Originally Posted by
exwannabe
Well, you can beg,
But the website fairly clearly says they will only forgive the change fee. They will not refund a fare difference. And as such they would not be expected to refund the fare.
Can you change the mistake booking to a flight you could use in the future? Can you ask them if they allow an open credit for a future flight?
Does Australia have a law like in the US where if they sell on an AU facing website you have protection?
what protection would expect the law to make? OP made a mistake, and would not be unreasonable for an airline to stick to their stated policy.