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

 

[Andz]

same, not refund yet after 3 weeks.

 

[auriga]

I cancelled a QF award flight (flying China Airlines) back in early Feb.
This was done on web chat.
Still no cash or points refunded.

 

[Craig O'Brien]

I cancelled my may flights to Tokyo about 3 weeks ago. I had paid 450K in points (3 passengers) and about 1200 in fees. Points have been returned within a week, however the fees have not appeared anywhere.. Not sure I should bother wasting 10 hours on the phone to Qantas support...

 

[serfty]

Qantas Website states up to 14 days after cancellation.

If they have not been refunded and it is more than that, then you need to call.

Cancelling or changing a Reward flight booking

If you cancel your booking taxes, fees and carrier charges will be refunded back to the credit card on which the taxes were originally paid. A Cancellation Refund Fee will apply. Refer to the Fees Schedule for a list of fees. Please allow up to 14 days for the points to appear on your activity statement.

 

[Barnaby1]

On 5th November '19, I cancelled my Qantas OneWorld Classic Reward (RTW) booking. The service consultant advised that the amount that I had paid for the taxes etc. associated with that booking (AU$1415.81) would be credited back to my account on that day, and the 6000 points cancellation fee would be applied.

The cancellation fee of 6k points was certainly applied, BUT, there has been no sign of my $1415.81 being returned to me!

During the past five months I have contacted all of Qantas departments (frequent flyer contact centre, frequent flyer service centre, customer care feedback, members services and the useless Text (in this case) facility. The repeated reply is "Regrettably we can't help you with your refund request, but our Reservations team (131313) would be able to resolve this for you".

I have spent many, many hours waiting to finally speak with a member of the Reservations team, in the hope that I may strike one that will "be able to resolve" where my missing money has been sent!

The common reply is always "the funds were transferred to your account on 5th November '19, but we are not at liberty to divulge which account was the recipient". That's fair enough, but even the last two, three or four numbers of the said credit card would give me some sort of indication as to where my money may be laying.

The OneWorld Classic Reward booking was done progressively, with each of the itinerary sectors paid by the same Qantas Premier Credit Card. Obviously, I have been in constant contact with them, they continually advise that there has been no sign of the Qantas refund.

In desparation, I forwarded the details of my complaint online to the Airline Customer Advocate back on 17th February '20. They have not replied, not even an acknowledgment of my complaint, some thirty three business days after sending the information. Very disappointed with Airline Customer Advocate, not keeping with your charter!

My next step is to contact the Ombudsman and hope that he has the power to enforce Qantas to divulge exactly where my funds were transferred back on 5th November '19.

 

[redbatz]

I just cancelled a domestic fllight this mornng as my flight was changed but in any case cant leave sa or enter qld for a while anyway. Called qantas so I would not get the cancellation points penalty for this.
Big should out to Jamie from the call centre who was very friendly and helpful.

 

[exceladdict]

I just cancelled a domestic fllight this mornng as my flight was changed but in any case cant leave sa or enter qld for a while anyway. Called qantas so I would not get the cancellation points penalty for this.
Big should out to Jamie from the call centre who was very friendly and helpful.

It's always a pleasure getting good service. Be sure to send a compliment. Good staff need to be rewarded and used as positive examples

 

[james4321]

Joe. I had that issue and called my bank before I cancelled the booking. The bank (BankWest) told me if the card had been cancelled then the payment from Qantas would most likely “bounce” back to Qantas. So I called Qantas and explained that response and the service agent took all the details of the card I wanted the refund to go to (ANZ) and asked me to get a Stat Dec stating the card number (first 6 and last 4 numbers) and expiry date of BOTH the Bankwest and ANZ cards and Email it to them.

 

[The man with no name]

Still no points or cash returned to me despite cancelling on March 10th so I finally sent a message to Qantas via FB. Hopefully sorted this week.

