Change flight booking

kazzaB

My daughter has booked a flight with Qantas via the online travel site TravelUp. She has discovered that she needs to change the outbound flight for a week later. Qantas will not allow this to be done directly and directed her back to TravelUp. travel Up have quoted £360 to make the change (£200 airline administration, £75 their own administration and £85 to cover the price difference of the two flights). If the flight had been booked with Qantas this would have been much cheaper. Has anyone any suggestions how to make the change without incurring the £360 charg, accepting that there will still be some charges to pay? Thanks

stevenhp1987

kazzaB wrote: »

My daughter has booked a flight with Qantas via the online travel site TravelUp. She has discovered that she needs to change the outbound flight for a week later. Qantas will not allow this to be done directly and directed her back to TravelUp. travel Up have quoted £360 to make the change (£200 airline administration, £75 their own administration and £85 to cover the price difference of the two flights). If the flight had been booked with Qantas this would have been much cheaper. Has anyone any suggestions how to make the change without incurring the £360 charg, accepting that there will still be some charges to pay? Thanks

If Quantas won't allow changes directly, then you've little choice but to pay TravelUp the charges that your daughter agreed to when they confirmed they read and agreed to the T&C.

Do not be tempted to book a one-way out to replace it as if you do not show up for any leg (in this case the outbound flight) of a flight itinerary, the remaining legs are automatically cancelled.

Can she not leave that one week earlier? It might be cheaper to pay for an extra hotel than to move the flights?

stevie11

I cannot answer your query of how to get the changes cheaper but this is one of the main reasons why many advise to book direct with the airline.

No doubt your Daughter got the flight cheaper using the OTA but when changes have to be made it usually works out more expensive.

When was the booking made? If in the last 24 hours there may be some get out/cancellation clause.

Good luck.

Caz3121

kazzaB wrote: »

travel Up have quoted £360 to make the change (£200 airline administration, £75 their own administration and £85 to cover the price difference of the two flights). If the flight had been booked with Qantas this would have been much cheaper. Has anyone any suggestions how to make the change without incurring the £360 charg, accepting that there will still be some charges to pay? Thanks

If she can find a flight that is not more expensive then she may be able to reduce the £85 price difference.
The airline change fee is standard and not avoidable and the Travelup fee is what she will have agreed to in the T&Cs

Heliflyguy

The £200 fee to change the booking cannot be avoided neither can the Travel up admin fee.

The only additional charge that you may be able to reduce is the difference in the fare and that depends on why there is a difference.

Is it because the original booked class is no longer available and a higher class/fare needs to be booked or is it because it is now changed from a midweek fare to a weekend fare in the same class or a variable of the above?

There might even be a seasonal fare increase and as its the outbound flight thats being changed then it will have to be quoted from the day you change the booking.

If you can get it booked in the same class and the same weekday/weekend fare then you could maybe save the £85.

koalakoala

I presume booking with travelup was cheaper than booking with Qantas?

bagand96

If the flight had been booked with Qantas this would have been much cheaper.

It would only have been £75 cheaper - that’s the only charge TravelUp are making. The £200 fee and the fare difference is charged by Qantas and would be exactly the same if you’d booked direct with them.

As another poster said, did she book with TravelUp because it was cheaper than directly with Qantas? If that’s the case then you may still be better off - or no worse off overall.

She’s also lucky Qantas flights are changeable. A lot of long haul flights on the cheapest fares allow no changes at all.