Qantas Oneworld Award itinerary change - stuck overseas

[Expectans Expectavi]

Perhaps may be worth keeping BA in plans! After all at least they helped you and upgraded you on another airlines. Qantas on the other hand couldn't even downgrade us to economy, and wanted us to pay the points cancellation fee to cancel our flights and then rebook anotehr flight at our own costs or the difference in points etc. Their 'best' solution was the emirates via London i believe (could have been ZRH-DUB-PER too) for 55, 000 points plus another $500 in taxes - per person. Great swap for Qatar's q suites to paying that.

On chatting to emirates stewards on the flight to Dubai many were sympathetic but mentioned none of the middle eastern airlines will upgrade you to business, not even their own staff - as we had hoped our sob story would get an upgrade in Emirates at least? The best they gave us was the extra leg room emergency exit at the front of the cabin area.... the flight was empty anyway so you could have just moved there anyway. But the steward did say airlines like British Airways may have offered and do offer upgrades for honeymooners, people in these situation etc. (we were both honeymooners and in this horrid situation).

When we were checking into our Emirates flight on Tues it did occur to me to ask Qatar if they could change our flights to that day's business as they had availability. Alas the service counter had 20 mins to open - it was either check in our own emirates flight we paid for or hope to get Qatar on board (either way we'd paid for Emirates anyhow). It didn't help that Qatar's Switzerland number rang out and the local aus number was a no go for getting through.

Never felt like it was so hard to get assistance ... thankfully we were in a financial position to afford the outlay and get the heck out, however I am sure others would not have the cash available on that short notice.

 

[Expectans Expectavi]

Sorry for delay, Just a small point - BA didn't upgrade me on Etihad as it was a First Class ticket already. SFO to LAX I was downgraded to economy on UA , not that I was bothered at that stage for such a short flight.

.

Perhaps may be worth keeping BA in plans! After all at least they helped you and upgraded you on another airlines. Qantas on the other hand couldn't even downgrade us to economy, and wanted us to pay the points cancellation fee

 

[Lomandriel]

Just an update to this thread for any watchful eyes in the future. So after waiting our 14 business days supposed refunds from march, i rang on 22/04 the telephone centre and found out that no refund was coming my way as the previous call centre staff did not tell me i had to lodge a form with customer care , before authorisation is given and the telephone call centres could refund our taxes and surcharges and any relevant compensation for our lost segment on the one world award flight!

How frustrating. Not to mention how frustrating it was to get to the day of our flight (23/03) and finally have to cancel as wecouldn't get ahold of them earlier for other 'options' or to reroute the flight to later in the year.

I lodged the customer care form and got a call on Monday 27/4. So the lady basically reiterated the whole aspect of no compensation for either our points lost (in not taking the flight) or the fact we forked out $3k for an economy to get home, and the refund would be $90 in taxes per person (for Zurich-Doha-Perth on business?!) Was not happy but accepted that t & cs are that one world award flights like others, once started a segment you are pretty much screwed (Please note going forward) - you can only change your date of your flight. Carrier , and class must remain constant. I think it is stupid to be honest that you can't change from a business flight to even a economy seat on even the same airline, same flight, and vice versa.

Regardless, I know now how rigid the program is. Great when it works. Terrible if things go pear shaped. The $90 in taxes i vehemently requested it be looked at. Was told it's system calculated/generated. That's it. I told them my previous experience where i was quoted to pay $400 more in taxes per person to change from perth to tokyo via HK to via singapore (different airlines). When i queried the logic of that it was eventually changed to a refund of $160 something PP, so i saved a net $500+ per person! Ridiculous! Based off that i had no trust in their 'calculations', an d$90 per person in taxes on a business class flight (Zurich - Doha - Perth) - surely not! Anyhow, i accepted it. Then spoke to the mrs who complained to me on the resolution: no alternative flights were given to change to as we were alway stold they were 'too busy, we'll get back to you".

