Frustrated travellers share an airline’s sneaky practice: ‘Qantas have ruined me’
- Replies 9
Booking flights can be stressful enough without having to worry about hidden charges draining your bank account.
But according to a myriad of frustrated customers, that's exactly what's happening with Qantas and their obscure 'holding fee' practice.
It is understood that when booking a flight online, Qantas applies a pre-authorisation charge on your credit card.
This places a hold on funds that can last up to 30 days. However, it is unclear whether this policy is the cause of the double-charging on travellers’ cards.
While it's not an actual second charge, the hold can still wreak financial havoc by suddenly plunging accounts into negative balances.
And banks can take their time releasing the frozen funds—sometimes upwards of 10 days.
One customer shared their experience with this ‘holding fee’ practice, saying she was charged another $5,550 after paying the same amount for flights to see her ‘sick father-in-law’ in the United Kingdom.
The passenger was left struggling to pay bills since the cash was still pending release a week later.
‘I haven't eaten or been able to survive properly since last Sunday. Qantas have charged a holding fee for flights I booked,’ the customer stated.
‘It's been seven days, and the fee should have been returned. This fee is the same as the tickets, which I have paid in full. So they have taken an extra $5,500 out, and I've had an overdrawn account since Sunday,’ she added.
‘I had $300 left to spend on groceries and household items, petrol—things you need to survive. I've never experienced this with any other airline,’ the customer claimed.
Unfortunately, her experience is far from unique. Scores of Qantas customers have reported being double-charged thousands of dollars for flights, leaving them unable to pay their mortgage, grocery bills, and other essential expenses until the holds clear days later.
Last year, Qantas reported a pre-approval glitch that caused an overcharge for their customer’s airfare. Now, it seems like the issue has reoccurred, and passengers are expressing their frustrations with the airline since they have ‘known about the issue for years’ and have ‘done nothing’ to fix it.
Some passengers have tried contacting the company to have the ‘holding fee’ removed, but they had to wait more than two hours on the phone to speak to customer service and a week for the money to be made accessible again.
‘This happened to me too. It's ridiculous, and they should be penalised for it,’ one traveller pointed out.
Lynda Shortis from Victoria, a former Qantas frequent flyer, revealed that she now refused to travel with the airline after being double-charged on two separate occasions.
In March 2022, she was charged $14,000 instead of $7,000 for flights from Melbourne to Alice Springs and Darwin to Cairns for herself and her husband.
‘I was ropeable,’ she said. ‘It's a fault in the system. The first time it happened, I got a call from the bank saying, “One of your cards is overdrawn”,’ she recalled.
Lynda said she waited two hours on the phone to talk to Qantas customer service. Within a few days, the issue was sorted out.
Other travellers have aired their frustration on social media, writing criticisms of the company’s practice.
‘Qantas, you have double-charged my account for my family's tickets, $8,400...and left my account near empty with no money for my mortgage repayment and groceries,’ Rebecca Lynch posted on social media.
‘It's put me -$2,000 overdraft. I've called Qantas and the bank, [and] they said it [would] be back in my account over the next seven to 10 business days, but it is going to cause me great financial burden due to this,’ another irate customer shared.
One grieving Aussie shared that this practice by the airline caused the payment of their mother’s cremation to be declined by the bank.
‘We had the same thing happen earlier this month when I had to emergency fly to Hawaii to try to get to my mum before she died (missed her by five hours). It resulted in my payment for her cremation bouncing and me being unable to pay for anything whilst overseas. We lodged the complaint form about a week ago but have heard nothing from Qantas,’ they stated.
Some people pointed out that the bank is to blame for the slow release of the payments, but customers said that the banks and the airline have blamed each other for the issue.
‘They [Qantas] blame the bank, the bank blames Qantas. 10 days later, it is sorted,’ a customer shared.
So, what can you do to avoid potential chaos? It was recommended to check your credit card balance frequently after booking flights. If you spot a surprise hold, call your bank immediately to see if funds can be released faster.
Qantas also recommends contacting them to request an expedited hold removal.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission provides resources on responding to unanticipated charges. If you believe Qantas hasn't met requirements around fee transparency, don't hesitate to complain.
Has Qantas' holding fee policy caused you financial stress? Let us know in the comments below.
