Return Flight Ticket (Qantas) Got Cancelled, Had to Purchase a New One on The Spot, Refund/Credit Rejected, No Reason Provided

chhola on 12/06/2023 - 18:12
Last edited 12/06/2023 - 23:21

Bought a return ticket directly with Qantas from Sydney to Hong Kong for my parents, on the way back at the HK airport, they were told and shown by Qanstas staff at the counter that one of the tickets (my mum) was cancelled. After a long debate, my parents ended up purchasing a new single ticket on the spot so they could still flight back. The same Qantas staff helped them to purchase the new ticket.

I contacted Qantas for clarification on what happened with the original booking and asked for a refund. They provided no reasons and offered 3000 credit points (a single ticket from HK to Sydney costs around 25000 points).

I rejected the offer as I don’t think it was our fault that the ticket somehow got cancelled and told them to provide proof if they think otherwise, and insisted on a refund or credits that is fairer to the situation.

Again, the request was rejected and no reason provided.

This has never happened to me before. Is there anything else that I can do here?

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Comments

  • Hybroid on 12/06/2023 - 18:14
    +3

    Read the Qantas compensation and refunds page to understand what you're entitled to: https://www.qantas.com/au/en/book-a-trip/flights/compensatio…

    You should have received full refund for the cancelled flight.

    You are not entitled to a refund on the new booked single flight.

    • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 18:18

      The flight wasn’t cancelled. One of the tickets was cancelled.

      • Hybroid on 12/06/2023 - 18:21
        +3

        Customers are entitled to a refund in the following situations:

        • If we cancel your flight and we cannot offer you suitable alternative arrangements.
        • If we delay your flight to the extent that you have to cancel your travel.
        • If we make a significant change# to the scheduled flight time and we are unable to book you on an alternative flight that is acceptable to you.
        • If we cause you to miss a connecting Qantas flight on which you have a confirmed reservation.
        • If we are unable to carry you and you have a confirmed reservation.

        Same applies.

        They should at a bare minimum have offered to re-book on the next available Qantas flight which seems to be part of their operating process.

        Call 1300 659 161 tomorrow and see if you can get some better goodwill compensation with someone new.

      • apple2016 on 12/06/2023 - 19:42
        +1

        If Qantas cancelled the tickets, you should get refund.

        • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 20:53
          +1

          We still don’t know what happened to that ticket as they did not want to provide any information apart from “we can’t refund you”.

          • markathome on 12/06/2023 - 21:50
            +3

            @chhola: To be honest, it sounds like they are claiming the ticket was valid and your Mum was confused and needlessly bought a second ticket for herself. If true, this would make things a lot more difficult.

            Sale fares are non-refundable for no shows except for taxes and charges. All other fares incur a $3000 HKD ($566 AUD) charge.

            • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 21:55

              @markathome: The Qantas staff at the HK airport showed them on their screen that my mom ticket was marked as cancelled. The same people helped them to purchase a new ticket.

              • markathome on 12/06/2023 - 21:58
                +1

                @chhola: So:

                1. You bought two return tickets SYD-HKG under one booking with Qantas
                2. Your parents took the SYD-HKG flight
                3. At Hong Kong airport check-in, your mother was informed her ticket had been cancelled
                4. Needing to board the flight, your Mum bought a one-way HKG-SYD ticket at 70% of the price

                Given you already paid for the return tickets and your Mum has now paid an extra 70%, you are seeking the 70% refunded (as Qantas already have the cash for that flight as part of the original booking which has not been refunded).

                Were the tickets booked together (i.e. did you select two adults when making the booking)?

  • SnoozeAndLose on 12/06/2023 - 18:20
    +1

    Sound like a current affairs topic

  • Cave Fire on 12/06/2023 - 18:37

    Need all the info, like when did they buy the ticket? Eg, was it last minute? Send an email as you have a paper trail. They might fob you off if behind on targets. If any level one cs person is not giving you good service, escalate the call.

    • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 18:39

      I booked this a few months back. They flew back last week.

      What do you mean by fob you off it behind on targets?

      • Cave Fire on 12/06/2023 - 18:58
        +1

        They will try to mislead or distract you. They might have targets for cancellations etc. Did you get any emails etc about the cancellation? From what I know, Airlines can cancel your flight for any reason. However, as above they have to compensate. Maybe the difference between your old ticket and new one is something to consider.

