Qantas have a great offer on at the moment allowing you all the benefits of a Flex ticket using frequent flyer points. With borders shutting and opening at a moments notice flexibility is the key to booking any holiday.
I have booked three holidays using this hack. Only the trip to Melbourne came to fruition, with separate trips to Alice Springs and Cairns being cancelled.
In this post:
When to Cancel or Change
When circumstances change with your booking you have two choices: cancel or change.
If you cancel your booking you will get your points and (eventually) taxes back. My experience is that the points will turn up to four or five weeks from cancellation. Qantas is taking a lot longer to refund the taxes. Phone calls with Qantas indicate that it will take more than eight weeks for refunds. To date I have not received any taxes back.
Another option is to push back your bookings as you can still cancel them later. It’s very easy to change your bookings, subject to availability. The advantage of changing is you don’t need to wait for your taxes to be refunded.
To change a booking, log onto Qantas and visit the My Bookings section and click on Manage next to your booking. The good news is it super easy to change your booking, the bad news is finding a time that works for you.
Business Vs Economy vs Jetstar
If you change your cabin class or fly with Jetstar then Qantas will adjust the amount of points you need and deduct or credit your account. This is much more efficient than waiting for credits to turn up for a cancelled flight (even though that seems easier)
What if I can’t see a suitable date
Interestingly when you try and change your flights availability is more restricted than if you book a new flight. You can call Qantas and depending on status they may be able to help.
Summary
If you have plenty of points now is a great time to make bookings. You can change them as borders close without any penalties.
