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

M

MPP2768

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2020
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11
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
 
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piratematerial said:
What type of statement credit was it? I have the $450 Qantas Ultimate travel credit that was recently converted into a statement credit.
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This is a credit towards Qantas flights booked through Amex Travel right? If so I think your best option is to try amending the booking through Amex Travel, the QF call centre probably won't touch it as it was booked through a travel agent (Amex)

The Qantas statement credits through Amex Offers (spend 250 get 40, spend 350 get 70) can be refunded and Amex won't claw back the credit usually - it's hard for them to marry up the transactions if Qantas doesn't refund the card payment fee. But the $450 Amex Travel QF credit is a different story, you won't get the $450 credit back if you cancel the booking. Try to amend the PNR with a new date/destination instead.
 
sudoer said:
This is a credit towards Qantas flights booked through Amex Travel right? If so I think your best option is to try amending the booking through Amex Travel, the QF call centre probably won't touch it as it was booked through a travel agent (Amex)

The usual Qantas statement credits through Amex Offers (spend 250 get 40, spend 350 get 70) can be refunded and Amex won't claw back the credit usually - it's hard for them to marry up the transactions if Qantas doesn't refund the card payment fee. But the $450 Amex Travel QF credit is a different story, you won't get the $450 credit back if you cancel the booking. Try to amend the PNR with a new date/destination instead.
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It is usually a Amex Travel travel credit but they turned it into a statement credit for use against any Qantas purchase (Wine etc) for this year because people were having trouble redeeming them. In this case it also happened when the spend $350 save $70 offer was on so I spent about $480 and got $520 refunded as a statement credit. From what you‘re saying because they keep the CC charges they shouldn’t be able to claw either back…
 
blackcat20 said:
True, but cash is cash, the time taken seems to be about the same.
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YMMV

Recent cancelled awards had points back within a week and $$$ within three weeks (sample size of two).

Revenue fares had to wait the 8 weeks (sample size of four). Two ex NZ I called again after 9 weeks and the refunds appeared 2 days later.
 
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twiningb said:
I'm currently on-hold with QFF to see if they can grab some award seats currently available, and then cancel an existing Classic Reward booking and apply the miles to the new one. It's been quite some time in the queue.

If I cancel online, how long would it take to get the miles back? Is it instantaneous or would I have to wait hours/days/weeks and/or call someone?
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How did you end up with this is in the end? Im interested as I am in the same predicament. Thanks
 
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Received my refund today on Qantas' birthday only 8 days after online cancellation...
 
Cancelled on 8th or 9th
Received points back today

Maybe they noticed there were too many calls and/or emails about the points refunds?
Is speculation wandering
Fred
 
My experience is that points arrive *almost* instantly (1 day time max) after the cancellation and $ arrive in 6-8 weeks time.

However, my recent experience is different - I booked & cancelled 26800 points worth of reward bookings couple of weeks back. After booking, I cancelled the tickets, the QF website showed that the tickets are cancelled - with a note that points & $ taxes etc will be credited in 4 to 6 weeks. However, the booking was still showing my trips & bookings page. I didn't do much. Waited for the travel date to pass (which was 1 week after I cancelled the tickets) and then could see that the booking had disappeared - which is fine.

I then called QF customer service and wanted to check on the status of the refund. The agent on the phone mentioned that the cancellation has gone through, however, the refund of points, seemingly was not initiated/considered. He went on to say that the points are being refunded via a different system, which has not been notified by the QF booking engine re my points refund. So he had to *manually* push the request to the other system to do the points refund. After this, the points refund was immediately as I was on the phone with the agent.

I was advised that the $ refund will still take 4-6 weeks. I checked the credit card today, no refund yet. Been 3 weeks so far.
 
AIRwin said:
I paid wholly using points...
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OK. That makes a difference because I've regularly got the points back quickly, but had to wait 5 weeks or more for the taxes to be refunded when paying for those using money.
 
My award redemption was cancelled over the phone six weeks. The cash refund arrived after I filed a US DOT complaint as it involved the US and took more than seven days. I'm still waiting on the points.

I encourage anyway with an itinerary under US DOT jurisdiction to file a complaint if their refund takes more than seven days. It's a very quick and easy process.

File a Consumer Complaint | US Department of Transportation

renatts said:
Glad to hear it's all sorted for you.

I've changed my booking from May 2020 close to 10 times now, every time has been a completely different route into completely different destinations, on completely different dates (one world award).
The reason I've been changing it instead of cancelling it is because I booked under the old Qantas award chart in 2019 just prior to the change - 280k points for a business class one world award compared to the current chart at 318k. I originally booked a one way from BNE to AMS in J just to make sure I got in before the redemption rates increased - the 6000pt per pax to add flights was peanuts compared to the increase in redemption cost.

As long as you keep 'changing' the booking instead of cancelling you get to keep the award chart rates you booked under, so keep this in mind if things go pear shaped, and Qantas 'optimise' the redemption rates again.
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While I think that's most people's experience her, I don't think it's actually a formal policy. I got warned on my last change to a oneworld award:

Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

MEL-KUL*-DOH*-MLE (Stop 1) MLE*-DOH (Stop 2) DOH*-JFK (Stop 3) DFW-HND (Stop 5) NRT-MEL (End) Perhaps 4 is your unlucky number? Like many airlines don't have row 13... (yes, I know it will be in Mexico...)
www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au
 
I cancelled a domestic award booking in September and assumed everything was back on track. When I checked in early November neither the points or taxes had been returned. Took a phone call, lots of keyboard clicking and then the points were back that day and the taxes a few days later.

I was a little disappointed that it isn't a consistent process.
 
I have 3 QF domestic award flights to cancel. I seem to remember there has been a problem doing this on line. Of course I’d like all the points refunded to my account and taxes refunded to my CC.

Please could some confirm that I can do this transaction on line as we’ve always been able to in the past.

Thanks.
 

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