Qantas Revenue booking cancellations (under covid19)

[FlyingKangaroo]

Glad to hear QF is processing and confirming these, although the last two posts quote Qantas as providing ranges of "two weeks" in the first case yet "two months" in the second. I'm not holding my breath on mine, but that's still quite the window.

 

[big_RED]

Just called Qantas due to not receiving any cancellation or voucher emails after cancelling domestic flights 4 weeks ago.

Called yesterday and asked for the call-back which stated 40-55 minutes. 24 hours later I hadn't received a call back and so called this morning and got through within 4 mins of holding.

What I didn't realise was if the flight was a 'red e-deal' you aren't allowed a cash refund and have to get a voucher refund... and also, if on the same booking you did 1 leg as classic rewards and another leg as cash under the 1 booking reference the whole thing is held as a voucher and no refunds are provided.

If you haven't received your refund/voucher email and it's been more than 4 weeks I'd recommend calling to confirm things.

We also cancelled a flight (not related to COVID) on 17/2/20 and are still waiting for those classic rewards points to post back in our account so the Qantas lady just said things are taking longer so give it a bit more time. Couldn't give me a time-frame.

Hope this helps those who are still waiting!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Even if you have a red e-deal, if Qantas has cancelled the flight, you are entitled to a full cash refund. If you chose to cancel your trip, and the flights (or a reasonable alternative) were offered, then a voucher will be the correct action by QF.

i would argue that even if you have a one way points and one way cash, you should be entitled to the refund of the points and cash component, provided QF has cancelled the flights.

 

[Guvner]

If Qantas cancelled then red e-deals are eligible for cash refunds. If you cancelled they are not.

edit: What MEL_Traveller said.

 

[big_RED]

Even if you have a red e-deal, if Qantas has cancelled the flight, you are entitled to a full cash refund. If you chose to cancel your trip, and the flights (or a reasonable alternative) were offered, then a voucher will be the correct action by QF.

i would argue that even if you have a one way points and one way cash, you should be entitled to the refund of the points and cash component, provided QF has cancelled the flights.

I was under the impression that any flight cancelled by a traveller due to the virus was eligible for the cash refund. I wasn't aware that you only got the cash refund if Qantas cancelled the flight compared to a voucher if the traveller cancelled the flight. But at least my cancel request has been re-processed.

Haven't received any cancellation emails, but I trust the help desk team so we'll wait for the vouchers to come through.

Apparently you can't get the points back for an aware booking if it's also on the same ticket as a paid booking, so the lady said this would be stored as credit as well...

 

[Guvner]

I was under the impression that any flight cancelled by a traveller due to the virus was eligible for the cash refund. I wasn't aware that you only got the cash refund if Qantas cancelled the flight compared to a voucher if the traveller cancelled the flight.

Some "Premium" fares are cash refundable if the passenger cancels. Red e-deals are not.

 

[Pete98765432]

i would argue that even if you have a one way points and one way cash, you should be entitled to the refund of the points and cash component, provided QF has cancelled the flights.

I can confirm this. I had a mixed booking and the points flight was cancelled by QF. They refunded the points in full and cash in full (taxes on points flight and cost of cash flight). This happened seamlessly, I noticed the flight was cancelled but held of calling as the flight was a week away. Then the booking disappeared from my bookings and I noticed the points had been refunded. I few days later the money was refunded to my Amex.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I was under the impression that any flight cancelled by a traveller due to the virus was eligible for the cash refund. I wasn't aware that you only got the cash refund if Qantas cancelled the flight compared to a voucher if the traveller cancelled the flight. But at least my cancel request has been re-processed.

Haven't received any cancellation emails, but I trust the help desk team so we'll wait for the vouchers to come through.

Apparently you can't get the points back for an aware booking if it's also on the same ticket as a paid booking, so the lady said this would be stored as credit as well...

The distinction in most scenarios will be between whether you or Qantas cancels the flight. If you choose not to take your trip, but Qantas is still operating the flight, you will be limited to a voucher (unless you have a full-flex fare which allows a $ refund for any reason).

If Qantas cancels the flight, they will still offer you a voucher, but you can chose cash instead.

 

[Seat0B]

OK, so now I have a question. On 17 March, I cancelled a flight Canberra-Melbourne return (my choice). Both legs were paid flights. The trip down was fully refundable business class. The return was red-e deal. I was not offered the option of refund (presumably because the red-e deal is not refundable). But I also have not yet received my voucher, or any emails or anything in relation to this cancellation. At the same time, I also cancelled a points booking, and that has been fully refunded - all points with no deductions back to my account, and all $ back to credit card. I did have to chase that as they initially only refunded for the outwards leg of that trip. At the time they said they could see my other cancellation on my account. so I haven't been too fussed. Should I now be calling them? I think at the time my logic was I was happy to keep the voucher anyway as it was a DSC flight, but the way things are going, I don't reckon that will be much use to me at all.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

OK, so now I have a question. On 17 March, I cancelled a flight Canberra-Melbourne return (my choice). Both legs were paid flights. The trip down was fully refundable business class. The return was red-e deal. I was not offered the option of refund (presumably because the red-e deal is not refundable). But I also have not yet received my voucher, or any emails or anything in relation to this cancellation. At the same time, I also cancelled a points booking, and that has been fully refunded - all points with no deductions back to my account, and all $ back to credit card. I did have to chase that as they initially only refunded for the outwards leg of that trip. At the time they said they could see my other cancellation on my account. so I haven't been too fussed. Should I now be calling them? I think at the time my logic was I was happy to keep the voucher anyway as it was a DSC flight, but the way things are going, I don't reckon that will be much use to me at all.

