No flights, no money: Qantas customers' battle for $6500 refund

A group of friends missed out on their Bali holiday after Qantas took their money for flights, but never issued them – and then made them wait for weeks for a refund.

Asjah Doctor and Caitlin Bradley, of Christchurch, said they and two other friends spent close to $6500 booking flights to the Indonesian island through the airline’s website in early July, planning to travel in late August.

When booking the flights, Doctor had used the “buy now, pay later” option to give her friends time to transfer the money.

She paid for the flights within 48 hours using POLi, a service which enables customers to transfer money directly from their bank account to the merchant.

But when she went to double-check the booking after making the payment, she realised the flights hadn’t been issued. She called Qantas' contact centre to get the money back so they could rebook the trip, and while she was initially told the airline hadn’t received the payment, she was assured a refund would be coming in the next couple of days.

But the money never appeared, and Doctor and Bradley would spend the next two months calling and emailing the airline in a bid to get their refund.

In every communication, the airline would push out the timeframe, initially saying they could expect a refund in 5-7 working days, then 7-10 working days.

They were told the airline needed proof of their payment, so Doctor sent through her bank statement showing the money had gone out of her account. Then they were advised the money would be in their account in 6-8 weeks.

Bradley said at that point they contacted POLi for assistance in fast-tracking the refund, and they were then told it would be processed within a fortnight. But that deadline too passed and there was still no sign of the money.

After being contacted by Stuff Travel this week, Qantas said its customer service team had processed the refund and would be following up with Doctor to ensure the funds were received.

“There was a backend administrative error which caused this booking not to be ticketed, resulting in a delay with this refund. We sincerely apologise and are reaching out directly to the customer to expedite the refund,” a spokesperson said.

But it was too late for the group’s holiday plans, as without the refund, they hadn’t been able to rebook their Bali trip.

Doctor said the irony was they had seen third-party travel websites selling cheaper flights, but had decided to book directly through Qantas thinking it would be a safer option.

Bradley said the most frustrating aspect was Qantas’ refusal to take responsibility for the problem.

“We’ve spent hours on the phone, hours emailing – so much time wasted,” she said.

“But we believe if we hadn’t kept chasing them up, we wouldn’t have got the money back. I'd hate to see other people go through the same thing and give up.”

This is not the first time Qantas customers have had issues with getting money back from the airline.

Last year a Wellington couple ended up with more than $10,000 “lost in a void” after Qantas failed to issue flights. The couple had also used POLi to pay, and Qantas claimed POLi was responsible for sorting the refund.

A Nelson couple also waited more than 12 weeks for a refund after Qantas cancelled their flights. Qantas initially said POLi was holding their payment, however, POLi denied this.

POLi is shutting down its Australian operations at the end of this month, but will continue to operate in New Zealand.