So back I went with ANOTHER customer care complaint.I mentioned the difficulty and unjust nature of how we couldn't even change an alternative flight as we weren't given one, nor could we contact them. And that taxes SURELY must be wrong. Logically checking Qatars website i got taxes of $500 on just Zurich to Doha on business. Lo and behold, i got alovely lady - Amy from the Hobart office (Qantas if you are reading this she is a great example of a staff who is knowledgeable and well versed in customer service! As she clearly calculated/looked into our case - to be detailed shortly). But essentially she dug through policies issued by qantas throughout all the times of our calls/cancellations to see if we were covered by anything. WHICH the previous lady and persons had not even located it appears (or so Amy mentioned as she found one) , that backed up that indeed we could get a partial refund of points on unused portions as at that time per a Qantas announcement on policy at the time prior to our cancellation. So we got a small 40k points back from our 280k one world ticket, as due per the system AND she calculated the correct method of taxes back. We ended up getting $467 taxes back PER PERSON - not $90per the first lady.

Good on her for knowing how to calculate the taxes properly, and also looking up the correct policies. It just goes to show that these things are prone to human error, and ALWAYS QUERY. Ridiculous that had i not complained a second time i would have not only not gotten my 40k points, but more importantly they would have refunded my $90 of my taxes and not $467 PER PERSON. For a couple like us that's nearly $900 in money we get back, and that we actually are due back.

She herself mentioned that one world itineraries can be mispriced and misevaluated at times by staff lacking the proper training to calculate. In this case the system method is total taxes paid less taxes used on flights i took. The end result is the $467 back. Which is simple maths. God knows how the previous lady got $90. The fact she didn't check policies and dig into our case to find we were owed the points on unused flights is also concerning.


The TL: DR point is with everything these days - and i've found this true from financial products to other things: dont be afraid to question, question and complain (in a civilised way of course). So many times I've been nearly shortchanged or gotten less than what was owed. Most persons i.e. my parents, wife, would have taken the refund at face value. It's ridiculous to imagine how many other unsuspecting travellers on multi segments or one world award flights have had mispriced refunds or the like. Single flight itineraries are probably more simple, but anything complex: QUESTION, and Question again!

Sorry this is a long "update" but hopefully it helps other oneworld award persons who experience similar issues once we return to flying. The first instance when i was going to be charged $400 in taxes per person rather than refunded $160 was mid feb, so they weren't busy with covid work at that stage as much, so certainly seems reflective of the error prone methods of the humans behind the scene.


On another note the refund process is now no longer 14 days from when i first started this in March. It is now 8 to 10 weeks! Jeezus! Glad i'm getting a refund now, but what a joke that at no fault of my own (lack of training staff knowledge) that i am due to get this in June, or July?

 

[Franky]

Just an update to this thread for any watchful eyes in the future. So after waiting our 14 business days supposed refunds from march, i rang on 22/04 the telephone centre and found out that no refund was coming my way as the previous call centre staff did not tell me i had to lodge a form with customer care , before authorisation is given and the telephone call centres could refund our taxes and surcharges and any relevant compensation for our lost segment on the one world award flight!

How frustrating. Not to mention how frustrating it was to get to the day of our flight (23/03) and finally have to cancel as wecouldn't get ahold of them earlier for other 'options' or to reroute the flight to later in the year.

I lodged the customer care form and got a call on Monday 27/4. So the lady basically reiterated the whole aspect of no compensation for either our points lost (in not taking the flight) or the fact we forked out $3k for an economy to get home, and the refund would be $90 in taxes per person (for Zurich-Doha-Perth on business?!) Was not happy but accepted that t & cs are that one world award flights like others, once started a segment you are pretty much screwed (Please note going forward) - you can only change your date of your flight. Carrier , and class must remain constant. I think it is stupid to be honest that you can't change from a business flight to even a economy seat on even the same airline, same flight, and vice versa.

