Qantas Revenue booking cancellations (under covid19)

[JohnM]

Booking made with the $450 travel credit that I’m not expecting to get back.

I have an Amex travel credit booking for 27 April and I've contacted Amex by email. I received this message yesterday:



I'm unsure whether it's a response to my email or a general advisory. I'll give it another week or so and phone them if nothing happens.

Under the current circumstances I would expect a return of the credit. Time will tell.

 

[jboy90]

I have an Amex travel credit booking for 27 April and I've contacted Amex by email. I received this message yesterday:

View attachment 211462

I'm unsure whether it's a response to my email or a general advisory. I'll give it another week or so and phone them if nothing happens.

Under the current circumstances I would expect a return of the credit. Time will tell.

I didn’t get anything from them like the above. Rest assured I was on hold for under a minute so you can always try your luck and give them a call.

 

[JohnM]

I didn’t get anything from them like the above. Rest assured I was on hold for under a minute so you can always try your luck and give them a call.

Maybe that indicates the email I received was in response to my email to them, not a broadcast message.

Did you ask the agent what would become of your $450 travel credit? What makes you say you don't expect to get it back?

 

[GSP]

I posted earlier in this thread about a rewards booking (to be more specific, was for 4 family members) I was curious of the delay. And again about a week or so back I posted that I had received the points with the 6k points waived. Great, but no taxes at that stage.

Today however (dated yesterday) I received two credits to the CC I used for the booking. On reconciliation I worked out it was for the taxes minus credit card fees (oh well) for the two adult fares. The taxes on the two child fares were not credited.

I'll wait another week - perhaps they are batched differently but odd the whole booking wasn't refunded in one go. Perhaps as @RichardMEL described, the IT processes are a bit of a change management exercise.

Be interested in other's experiences here (as there were a few in same boat up thread).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The taxes on the two child fares were not credited.

IIRC it has been reported by others that sometimes only one or some of multiple passengers within a booking get refunded. System oversight or whatever. You might need to follow it up at a later stage.

 

[Scr77]

IIRC it has been reported by others that sometimes only one or some of multiple passengers within a booking get refunded. System oversight or whatever. You might need to follow it up at a later stage.

I agree. In my experience, the balance of taxes won’t be refunded unless you chase them up.

 

[serfty]

IIRC it has been reported by others that sometimes only one or some of multiple passengers within a booking get refunded. System oversight or whatever. You might need to follow it up at a later stage.

@GSP WILL need to call.

I agree. In my experience, the balance of taxes won’t be refunded unless you chase them up.

Exactly!

 

[kgreenuq]

Would be nice if the voucher also recognised the double status credits arrangement under which my bookings were originally made.

 

[oirets]

Got an email from AMEX today with a voucher for cancelled flights. Given Qantas cancelled the flights, I'll chase up in a few days and see if I can get a refund.

 

[RichardMEL]

Would be nice if the voucher also recognised the double status credits arrangement under which my bookings were originally made.

ahem. they should.

 

[bPeteb]

First of our bookings for the rest of the year has just been cancelled - our flight to Cairns next Friday morning. Moved onto a later flight but of course we're not going anywhere. I'd rather the charge back on my credit card than a voucher so I might try the 'very late at night call' tonight and see how I go. We'll eventually use it if a voucher is all that's offered.

 

[Walloper]

... Other, more complex changes, probably will without careful consideration and effort which IS required for such complex systems.

It looks like Emirates backend is working.

I think QANTA$ is capable of issuing "like-for-like" vouchers.

Quoting from crankyflyer.com -

The Bright Side: The New Emirates Waiver Creates Amazing Flexibility
Emirates has already bucked the trend set by other airlines by focusing on adding flexibility instead of taking it away. After a short prohibition, it re-added the ability to refund for canceled flights. It also has extended ticket validity to an impressive 760 days from the original date of issue. But now it has gone a step even further, and it has created something that will make people think twice about refunds.

