Qantas Frequent Flyer Fee is a ripoff!

[kamchatsky]

I have recently booked and ticketed 4 * Y CX KIX-HKG award using QF points (20K each passenger). I am looking to change to JL J HND-HKG.

Looking at the QF schedule fees below:

https://www.qantas.com/fflyer/dyn/program/terms#jump24

I just want to ensure I interpret the fees correctly. If I need to change award, which I cannot do online (the change award button is greyed out when I logged in to QF to look at my booking), I would need to pay:

Change Fee: 5000 point per passenger
Service Fee: 8000 point per passenger for International (Service Fees are payable in addition to any applicable Change Fees.)

So I would need to pay 13000 points per passenger just for changes of the ticket (i.e. 52000 QFF points), plus the difference between the two classes (18000 point per passenger, or 72000 points total).

Hence for the change, I would need to pay extra 124000 QF points, just to change from 4 * Y CX KIX-HKG to JL J HND-HKG? Is this right? If so, it is an absolute rip off of fees just to make changes of existing tickets!

Or am I interpret this incorrectly? (I am not calling QF hotline to ask this as I would wait for a long time before they hang up on me ...)

Also, do I need to pay the Award Assistance Fee - Reward Flights Bookings (6000 points per passenger), on top of those Change and service fees? [FONT=ProximaNova-Regular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] [/FONT]

Now another thing, if instead of changing the ticket, I just cancel it altogether, I need to pay Cancellation Refund Fee of 5000 points per passenger. However, there is no Service Fee involved. So looks like I am better off cancelling the ticket, and then rebook it separately?

Regardless of what, it looks like that fees are just a ripoff, on top of high number of points required, plus the high amount of fuel surcharges!

 

[greyyy]

Considering it's usually a $200-$400 fee to change a flight on a restrictive fare, and spending QFF points as cash is rarely a good deal, this seems on par.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Considering it's usually a $200-$400 fee to change a flight on a restrictive fare, and spending QFF points as cash is rarely a good deal, this seems on par.

I'm inclined to agree. Fundamentally flights using points are booked with 'Qantas Loyalty' as the agent.
Other airline loyalty programs have different fees to change and cancel.

 

[Austman]

Cancellation Refund Fee
Effective until 14 December 2016:
5,000 Qantas Points per passenger

Effective on and from 15 December 2016:
6,000 Qantas Points per passenger


It's usually the best way. Pay the now 6,000 points, per passenger, and start again.

You can try calling first to see if they will waive the 8,000 points service fee as you can't make changes on-line. The call centres seem to have a fair bit of discretion. Then it might be just 5,000 points per passenger.

 

[Oscarq]

Service fee waiver definitely worth a try, otherwise cancel with fee 6000 points per pax (total cost 24000 points - receive refund 14000 points per pax) & rebook. The J fare points you will need to find no matter what.

 

[Haplo]

My experience with award change fee is that if the change cannot be done online, then the agent will waive the service fee.

For example, you can't book china eastern flights online, and therefore when you call in to book manually they will not charge the 8000 service fee. Likewise, I had to change the flight time and because I couldn't change online, I was only charged the 3500 change fee and not the 8000 service fee.

Not sure if my gold status had any effect

 

[kevrosmith]

Service fee waiver definitely worth a try, otherwise cancel with fee 6000 points per pax (total cost 24000 points - receive refund 14000 points per pax) & rebook. The J fare points you will need to find no matter what.

Just watch timing though: sometimes it can take a while for the points to get back to your account after a cancellation.

 

[Limewood]

Lucky its not one of the enhancements it seems they're not making enough moola :!: as a few have noted here.

Recently I cancelled a Y domestic flight the conditions of doing so were simply ridiculous.

 

[kamchatsky]

Oh well I ended up getting my J flights another way. I managed to get Marriott Travel Package with 120K BA Avios instead. Then I used them to book 4 * JL J NRT-HKG at 20K Avios each, which is an absolute bargain (AA/CX requires 30K points, QF 38K), and I still have another 40K Avios left, which I can use for further redemptions later (eg JL/CX NRT-HKG Y only requires 10K Avios).

In comparison, I need QF 20K points just to get the same flight in Y only.

So I will cancel my existing QF booking instead. But it shows how low value QFF points is. High point redemption requirements, very high surcharges, and very high service fees. THe only reason I keep collecting QFF points is that it is so easy to sign up a whole bunch of credit cards to earn QFF points for free.

I wish Amex AU can transfer to Avios 1:1 but I don't think it will ever happen.

 

[Assassin]

For what it's worth, I've never been charged the service fee when changing award bookings over the phone (and I must have changed about 10 in the last 12 months), just the change fee in many (but not all) cases (was 3,500 points, now 5,000 points)... I've found Qantas have been very good with this.