  • trotsky on 12/06/2023 - 19:12

    Was this a points or cash booking? Was it a QF operated flight or a codeshare? When you say one ticket canxed, do you mean one of the passenger tickets on the return leg of the itinerary? Eg 1 of 4 (2 pax, return flight) tickets was not valid for whatever reason?

    Do you know that it was ticketed in the first place, ie did you get a etkt number starting with 081 in an itinerary from QF? No waitlisted pax?

    • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 19:20

      Cash purchased directly from the Qantas website. QF flight on both legs. Yes only my moms return ticket was cancelled.

      I have the booking PDF confirmation and ticket numbers for both legs.

      • trotsky on 12/06/2023 - 19:31

        Now that is pretty crazy. They sold a new ticket on the same flight? Was the fare significantly different? I'm really curious as to what happened here

        • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 20:27

          Yes my parents had to purchase a single ticket for the same flight on the spot. Cost was about 70% of the original return ticket.

      • bobokingdom on 12/06/2023 - 21:27

        Cash = Credit/Debit Card? Did they actually charged the card for the tickets?

        • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 21:57

          Yes, credit card, charged.

  • markathome on 12/06/2023 - 21:33
    +2

    This is pretty outrageous. And 3000 points is their standard offer (guess it's been upgraded from 2000). For example, when I can't use my lounge voucher they give me that. It's not acceptable in this circumstance.

    As noted here "reward points are not acceptable compensation when a customer should be receiving their money back".

    Ring and ring again and e-mail until you get a fair response. Which should be that you only pay the original fare. If this is such a cut-and-dry case you should be able to take Qantas to NCAT. Though you'll need a pretty extensive paper trail - so you'll have to do the e-mails and phone calls either way.

    You really want to understand exactly why the first ticket was cancelled before going to NCAT. Google "Qantas NCAT" too so you're familiar with other's experience (i.e. most get a pretty quick settlement before it hits the tribunal). Just act normally during proceedings. Express yourself clearly. Avoid getting upset. If you're confused by something, ask a question.

    If you do everything right, I very much doubt you'll need to file with NCAT. It sounds like your problem is you are hitting the outsourced first-level customer service officers - when this needs to be dealt with by someone higher up.

    • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 22:00

      Sounds like a plan. Thanks! I’m not upset, I really want to know what happened.

      • markathome on 12/06/2023 - 22:02

        The only issue is that your Mum (not you) bought the second ticket in Hong Kong. My description of events (since deleted) is apparently wrong.

        Is this what happened?

        • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 22:52

          Yep. Do you mean purchasing the new ticket on the spot in HK is an issue? Can you explain please?

          • markathome on 12/06/2023 - 22:54

            @chhola: Don't go to NCAT. The story is not seeming straightforward now. But see if this one makes any sense:

            https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/13883221/redir

            If it does, then your task really just becomes confirming it's what happened and then explaining it to someone high enough up at Qantas who can issue the refund.

  • thedeep on 12/06/2023 - 21:56

    Is it possible that you got the date wrong for one of the tickets?

    Airlines auto-cancel No Shows and usually charge a very high cancellation fee and/or it becomes non-refundable.

    • markathome on 12/06/2023 - 22:05

      But if he booked the tickets together and selected two adults from the Qantas website or even asked his travel agent to book two adults how could this happen? OP definitely needs to clarify some things.

      If a travel agent is involved and misbooked the second ticket then OP needs to chat to them.

      • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 22:58

        It’s a single direct booking with Qantas with 2 tickets in it. I had a single reservation code.

  • hasselbladsnapper on 12/06/2023 - 22:04
    -5

    This is a spot of advice, not for this case! but remember you can do what we do is to search the flights online and then visit our Agent and ask if they can offer the same price!.

    In most of our cases they have price matched, the benefit ? IF there is an issue like described above you have an agent to take up the fight.

    We never book direct with the airline for that very reson!!. In other instances with package holiday we have had refunds before we returned home - thanks to having an Agent on your side.

    Agents are effectivley a second level of insurance over your Travel Insurance. Good Luck.

    • jjjaar on 12/06/2023 - 22:20
      +5

      The same agents that refused to refund anyone during all the cancellations in 2020, and forced people to accept credit, which most later lost because they didn’t use it within a year?

      No thank you.

  • JimmyF on 12/06/2023 - 22:22

    Bought a return ticket directly with Qantas from Sydney to Hong Kong for my parents, on the way back at the airport, they were told that one of the tickets was cancelled

    Sounds like someone missed the first part of the booking, so all remaining legs had been cancelled for them.

