"No show": Wild reason couple denied refund on flights scheduled during Covid
A Melbourne couple, who had booked flights with Qantas during the state's fifth lockdown, were left furious after they were told they were ineligible for a refund because they were a "no show".
Kieran McGregor told news.com.au that he and his partner had originally booked the flights to Darwin for July 18, 2021 through travel giant Expedia.
When the number of Covid cases started rising, he moved the flights forward to fly out on the 16th of July, hoping that they would be able to get out before another lockdown, but the day before their flight, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the state's fifth lockdown.
Three years later, McGregor was still stuck between trying to get the refund from Expedia, who said Qantas had the money, and Qantas, who said the travel agent had it.
Last year, McGregor contacted Expedia on their X account to try to resolve the issue, but the company said: “We just got off the phone with the airline, and as per advised, the ticket shows suspended on their end due to a no show."
“Your ticket is no (sic) eligible for a refund, and has no value as per the airline. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
He was "incredulous" when he received the message.
“How could I fly if the state of Victoria was in lockdown and I couldn’t move more than 5km from the house?” he told news.com.au.
When he contacted Qantas, the airline claimed “the funds will still remain with the agency that you’ve booked with” and to contact them directly for a refund.
McGregor told news.com.au the ordeal was “utterly disgraceful” and that he was unaware if the flight went ahead or not.
The publication reportedly contacted Expedia and Qantas and on Tuesday morning they finally said that a refund would be issued, but McGregor said he was yet to be contacted.
“For flight bookings at Expedia, we generally follow the policies of our travel partners, so any refund is determined by the airline,” an Expedia spokeswoman said.
“We have looked into this case with Qantas, and we will be contacting the traveller to process the refund.”
While a Qantas spokesman said: “We apologise for the extended delay in resolving this issue and are processing a full refund for their bookings.”
It is unclear which company held McGregor's funds, which was reported to be around $2,500.
Adam Glezer from Consumer Champion told news.com.au that McGregor came to him recently when he felt he had nowhere else to turn.
He said that these situations were quite common.
“What Kieran has gone through with Expedia and Qantas is extremely common where the third party says the airline has the money and the airline says the third party has the money. I call it the blame game and there’s only one loser out of it and that’s the customer," he said.
“Transparency in these situations is of utmost importance and unfortunately it just doesn’t exist.”
Images: news.com.au/ DLeng / Shutterstock.com