A couple from Queensland wanted to take a long-overdue trip to see their family. Instead, they got a $15,000 credit card bill and no flights.

Dennis and Pat Amor, a retired couple from Bundaberg, just wanted to see their family again after two years apart due to the pandemic. They called Qantas on Saturday to book round-trip flights from Hervey Bay to Melbourne.

What should have been a simple process got complicated quickly when a Qantas employee told them that their booking had been rejected.

In a shocking turn of events, the employee had processed the booking 15 times, racking up a huge debt that hasn't been paid back yet.

Qantas charged an elderly couple up to $15,000 after their card was repeatedly processed. Credit: A Current Affair.
​

"She wanted the credit card, we gave her the number, and she said it had declined," Mrs Amor said. "It‘s never declined and she apparently tried to push it over and over again."

When the couple called their credit card company, MasterCard, to ask why their card kept getting turned down, they were shocked to get a bill for $15,000.

Even though the couple called the airline several times to change the payments, they never got a response.

When Mrs Amor finally got in touch with a support member, he told her that he would talk to their finance team and call her back before the next day. He never did, though.

Since the back-and-forth calls, MasterCard has given the couple $11,000 back, but they are still out $4,000.

According to a statement that was sent to A Current Affair by a spokesperson for Qantas, the airline is not keeping any money from the Amors.

"We are looking into why the customer was charged more than once, but it appears to be an issue with their credit card," they said.

They called Qantas multiple times to settle the issue, to no avail. Credit: Wendell Teodoro/AFP.
​

Following the incident, the Amors have been informed that they are not allowed to fly with the airline until the situation has been resolved.

"We feel as though we are the only people in Australia that aren't allowed to make a Qantas flight," Mrs Amor said.

"It doesn‘t seem fair to us. We are frustrated. We are angry."

Because they were adamant about visiting their relatives, the Amors were forced to switch to a different airline, Jetstar (ironically, owned by Qantas), which made their trip away from home far more time-consuming.

In order for the pair to make their flight, they will have to make the journey from their house in Gin Gin to the Sunshine Coast Airport, which will take more than three hours to travel by car.

The whole trip will now take the pair almost four hours, which is significantly longer than the previous time estimate of approximately an hour and a half.

Have you had any issues with airlines that you’d like to share with other members? Post them below.

 

[adorableagnes]

Retirees 'unfairly' charged $15,000 by Qantas for flights to see their family: "We are frustrated, we are angry"​

A couple from Queensland wanted to take a long-overdue trip to see their family. Instead, they got a $15,000 credit card bill and no flights.

​

Dennis and Pat Amor, a retired couple from Bundaberg, just wanted to see their family again after two years apart due to the pandemic. They called Qantas on Saturday to book round-trip flights from Hervey Bay to Melbourne.

What should have been a simple process got complicated quickly when a Qantas employee told them that their booking had been rejected.

In a shocking turn of events, the employee had processed the booking 15 times, racking up a huge debt that hasn't been paid back yet.

Qantas charged an elderly couple up to $15,000 after their card was repeatedly processed. Credit: A Current Affair.
​

"She wanted the credit card, we gave her the number, and she said it had declined," Mrs Amor said. "It‘s never declined and she apparently tried to push it over and over again."

When the couple called their credit card company, MasterCard, to ask why their card kept getting turned down, they were shocked to get a bill for $15,000.

Even though the couple called the airline several times to change the payments, they never got a response.

​

When Mrs Amor finally got in touch with a support member, he told her that he would talk to their finance team and call her back before the next day. He never did, though.

Since the back-and-forth calls, MasterCard has given the couple $11,000 back, but they are still out $4,000.

According to a statement that was sent to A Current Affair by a spokesperson for Qantas, the airline is not keeping any money from the Amors.

"We are looking into why the customer was charged more than once, but it appears to be an issue with their credit card," they said.

They called Qantas multiple times to settle the issue, to no avail. Credit: Wendell Teodoro/AFP.
​

Following the incident, the Amors have been informed that they are not allowed to fly with the airline until the situation has been resolved.

"We feel as though we are the only people in Australia that aren't allowed to make a Qantas flight," Mrs Amor said.

"It doesn‘t seem fair to us. We are frustrated. We are angry."

​

Because they were adamant about visiting their relatives, the Amors were forced to switch to a different airline, Jetstar (ironically, owned by Qantas), which made their trip away from home far more time-consuming.

In order for the pair to make their flight, they will have to make the journey from their house in Gin Gin to the Sunshine Coast Airport, which will take more than three hours to travel by car.

