Booked a flight last year. It got rebooked/cancelled to something ridiculous so I got a refund but as a travel credit.
Now I used my travel credit to make another booking. Reached the airport 3.5h early and got a text 3hrs before departure that I am booked on a flight 2 days from now.
The email says I can get travel bank refund.
Is that fair?
Are there any rules on such last minute cancellations?
The least I want is refund to my card/cash not travel credit.
Anyone has any experience in the matter?
Flight cancelled and offered credit
archieduh on 20/07/2022 - 06:57
Comments
No Melbourne to Sydney.
Imagine flighys every 15min starting 6AM till noon and some.. and 1 cancelled
I’m guessing Jetstar domestic
Not necessarily, I had the same occur on QANTAS last year.
It took me 10 hours of being on hold across 3 calls to finally get my money back.
4 hours on the first call before I had to hang up,
3 hours on there next call when I got through and some to a human finally.
To be told it would take 8-12 weeks for the actual refund to occur.
And a further 3 hours, 4 months later cause I still hasn't seen my money.
The refund occurred in the spot during that final call.No VA
Only reason I said Jetstar, was because your story happened to a friend of mine but they were meant to go to Brisbane on the school holidays but their flight got cancelled on the day of (after they got a credit from last year).
Ask and you'll be given
No refused :(
Section 4 here says you are eligible for a refund:
https://www.virginaustralia.com/eu/en/about-us/policies/lega…
Whoa *You may be entitled to claim compensation for reasonable costs you incur as per section 8 or under the Australian Consumer Law. *
Does that mean I can claim the night I had to stay and other compensation.. eventually took the train next day instead of flights 2 days later…
fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me fool me three times ask for cash refund.
I think i am only at twice part..
It's an absolute rort what airlines get away to when it comes to cancellations and refunds (or, rather, lack of refunds). Is there any other industry that seems able to get away with not providing the goods or services that that customer has paid for and not just give a refund as a matter of course?
I am really surprised at how lax our rules are on airlines. We seem to be really good in other areas. As a consumer this seems to be the only industry that has such grey areas.
Are there any rules on such last minute cancellations?
Pilot can chuck a sickie, door not closing properly, no baggage handles and list goes on. Its happen more frequently now than ever before.
Nobody is complaining about the cancellation per se, the attitude of the airlines however.
It's not their money until they provide the service. If I cancel, then sure, it's their money to do as they wish.
If they cancel however, give me my money back!
Added to this. Actually talking to someone is made incredibly difficult. Their excuse is the high volume of calls.
My reply, reduce the number of calls by refunding in the first place.Totally agree. I get it. Its COVID time.
But then what is your contingency?
If Plan B failed then at least have the decency to offer cash refund.
Euro airlines do that otherwise some give 120% travel bank as a choice.
Heck if they run a bus service from MEL to SYD that would be faster than making me board a flight 48 hours later :)People are still paying Qantas for flight tickets. Why would Alan Joyce do anything different, when people are still giving money to Qantas for their service, and shareholders are still happy with his performance?
The only way to push Airline for a change, is to stop giving them money.
Pilot can chuck a sickie, door not closing properly, no baggage handles and list goes on. Its happen more frequently now than ever before.
All valid reasons for flights to be cancelled.
Those reasons are equally valid reasons for immediately offering a refund (or alternative flight arrangement) at the customer's discretion.
Yeah. Why do i have to call to get travel bank? Can't even cancel flight online.
As Homer says, reject the first offer.
That's they only offer :(
It's an absolute shame.
We were booked to go to Phillipines with Cebu Pacific for April 2020 which got cancelled due to COVID.
They issued a travel credit valid for 6 months which was extended again for 6 months each time till April 2022 where we were now ready to book something but they don't have any flights from Melbourne till end of October 2022.
I've argued that due to lack of flights we want a refund as we can't travel after October 2022 due to work commitments.
They would not budge and have extended the credit till October saying we should book for next year.
Only available option to contact them is through Facebook Messenger.
It has just been a nightmare.That's just sux, can you get any protection with ACCC ? Even its a foreign entity but operate for Australian market?
ACCC website states that they are not a complaints handling body, but we can choose to take action where there are systemic breaches of the ACL.
They suggest getting in touch with the state’s consumer protection agency.
