Points refund after second leg schedule change

[arcades]

Hey there, long time lurker, first time poster.

Recently I booked a CI Classic Reward ticket from NRT -> TPE and TPE -> SYD in Economy and Premium Economy respectively. I flew the first leg to Taipei, had a nice short stopover there, and the night before I flew out to SYD was notified by CI that there had been an equipment change and thus I was dumped back to Y. I wasn't overly keen to do so, so instead of accepting the changes I instead chose to cancel that leg and rebook another CR on CX.

I am yet to see any confirmation from Qantas about the cancellation of the leg or the partial refund for the sector not flown. I know refunds are not possible when a sector has been flown in ordinary circumstances, but does that still apply when there's been an unacceptable change? I don't particularly care about the taxes, but I'd be a bit miffed to pay 80,000 points for a 4 hour trip in Y. It seems strange to be able to get a refund when paying with cash but not with points in this scenario?

I'd appreciate some of the brains trust input on what my rights may or may not be before I brave the call centre... TIA

 

[05flyer]

instead of accepting the changes I instead chose to cancel that leg and rebook another CR on CX.

I am yet to see any confirmation from Qantas about the cancellation of the leg or the partial refund for the sector not flown.

Did you cancel the flight via CI support/online, or via QF?

If the decision to cancel rather than change has not been properly communicated by CI to QF, it will probably take a call to QF (and hopefully not too much more effort) to get a refund processed.

I know refunds are not possible when a sector has been flown in ordinary circumstances, but does that still apply when there's been an unacceptable change?

But as you say - any refund will depend on fare rules - and I am not 100% sure on the answer here.

 

[arcades]

Did you cancel the flight via CI support/online, or via QF?

I did it via QF, figuring that would expedite the process, but it might be a similar mismatch on their end that it was a voluntary cancel rather than a non acceptance of a change. Thanks for the thoughts!

Looks like I'll have to give them a ring at some point, I'll report back when I do.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I did it via QF, figuring that would expedite the process, but it might be a similar mismatch on their end that it was a voluntary cancel rather than a non acceptance of a change. Thanks for the thoughts!

Looks like I'll have to give them a ring at some point, I'll report back when I do.

I think that might be the issue. If you cancelled it without getting a QF agent to do it, it may appear as a voluntary change.

It might be a bit late for an agent to retrieve the booking now, unless it was in the last day or so. You might have to write in on this and they might need to get the booking back from the archives.

They should be able to see the original class and downgraded class.

Best case scenario is that you get a refund of the balance after taking out the original flight to TPE.

 

[05flyer]

It might be a bit late for an agent to retrieve the booking now, unless it was in the last day or so. You might have to write in on this and they might need to get the booking back from the archives.

It may be worth contacting the reward ticketing escalation email specifically, given it was a reward booking. They seem to be getting better recently at getting things fixed fast.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It may be worth contacting the reward ticketing escalation email specifically, given it was a reward booking. They seem to be getting better recently at getting things fixed fast.

Possibly. But this is a refund issue rather than an award issue. I’d hope the escalation team is working on upcoming itineraries rather than past ones!

 

[stopthecap]

I just encountered this myself, usually i book all legs seperately but this time i had a half travelled classic rewards fare which i cancelled and i have found out that the return leg points are forfeitted? Does this mean i should really be booking everything under seperate PNR in future?

 

[DAC1]

I just encountered this myself, usually i book all legs seperately but this time i had a half travelled classic rewards fare which i cancelled and i have found out that the return leg points are forfeitted? Does this mean i should really be booking everything under seperate PNR in future?

Yes

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes

agree…. it check the taxes fees and charges. So,études it can be cheaper to get a return ticket instead of the two one ways.