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

 

[Mr H]

I'm also looking at cancelling a rewards booking but waiting to see whether QF, EK or 3K cancel first (saving me a cancelation fee). My question is what happens to the refund of taxes of I no longer have the credit card used to make the booking?

 

[TheRealTMA]

I'm also looking at cancelling a rewards booking but waiting to see whether QF, EK or 3K cancel first (saving me a cancelation fee). My question is what happens to the refund of taxes of I no longer have the credit card used to make the booking?

Cancelled credit cards are kept in the system for at least 6 months after the termination so that extra charges and refunds are still done with the same card. (Which is why cancelling a card after a car hire does not limit your liability for extra charges from the car hire company or traffic fines.)

”Generally” the refund will go to the same card and then you need to contact the bank to recover or transfer the funds.

 

[airbound]

My parents have a booking to fly tomorrow to NZ. The booking was made using QFF points, and the flights on the itinerary are JQ flights.

Is the only option available to them to cancel the booking to phone QF and endure the 3 hour wait?

It doesn't look like the flights can be cancelled on the QF website when logged in to their frequent flyer account. The cancel button is greyed out with a "contact office" mouseover.

JQ Manage Booking has a "Your flight may be affected by an incident or issue" message. There are buttons to "Find out more" and then "Check flight options", but the latter options leads to a "We can't access your booking" error message, presumably because the ticket is 081 Qantas ticket stock.

Sigh.

Precisely on the 4-hour mark, the call hung up or disconnected. Engaged tone. Network limit on the length of a phone call?

I guess they'll have to try again.

No, maybe not. The current wait time is 4 hours 20 minutes plus. Not a lot of point doing that, if it will disconnect at 4 hours again.

For a flight tomorrow that needs to be cancelled before the departure time, this leaves them in a bit of a pickle.

 

[Franky]

Sigh.

Precisely on the 4-hour mark, the call hung up or disconnected. Engaged tone. Network limit on the length of a phone call?

I guess they'll have to try again.

No, maybe not. The current wait time is 4 hours 20 minutes plus. Not a lot of point doing that, if it will disconnect at 4 hours again.

For a flight tomorrow that needs to be cancelled before the departure time, this leaves them in a bit of a pickle.

I'm probably wrong, but I thought I had read elsewhere that contacting them on FB or Twitter has had some success.

 

[airbound]

I'm probably wrong, but I thought I had read elsewhere that contacting them on FB or Twitter has had some success.

Thanks. We'll give that a go.

At least it will put something on the record in writing before the flight departure time.

 

[pottsy]

I too wish to cancel classic reward flights but find the new Qantas Corona cancellation conditions confusing, re points flights. Do you know (assuming you can contact anyone) if there is a penalty? Are the points (and taxes) refunded??

 

[Scr77]

I managed to get through on the text line yesterday afternoon. The agent said there is still a 6,000 points per person per booking cancellation fee. You will get all of your taxes refunded (eventually).

 

[serfty]

I too wish to cancel classic reward flights but find the new Qantas Corona cancellation conditions confusing, re points flights. Do you know (assuming you can contact anyone) if there is a penalty? Are the points (and taxes) refunded??

If there is a significant schedule change or cancellation to any of the flights in the booking you should be able to get a full refund without having to pay a 6K fee.

As indicated, all $$$ are refunded.

There's some recent experince of that here:

Do I have to pay a points penalty if I cancel my award flights after Qantas made changes to it?

Qantas has changed my flight times for a scheduled international flight in 2020. They've indicated that I need to call them to confirm all of the changes that they have made. I was considering cancelling the booking as I'm not happy with the change(s) made. If I do cancel the booking for this...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[SydneySwan]

If there is a significant schedule change or cancellation to any of the flights in the booking you should be able to get a full refund without having to pay a 6K fee.

I suspect that will only apply to flights on the Qantas booking. All my internal flights on Cebu Pacific and Skyjet on my trip to the Philippines have been cancelled because of the metro Manila lockdown so I can't get to my ultimate destination. So I need to cancel my classic rewards booking to Manila which has no schedule change. I doubt that Qantas are going to waive the penalty in this situation. If I can get through to them to find out I will report back.

 

[eric2011]

Can award bookings (simple ones) be cancelled on line or do you need to call QF

 

[SydneySwan]

You can do it online. Go into manage booking and you have the option to cancel.

 

[eric2011]

Thanks, and any point refunds just happen automatically ?

 

[SydneySwan]

Yes - points (-cancellation fee) and cash will refund automatically.