We've seen on this thread Qantas quoting anywhere from two weeks to two months to process refunds, but vouchers seem to come in quicker. Might be worth a call, though I wouldn't fret too much if they had previously confirmed to you the cancellation the last time. Unfortunately, I'm afraid your logic at the time will still determine your fate; I don't expect they'd offer you a refund instead (if that's what you're now after).

 

[N860CR]

Can anyone comment on this? From what I see, there does not seem to be any differences between existing and new bookings? I need to spend a few hundred under for credit card spend so might give QF some cash now potentially on a flexi fare class and prepay a future trip.

As a data point, I did make a booking about a week ago and actually went to change it today (push it back a day). Website said the cost would be “$0 and 0 Points”, however it has deducted 5000 points as a change fee... assume that will be refunded at some point.

 

[willclan]

I had flights booked to Perth from Melbourne on the 15th April, only 8 days away. The flights were still showing in my booking yesterday.I have not received any cancellation email from Qantas.

Today I had an email confirming my Flight Credit Confirmation. I felt this was very rude of Qantas to just proceed to this step without any prior cancellation email. When I went into my flights, it showed the booking as a voucher credit. At the bottom it showed a REFUND button, so I elected to take a refund instead of a voucher, as I was pretty unimpressed with the way in which they were handling this issue. I was leaning towards a voucher, but changed my mind when I saw the way this was handled. Sorry Qantas, need to improve.

 

[Seat0B]

We've seen on this thread Qantas quoting anywhere from two weeks to two months to process refunds, but vouchers seem to come in quicker. Might be worth a call, though I wouldn't fret too much if they had previously confirmed to you the cancellation the last time. Unfortunately, I'm afraid your logic at the time will still determine your fate; I don't expect they'd offer you a refund instead (if that's what you're now after).

Thanks! Not really after a refund, especially now they extended the date for vouchers. Just wanting to actually get the voucher!

Although, I was not offered the option of a refund at the time, and at least one of the flights is refundable. So more as a learning I had never heard before that they effectively "bundled" all the fares on a booking and would refuse to refund a refundable fare if it was on the same booking as a non-refundable fare. In fact, I certainly don't recall that being in the terms and conditions - although I might possibly have skimmed them a bit! If that is the case, then the lesson I have learnt is to book separate bookings for each leg of a journey. So I was really wondering if other people could comment on that aspect too? TIA

 

[CaptJCool]

For the visual folk, here’s the BIG RED BUTTON

 

[fersea]

We had flights booked to Madrid via Dubai and Brisbane leaving on 4 May and then home (Canberra) from Dublin via Dubai, Singapore and Melbourne. All booked through Qantas using both QF and EK metal.

I had noticed that the flights from Brisbane to Dubai and Dubai to Madrid had disappeared from my booking.

I rang Qantas this morning about 8.15 and selected the call back option, they said the wait time was 1 hr 14 mins to 1 hr 38 or something.

Received a call back just after 9.20 spoke to one lady and explained I thought my flights had been cancelled and would like a refund. Was then transferred to a reservations agent who processed my refund. Asked if the credit card I purchased the flight on was still current which it is. Was told the refund would be 6-8 weeks away. Flights are now no longer showing in my account.

Refund will be less the credit card fee.

Will report back when I get the refund.

Fortunately we had been stuffing around about booking hotels and car hire so we hadn’t incurred any other expenses.

We are still very committed to going when all this clears, but the advantage is we can take advantage of any airline deal that we see rather than being committed to Qantas.

Having said that, if the QF price is reasonable, I would like to support them because I think they have handled this reasonably well.

 

[Matt_01]

I just posted the following in another thread that is along the same lines. QF seem to be now handling the situation quite well.

"I will give QF credit for how they now seem to be handling things, there are call center agents that WFH and the wait time to get through to arrange refunds or change flights is not that much longer than normal. I am not sure what status level this applies to be it SG, WP and above.

Initially I converted all my flights to vouchers, sat back and took a chill pill. I am now in the process of rebooking via combining vouchers, paying additional cask and requesting refunds. Both major domestic airlines seem to be getting over the initial problems but QF seems to be managing better."

 

[Hvr]

As @CaptJCool has just posted there is an option for a refund.

Have just pressed the button and it comes up advising that it may take up to eight weeks.

 

[bPeteb]

Sorry JohnM but looks like that drink is off in May. Received an email this morning advising of a flight change for our return. Email a tad weird. It’s gave me the old flight and the new flight - exactly the same. Hit the check booking button and got a generic error page. Opened my app and the booking literally disappeared in front of me. When I did a dummy the flights both to and from Perth just aren’t there. I’ll call tomorrow and ask for the refund. South Africa flights in July next

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

As @CaptJCool has just posted there is an option for a refund.

Have just pressed the button and it comes up advising that it may take up to eight weeks.

Just to ask: when was your flight?

 

[Hvr]

Just to ask: when was your flight?

End of May.