Qantas Revenue booking cancellations (under covid19)

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Don't be put off. Did you read the ACCC statement from June - that's what you need to repeat to Q if a problem.

Key points, what date did Q cancel your flight. Q announced in early Oct (1st week I think) that they'd cancelled all flights through to 27/28th March 2021. If it was prior to this then after ten weeks, call & quote the June ACCC statement (link in my post referred to above) about Q not fulfilling its requirements.

I think they officially cancelled around middle October. Even if it was 1st week of October, 10 weeks is middle of December.

 

[RAM]

I think they officially cancelled around middle October. Even if it was 1st week of October, 10 weeks is middle of December.

Circle on the 'calendar'!

 

[ozflier]

My partner and I have a slight variation on the issues in this discussion.

We have Qantas revenue business class tickets booked thru a TA on JAL most of which has already been travelled but one last sector PER to SYD remaining .That section has been extended several times at minimum cost but the ticket validity is due to expire mid January 2021– ie our first flight on this confirmation number was on mid jan 2020.

I want to fly in February 2020 to Sydney but my TA says it is illegal to do so according to Qantas ticketing rules. ( fair enough but we are in a pandemic situation)

I rang JAL ( really nice local staff ) and they tell me that our only option is to request an exception to the validity ( they say this does happen) and their experience is that 3 months is the maximum

or

to request a refund – will not be the full J class amount!

Has anyone had any experiences with this scenario ?

 

[onelongflight]

Finally after 6 months I finally got my refund through flight center

 

[sudoer]

Has anyone had any experiences with this scenario ?

I booked MEL-SYD-DPS-SYD-MEL on QF metal through Amex Travel in September last year for travel this year. I flew the MEL-SYD-DPS-SYD sectors in Feb/Mar just before Covid blew up, and had the final SYD-MEL sector scheduled for May.

I'd initially (naively) moved that flight to July thinking all would be good by then. As July approached and Qantas announced its second round of flight change rules, I requested moving it to December. Amex Travel did need to contact Qantas to get some sort of special permission - which they were fairly confident would come through. I assume this is to extend the booking past 12 months from ticketing date. They received the permission within an hour and processed the change without any fees. My PNR remained the same.

I don't know if it worked in my favour, but the SYD-MEL and MEL-SYD legs on this itinerary booked into the J bucket, whereas the DPS legs were in I. In any case it made finding availability a walk in the park.

The refund was not worth considering, the fare recalculation for MEL-SYD-DPS-SYD would have resulted in a refund in the sub $50 range - I don't recall the exact amount. It was a very small fraction of the cost of rebooking SYD-MEL one-way in J.

 

[Melburnian1]

Finally after 6 months I finally got my refund through flight center

That's an unacceptable time but in that company's defence, it's losing money every day, and also has to presumably liaise with the airline given I assume it paid QF for the tickets.

However better late than never! I hope you also received all taxes and most charges back - were there some 'airport' components in the latter that you did not receive?

 

[ozflier]

I booked MEL-SYD-DPS-SYD-MEL on QF metal through Amex Travel in September last year for travel this year. I flew the MEL-SYD-DPS-SYD sectors in Feb/Mar just before Covid blew up, and had the final SYD-MEL sector scheduled for May.

I'd initially (naively) moved that flight to July thinking all would be good by then. As July approached and Qantas announced its second round of flight change rules, I requested moving it to December. Amex Travel did need to contact Qantas to get some sort of special permission - which they were fairly confident would come through. I assume this is to extend the booking past 12 months from ticketing date. They received the permission within an hour and processed the change without any fees. My PNR remained the same.

I don't know if it worked in my favour, but the SYD-MEL and MEL-SYD legs on this itinerary booked into the J bucket, whereas the DPS legs were in I. In any case it made finding availability a walk in the park.

The refund was not worth considering, the fare recalculation for MEL-SYD-DPS-SYD would have resulted in a refund in the sub $50 range - I don't recall the exact amount. It was a very small fraction of the cost of rebooking SYD-MEL one-way in J.