I've rung Consumer affairs and have been advised that they can't do anything in this situation.
They suggested that I could take it to VCAT but still might not get a favorable outcome and the VCAT wait times are over a year anyway.I will now report it to ACCC anyway but don't think there will be any action from them from a single complaint. This is not a popular airline so might not have many affected people.
"take action where there are systemic breaches of the ACL."
When the default position of all service providers in the airline industry is to not offer a refund (only a travel credit, which is not a refund) as they are required to under ACL, then I can't think of any better definition than "systemic breach"… The entire Industry needs to be brought into line.
If it were just the budget operators, then maybe (but not really) there's an argument, but when the self proclaimed "full service" operators are doing it as well.How about travel insurance ? will that cover such a cancellation ?
Its not best time to fly these days. And you have to think of airline point of view as well. Cebu Pacific like a low budget airline. Imagine when they get their flight cancel multiple times due to covid / baggage handlers etc. Virgin almost got bust.
That's why I try to stick to airlines with better cancellation policy when possible. when its comes to accommodations as well, I have came across few who got caught with accommodation booking with airbnb.
@boomramada: Travel Insurance at the time did not cover any pandemics.
I understand from their view but what use is a travel credit if they don't have flights at the moment.@deveshwar0: Try this, this is a old article ( step 3 full refund) or maybe you already tried this.
https://www.thepoortraveler.net/2020/03/canceled-cebu-pacifi…
@boomramada: "better cancellation policy when possible. "
Name such an airline… None fly domestic routes in Australia that's for sure.@ESEMCE: True, but virgin was good during the covid once, I manage to cancel and re book the same flight cheaper with the credit lol
This is exactly what I'm referring to in my comment above. What recourse do we have here? The Australian Consumer Law still applies to airlines, but it either doesn't seem to be enforced or it gets interpreted VERY flexibly to their benefit, because they just seem to blatantly get away with sh*t that nobody else does. https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/health-home-travel/flight-…
Tell me about it..
I have been on call with an airline for 2 years (not this one) and their hold music gives me PTSD
This would be great if it were in Europe where you'd get something like 600 euros in compensation on top of your fee. as they'd need to give you 2 weeks notice.
Pity Australia doesn't have the same rights, Joyceeee does it again.
Experienced it. Like if they extended my flights by 2 days, don't they owe me 2 nights of stay?
Pity Australia doesn't have the same rights
Albo will fix it…
.. but it won't be easy
It’s a crap time to fly right now.
Took me 16 hours for to door Canberra to Perth on Monday. My first flight was delayed two hours then was finally cancelled. Then I was rebooked on a flight to Sydney instead of Melbourne that also got delayed, lost my business class upgrade because no business class on Dash 8. They then scheduled me on a QF5 Syd - Per - Rome for the Australian portion which had me waiting 4 hours (lucky I was in the lounge) in Sydney but I had to also swap terminals from domestic to international and I had no passport etc so I spent 15 minutes explaining to Border Force that I don’t have a passport because I’m not flying out of the country. That QF5 also gets delayed an hour, finally departs and on arrival into Perth I again explain that I have no passport, Perth is my final destination etc (surely this happens often enough that it doesn’t take such explaining).
The cherry on top was that when I arrived my bag didn’t come on the conveyor belt… excellent… I asked in Sydney if I needed to collect my bag to go international terminal etc two people both said no your bag will be taken over. Another two hours and a lost bag report and finally it was found just chilling on another conveyor belt in another part of the airport.
Good trips!
Oh man!
That is just unreal.Was an experience that’s for sure. I’d expect it on Jetstar but Qantas I’ve had seldom issues before.
:(
At least you got the 787 business class which would've been an upgrade on the 737's
Still Qantas screwed you over.
Naar, no business class. On the way over it was an A330 so that’s fine. On the way back the flight was already booked out of Business for people going through to Rome so I lost it.
Bastards
It’s a crap time to fly right now.
Covid related issues plus first day after school holidays :)
I was on that QF5 from Sydney to Perth on Monday! I had no issues with not having a passport because of the orange 'D' sticker. My bigger issue was waiting in the manual immigration line because I couldn't use the eGates. That took forever.
Yeah I seem to have missed being issued a sticker because I never checked in normally for the QF5 I suppose.