Regardless, I know now how rigid the program is. Great when it works. Terrible if things go pear shaped. The $90 in taxes i vehemently requested it be looked at. Was told it's system calculated/generated. That's it. I told them my previous experience where i was quoted to pay $400 more in taxes per person to change from perth to tokyo via HK to via singapore (different airlines). When i queried the logic of that it was eventually changed to a refund of $160 something PP, so i saved a net $500+ per person! Ridiculous! Based off that i had no trust in their 'calculations', an d$90 per person in taxes on a business class flight (Zurich - Doha - Perth) - surely not! Anyhow, i accepted it. Then spoke to the mrs who complained to me on the resolution: no alternative flights were given to change to as we were alway stold they were 'too busy, we'll get back to you".

So back I went with ANOTHER customer care complaint.I mentioned the difficulty and unjust nature of how we couldn't even change an alternative flight as we weren't given one, nor could we contact them. And that taxes SURELY must be wrong. Logically checking Qatars website i got taxes of $500 on just Zurich to Doha on business. Lo and behold, i got alovely lady - Amy from the Hobart office (Qantas if you are reading this she is a great example of a staff who is knowledgeable and well versed in customer service! As she clearly calculated/looked into our case - to be detailed shortly). But essentially she dug through policies issued by qantas throughout all the times of our calls/cancellations to see if we were covered by anything. WHICH the previous lady and persons had not even located it appears (or so Amy mentioned as she found one) , that backed up that indeed we could get a partial refund of points on unused portions as at that time per a Qantas announcement on policy at the time prior to our cancellation. So we got a small 40k points back from our 280k one world ticket, as due per the system AND she calculated the correct method of taxes back. We ended up getting $467 taxes back PER PERSON - not $90per the first lady.

Good on her for knowing how to calculate the taxes properly, and also looking up the correct policies. It just goes to show that these things are prone to human error, and ALWAYS QUERY. Ridiculous that had i not complained a second time i would have not only not gotten my 40k points, but more importantly they would have refunded my $90 of my taxes and not $467 PER PERSON. For a couple like us that's nearly $900 in money we get back, and that we actually are due back.

She herself mentioned that one world itineraries can be mispriced and misevaluated at times by staff lacking the proper training to calculate. In this case the system method is total taxes paid less taxes used on flights i took. The end result is the $467 back. Which is simple maths. God knows how the previous lady got $90. The fact she didn't check policies and dig into our case to find we were owed the points on unused flights is also concerning.


The TL: DR point is with everything these days - and i've found this true from financial products to other things: dont be afraid to question, question and complain (in a civilised way of course). So many times I've been nearly shortchanged or gotten less than what was owed. Most persons i.e. my parents, wife, would have taken the refund at face value. It's ridiculous to imagine how many other unsuspecting travellers on multi segments or one world award flights have had mispriced refunds or the like. Single flight itineraries are probably more simple, but anything complex: QUESTION, and Question again!

Sorry this is a long "update" but hopefully it helps other oneworld award persons who experience similar issues once we return to flying. The first instance when i was going to be charged $400 in taxes per person rather than refunded $160 was mid feb, so they weren't busy with covid work at that stage as much, so certainly seems reflective of the error prone methods of the humans behind the scene.


On another note the refund process is now no longer 14 days from when i first started this in March. It is now 8 to 10 weeks! Jeezus! Glad i'm getting a refund now, but what a joke that at no fault of my own (lack of training staff knowledge) that i am due to get this in June, or July?

Well done for keeping your composure, and obtaining what would seem to be a great result given all the circumstances.

 

[Lomandriel]

Well done for keeping your composure, and obtaining what would seem to be a great result given all the circumstances.

Thanks Franky. After all the frustrations and mess arounds it was clear we couldn't take it lie down. That and it cost us $3k just to get back home, so recouping this would be key to covering some of it. Thankfully we found Amy to be diligent and good at her work, like all customer interactions by getting someone good we got a good outcome as well. Just a good reminder to all to be vigilant and question, question , question, incase you get a shoddy agent or customer care first time around.

 

[pottsy]

Just an update to this thread for any watchful eyes in the future. So after waiting our 14 business days supposed refunds from march, i rang on 22/04 the telephone centre and found out that no refund was coming my way as the previous call centre staff did not tell me i had to lodge a form with customer care , before authorisation is given and the telephone call centres could refund our taxes and surcharges and any relevant compensation for our lost segment on the one world award flight!