For all tickets where a flight has been canceled, travelers can now make a change where both the change fee AND fare difference will be waived. Some have done this on a limited basis but not Emirates. This is good through the entire ticket validity period, and it allows rebooking into any booking class (RBD for those who speak airline) in the same cabin of service as originally booked. Not only that, but it doesn't even require keeping the same destination. New destinations in the same "region" will receive the same treatment. (The exact definition of "region" isn't completely clear.) If you want to change to another region, only the change fee will be waived. [end quote].

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for posting!

That's exactly the type of innovation and leadership that QF and other Aussie airlines should be showing!

 

[bPeteb]

Just got off the phone. One minute wait if that on premium line. Only enough time for the messages to play and call was answered. As flight was cancelled by QF full credit for our flights BNE-CNS

 

[RichardMEL]

Yes I saw that from Cranky.

I agree it is an incredible change. Dare I suggest a carrier like EK could wear that cost, but that's a whole other argument that isn't really relevant to the customer side.

As for EK's "backend" - two things.

1. EK uses SABRE and not Amadeus. Different platforms.
2. I would go so far to suggest EK pays for all the platform add ons and support to do all the fun stuff.

I mean EK was (is only??) the first legacy carrier to bundle Business Class fare offerings - and they do this with products provided by the GDS provider (ie: SABRE).

QF? Well.. we've seen their investment in IT is clearly not on par.

I do not know of the Amadeus offerings for airlines vs SABRE but it's obvious that either QF's solutions - ie the vouchers and all the rest are a real "kludge" (to use an IT term) on top of the GDS to make happen.. and by that it's far from perfect and has a lot of limitations - either via original design/decision or due to limitations in the way it's done.

Back 20 odd years ago when jetBlue first started they rejected the old=school res systems used by most and prefered a far more agile platform that they could fashion to use to create the levels of innovation they wanted... the result was a system called Navitaire... used by many LCC's (then jetBlue realised if they wanted to play in the wider airline world they did go with SABRE and then Travelport as partners, but that's a whole other thing).

In a similar vein Southwest AIrlines is one major major airline that does not participate in any other GDS and they do everything themselves.

but anyway I ramble about ancient history

My point is EK uses a different platform, and probably has the cash to use it properly, and yes they are innovating in customer friendly ways. Would QF follow? Who knows. I doubt it. It's certainly not the "legacy way"

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just got off the phone. One minute wait if that on premium line. Only enough time for the messages to play and call was answered. As flight was cancelled by QF full credit for our flights BNE-CNS

Full credit as in refund?

 

[bPeteb]

Full credit as in refund?

Yes, full credit back to original credit card. Offered immediately. Got to admit I was surprised.

Our next flights not to be flown are May Day weekend BNE-PER. Hotel already cancelled, no penalty.

I had quite a long chat with the very lovely J. Asked about our flights to SA in July. She suggested I wait as long as we can/are prepared to wait before cancelling as it is an ever changing environment. If we end up with a voucher it will get used. If we end up with full credit then it will get used as well.

 

[I love to travel]

Just got off the phone. One minute wait if that on premium line. Only enough time for the messages to play and call was answered. As flight was cancelled by QF full credit for our flights BNE-CNS

Thanks so much for your post. Saw it when you wrote it and rang, same experience with time and refund.

 

[zqsn5678]

Yes, full credit back to original credit card. Offered immediately. Got to admit I was surprised.

Our next flights not to be flown are May Day weekend BNE-PER. Hotel already cancelled, no penalty.

I had quite a long chat with the very lovely J. Asked about our flights to SA in July. She suggested I wait as long as we can/are prepared to wait before cancelling as it is an ever changing environment. If we end up with a voucher it will get used. If we end up with full credit then it will get used as well.

Do let us know when the fund actually showed up on your card.

 

[bPeteb]

Do let us know when the fund actually showed up on your card.

Will do