But according to a myriad of frustrated customers, that's exactly what's happening with Qantas and their obscure 'holding fee' practice.
It is understood that when booking a flight online, Qantas applies a pre-authorisation charge on your credit card.
This places a hold on funds that can last up to 30 days. However, it is unclear whether this policy is the cause of the double-charging on travellers’ cards.
Qantas passengers expressed frustration over the airline’s ‘holding fee’ practice. Credit: Joseph Bobadilla/Unsplash
While it's not an actual second charge, the hold can still wreak financial havoc by suddenly plunging accounts into negative balances.
And banks can take their time releasing the frozen funds—sometimes upwards of 10 days.
One customer shared their experience with this ‘holding fee’ practice, saying she was charged another $5,550 after paying the same amount for flights to see her ‘sick father-in-law’ in the United Kingdom.
The passenger was left struggling to pay bills since the cash was still pending release a week later.
‘I haven't eaten or been able to survive properly since last Sunday. Qantas have charged a holding fee for flights I booked,’ the customer stated.
‘It's been seven days, and the fee should have been returned. This fee is the same as the tickets, which I have paid in full. So they have taken an extra $5,500 out, and I've had an overdrawn account since Sunday,’ she added.
‘I had $300 left to spend on groceries and household items, petrol—things you need to survive. I've never experienced this with any other airline,’ the customer claimed.
Unfortunately, her experience is far from unique. Scores of Qantas customers have reported being double-charged thousands of dollars for flights, leaving them unable to pay their mortgage, grocery bills, and other essential expenses until the holds clear days later.
Last year, Qantas reported a pre-approval glitch that caused an overcharge for their customer’s airfare. Now, it seems like the issue has reoccurred, and passengers are expressing their frustrations with the airline since they have ‘known about the issue for years’ and have ‘done nothing’ to fix it.
Some passengers have tried contacting the company to have the ‘holding fee’ removed, but they had to wait more than two hours on the phone to speak to customer service and a week for the money to be made accessible again.
‘This happened to me too. It's ridiculous, and they should be penalised for it,’ one traveller pointed out.
Lynda Shortis from Victoria, a former Qantas frequent flyer, revealed that she now refused to travel with the airline after being double-charged on two separate occasions.
In March 2022, she was charged $14,000 instead of $7,000 for flights from Melbourne to Alice Springs and Darwin to Cairns for herself and her husband.
‘I was ropeable,’ she said. ‘It's a fault in the system. The first time it happened, I got a call from the bank saying, “One of your cards is overdrawn”,’ she recalled.
Lynda said she waited two hours on the phone to talk to Qantas customer service. Within a few days, the issue was sorted out.
Other travellers have aired their frustration on social media, writing criticisms of the company’s practice.
‘Qantas, you have double-charged my account for my family's tickets, $8,400...and left my account near empty with no money for my mortgage repayment and groceries,’ Rebecca Lynch posted on social media.
‘It's put me -$2,000 overdraft. I've called Qantas and the bank, [and] they said it [would] be back in my account over the next seven to 10 business days, but it is going to cause me great financial burden due to this,’ another irate customer shared.
One grieving Aussie shared that this practice by the airline caused the payment of their mother’s cremation to be declined by the bank.
‘We had the same thing happen earlier this month when I had to emergency fly to Hawaii to try to get to my mum before she died (missed her by five hours). It resulted in my payment for her cremation bouncing and me being unable to pay for anything whilst overseas. We lodged the complaint form about a week ago but have heard nothing from Qantas,’ they stated.
Some people pointed out that the bank is to blame for the slow release of the payments, but customers said that the banks and the airline have blamed each other for the issue.
‘They [Qantas] blame the bank, the bank blames Qantas. 10 days later, it is sorted,’ a customer shared.
So, what can you do to avoid potential chaos? It was recommended to check your credit card balance frequently after booking flights. If you spot a surprise hold, call your bank immediately to see if funds can be released faster.
Qantas also recommends contacting them to request an expedited hold removal.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission provides resources on responding to unanticipated charges. If you believe Qantas hasn't met requirements around fee transparency, don't hesitate to complain.
Has Qantas' holding fee policy caused you financial stress? Let us know in the comments below.
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