Very Confused about Qantas Flight Change Requirements - Question and Whinge

katykat on 19/09/2023 - 22:43

A bit of whinge and a question about Qantas flight change requirements.

So I have had many issues with my Qantas booking to the USA since making it early this year. They have changed the time multiple times by a large enough margin that our generous layover wasn't enough to make our domestic flight, have provided incorrect and unclear advice requiring hours on the phone and even triggered a system error so bad when trying to do a change request due to the time change that the whole booking locked. Long story short, operator told me and confirmed multiple times that the system had accepted the request and it was allowed under the booking rules. It wasn't and system decided that I now owed an extra $6k. I wasn't advised of this, it wasn't owed and the operator had confirmed multiple times there was no charge and everything had gone through. It was actually pending cancellation due to non-payment and the agent had broken the system so badly none of the auto emails advising this would send.

I called today with what I thought was a simple change request. I noticed there is a Business Sale fare on atm and wanted to upgrade my Economy fare into it. I was even prepared to pay the change fee.

The agent said that Qantas' systems don't allow this. If you request to change your fare into an upgrade, Qantas' system charges you the applicable business class fare that it cost at the time of booking. In this case, approx $5k difference from the sale fare.

I had a skim of the terms and conditions of the fare and couldn't find anything saying this????? Even if you take away the sale fare component (maybe only for new bookings?), fare prices are dynamic. How is it fair to charge someone the rate applicable at the time they purchased an economy fare when the actual purchase decision is a new one based on a need to upgrade on that date?

Is this correct or have I again been given faulty advice?

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Comments

  • CyberMurning on 19/09/2023 - 22:56

    Ask that preety boy joyce

  • DashCam AKA Rolts on 19/09/2023 - 23:00
    +2

    QANTAS = Questionable Antics aNd Terrible Actual Service

  • freefall101 on 19/09/2023 - 23:24
    +1

    Usually the recommendation would be to call back and get someone else, unfortunately that takes another 4-6 hours of your life.

    At this point it's safe to assume the big red kanga has turned into a big red finger.

  • sumyungguy on 19/09/2023 - 23:33

    If you're using a fare as credit towards the payment of any equal or higher fare from the point of origin, the fare difference is always at the airline's discretion. It's unsurprising that Qantas (among others) doesn't permit Economy Sale fares to upgraded during a subsequent promotion to a Business Sale fare.

    • katykat on 20/09/2023 - 20:37

      When phrased like that it doesn't seem as unreasonable.

      Thanks for giving me another perspective. In my head the ticket was essentially cancelled and then reticketed at the higher fare ie. more money for Qantas. But I guess they could see it as a loss of the economy seat fare altogether because it's being credited towards the new one.

  • ausdday on 20/09/2023 - 00:05

    All you need is to call current affair

  • pjetson on 20/09/2023 - 08:21

    Can you cancel with Qantas and book with another airline?

  • bobokingdom on 20/09/2023 - 08:45
    +2

    As they have changed the time, can you get the original ticket refunded and then purchase the Business Class at lower price? Sometimes they will take up to 8 to 10 weeks for refund but if you have the extra cash in bank, you can definitely do it this way.

    • katykat on 20/09/2023 - 21:12

      I would like to but I already put through the original change request the other month.

      Qantas advised me then that the cancellation would mean I'd lose the points I used, regardless of the reason, because there was only one leg available as a rewards seat when I booked. This means it's not a real rewards booking apparently, and only those get points returned.

      In practice, this means that the points are converted to cash value ($300) for refund vs the $1500 they were worth to book the seat. :(

      I also looked at upgrading then and was told a rule of a schedule change is that it must be same class, no upgrades allowed. Which means only option for me is to accept like for like or cancellation that loses points. You don't even get the refund of the dynamic fare change when they do it the like fort like swap, but you bet you owe them if it doesn't work in their favour.

      It would be different if I hadn't used points and I would cancel in a heartbeat (back then and now).

      I think that's why I was so annoyed about the fact that Qantas doesn't even allow actual change of mind upgrades as a paid for change. Every term and condition is designed to ensure that Qantas wins.

      Though, comment above has given me a different perspective I hadn't considered.

  • Drakesy on 20/09/2023 - 13:01

    Yes they've fcuked you over with the timings which was shite and to attempt to charge you another $5k is classic Qantas

    They do have a point when it comes to the business fare "upgrade", that's pretty standard practice to charge you the full whack unfortunately. It prevents people from buying economy hoping for business tickets to go on sale.

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