"To provide customers with greater flexibility and confidence when they book, Qantas and Jetstar will waive change fees for new international bookings made from today until the end of March, if customers change their travel plans[4]. This applies to travel commencing up to 30 June 2020 and is limited to one free change per customer. Customers will need to pay any fare difference."
Yes, that's literally in the body?
Needs to be in the heading mate
ah, fair, updating now
I made a booking before that :(
I don't quite get why they are applying it to new flight bookings only. Lucky to those who purchased last year and are stuck in the mud.
Obviously they are encouraging people to book flights without fear of losing their money, when travel insurance won't cover it..
If you purchased last year, they already have your money.
It's a smart move by Qantas to give people confidence in making new bookings.
They should waive fees for existing booking as well.
Yep pretty crappy of them
Yes agreed
I wouldn't mind a refund in credit as an option. I'm still planning on travelling, just not in the near future
i agree, this would be a huge cost to their business as they have already spent the money we have given them. Scoot offered free change to all bookings in an email i got a couple of weeks ago which i think is amazing. The other airlines i am booked with virgin and asia have offered nothing!
But that might mean the fancy leprachaun may miss out on his $22M bonus and we certainly couldnt deny him that especially as he has so nobly foregone 3 months salary
Boooo.
Please look after all your customers, not just your new…
I booked mine in September last year… I'll just keep waiting
I booked mine in July last year
So do I, I booked last year Sep for end of March NZ holiday with Jetstar.
I interpreted it as the new booking being the one you are rescheduling to. Seems pointless the other way.
That was my first thought
I never neg deals but this one is just evil by Qantas.
Evil of them being "flexible" wanting to attract new revenue but a direct "screw you" to existing bookings where they already got your money and not giving it back
As opposed to Qatar who have the following policy:
Our passengers who have booked or plan to book travel up to 30 June 2020, are able to change their travel date free of charge, or exchange their tickets for a travel voucher valid for one year.
well said, have a plus vote.
Some airlines haven't changed anything :/
I still prefer QF hasn't changed anything rather than this 'stupid change'.
Yeah but "some" airlines have not just made record profits of $1.6 billion up from $1.4 billion from the previous year.
No doubt Qantas will face losses due to the virus but to shift that loss to existing customers is disrespectful.
People who saved up for an overseas holiday and now just want to keep their family healthy during this outbreak have to forfeit their money to Qantas and wear Qantas's losses after they made $3billion in profit is just plain evil.
I dont have any Qantas bookings to change but its policy like this which will make me use their competition instead in the future.
Flew Qantas last week. Not a single sign of hand sanitiser the whole flight (surely when boarding/ food times minimum) and nothing changed in the QF lounge (still the good ole tongs in use to make your sandwich, which ensures you have shared hand contact with a thousand people before putting your sandwich in your mouth).
So they aren't trying to help themselves!
As for booking changes, if your new flight is cheaper, do you get the difference refunded?
"As for booking changes, if your new flight is cheaper, do you get the difference refunded?"
No.
Being logical here - if you made the booking a year ago before the virus became an issue , it’s unfortunate - but if you want to make a new booking now, given the ‘known’ threat, the change option is being offered so that you can decide later. The threat didn’t exist if you made a booking last year, and therefore, they are not offering to cancel ‘all’ flights. It’s a contract that you entered into. This is in ADVANCE of a contract where they are saying IF you want to book, knowing there is a threat, we’ll cover you. It’s very different and seems both good marketing and good for people who aren’t sure.
I agree with being logical hence other airlines allowing everyone to change to a later date.
And as for it being a known threat vs unknown threat a year ago, this is WORSE for Qantas. At least when you buy a product that later turns out to be dangerous you get a recall and credit.
With a known threat out there, Qantas are essentially saying I know your health is at risk but you still must fly as your health is not as important as my profits.
Why put your existing customers in that position, why not offer a future credit and wear a loss out of loyalty to your customer base especially when your customer base has generated you over 1 billion in profits year on year?
Evil Qantas is spot on. I have noticed that it is now more expensive to fly from Perth to eastern states than it was at Xmas time. Here we have state & federal govts asking us to holiday domestically to help the economy whilst international tourism is ruined yet Qantas certainly aint helping with attractive fares. Thanks little fancy leprachaun.
They should have done this to bookings made since Feb 1
This is a deal? Should be in discussion/forum.
I contacted Jetstar about my interstate flight and they let me change without fees, up until the start of check in.
Just need to pay the fare difference.
Problem is, don't know when to book another flight.
Not a deal…
You usually pay extra for flexible flight dates, it's now free, how is that "Not a deal…"??
This deal is relevant to an existing product/service you may have purchased. It is purely information that you may be eligible for a refund….
Does it include if you book a flight and want to cancel to get $ back?
They finally realize this is something they need to provide couple of months ago.
Except that they haven't provided it for bookings from a couple of months ago. New bookings only.
Totally agreed.
Just remember the sting in the red tail "Customers will need to pay any fare difference." … when it comes time you do re-book (the Virus situation over), expect prices to jump up in theory. Which means Qantas gets to set the price of the new tickets to whatever they want as you are essentially trapped with sunk cost of your existing booing
Yep saw it in the news too. The devil is in the fine print "You may also have to pay any difference between the fare for your new booking and the original fare." The airlines are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.
Lol…. What an amazing offer haha
It's too restrictive still when Cathay Pacific is already allowing unlimited changes until April 20th for travels up to the end of February 2021
Im currently trying to get a refund or credit from Tiger flying from melb -coffs to an uncle with 20% lung capacity, they have said:
Thank you for your email and I am sorry to hear your uncle is unwell.
Please be advised that there is no impact on domestic travel imposed by the government due to the virus and flights are operating as normal.
If you are able to make a claim on your travel insurance for the cost of the fare, we may provide you a letter that you can give to your insurance company to support your claim. Please advise if you require an insurance letter.
On the other hand, Tigerair allows the review of a medical "certificate(s)/documentation" submitted by customers in order to qualify for a Flight Credit for any unused flight due to illness or medical emergency of the passenger or an immediate family member.
Please reply to this email and attached a copy of the medical "certificate/documentation" which clearly states:
• your name,
• reason for being unable to travel,
• must be signed and stamped by a medical practitioner,
• must be written on a formal letterhead and include the Doctor's medical provider number.
Once the relevant documentation has been provided and approved, you will receive a Flight Credit for the value of your flights.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
till june only?
Last night I managed to shift a trip to Bali from next week to September without paying a transfer fee.
Using Manage My Booking on the Qantas website would have cost me $225 plus the difference in fares.
So I waited 5 hours on the 13 13 13 number and pleaded my case. The first offer was to credit me the fare I had paid minus a transfer fee of $225. I refused this offer and persisted with my pleading. Their next offer was to transfer the booing to September and not charge me the transfer fee of $225 on compassionate grounds. I accepted this offer.
Its only new bookings