Qantas has come under fire for charging some customers more when redeeming Qantas gift vouchers for flights.
AFF members have uncovered countless examples where customers redeeming gift vouchers were shown higher prices for the same flights than Qantas’ website. This has likely resulted in many unsuspecting customers paying too much. The problem has existed for many months but has not yet been properly fixed.
When redeeming a Qantas gift voucher for a flight, you need to book through a special page which is separate to the main Qantas website. The problem is that the prices shown on this page do not always match those shown on Qantas’ regular booking engine. The reason appears that the gift voucher page does not show flight availability in certain fare classes.
In one recent example, Qantas Business Class flights from Melbourne to Adelaide were available online for $771. But when trying to redeem a Qantas gift voucher for the same flights, only $925 fares were available. In this instance, it appears that the gift voucher booking engine was not displaying any fares in the cheaper “D” fare class. Our members have also found previously that cheaper Economy “E” class fares could not be booked online using gift vouchers.
In another example from earlier this year, it was not possible to redeem a gift voucher online for any flights on the Melbourne-Adelaide route in Economy – only Business Class was available. Yet, Economy tickets were still available for sale on Qantas’ website. Read more: Gift Voucher Booking nonsense
To be clear, we’re referring here to Qantas gift vouchers – and not the credit vouchers you may receive after cancelling a booking. Credit vouchers have their own conditions and restrictions attached.
When redeeming a Qantas gift voucher, it would be advisable to cross-check the prices being shown. If there is a discrepancy, you can call Qantas to redeem the voucher over the phone at the lower price. They will be able to process the booking manually for you.
There are various reasons that people use Qantas gift vouchers. Some people receive them as gifts; others purchase them to avoid paying credit card fees when booking Qantas flights.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Redeem gift voucher: prices 25% higher?