That's why I leave an Apple Airtag in my luggage these days. Provides a peace of mind to locate my luggage.
Smart. Might try this next time!
CC chargeback ??
I wont accept travel credit BS, Qantas has been even bigger $h!tter to those people who got credit refunded. where the travel credit increased the flight's cost, or like given vouchers with a very short expiry etc.
CREDIT SYSTEM on travel companies is BS. Either they should give full money back or full ticket as planned
Tigerairways ones costed me a 8 hours + delay (ADL to MEL in 2018 i think) Not offered any compensation that time. Sadly I really needed to travel that time, so couldn't simply choose to cancel and refund or chargeback from bank with Debit card. But I never ever even thought of flying with them ever in life.
If you were at the airport when they cancelled your flight did you ask if there were any cancellations or other flights you could get on?
Flight was 6.30pm. staff arrived 5pm.
The ones I tried to were very very rudely prompt in replying - "we are sorry the system has automatically booked you on earliest available, all earlier dates must have been sold out"
(Disclaimer: It may have appeared more rude than it was as I was in shock what to do).Nah, that's not rude, but this is
Ummm… The way she looked, voice and mannerisms and sheer lack of empathy was actually very rude. I just put the disclaimer as a note to self while I was typing to call myself :)
$8.. i got nothing
contrary to the bad experiences posted above,
On Tuesday had BNE to MEL flight cancelled a few hours before due to fly out 8.55pm flight, and was rebooked onto the 7:55 am flight the next day. Went to Virgin lounge and asked about what happens now, compensation etc as now had to stay in Brisbane overnight.
They were really good,
organised a hotel in the city for the night, cab charge voucher to cover trip to and from airport and also added a $50 credit to the room for food etc.
Was quite surprised they covered all that. was expecting a sorry bad luck heres a food voucher you can use at the airport.In your case even the alternate was good (under 12 hours).
I was offered a flight after 48hours. Can you believe that? Should have offered a bus instead 😃Business class?
Qantas is a very close to a scam in the sense they take your money, cancel flights, and force you to contact them on their 5-hour-wait awful customer service to get a refund. They should/must have an option to do it online, with one or two clicks.
My experience with Virgin has been great as their customer service is actually pretty good (again, based on my experience). I managed to request the refund to the payment method online when they cancelled my flight and the alternative (the Qantas flights they selected wouldn't arrive to the destination on time).
When I had to contact Virgin (using points, change flight to a flight that was not available online), they have been quite helpful and pleasant to deal with.
In summary, I believe that if the airline cancelled the flight, they should apply a refund to the payment method straight away, or offer the option to manage the refund online (or accept a credit with an extra 10%… Some other airlines do that). This process should be hassle free.
Qantas has been terrible terrible terrible… Customer service is awful, painful, infuriating…
Guess they are all the same as my flight was VA
Flew to MEL to OOL return yesterday. Qantas up and Jetstar back (only due to flight availability). Ended up with 4.5hr of flight delays between the flights,2 hrs up & 2.5 hrs back.Was told three different stories 1. Lack of ground staff and broken down de-icer. 2. Overbooked and still trying to fly passengers from yesterday. 3.Lack of flight staff due to Covid. At least we had lounge access, I felt sorry for people just waiting at the gate.
I foolishly thought that because we had the first flight up, there would be no chance of it being delayed. Two hours later we departed.
When we landed back in Melbourne after 2.5 hrs delay at OOL, and 1/2 hr holding pattern, had to wait parked, for Marshall to guide us to remote gate. Then had to wait for someone to finally bring the stairs to front and rear doors. Then they gave up on that and we were told deplaining through front doors only. FA comes on intercom and almost gleefully says she hopes Jetstar will put the Tasmania transit passengers up in a nice hotel as they have missed their connecting flight.
Pretty clear that it's just a lack of staff across the board. I believe Qantas has outsourced its ground handling crew and sacked 1600+ workers.
It's not like we are paying a cheap price for flights in Australia. They have had enough post lockdown time to get their act together, and were paid billions to keep staff.I won't be flying on the little fat Irishman's airline again. It's a disgrace what he has let Qantas become.
Wait… you were sceduled to fly on the day, they cancelled and rebooked you 2 days later?… international?