We had flights booked home to NZ from CDG but then purchased cheaper flights from LHR in CX's latest sale. So we cancelled the original bookings on-line last Saturday, then as instructed spoke with CX on Monday to arrange the refund. CX advised it could take up to 8 weeks to get the refund, which was annoying as we'd already paid for the original tickets months ago.

But we were surprised and delighted to see the credit appear in our account today - 7 days after cancellation (or 5 days after arranging the refund). Means we don't have to temporarily fund a 2nd set of tickets while waiting for the 1st to be refunded as both the refund and the new charge will appear in the same billing period.