Thank you for that .
I am a still little confused re when the clock starts ticking for the 12 month validity of a revenue ticket
ie from the purchase date or from when the first sector is flown.
If the validity starts from the september 2019 purchase date, then your ticket validity has been extended beyond the 12 months .
If the 12 month period started when you flew your first sector, ie february 2020 , then the december 2020 flight would still be within the legal validity.( I understand that the fare basis would have an effect as well)
Any thoughts which is the correct interpretation?

 

[Notyourbag]

Just called the QFF number to get a flight refund vs travel credit. Was passed through to the reservations team (only a 5 minute wait!). I asked if I could get the refund moved from my AMEX I'm looking to cancel this month to my Qantas Visa. The lady gave me the [email protected] email and explained I need a letter from AMEX and the new VISA bank with the credit card details or two separate letters signed by a JD stating which card has been shut down and which is open.

What a mess! It shouldn't be this hard! Kudos to Etihad as you just needed to enter your CC or bank details on where you want the refund to go.

Reference point - refund arrived in my (now cancelled) AMEX on the 24th November - all up less than 7 weeks after my request for a refund! Impressed!

Called AMEX and they were easy to deal with - they will transfer the funds into my bank account within 2-3 business days.

 

[sudoer]

The lady gave me the [email protected] email and explained I need a letter from AMEX and the new VISA bank with the credit card details or two separate letters signed by a JD stating which card has been shut down and which is open.

Guess who went went to the trouble of providing all this information only for Qantas to refund to the original payment method....

 

[ozflier]

Hi,

I am getting mightily confused by this issue.

My question is whether the revenue ticket validity ceases 12 months after the issue of the original ticket.

It seems that according to the quote below from Qantas Ticket Validity , this is the case .

However, in my experience , I have seen travel allowed beyond the expiry of the 12 months without the issue of a new ticket.

I believe there are a few exceptions to the rule – eg illness or death etc .

There are, I am sure, more experienced fliers than me reading this forum and likely those in the travel industry – have they experienced extensions ?

Original Ticket Issue

• The ticket expires and is not valid for travel or reissue at 12 months from the date of original ticket issue.
• Once the ticket has expired it is valid for refund only, if the fare rule permits.

Ticket Reissue from Domestic to Domestic

• When an Australian domestic ticket is reissued to another Australian domestic ticket, the ticket must be reissued prior to the ticket expiry date.
• All travel must be completed within 12 months from the date of original ticket issue (unless otherwise specified in the fare rule) and not 12 months from the date of the reissued ticket.

 

[CaptJCool]

I booked MEL-JFK return (for around AU$1400, roughly half each way), took the flight out in March, and due to come back to MEL in April, but that flight got cancelled and re-booked for May (which later also got cancelled). I was automatically given credit, rather than a refund.

So, I contacted QF and requested a refund, at which point, I was told that the refund amount would be AU$105 as they had retrospectively adjusted the fare as though I had booked a one-way MEL-JFK. Now, if I had voluntarily cancelled the return leg, this would be more acceptable, except I didn't, the pandemic did. So I queried further for a fare breakdown and was told, and I quote "We cannot give out this info as its calculated by the system.".

Fast forward, October 8th (yes, less than two weeks ago as I write this and 16 weeks since the initial refund request, wild), I remembered and checked my statement, surprise surprise, no refund. So I contacted QF again via Messenger, and was responded to very quickly, with a generic message of "Due to high demand, refund processing is now in excess of 12 weeks" (How convenient).

ah I had this experience too...