    Is this something that might have happened?

    • markathome on 12/06/2023 - 22:39
      +1

      Except she was in Hong Kong. What could've feasibly happened is the ticket was issued at the check-in counter but not scanned at the departure gate. She had the ticket to go through customs and even get directed to her seat but she was recorded as never taking that flight. All luggage would have needed to be under her husband's name for this extremely unlikely set of events to happen.

    • markathome on 12/06/2023 - 22:47

      OP needs to ask Qantas the question: is my Mum recorded as boarding the flight SYD-HKG?

      If Mum has a frequent flyer account this flight should show up. If not, it's a good guess as to what happened.

      • chhola on 12/06/2023 - 23:15

        She flew the first leg with no issue at all. Last time I checked the same reservation code her ticket is not there anymore, but I have the original email and PDF with both tickets in it.

        • markathome on 13/06/2023 - 00:52
          +1

          Yeah but re-read what JimmyF and I wrote. I guess in summary:

          Did she get the frequent flyer points for that flight?

          1. They issue you a boarding pass at check-in.
          2. They check your boarding pass at customs in Sydney.
          3. They scan your boarding pass at the boarding gate. <==
          4. They check your boarding pass as you board the plane (not to direct to your seat but they do this too).
          5. Knowing China, they probably check your boarding pass at Hong Kong Passport Control.

          Every single one of those will work even if they don't scan the boarding pass at the boarding gate (because say your Mum is much smaller than your Dad and standing behind him).

          However if they don't scan the boarding pass, the entire itinerary will be cancelled, your Mum will be registered as a no-show, her luggage will be unloaded and she will receive no status credits/frequent flyer points.

          If the luggage was under your Dad's name, they will not need to unload it. And unless your Mum was also the check-in agent, she would not notice (although they do print who the luggage was checked in under on the baggage receipt). They are meant to announce to the passengers that they need to locate "Ms. X Y" but maybe your Mum missed the announcement?

          • kiitos on 13/06/2023 - 08:04

            @markathome: That sounds highly plausible!

          • PissLUR on 13/06/2023 - 09:25

            @markathome: That seems unlikely and a major security breach if it really happens.

          • Edgecrusher on 13/06/2023 - 09:38

            @markathome: Great theory but:
            Wouldn’t they catch this when they did a head count on the plane?
            Wouldn’t they also be making multiple calls within the airport to find the passenger including calling their contact number?

            • markathome on 13/06/2023 - 11:19

              @Edgecrusher:

              Wouldn’t they also be making multiple calls within the airport to find the passenger including calling their contact number?

              If she's on the plane she won't hear those. They almost certainly PA'd her. She did not press the flight call button and the attendants moved on.

              Calling their contact number?

              Nah, American Airlines, for example, is notorious for leaving without passengers. I had a friend who had to watch her bag being unloaded from the departure gate on a flight from Dallas to Sydney. 😱 It's a 16.5 hour flight - she was there; her bag was onboard - no dice.

              Wouldn’t they catch this when they did a head count on the plane?

              If the flight attendants are counting 236 passengers - they're doing a better job than me.

              That seems unlikely and a major security breach if it really happens.

              Not really. The person walking into Hong Kong has a passport that checks out. Their baggage wasn't carried without them. If the plane crashed this would be a problem. MH370 crashed with two stolen passports. It almost certainly had nothing to do with the crash and maybe stolen passports are more common in some places, but the reality is this probably happens every now and then. Anecdotally on the forums, flyers say exactly that.

          • chhola on 13/06/2023 - 11:06

            @markathome: She is not a frequent flyer with Qantas, but she is with one of the partner airlines. I can confirm she got the points for her first leg. She also got the points for the return flight (I assume that was for the new ticket). If it makes any difference, the points she got for the return ticket is almost double of the first leg.

            When I called the second time today, I got a few things from what the guy said:

            • I asked for what is the reason that the ticket was cancelled, he said it was a technical issue
            • I reconfirmed with him that it was not our fault and he agreed
            • He said he escalated the case to customer care, I thought I was calling customer care, he said no, customers can not talk to customer care directly ???
            • He/They think I'm asking for a refund for the new ticket, that's why the request was rejected (I'm OK with that), but what I'm really looking for is some kind of compensation here instead of a refund for the new ticket.
            • I will be contacted by the real customer care team in 2 days
            • markathome on 13/06/2023 - 11:19

              @chhola: Sounds like you've sorted it.

