Originally Posted by
Perisai
I'm trying to make the simplest of changes (move a single segment by exactly one day, same flight number on the same route) and while I've gotten past the "call us" response from the Qantas team on twitter, I've now been advised that this will incur a 125 USD change fee.
The agent, upon my request, double checked this with the "the team" but came back with the same response.
Looking at the fare rules in expertflyer, I can see why they would want to say so, while the fare rules actually only specify the change fee for a no-show or changes to the ticketed points.
For changes, which don't do either, it just specifies that changes are permitted.
AFTER DEPARTURE CHARGE USD 125.00 FOR NO-SHOW/REISSUE. WAIVED FOR ILLNESS OR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER. NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. LOCAL SERVICE FEES MAY APPLY ON REROUTING/REISSUE ------------------------------------------------- AFTER DEPARTURE A. CHANGES TO TICKETED POINTS PERMITTED AT A CHARGE OF USD125.00 PER TRANSACTION. B. NO SHOW REQUIRES REBOOKING AT A CHARGE OF USD 125.00. C. IF THE REROUTING RESULTS IN A CHANGE TO THE TOTAL TICKETED MILES THE TICKET SHALL BE RECALCULATED. TICKET MAY BE REISSUED TO ANY APPLICABLE EXPLORER FARE VALIDATING ALL RULES OF THE NEW FARE EXCEPT FOR RESTRICTIONS ON RETROACTIVE USE. REROUTING FEE APPLIES WHEN THE RESULTING FARE IS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO THE ORIGINAL FARE. NO REFUND APPLIES. SEE UPGRADING PROVISIONS WHEN RECALCULATION RESULTS IN A NEW FARE BASIS AT A HIGHER VALUE. AFTER DEPARTURE CHANGES PERMITTED FOR REVALIDATION. NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. LOCAL SERVICE FEES MAY APPLY ON REBOOKING ------------------------------------------------- AFTER DEPARTURE CHANGES ARE PERMITTED PROVIDED TICKETED POINTS REMAIN THE SAME.
However the wiki and previous posts in this thread suggest that simple date changes should be free of charge.
Any advise on how to achieve date changes with Qantas without a change fee?
Originally Posted by
ironmanjt
They should be free. Hang up, call again. Such is life with the QF desk. It may sound terrible, but after a few dozen calls on my first DONE if I can instantly tell the agent is Fiji after a few sentences/questions "oops, something's on fire in the kitchen, gotta run, thanks for your help"
Originally Posted by
Perisai
Unfortunately this is the twitter contact channel 🙈
Might have to resort to the hotline.
It's been reported lately that QF is trying to charge for everything, regardless of the rules (this was reported pre-Cairo sale). With the twitter team I'd ask them to reference the rule that points to charging it? I'd dealt with them a year ago and they tried it but I pushed back and they did the change free after some back and forth. I seriously doubt you'll get anywhere with the call centers, but yes instantly hang up on anyone who sounds Fijian.
With QF quite often you have to teach them the rules of these fares, don't expect them to know it already. But the call centers aren't given the tools to learn, while the Twitter team is capable of learning. Hold your ground, go back and forth a bit, quote the fare rules, not Flyertalk and you'll likely prevail. The important part of the fare rules to quote is the difference between changes in ticketed points ($125) and date changes "changes allowed".