How frustrating. Not to mention how frustrating it was to get to the day of our flight (23/03) and finally have to cancel as wecouldn't get ahold of them earlier for other 'options' or to reroute the flight to later in the year.

I lodged the customer care form and got a call on Monday 27/4. So the lady basically reiterated the whole aspect of no compensation for either our points lost (in not taking the flight) or the fact we forked out $3k for an economy to get home, and the refund would be $90 in taxes per person (for Zurich-Doha-Perth on business?!) Was not happy but accepted that t & cs are that one world award flights like others, once started a segment you are pretty much screwed (Please note going forward) - you can only change your date of your flight. Carrier , and class must remain constant. I think it is stupid to be honest that you can't change from a business flight to even a economy seat on even the same airline, same flight, and vice versa.

Regardless, I know now how rigid the program is. Great when it works. Terrible if things go pear shaped. The $90 in taxes i vehemently requested it be looked at. Was told it's system calculated/generated. That's it. I told them my previous experience where i was quoted to pay $400 more in taxes per person to change from perth to tokyo via HK to via singapore (different airlines). When i queried the logic of that it was eventually changed to a refund of $160 something PP, so i saved a net $500+ per person! Ridiculous! Based off that i had no trust in their 'calculations', an d$90 per person in taxes on a business class flight (Zurich - Doha - Perth) - surely not! Anyhow, i accepted it. Then spoke to the mrs who complained to me on the resolution: no alternative flights were given to change to as we were alway stold they were 'too busy, we'll get back to you".

So back I went with ANOTHER customer care complaint.I mentioned the difficulty and unjust nature of how we couldn't even change an alternative flight as we weren't given one, nor could we contact them. And that taxes SURELY must be wrong. Logically checking Qatars website i got taxes of $500 on just Zurich to Doha on business. Lo and behold, i got alovely lady - Amy from the Hobart office (Qantas if you are reading this she is a great example of a staff who is knowledgeable and well versed in customer service! As she clearly calculated/looked into our case - to be detailed shortly). But essentially she dug through policies issued by qantas throughout all the times of our calls/cancellations to see if we were covered by anything. WHICH the previous lady and persons had not even located it appears (or so Amy mentioned as she found one) , that backed up that indeed we could get a partial refund of points on unused portions as at that time per a Qantas announcement on policy at the time prior to our cancellation. So we got a small 40k points back from our 280k one world ticket, as due per the system AND she calculated the correct method of taxes back. We ended up getting $467 taxes back PER PERSON - not $90per the first lady.

Good on her for knowing how to calculate the taxes properly, and also looking up the correct policies. It just goes to show that these things are prone to human error, and ALWAYS QUERY. Ridiculous that had i not complained a second time i would have not only not gotten my 40k points, but more importantly they would have refunded my $90 of my taxes and not $467 PER PERSON. For a couple like us that's nearly $900 in money we get back, and that we actually are due back.

She herself mentioned that one world itineraries can be mispriced and misevaluated at times by staff lacking the proper training to calculate. In this case the system method is total taxes paid less taxes used on flights i took. The end result is the $467 back. Which is simple maths. God knows how the previous lady got $90. The fact she didn't check policies and dig into our case to find we were owed the points on unused flights is also concerning.


The TL: DR point is with everything these days - and i've found this true from financial products to other things: dont be afraid to question, question and complain (in a civilised way of course). So many times I've been nearly shortchanged or gotten less than what was owed. Most persons i.e. my parents, wife, would have taken the refund at face value. It's ridiculous to imagine how many other unsuspecting travellers on multi segments or one world award flights have had mispriced refunds or the like. Single flight itineraries are probably more simple, but anything complex: QUESTION, and Question again!