12 weeks wait time


having booked a stockholm - Adelaide F return
the first time around it was calculated as a voluntary cancellation.... cough all $ so I left it in abeyance

the second time around (fortnight Ago 14 Nov) which was prompted by a former flight centre friend (plus QF chasing me about a flexi fare I’d left open (yea yea one of those cheap double status credits bookings in the back of Bourke))
AND THIS TIME
it was calculated as an involuntary cancellation - this made a major difference as refund is equivalent to half the fare!

pity the Swedish Kroner barely moves v Aussie $
the refund will pay the CC bill for Upto 12 months (subject to any further travel which will reduce the time period to 4-6 months) but that’s ok better the money in my pocket than theirs, especially since CV is now going through Sweden like a dose of Epsoms salts....

 

[OZDUCK]

Finally after 6 months I finally got my refund through flight center

Our friend who was due to be travelling with us on our canceled trip has just had the same thing happen. A six month delay with little to no response to her queries and now has finally got her money back from Flight Centre

 

[maroonone]

Just received refund for flight cancelled in October weeks ahead of the 10 week guidance. No prompting, just an email from QF saying it was processed and two days later in CC account.

 

[Melburnian1]

This is in 'Traveller', 'The Age'/'SMH' insert for Saturday 12 December 2020:

HOLDING PATTERN​

Do I hold the record wait for unpaid Qantas refunds? I cancelled my return flight from Dallas in late April. When I phoned Qantas in July I was assured that I would get my refund by mid-September. Nothing. In early November I was promised I would get an email the next day and a refund within two weeks. It's now seven months and I'm still waiting. Can anyone beat that?

John Ward, Fairlight, NSW

 

[CaptJCool]

Just received refund for flight cancelled in October weeks ahead of the 10 week guidance. No prompting, just an email from QF saying it was processed and two days later in CC account.

refund processed emails today

domestic mid-afternoon
international 8pm tonight

thats just over 6 weeks waiting time.... now for the CC Wait... 2 days you say ?

 

[CaptJCool]

Refunds now credited today in the CC account

backdated to 30 Dec and 31 Dec

request made 15-17 November

 

[Melburnian1]

Refunds now credited today in the CC account

backdated to 30 Dec and 31 Dec

request made 15-17 November

CaptJCool (great username!), did you also receive taxes and airport charges back?

 

[Port Power]

Hi,

I am getting mightily confused by this issue.

My question is whether the revenue ticket validity ceases 12 months after the issue of the original ticket.

It seems that according to the quote below from Qantas Ticket Validity , this is the case .

However, in my experience , I have seen travel allowed beyond the expiry of the 12 months without the issue of a new ticket.

I believe there are a few exceptions to the rule – eg illness or death etc .

There are, I am sure, more experienced fliers than me reading this forum and likely those in the travel industry – have they experienced extensions ?

Original Ticket Issue

• The ticket expires and is not valid for travel or reissue at 12 months from the date of original ticket issue.
• Once the ticket has expired it is valid for refund only, if the fare rule permits.

Ticket Reissue from Domestic to Domestic

• When an Australian domestic ticket is reissued to another Australian domestic ticket, the ticket must be reissued prior to the ticket expiry date.
• All travel must be completed within 12 months from the date of original ticket issue (unless otherwise specified in the fare rule) and not 12 months from the date of the reissued ticket.

You need to have requested a credit voucher by now. The credit vouchers are available to book by 31 December 2022. Or if Qantas cancelled your flight, then you had the option of requesting a refund. Refunds take 12-16 weeks on average, but often longer. I am sure otherwise your original ticket will expire at 12 months from issue.

 

[CaptJCool]

CaptJCool (great username!), did you also receive taxes and airport charges back?

Because they were fully paid revenue tics and cancelled by QF, “full” price refund

 

[CaptJCool]

You need to have requested a credit voucher by now. The credit vouchers are available to book by 31 December 2022. Or if Qantas cancelled your flight, then you had the option of requesting a refund. Refunds take 12-16 weeks on average, but often longer. I am sure otherwise your original ticket will expire at 12 months from issue.

current refund turnaround time is advised as 12 weeks = 84 days....

the “actual timing” has been closer to 45-50 days