Long wait for refund for cancelled reward flights Qantas - a common experience?

[MPP2768]

Hi All,

Just reviewing out travel plans to Europe booked for May , I have booked my Europe tickets using Qantas points all booked under classic reward flights . There are 3 different booking reference nos. as i booked them as the classic award tickets became available as below
Leg 1 Mel-Sin- Mel
Leg 2 Singapore-Doha- Vienna
Leg 3 Paris-Dubai-Singapore
I understand cancellation charges are 6000 points per passenger , does this mean i will be charged 6000X3 points per passenger or juts 6000 points per passenger for all 3 cancellations.
Can we pay cash instead of points for the cancellations? does anyone know how much do 6000 points translate to in terms of AUD

Thanks

 

[Craig O'Brien]

As I mentioned above, I called last week on Wed 3rd, CSR said it should take 5 days, well it is now over 1 week, I guess since monday was a public holiday, it might be 5 business days, but I am tempted to call again..
Its up to 11 weeks I think, and as I mentioned points came in on the 25th March

 

[MikeG]

I had booked flights to Brisbane as business reward seats for a family of four for later this month, and the flight got cancelled and I was moved to a dash8 for the flight from CBR to BNE so suffice To say I cancelled the booking.

what I didn’t expect is no refund. No cash or points refunded. And when asked they said my credit card provider is taking longer to process refunds. Funny I asked Amex and they said there had been no refund issued.

Do people think this is the way for qantas to win customers and influence people??? Wtf???

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I had booked flights to Brisbane as business reward seats for a family of four for later this month, and the flight got cancelled and I was moved to a dash8 for the flight from CBR to BNE so suffice To say I cancelled the booking.

what I didn’t expect is no refund. No cash or points refunded. And when asked they said my credit card provider is taking longer to process refunds. Funny I asked Amex and they said there had been no refund issued.

Do people think this is the way for qantas to win customers and influence people??? Wtf???

It just takes time. It took three or four weeks before QF notified me that my flight was in fact cancelled, and I'm still waiting for the refund. So you could be looking at a couple of months or so. But you will get everything back, no deductions.

 

[mannej]

There is a thread already discussing the speed of reward booking refunds

 

[MikeG]

It just takes time. It took three or four weeks before QF notified me that my flight was in fact cancelled, and I'm still waiting for the refund. So you could be looking at a couple of months or so. But you will get everything back, no deductions.

For an earlier cancellation (April 1) I'm still waiting for my $ and QFF points. 3 months+ for refunds? Is it just me or is this unacceptable conduct by a major retailer?

M

 

[MikeG]

Most of that thread is people whining about paying 6000 QFF points to cancel their flights? I'm simply cancelling as Qantas chose to cancel the flight(s) I booked. Surely I should just raise a credit card chargeback and be done with it.

I have had multiple flights cancelled over the past 3 months and the refunds are not being processed.

I also note that this thread is a bit different and discusses the cancellation of bookings by Qantas. Has anyone noticed a steep increase in this behaviour? I originally had direct flights in business, and then I had to change to via SYD to retain business class. Now replacing all flights with dash8's seems ridiculous. Is this how Qantas plans to compete with Virgin increasing its flights? I thought Qantas was meant to be the premium carrier...

Is this the beginning of the end for Qantas?

M

 

[Airbumps]

Is this the beginning of the end for Qantas?

M

No, it's not.

I waited 10 weeks and five chase up phone calls to get a refund (due COVID) from QANTAS. Is it acceptable? I don't know enough about the technology, administrative and governance processes behind the refund system to say.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I waited 10 weeks and five chase up phone calls to get a refund (due COVID) from QANTAS. Is it acceptable? I don't know enough about the technology, administrative and governance processes behind the refund system to say.

Given British Airways can refund in 5 days, I'd reckon the QF process is 'too long'.

 

[MARTINE]

I too am waiting for over 30k refunds for flights QR/SIA/SAS/KLM (cancelled March for Europe travel May- all we’re full fare refundable flights).
I’m assuming could be waiting up to 12 weeks FROM MAY when due to travel due to backlog from airlines. This is an instance where paying for business gives no preferential treatment!
I wanted to commend Matt on Podcast 37 and his interview with the European lawyer dealing with Lufthansa/EU aviation law . Would be great if he could do similar pod with an Australian specialist in this regard to gain some transparency. Thoughts ?

 

[Melburnian1]

This article from 'The Weekend Australian' of 13-14 June 2020 may be of assistance to those wanting airline (and other) refunds, or asking their bank to initiate a chargeback.

It's not clear why if the 'ban' was extended on 15 May why it took anyone in the Australian media almost a month to know.

-------------

'Australia’s ban on international departures was due to run for three months from March 18 to June 17, but was extended without fanfare on May 15 for a further three months.

This means Australians cannot travel overseas before September 17, although a Health Department spokesman said this would not prevent proposed travel “bubbles” with New Zealand or other nations that have COVID-19 under control.

“The human biosecurity emergency is currently in force until September 17, 2020 — it was extended on May 15, 2020, for a further three months to ensure the Australian government continues to have an appropriate range of powers available to manage the ongoing pandemic response,” the spokesman said.

“The outgoing travel restriction on Australian citizens and permanent residents is currently in effect for the duration of the emergency period.

“Amending these restrictions, for example to enable travel to NZ, is a decision for both governments that will be made in due course, when the public health risk is assessed as being sufficiently safe. The Australian and New Zealand governments continue to work together on this matter.”

Confirmation of the extended travel ban is bad news for those keen to chance an overseas break. However, it is good news for those wanting to cancel holidays abroad booked between June 17, when the ban was due to end, and September 17, when it now expires...'

