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

 

[sudoer]

did you cancel online or on the phone?

Qantas cancelled my booking first - a SYD-ZQN return classic award - on 21 July, and sent an email with the below content:

Hello MR SUDOER,
Important Information about your flight
We've made further network changes in response to Coronavirus and various government travel restrictions.

As a result we've had to cancel your flight QF181 from Sydney at 7:40AM on xOct2020.

The value of your ticket has been stored as a Flight Credit. Your Flight Credit has an expiry date of 31 December 2022 and you won't be charged any change fees on rebooking. We'll email your Flight Credit details soon, and it will also outline how to access other options available to you (including a refund).

If your booking contained a Classic Reward or Qantas Points redemption, Qantas Points will be returned to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account, and any cash component will be refunded or placed in credit, depending on your booking.

We'll be processing these as soon as possible, however due to unprecedented volumes this may take longer than usual.

I hadn't heard anything two weeks later so I called the premium line to check if the refund was automated - they said it wasn't, and that they needed to kick it off. The rep confirmed the PNR details and my credit card number for the refund, then put it into the queue and told me 8-10 weeks

The whole refund process was very smooth though, I called at 7am on a weekend and got through in just a few minutes. I now feel more comfortable making speculative bookings for next year.

 

[VPS]

Qantas cancelled my booking first - a SYD-ZQN return classic award - on 21 July, and sent an email with the below content:



I hadn't heard anything two weeks later so I called the premium line to check if the refund was automated - they said it wasn't, and that they needed to kick it off. The rep confirmed the PNR details and my credit card number for the refund, then put it into the queue and told me 8-10 weeks

The whole refund process was very smooth though, I called at 7am on a weekend and got through in just a few minutes. I now feel more comfortable making speculative bookings for next year.

It's been four business days and I cancelled online because they had changed my flights so often and there is no hope of me going to Perth any time soon and the last iteration instead of direct ADL PER was ADL Alice Springs MEL PER

 

[JohnM]

Well, well - the tax refund just posted to my Amex. That's five business days for both points and taxes back!

Gosh, they’ve slowed down badly since my experience (post #393) - which I also initiated on a Monday.

 

[Matt_01]

Some seem to be doing alright, I cancelled the last of my QF trips in the last couple of weeks of May. After contacting QF at the end of June the points were returned. Another email to QF last week enquiring about the refund as it was past 10 weeks and I have been advised (received a confirmation email) that the remaining trips have been cancelled and the refund to the credit card may take another 10-15 days.

 

[JohnM]

Aahhh, QF - consistently inconsistent (TM) through thick and thin.

 

[ChrisMars]

Data point: Qantas Domestic Classic flight rewards booked 6 July, travel date 8 August, cancelled by choice via Phone the 19 July, points back the 6 August, tax refunded the 7 August, and visible on my Credit Card portal the 11 August, minus the cc surcharge.

 

[sambo]

I just wanted to feed back my experience in getting a refund from Qantas here - it just happened at exactly the 11 week mark for me.

Was not an easy process though - I called several times after the 8 week mark to follow up, and the response was always to just wait longer. They would not give many any written acknowledgement that this process was underway though.

At the 10 week mark I called again, got the same response, got frustrated and lodged a chargeback dispute with Amex.

3 days later I got a call from a Qantas rep apologising for the delay, and offering to keep my refund as account credit with Qantas with a 10% bonus applied! I politely declined and insisted on a refund acknowledgment email that day, which the agent agreed to, and 4 days later I saw the refund on my credit card.

Has been a frustrating experience, but got there in the end.

 

[Pele]

G'day

Taxes back three days ago. A week under 6 months. Fkin jokers. Waste of space.

Pele.

 

[Danger]

I'm at the three-month mark today. I've also so far lost more than 10% in foreign exchange depreciation.

I am dumbfounded that even now people are still being told eight weeks or more for refunds. In March and April I could swallow the argument that systems are complicated and refund volumes are unprecedented, but not today. It's greed, incompetence or laziness.

My money was refunded 148 days after the ticket was cancelled. But the points didn't come back. That took another 41 days and included an email that wasn't answered after a month. When I raised the fact that I'd been given three different timeframes for refunds (the most recent being 45 days from mid-April) and I had lost more than 10% of the taxes and surcharges to a foreign currency that had continued to depreciate against the Australian dollar since I booked, the Manila call centre said they would look into what they could do for me. A couple of days ago I received a call back from a gentleman at Qantas who couldn't have been less interested. He didn't even have my email in front of him, just flatly said 'Exchange rate losses are not something we would cover in normal times so we wouldn't be providing compensation for it now'. Flatly ignored the repeated misinformation about the refund timeframe and the multiple calls and email to get back what I was entitled to. It was the worst telephone conversation I've had with Qantas in five years.

I had specifically avoided doing a chargeback because I had appreciated Qantas offering status extensions and status help. But at the end of this call, I was firm (with myself) that next time, Qantas will get its 14 days - then it'll get a chargeback.

 

[Pushka]

Just contacted Qantas about a cancellation in July. Points back but no refund. Was told they can't escalate until it's been 12 weeks now.

 

[blackcat20]

Our points were back in 2-3 business days, now just waiting on the $$.

 

[Pushka]

Our points were back in 2-3 business days, now just waiting on the $$.

Interestingly our points for a cancelled Qatar award flight were back almost immediately and the refund within three days! And that was for a cancellation of two weeks ago. We have cancelled a few Qatar flights in recent weeks (trying to secure a seat for sons departure to the UK) and refunds of points and cash have all posted within two weeks. So the question is - why do they go through so quickly. But not Qantas metal ones.

 

[blackcat20]

Interestingly our points for a cancelled Qatar award flight were back almost immediately and the refund within three days! And that was for a cancellation of two weeks ago. We have cancelled a few Qatar flights in recent weeks (trying to secure a seat for sons departure to the UK) and refunds of points and cash have all posted within two weeks. So the question is - why do they go through so quickly. But not Qantas metal ones.

Jetstar refunded our money in only a day or so, so I dont understand how QF can take 3 months....

 

[TomVexille]

Jetstar refunded our money in only a day or so, so I dont understand how QF can take 3 months....

Automated vs manual systems

 

[serfty]

Automated vs manual systems

Especially when there's an intervention:

Was told they can't escalate until it's been 12 weeks now.

I suspect it would be longer if Qantas considered they could get away with it.

 

[Pushka]

Especially when there's an intervention:
I suspect it would be longer if Qantas considered they could get away with it.

The operator, and this was on the Premium line, kind of acted very much that I was somehow lucky to be able to get a refund and went on to say all her 8 hours of work each day was dealing with refunds. I said I could understand that this would be tiring but it was at least working for Qantas.

 

[TheRealTMA]

The operator, and this was on the Premium line, kind of acted very much that I was somehow lucky to be able to get a refund and went on to say all her 8 hours of work each day was dealing with refunds. I said I could understand that this would be tiring but it was at least working for Qantas.

Sheesh. She had a job and not on job keeper. Lots of people have much worse to deal with every day.

 

[jpp42]

I suspect it would be longer if Qantas considered they could get away with it.

Exactly, this is nothing whatsoever to do with "systems" and 100% to do with Qantas trying to postpone refunds as long as possible to preserve cash flow.

 

[woodyren]

I cancelled a reward flight I had booked for December. Cancelled it last Friday. Points back today.

 

[ChrisMars]

I cancelled a reward flight I had booked for December. Cancelled it last Friday. Points back today.

Same here for classic rewards. Points back within 24h, taxes back in 2 to 3 weeks.