The whole trip will now take the pair almost four hours, which is significantly longer than the previous time estimate of approximately an hour and a half.

Have you had any issues with airlines that you’d like to share with other members? Post them below.

This was on last night news. Qantas has refunded all their money and given them free flights

 

[Elizabeth Ross]

Not sure how they managed to contact Qantas by phone. I have spent over 15hours on hold over 6 phone calls to try to rectify a problem I had with a Qantas Pass that I couldn’t use. I was told by six people that I would receive a refund but nothing was done by any of them. I was promised a call back by two of them but it didn’t happen. i first contacted them on 15th February and nothing has been done. Will use Virgin whenever I can in future as they are cheaper and answer their phone calls in under 15minutes and refund within seven days.

 

[Robbo128]

This is proof that in Australia organisations will misstreat cunsumers until the Name And Shame game gets rolling.

Most people on this platform would be from the era where QUALITY came first and QUANTITY followed. But not in these times, it is just numbers and more numbers........high numbers, little quality
The number of times I go into a service provider (Bank, Post Office, Gas or Electicity company) and hear the person in front trying to deal with yesterdays stuff-up is far too regular. It means not just the customer is disadvantaged, but the company is paying twice the hourly rate for the employee as they pay for the time to make the stuffup, and then have to pay again the next day for the time taken to fix the stuffup when they could have been dealing with a new customer.
As a community we pay such a high price by focusing on quantity and not quality.

 

[Elizabeth Ross]

This is proof that in Australia organisations will misstreat cunsumers until the Name And Shame game gets rolling.

Most people on this platform would be from the era where QUALITY came first and QUANTITY followed. But not in these times, it is just numbers and more numbers........high numbers, little quality
The number of times I go into a service provider (Bank, Post Office, Gas or Electicity company) and hear the person in front trying to deal with yesterdays stuff-up is far too regular. It means not just the customer is disadvantaged, but the company is paying twice the hourly rate for the employee as they pay for the time to make the stuffup, and then have to pay again the next day for the time taken to fix the stuffup when they could have been dealing with a new customer.
As a community we pay such a high price by focusing on quantity and not quality.

Agreed, if the job was done properly the first time we wouldn’t have the problem of trying to get a solution to a problem that shouldn’t have occurred in the first place. We are getting very inefficient service in a lot of places now Which is completely unacceptable and frustrating.

 

[Robbo128]

This was on last night news. Qantas has refunded all their money and given them free flights

As they should. It takes these organisations ONE SECOND to take your money in a stuff up, and MONTHS to give your money back even though they know they stuffed up. Qantas still didn't do anything until they were Named And Shamed

 

[baligirl7]

Retirees 'unfairly' charged $15,000 by Qantas for flights to see their family: "We are frustrated, we are angry"​

A couple from Queensland wanted to take a long-overdue trip to see their family. Instead, they got a $15,000 credit card bill and no flights.

​

Dennis and Pat Amor, a retired couple from Bundaberg, just wanted to see their family again after two years apart due to the pandemic. They called Qantas on Saturday to book round-trip flights from Hervey Bay to Melbourne.

What should have been a simple process got complicated quickly when a Qantas employee told them that their booking had been rejected.

In a shocking turn of events, the employee had processed the booking 15 times, racking up a huge debt that hasn't been paid back yet.

Qantas charged an elderly couple up to $15,000 after their card was repeatedly processed. Credit: A Current Affair.
​

"She wanted the credit card, we gave her the number, and she said it had declined," Mrs Amor said. "It‘s never declined and she apparently tried to push it over and over again."

When the couple called their credit card company, MasterCard, to ask why their card kept getting turned down, they were shocked to get a bill for $15,000.

Even though the couple called the airline several times to change the payments, they never got a response.

​

When Mrs Amor finally got in touch with a support member, he told her that he would talk to their finance team and call her back before the next day. He never did, though.

Since the back-and-forth calls, MasterCard has given the couple $11,000 back, but they are still out $4,000.

According to a statement that was sent to A Current Affair by a spokesperson for Qantas, the airline is not keeping any money from the Amors.

"We are looking into why the customer was charged more than once, but it appears to be an issue with their credit card," they said.

They called Qantas multiple times to settle the issue, to no avail. Credit: Wendell Teodoro/AFP.
​

Following the incident, the Amors have been informed that they are not allowed to fly with the airline until the situation has been resolved.

"We feel as though we are the only people in Australia that aren't allowed to make a Qantas flight," Mrs Amor said.

"It doesn‘t seem fair to us. We are frustrated. We are angry."