            • thedeep on 13/06/2023 - 11:20
              +1

              @chhola: Why should you be out of pocket if it is their fault?

              You should be looking for compensation equal to (or exceeding) the cost of buying the new ticket.

              • markathome on 13/06/2023 - 11:21

                @thedeep:

                Why should you be out of pocket if it is their fault?

                You should be looking for compensation equal to (or exceeding) the cost of buying the new ticket.

                Agreed. Technical issue = not my problem.

              • markathome on 13/06/2023 - 11:31

                @thedeep:

                You should be looking for compensation equal to (or exceeding) the cost of buying the new ticket.

                Cost of the new ticket plus 3000 points ducks 😁

                • chhola on 13/06/2023 - 11:39

                  @markathome: Just to understand here, in the case they don't want to provide any compensation except for the 3000 points, what else can I do?

  • Waltervp on 13/06/2023 - 10:25
    +1

    I have heard many stories of redemption flights mysteriously canceled and flight sectors of multiple sector flights dropping off the itinerary, but not for paid fares.

    That was a software issue they had for almost a year and i was caught out big time on several ocasions with that and never received any compensation. My partner and i missed out on a weekend to Canada when i was in Washington, had a Canberra Tassie ticket cancelled on us the morning of the flight, and had a multi sector Asia trip partially deleted on 2 occasions before we left (causing a lot of work and changes to resurrect, and making us very nervous during the trip).

    Qantas has totally lost it for me but I'm still with them because of their qantas club benefits and the fact I'm at a small rural airport where i have to fly qantas. But i seriously think they're the most incompetent and rude airline to fly. And as i travel with medical equipment it is extra hard because they cause a headache EVERYTIME i fly with then no matter whether i fill in the numerous forms or not. As a comparison most other airlines have little to no issues and recognise my equipment as flight approved just like a mobile phone.

    I've had a gut full and still fly with them! Staff is always very friendly! Is a lot like Telstra, full of issues but nice staff…. but Telstra didn't have me caught by the balls like Qantas does.

  • chhola on 13/06/2023 - 10:45

    This is just getting funnier, made the call to customer care, explained the case again, at the end the guy just said "Thanks for calling." and then proceeded to hang up on me.

    • markathome on 13/06/2023 - 11:35

      Getting any refund from any airline probably takes about at least a month. I'd say don't jump up-and-down about it but often then there is a good chance the airline will just forget about the refund. Just know a successful or unsuccessful claim ain't going to happen quickly.

      Often with airlines I find getting too hyper about things will just stress you out. Call once a week maybe, every week, until it's resolved.

      Each call is probably taking you 50 minutes anyway right?

  • FreeAFBoi on 13/06/2023 - 11:27
    +3

    I had a similar problem with Qantas early 2020 (before covid restrictions) but I booked through a third party website off skyscanner. Couldn't get through to anyone who was able to help. Qantas kept saying we've refunded the travel agent and its their problem and travel agent saying the opposite (just playing the blame game). I ended up submitting a thing online through fair trading NSW (assuming you're in NSW because of flight to Syd). They have an internal contact with Qantas who deals with these disputes and often are actually able to help, and are not as brain dead as the contact centre staff. In my case they provided me with evidence displaying that the refund had been processed to the travel agent. I was still having issues with getting the refund so the lady from Fair Trading (very helpful and understanding) explained how NCAT works to me and that I should lodge a submission with them. Low and behold, 3 hours after I submitted the claim to NCAT, someone from the legal team of the travel agent reached out and had my refund issued straight away.

    So I would recommend:
    1) Contact fair trading and they should be able to directly contact Qantas and advocate on your behalf.
    2) If nothing happens and its just going in circles, lodge a submission with NCAT (I think from memory I had to pay like $50) and usually that will actually get their attention and in my case get the result you want.

    Hope this helps :)

    Edit: I ended up getting the refund 12 Aug 21 and the flight was on the 8 Jan 20 so there shouldn't be an issue with any time constraints

  • Cave Fire on 13/06/2023 - 13:37
    +1

    Ok, for next time it helps to get each persons user/id/name + record the time you called. You would be using this in your complaint email or general email for a paper trail. Also ask them which company they work for. Then if anything goes bad, you have what they have promised. Seems like Qantas has the Customer team, which investigates and don't like to be on the phone. My one took two months processing from Scoot after I got a good CS person, who refunded after one call and email.

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