Sorry this is a long "update" but hopefully it helps other oneworld award persons who experience similar issues once we return to flying. The first instance when i was going to be charged $400 in taxes per person rather than refunded $160 was mid feb, so they weren't busy with covid work at that stage as much, so certainly seems reflective of the error prone methods of the humans behind the scene.


On another note the refund process is now no longer 14 days from when i first started this in March. It is now 8 to 10 weeks! Jeezus! Glad i'm getting a refund now, but what a joke that at no fault of my own (lack of training staff knowledge) that i am due to get this in June, or July?

Well done you Lomandriel! I too have lost SO many points etc on my OWA and suffer with Qantasitis. Could you please tell me how I obtain a customer care form and where I submit it too?

 

[Lomandriel]

Well done you Lomandriel! I too have lost SO many points etc on my OWA and suffer with Qantasitis. Could you please tell me how I obtain a customer care form and where I submit it too?

If you just goto the main qantas page, in the magnifying glass search customer care, and it is the first or second option where it mentions feedback form. You can eitherthen lodge per QFF number or your itinerary #, then you need to select the relevant area it relates to, compliment/query/etc and write your feedback/support...

Good luck!

On another note I am not counting my ducks before they hatch but i appear to have been double refunded.... i am not sure to transfer my whole balance to the mrs and run, but i am not counting my chickens before they hatch as i've seen them reverse and charge whole One world award tickets multiple times as they rejigged things... most likely they have'nt done the second half of the trnasfer, but for now it 'looks good' haha, if only it was true!

hopefully a sweet liner on this whole saga if i got over-refunded some points. although nothing comes free =/

 

[pottsy]

If you just goto the main qantas page, in the magnifying glass search customer care, and it is the first or second option where it mentions feedback form. You can eitherthen lodge per QFF number or your itinerary #, then you need to select the relevant area it relates to, compliment/query/etc and write your feedback/support...

Good luck!

On another note I am not counting my ducks before they hatch but i appear to have been double refunded.... i am not sure to transfer my whole balance to the mrs and run, but i am not counting my chickens before they hatch as i've seen them reverse and charge whole One world award tickets multiple times as they rejigged things... most likely they have'nt done the second half of the trnasfer, but for now it 'looks good' haha, if only it was true!

hopefully a sweet liner on this whole saga if i got over-refunded some points. although nothing comes free =/

Thanks I don't hold out much hope unfortunately. I've lost my 280,000 points 3 flights in to my 10 flight OWA! (Despite my insisting they only cancel the bookings if I received what I was promised in chat online,(when it was available many moons ago). A partial refund!

 

[Lomandriel]

Thanks I don't hold out much hope unfortunately. I've lost my 280,000 points 3 flights in to my 10 flight OWA! (Despite my insisting they only cancel the bookings if I received what I was promised in chat online,(when it was available many moons ago). A partial refund!

When did you do the cancellations? my agent had found the 'policy' released just on that day that somehow covered me for my refunds despite having commenced the OWA flight itinerary. if you ge tthe right agent like mine hopefully they can find it too. And depending when you did the canellation? We got back to aus and tried to cancel the last segment and it would been circa 23 march.

 

[pottsy]

When did you do the cancellations? my agent had found the 'policy' released just on that day that somehow covered me for my refunds despite having commenced the OWA flight itinerary. if you ge tthe right agent like mine hopefully they can find it too. And depending when you did the canellation? We got back to aus and tried to cancel the last segment and it would been circa 23 march.

Thanks for that. When (in the future) I can contact 'customer service' I shall keep that in mind (much appreciated). Will let u know!

 

[Lomandriel]

Thanks for that. When (in the future) I can contact 'customer service' I shall keep that in mind (much appreciated). Will let u know!

yeap. give it a shot lodging it for your retrospetive issues you were referring to. My case closed and i resubmitted and got the second more useful agent. if i had accepted it as shut then we would've missed the opportunity. best of luck!

 

[pottsy]

yeap. give it a shot lodging it for your retrospetive issues you were referring to. My case closed and i resubmitted and got the second more useful agent. if i had accepted it as shut then we would've missed the opportunity. best of luck!

Thanks!