​

Because they were adamant about visiting their relatives, the Amors were forced to switch to a different airline, Jetstar (ironically, owned by Qantas), which made their trip away from home far more time-consuming.

In order for the pair to make their flight, they will have to make the journey from their house in Gin Gin to the Sunshine Coast Airport, which will take more than three hours to travel by car.

The whole trip will now take the pair almost four hours, which is significantly longer than the previous time estimate of approximately an hour and a half.

Have you had any issues with airlines that you’d like to share with other members? Post them below.

Nothing as bad as these poor people. Flying JETSTAR (never again) firstly the Hostess at checkin tells me my husband has not flown out of Australia on his current Belgium Passport, he arrived in Australia 1 week prior to our Wedding, hmm. secondly tells me that I do not have a return trip booked and therefore I will not be leaving Australia. I located my email with my return flight and showed her. Thirdly, she weighed my carryon bag and handbag together, told me it was over 10kg, so we had to unpack our luggage in front of about 100 travelers. There were about 20 other people doing the same. In my handbag was my medications, asthma and spacer, keys and wallet. I was absolutely disgusted with JETSTAR and will never travel with them again. A bad introduction to Australian airlines for my husband. We were travelling back via Business class and ofc were not treated like this.

 

[Sally Flowers]

In late October we file for a refund from Qantas $150, charges for extra baggage never used. Still waiting for refund or response. Has anyone also notice that there are no easy ways to contact Qantas? No phone numbers provided, no way of tracing a refund for pensioners, are there any suggestions out there? Please advise.

 

[Ma-to-3]

“Following the incident, the Amors have been informed that they are not allowed to fly with the airline until the situation has been resolved.“
And my response on being told this would have been “don’t worry about that, we will NEVER be flying with you again!!” I am disgusted that it has to take going to the media to get this kind of thing sorted !!!!

 

[Burdekins]

Retirees 'unfairly' charged $15,000 by Qantas for flights to see their family: "We are frustrated, we are angry"​

A couple from Queensland wanted to take a long-overdue trip to see their family. Instead, they got a $15,000 credit card bill and no flights.

​

Dennis and Pat Amor, a retired couple from Bundaberg, just wanted to see their family again after two years apart due to the pandemic. They called Qantas on Saturday to book round-trip flights from Hervey Bay to Melbourne.

What should have been a simple process got complicated quickly when a Qantas employee told them that their booking had been rejected.

In a shocking turn of events, the employee had processed the booking 15 times, racking up a huge debt that hasn't been paid back yet.

Qantas charged an elderly couple up to $15,000 after their card was repeatedly processed. Credit: A Current Affair.
​

"She wanted the credit card, we gave her the number, and she said it had declined," Mrs Amor said. "It‘s never declined and she apparently tried to push it over and over again."

When the couple called their credit card company, MasterCard, to ask why their card kept getting turned down, they were shocked to get a bill for $15,000.

Even though the couple called the airline several times to change the payments, they never got a response.

​

When Mrs Amor finally got in touch with a support member, he told her that he would talk to their finance team and call her back before the next day. He never did, though.

Since the back-and-forth calls, MasterCard has given the couple $11,000 back, but they are still out $4,000.

According to a statement that was sent to A Current Affair by a spokesperson for Qantas, the airline is not keeping any money from the Amors.

"We are looking into why the customer was charged more than once, but it appears to be an issue with their credit card," they said.

They called Qantas multiple times to settle the issue, to no avail. Credit: Wendell Teodoro/AFP.
​

Following the incident, the Amors have been informed that they are not allowed to fly with the airline until the situation has been resolved.

"We feel as though we are the only people in Australia that aren't allowed to make a Qantas flight," Mrs Amor said.

"It doesn‘t seem fair to us. We are frustrated. We are angry."

​

Because they were adamant about visiting their relatives, the Amors were forced to switch to a different airline, Jetstar (ironically, owned by Qantas), which made their trip away from home far more time-consuming.

In order for the pair to make their flight, they will have to make the journey from their house in Gin Gin to the Sunshine Coast Airport, which will take more than three hours to travel by car.

The whole trip will now take the pair almost four hours, which is significantly longer than the previous time estimate of approximately an hour and a half.

Have you had any issues with airlines that you’d like to share with other members? Post them below.

I have not flown with QANTAS in more than 40 years and no amount of money will convince me to do so again. I am not surprised by this poor couples experience.

 

[Sally Flowers]

Yes, we have had unpleasant dealings with Qantas as well. Charged for extra baggage which was not used, Have filed for a refund, going back to October 2021, still no response.