 

[Eirinoula]

Re Cancelling Rewards Booking. So, I'm in Greece, with a Business Class rewards booking to return to BNE 26th March. I want to come home sooner, as Greece is shutting down. Would like to change my existing booking. Go online, I see available seats. For some reason, it won't let me change it online. It says contact Qantas office. What Qantas office, there isn't one in Greece. Can't ring Australia as all published phone numbers are local. Went on Qantas FB page, sent message, and someone was going to get back to me. That was over 12 hours ago. Clearly communication isn't working. My question to the forum...Should I go ahead and book a new flight, and cancel my original when I get home? Will that work, or will the system see two bookings in the same name, and cancel one? All suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re Cancelling Rewards Booking. So, I'm in Greece, with a Business Class rewards booking to return to BNE 26th March. I want to come home sooner, as Greece is shutting down. Would like to change my existing booking. Go online, I see available seats. For some reason, it won't let me change it online. It says contact Qantas office. What Qantas office, there isn't one in Greece. Can't ring Australia as all published phone numbers are local. Went on Qantas FB page, sent message, and someone was going to get back to me. That was over 12 hours ago. Clearly communication isn't working. My question to the forum...Should I go ahead and book a new flight, and cancel my original when I get home? Will that work, or will the system see two bookings in the same name, and cancel one? All suggestions will be appreciated.

If you have wifi and skype you can make a free call by selecting one of QF's international toll free numbers - for example their number in the USA. No initial credit is required for you to make that call.

You are ordinarily required to cancel an award booking in advance of travel. You'd *hope* QF will make an exception in cases like this - but who knows. If getting home is the #1 priority, and yo have the points, you could go ahead and book. The system shouldn't cancel two bookings this far apart. Airlines can cancel 'impossible' bookings - for example ones that are only hours apart, or in the case of a long haul, a day apart. 10 days apart shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Eirinoula]

If you have wifi and skype you can make a free call by selecting one of QF's international toll free numbers - for example their number in the USA. No initial credit is required for you to make that call.

You are ordinarily required to cancel an award booking in advance of travel. You'd *hope* QF will make an exception in cases like this - but who knows. If getting home is the #1 priority, and yo have the points, you could go ahead and book. The system shouldn't cancel two bookings this far apart. Airlines can cancel 'impossible' bookings - for example ones that are only hours apart, or in the case of a long haul, a day apart. 10 days apart shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you so much for that. I looked up the website and they show a QF phone number for Athens, but only 9-5 Mon-Fri. I will try it in the morning. Yes, I have wifi and skype, so thank you will try that as well. Failing that, I will be forced to make the booking. I believe they are going to start cancelling flights in/out Greece soon.

 

[SydneySwan]

I suspect that will only apply to flights on the Qantas booking. All my internal flights on Cebu Pacific and Skyjet on my trip to the Philippines have been cancelled because of the metro Manila lockdown so I can't get to my ultimate destination. So I need to cancel my classic rewards booking to Manila which has no schedule change. I doubt that Qantas are going to waive the penalty in this situation. If I can get through to them to find out I will report back.

OK I have cancelled online. I will send Qantas an email and request the penalty be waived but couldn't wait on the phone any longer - been waiting over 2 hours but need to use my phone now for other calls. It would be nice to know where you are in the queue on the phone so you could better judge whether it is worth waiting but Qantas do not seem to have that technology.

 

[exceladdict]

Thank you so much for that. I looked up the website and they show a QF phone number for Athens, but only 9-5 Mon-Fri. I will try it in the morning. Yes, I have wifi and skype, so thank you will try that as well. Failing that, I will be forced to make the booking. I believe they are going to start cancelling flights in/out Greece soon.

You should be completely fine to book your new ticket home and cancel your original once you're here.

 

[exceladdict]

Re Cancelling Rewards Booking. So, I'm in Greece, with a Business Class rewards booking to return to BNE 26th March. I want to come home sooner, as Greece is shutting down. Would like to change my existing booking. Go online, I see available seats. For some reason, it won't let me change it online. It says contact Qantas office. What Qantas office, there isn't one in Greece. Can't ring Australia as all published phone numbers are local. Went on Qantas FB page, sent message, and someone was going to get back to me. That was over 12 hours ago. Clearly communication isn't working. My question to the forum...Should I go ahead and book a new flight, and cancel my original when I get home? Will that work, or will the system see two bookings in the same name, and cancel one? All suggestions will be appreciated.

Just clarifying this is a one-way ticket. If it's return, or you've started flying already, my previous comment does not apply, you need to get in touch with Qantas.

 

[The man with no name]

Still no points or cash refund after last weeks cancellation. Given QF call centers are currently under the pump I'm reluctant to call for the time being.