My QF International Flight (May) Is Still Confirmed. Should I Apply for Credit before 31 March or Wait for Flight Cancellation?

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Qantas

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  bdl on 26/03/2020 - 16:25

  Wait

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  djones145 on 26/03/2020 - 16:26

  u need to call amex of you booked through amex travel

  usually 7 days before the flight

  took me 3 hours on hold but was done quickly got credit have to be used within 1 year of when flight was due

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  Yummy on 26/03/2020 - 17:15

  Depart: 30/04/20
  Return: 10/05/20

  Not even enough for 14 days quarantine!

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  JimmyF on 26/03/2020 - 17:41

  Will my flight get the 'Cancelled' status at some point or not?

  At this point in time, its stil over 30 days out. They won't cancel it until you're closer.

  But it will get cancelled, no one is going anywhere intl for the 6 months without a pretty good reason why.

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  ailee on 26/03/2020 - 18:00

  I'm having a lot of issues getting a refund on a "cancelled" status flight, as it is cancelled due to government imposed restrictions. Although, this is with another airline, I've read that Qantas is offering refunds to persistent customers.

  My post:
  https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/526704

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  unco on 26/03/2020 - 18:15

  +2

  My Emirates flight in June booked through Qantas has had it's Melbourne-Dubai and Dubai-Melbourne cancelled, however the Dubai-Amsterdam and Amsterdam-Dubai hasn't been cancelled.
  Qantas' email told me not to contact them, they will contact me.

  I just hope they all get cancelled and I can get a refund.

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  woodystk on 26/03/2020 - 22:14

  I suggest waiting until it's cancelled, I think you then have claim under Aust Consumer Law and if there is no reasonably similarly-timed flight which they can put you on, then you have right to refund.

  Agree with Jimmy, it will get cancelled. They are just working through them.

  We had domestic Qantas non-refundable flights for Easter, they just today cancelled our outbound, and I called today and asked for a full refund and it was given no problem at all.

  Don't be tricked by their offer of flight credit. They make it easy to get the credit, just do it online, but I needed to call to get the refund (ignored the "don't stay on the line unless you're travelling in the next 48 hours" messages, and it was a 20min call back, I'm Gold status which may have made it faster).

  In this environment I guess there is a chance Qantas could go bust, so good to get the refund. Most likely the govt will bail them out and customers won't lose credits, but who knows. I decided to cash out my frequent flyer balance, in case an Ansett scenario plays out.

  Good luck!

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  FirstWizard on 27/03/2020 - 08:08

  So as of this morning the vouchers are valid till Dec 2021, and you have until 30 Apr to ask AMEX to convert them.

  I have a flight in April booked through travel credits and I've been waiting too. Though I do agree with @woodystk partially, I still might not wait too long, because the recent announcement by ACCC said that if the flight cancellation was because of a government restriction, that will impact Consumer rights with respect to the flight and for travel insurance claims. Qantas has not pulled that card out yet as AU gov has not theoretically stopped them from flying, but in the future they might depending on the situation and we maybe left without even a voucher :/

  Email from Qantas on 27 Mar 2020:

  Qantas flight credit extension

  From today, anyone holding a Qantas ticket for travel before 31 July 2020 can get a flight credit and retain the full value of their booking. You need to do this by 30 April 2020. The flight credit is valid for booking and travel by 31 December 2021. This gives you more than 18 months to plan, rebook and travel.

  If you already have a Qantas flight credit issued on or after 31 January 2020, this will also be automatically extended but may take a few weeks to update in our system.

  • 

    FirstWizard on 01/04/2020 - 16:58

    So to follow up on this, on the 30th of Mar one of the legs of my trip got cancelled. AMEX automatically issued me with a Qantas voucher. After trying for a several days I managed to get through to AMEX travel today and asked what the policy is when the airline cancels the ticket.

    She confirmed that I'm eligible for a full refund and the travel credit will also be refunded. Furthermore, she said that AMEX is offering an extension of travel credit to all customers and that would automatically apply. However, she did warn me that since my refund would take 8 weeks, and the annual expiry date for my credit is only 1 week after that, to keep an on the credit and call them up to manually process the extension before expiry if needed.

    • 

      ets27 on 05/04/2020 - 06:15

      that's good! so at the end you got fully refunded from Amex? I am exactly on the same boat with a flight 'scheduled' for June.

      • 

        FirstWizard on 05/04/2020 - 09:12

        Still waiting for the refund 😔

        But yeah, I contacted AMEX, and they are the ones who are arranging it for me.

        • 

          ets27 on 05/04/2020 - 09:13

          @FirstWizard: Ah great! So I am expecting they to refund me too! Thanks!

          • 

            FirstWizard on 05/04/2020 - 09:21

            +1

            @ets27: Refund only works if Qantas cancelled the flight, if you do it voluntarily then you're only entitled to a voucher.

            Also the policy around refunds could change at anytime depending on the situation, especially if there's an actual government restriction in the future, please be aware of that.

            Furthermore, the fee free voucher refund policy for voluntary cancellations ends on Apr 30th as it stands now.
            So come June if your flights are still operating as scheduled, and you don't want to fly, they can charge you a fee for cancellation.

            Maybe wait a bit more and see how it goes, but ultimately you may have to call it early.

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  heysoph9 on 02/04/2020 - 17:02

  My Qantas flight has just disappeared from my My Bookings. No cancellation email.. Bit worried

  • 

    FirstWizard on 05/04/2020 - 09:11

    That's what happened to me. Took more than a week to get an email with saying that they are working on it.

    • 

      unco on 05/04/2020 - 09:52

      Mine too, the email says no need to contact them but I’m wary of the 30 April deadline for flight credit vouchers.
      Ideally I’d prefer a proper refund.

      • 

        FirstWizard on 05/04/2020 - 12:54

        Yeah, I got the vouchers like 5 days after that email, then I called them up. Could only get through after trying a couple of times.

        There's heaps of time until the 30th of Apr

        • 

          unco on 05/04/2020 - 21:47

          @FirstWizard: Just got an email from Qantas.
          My flight has automatically been converted to flight credit.

          Weird thing is it says

          Flight Credit Valid Until 19 January 2021

          Then below it says

          Flight Credits are valid until the expiry date shown above, with the exception of flight credits for which an extension has been applied. For flight credits created on or before 30 April 2020 for travel on or before 31 July 2020, the expiry date is 31 December 2021.

          My flight was for June 2020, so should it actually be 31 December 2021?

          I hope I can convince them to give me a refund as the original reason for travel is no longer valid for me.

          • 

            FirstWizard on 06/04/2020 - 08:55

            @unco: Haha, that's quite confusing. Was the booking directly through Qantas?

            My voucher said:

            CANCELLATION OF YOUR QANTAS INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT HAS BEEN COMPLETED AND THE TICKET VALUE IS HELD IN CREDIT FOR YOUR FUTURE USE

            Use Your Credit And Complete Travel On Any Qantas Flight By 31 December 2021.
            When You Are Ready To Book Contact American Express Travel.

            Hopefully, you can push them and get a refund. It was slightly difficult for me to get through to AMEX, but the wait time was not more than 30 mins on the day I actually go through.
            I've had issues getting through to Qantas at normal times. So I'm not sure how busy they are these days.