Qantas cancellation on Avios booking?

[hjm12]

Hi, booked a flight using Avios on ba.com for an internal domestic flight in Australia a long time ago.

Unfortunately Qantas cancelled the flight recently and there is no sensible rerouting that BA could offer me, so the best they’ve said they can do is offer a refund. Given this is fairly close now to travel date, I’ve had no option but to rebook on Virgin Australia but at around 3x the price given it is last minute.

EC261 doesn’t apply given Australian domestic flight, and seems the Australian consumer rules don’t mean that I can request a reroute on Virgin Australia. I’m attempting to make a claim through Travel Insurance for this (as we have a non-refundable hotel booking that requires us to keep the dates the same). If travel insurance refuse, the only other thing I could think of is via Amex, would the be a consequential loss under Section 75? Presumably they would only pay if travel insurance is declined?

Any help/advice much appreciated.Thank you.

[JDB]

@hjm12 I’m not sure what section of travel insurance would pay you for the consequential losses flowing from the Qantas cancellation. You are In respect of s75, once QF refunds you its contractual obligations are over; protections for air travellers are fairly poor in Australia.

[hjm12]

Thanks, will try the S75 route.

[Lady London]

is it a standalone internal flight? If so then it’s your travel insurance or s75 for the extra cost. I am really surprised the Australians put up with such poor consumer protection. Qantas flatly refused any refund on flights they cancelled and the Australian government stood by and let Qantas keep money paid for a service they had not provided. If it’s a standalone flight you’re stuck.

If the domestic flight that’s cancelled was your connection from your flight leg departing UK or Europe, ie on same ticket and it was scheduled to depart less than 24hrs after your last flight in that flight sequence landed, then you are covered by UK EU261 and should be rerouted even onto another carrier if necessary at no extra cost. If your ticket issuer and Qantas refuse or fail to reroute you then you can claim duty of care being all extra flight, hotel and meal expenses this causes.

[Lady London]

….And just a reminder to anyone facing claming EU UK 261 duty of care, so you claim extra flight costs, plus any extra hotel and meals needed, do not accept or request a refund as the moment you do, the airline is no longer responsible for these things so if they are still needed you won’t be able to claim them off the airline.

So don’t take a refund if you need these extra costs paying. Even though the airline may lie to you and try to tell you that’s the only option.

[hjm12]

Thanks sadly this is a domestic only flight and was booked standalone so no EC261 protection.

Likewise I was surprised that essentially if your flight is cancelled you have very few rights.

Will let know if I have any success on s75 or travel insurance.

[ChrisC]

Unless the cash element of the fare was more than £100 then s75 simply wouldn’t apply.