 

[eminere]

Just cancelled a reward flight yesterday afternoon and the points were back in my account the same evening. No cancellation fee charged (travel was for 6 June). Now to see how long the fees and taxes refund takes.

 

[kpc]

Just cancelled a reward flight yesterday afternoon and the points were back in my account the same evening. No cancellation fee charged (travel was for 6 June). Now to see how long the fees and taxes refund takes.

Cancelled online via Qf webiste or via phone? Have a trip to Reykjavik departing June 1 and after 30 mins on the premium line this am, call disconnected.

 

[SydneySwan]

I have not got mine back. I suspect that this is not an automated process but you would expect that Qantas will put something in place in a few days to automatically reverse cancellation fees charged over the last few days. As a lowly silver I have zero hope of being able to get through to Qantas on the phone.

Just following up on this. I waited until Thursday April 2 but the cancellation fee points had not been automatically returned. So I sent QF an email and they were back in my account the next day. I was surprised how quickly they responded.

 

[serfty]

I was surprised how quickly they responded.

Maybe it was a bit like "priority luggage comes out in the first 50% half the time".

I note that Qantas have updated their COVID-19 page and it now contains the following:

---

If your flight hasn't been cancelled

We want to provide our customers with as much certainty and flexibility as we can, so we've now extended and simplified our flight credits for customers whose travel plans have been affected.
...
If you're due to travel on a Classic Flight Reward booking (using Qantas Points) before 31 July 2020 and wish to change your plans, you can cancel your booking and any cancellation fees will be waived. The total Qantas Points used and any taxes, fees and carrier charges paid will be refunded.

Customers with bookings after 31 July 2020 may also be able to cancel their booking and request a refund, however they may be charged a cancellation fee, as per our fare rules.

---

Booking changes and other options | Qantas

View information on what option you have for changing and cancelling your Qantas flight booking.

www.qantas.com

There is still the May/March based text when you go to cancel as per posts # 82 and # 86, but that was enough for me and I cancelled two bookings online I had that were related to the "June Lounge Run".

The 14 day clock is ticking ...

 

[eminere]

Cancelled online via Qf webiste or via phone? Have a trip to Reykjavik departing June 1 and after 30 mins on the premium line this am, call disconnected.

Online through MMB.

 

[gluewell14]

I cancelled a redemption booking for an AF booking in June through Manage Booking earlier this week (Wed 1st). No confirmation email but my points were reinstated on Friday 5th (with no 6000 point fee). Waiting on the taxes (guessing this'll be a little longer), but am v pleased with the response.

 

[serfty]

The 14 day clock is ticking ...

... and for one of them the points have already been refunded with a (pointedly) 0 point refund fee. Just need to see when the ¥ come back.

Waiting on the other ...

 

[bussyboy]

I was getting check-in reminders for today's canceled flight, phoned the customer service line last night 20:40 AEDT, got straight through.
She confirmed the booking is cancelled, and processed my points refund (classic rewards booking) there and then. I expect the taxes may take a couple of days to hit my credit card

Taxes took 2 days to be refunded to Amex, less 50c which i guess was the credit card payment fee initially

 

[Kangol]

P1 team told me 4-8 weeks for the refund, which doesn't quite add up. I'm still waiting on one from 2 weeks ago. Flight was last week.

 

[sanne]

Yesterday I cancelled 2 x classic award flights for June to JNB return.

SYD/JNB points appeared straight away in my account ... no cancellation points deduction

Today I had a lovely email from QF telling me the points for JNB/SYD we’re in my account. I checked and they were, plus no cancellation points deduction.

It was explained that there might be a delay in getting the taxes back and also if I had other bookings that I had cancelled that day ... I did, a paid domestic flight... that they would attend to it as soon as possible.

Well done QF. And full marks for communication.

 

[eminere]

Online through MMB.

Well colour me impressed: the refund of the taxes and fees (less credit card payment fee) appeared in my credit card account just one day after cancelling, on Sunday.