-------------

There is more in the article. 'The Australian' has the best aviation coverage of any Australian media. It's not expensive to subscribe to in print (or digital/both) so why not consider it?

 

[MikeG]

I run a retail company and I regularly refund customers for change of mind (with surcharges) and there is no magical delay in refunds. Qantas is just pocketing our hard earned cash to offset potential loans to prop up their sorry existence. The ethics of using customer refund moneys to do this is pretty dodgy. I thought qantas were bad BEFORE COVID-19 - now they will be on my do not deal list indefinitely. They cannot be trusted and actively lie to their customers on a regular basis about credit card companies causing refund delays. I wonder what the ACCC would think of this?

 

[stoney]

I run a retail company and I regularly refund customers for change of mind (with surcharges) and there is no magical delay in refunds. Qantas is just pocketing our hard earned cash to offset potential loans to prop up their sorry existence. The ethics of using customer refund moneys to do this is pretty dodgy. I thought qantas were bad BEFORE COVID-19 - now they will be on my do not deal list indefinitely. They cannot be trusted and actively lie to their customers on a regular basis about credit card companies causing refund delays. I wonder what the ACCC would think of this?

The ACCC is a lame duck or toothless tiger a WAFTAM! You are spot on and I feel the same, customer service, NIL, Refund policy, using our funds so they do not have to go to the bank, cheap loan.

 

[Melburnian1]

The ACCC is a lame duck or toothless tiger a WAFTAM! You are spot on and I feel the same, customer service, NIL, Refund policy, using our funds so they do not have to go to the bank, cheap loan.

Imagine if Woolworths or IGA decided to take two weeks to refund us after we took something back.

Airlines get away with much that other businesses cannot. (Or perhaps other businesses are just more ethical).

Lots of businesses (and individuals) have 'cashflow' probs at present, but still manage to meet their debts. Qantas 'just decided' not to pay some until later in the year. Outrageous.

 

[bPeteb]

I followed up, again, on Monday. I'd been told to wait until 08/06 the last time I called. Three refunds still outstanding but I was confused about why I'd received the points back, but not the credit card refund, for one of them. When the CSR looked at it something was obviously not right. I was told that I should have received the refund first, then the points. On Wednesday I received the email telling me that the refund had been processed and would be in my account 'in some time'. I should expect the points in 10 days (I got them back two weeks ago!). We'll see how long it takes to land on the Amex.

Landed on Saturday, missing the credit card charge that I was told would be refunded. I’ll mention this when I call about the missing revenue refunds that I requested 10 weeks ago tomorrow

 

[JohnM]

I have received no response to an email sent to [email protected] chasing refund of $$ from a cancelled award booking, several weeks after the points were refunded. I'll give it another week and phone if still nothing.

OK, I just phoned and got the Australian call centre after about a 5-10 minute hold.

Rob tapped away and said that it's sorted and the $$ refund will be 2-13 business days. He said that he'll phone through to ticketing while I waited just to make sure that it would be processed, so it looks like a two-step internal process is involved.

I though it interesting that he would say he's doing it while I waited so he could confirm it with me. Does that suggest they can't rely on internal teams to interact properly, I wonder?

Anyway, he came back after a couple of minutes saying that he was having a delay in getting in touch with someone in ticketing. He assured me that it would be sorted in the 2-3 business days and I'd get an email advising when the refund was made.

 

[bPeteb]

OK, I just phoned and got the Australian call centre after about a 5-10 minute hold.

Rob tapped away and said that it's sorted and the $$ refund will be 2-13 business days. He said that he'll phone through to ticketing while I waited just to make sure that it would be processed, so it looks like a two-step internal process is involved.

I though it interesting that he would say he's doing it while I waited so he could confirm it with me. Does that suggest they can't rely on internal teams to interact properly, I wonder?

Anyway, he came back after a couple of minutes saying that he was having a delay in getting in touch with someone in ticketing. He assured me that it would be sorted in the 2-3 business days and I'd get an email advising when the refund was made.

Yeh John, when I cancelled my partner's online it said 8-10 days. Then when I called on ? it had gone nowhere and I got a similar spiel. It took from April 20 to Saturday for that refund to finally land

 

[sanne]

I also have had the run around with QF for the return of taxes for a canceled flight made on 4th April. Did all the usual things recommended on here. Still waiting.

 

[Craig O'Brien]

Here is the latest from me. Just a quick recap. Flights cancelled 22nd March, Points in 3 days later. No fees refund. Sent 3 emails (no responses) and called on 3rd june.

So I called yesterday (Sun 14th June) Took 1.5 hours, but got premium support. Looked it up, they said because it has been over 10 weeks, they can manually process it. (not sure why they can't do it earlier, but probably because of volume)

They say my previous phone call on the 3rd June about, so they said it has been done, and should take 3 days

This morning, got a reply on email and they said please allow 7-10 for it to refund. So hopefully this is the last of it. But I don't feel 100% confident yet..

 

[docjames]

Cancelled 2 weeks ago. Follow up email Sent today got the auto-reply stating refunds taking 6-8 weeks currently.

 

[JohnM]

OK, I just phoned and got the Australian call centre after about a 5-10 minute hold.

Rob tapped away and said that it's sorted and the $$ refund will be 2-13 business days. He said that he'll phone through to ticketing while I waited just to make sure that it would be processed, so it looks like a two-step internal process is involved.

I though it interesting that he would say he's doing it while I waited so he could confirm it with me. Does that suggest they can't rely on internal teams to interact properly, I wonder?

Anyway, he came back after a couple of minutes saying that he was having a delay in getting in touch with someone in ticketing. He assured me that it would be sorted in the 2-3 business days and I'd get an email advising when the refund was made.

Well, miracles can happen.

An email from QF saying that they have processed the $$ refund has just hit my inbox.