not informed of this until the 23r d of March.
They claimed they could not refund because of the Qantas Covid 19 restrictions and gave us a credior that ends in February 2021. Qantas contacted me and informed me that since the ACCC decision a refund is appropriate and I should contact Webjet for the refund. Naturally, Webjet refuse to reply because all their communication comes from off shore and it is impossible to speak to anyone. Meanwhile they hold on to my $2400....ACCC should be reviewing their structures.

 

[Daver6]

In week 12 and I basically told Amex travel if they don't sort it out by the end of 12 weeks that I intend to initiate a charge back. Low and behold I received confirmation it's been refunded. However the money hasn't hit my credit card yet and I still don't have the Amex travel credit. Apparently that all takes another 5 - 7 days. What a joke!

 

[Berlin]

I hit 10 weeks next week. I read in a thread somewhere (probably here on AFF) that if you ring up at the 10 weeks point, they might be able assist you by giving it a little nudge. If you call up before the 10 weeks they will trot out the line to call back after 10 weeks. That is just what I have read and I guess I will see how I go next week.

Yep- that worked for me. Once at the 8 weeks point and once at the 10 weeks point (two different bookings) and both times i was finally put through to someone in Australia who could “do the magic” after calling over and over again and mostly ending up in the entirely useless Philipino call centre at first.

Just received the very last of my refunds today. To all who are still waiting I can only highly recommend to keep calling them and be very insisting. Never just trust the “it will all happen automatically”, especially if it came from a Philipino. They’ve outright lied to me several times in the process and I believe they’re only there as a gatekeeper.

 

[mts4353]

I got told that it would be 8-10 weeks when I elected to take refunds for all of my travel between April and June. I didn't think that was good enough, so I pushed them and to their credit they did it pretty much immediately (like 2-3 days).

Qantas told the market in May (https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200625/pdf/44jy0tcyp3h22r.pdf) and June (https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200625/pdf/44jy0tcyp3h22r.pdf) that it had taken action to "reduce its cash burn" rate. It would not surprise me if the lengthy delays in arranging for refunds represent part of a deliberate strategy to hold on to cash for as long as possible to sure up Qantas' financial position.

The notion that there is a "long queue" seems pretty disingenuous to me in circumstances where so many of their staff (who could be processing refunds) have been stood down. It's kind of like stopping a run on a bank by telling customers that they can only withdraw cash in person at one branch and then staffing that branch with one teller.

 

[Berlin]

It would not surprise me if the lengthy delays in arranging for refunds represent part of a deliberate strategy to hold on to cash for as long as possible to sure up Qantas' financial position.

You can surely bet it’s “a deliberate strategy”!