Glitches anger as Qantas charges double

‘‘We’ve made it clear that we expect the payment service provider to ensure refunds are processed as quickly as possible.’’ Qantas spokesman Stephen Moynihan

Qantas Airways passengers are well and truly fed up with the airline after experiencing payment glitches and customer service issues.

Some who used Mastercard or Visa to pay for flights were charged at least twice when they booked with Jetstar and Qantas in early September.

But for Paihia resident Nicole Simonotti, it has been a two-month wait to receive any word that her flights to South Africa were confirmed.

To add insult to injury, she was charged twice for the flights when she finally received confirmation last week and she is still waiting to be refunded the $3000 extra that she was charged.

Due to fly out next Monday, Simonotti does not believe she will see that money before she leaves.

‘‘I’ve always had a terrible experience with Qantas and the only reason I use them is because they’re the only ones that offer a direct flight to South Africa.’’

Wellington resident Lisa Newland’s credit card was charged three times when she booked a Qantas flight to Sydney, but she has still not received any booking confirmation.

She said Qantas emailed her on Tuesday to apologise and told her she would be refunded one of the transactions within five to seven days.

Down more than $3500, Newland said she regretted not booking through a travel agent instead.

Visa cardholder Zoe, who declined to give her surname, booked flights from Christchurch to Cairns for $700 last week and was also charged twice for the flight.

She has called Qantas twice so far and also left them a Facebook message about her concerns.

The first time she called, the Qantas staff member told her they could not see the second charge and the second phone call resulted in a short apology and an aim to refund in five to 28 business days.

She received a reply to her Facebook post from a staff member called Alberto: ‘‘Thanks for the information Zoe, we’ve just checked and the second amount that appears to be charged in your statement hasn’t actually been charged. This is just a reserve fund which should drop back in within the next few days.’’

Zoe says she has still not been refunded and the experience has dampened her opinion of Qantas.

‘‘I will definitely not pay for a flight online with Qantas ever again. Before this incident I thought they were very reliable as I heard of no real issues, but this has changed my opinion of them.’’

Another Visa customer and frequent flyer Malcolm, who also declined to give his last name, is now $5000 overdrawn after being charged twice for the same flights by Qantas.

The Christchurch man said he contacted Qantas on Tuesday night and had to wait 49 minutes before speaking to a customer service staff member.

He said the woman on the phone told him that the payment issue was ‘‘probably a glitch and it’ll disappear’’.

He also contacted Visa, disputing the transaction.

Qantas spokesman Stephen Moynihan said the duplicate payments issue has been fixed and refunds are being processed. The issue had to do with a third-party payment gateway that is used to transfer funds from customer credit and debit cards to vendors.

‘‘We’ve made it clear that we expect the payment service provider to ensure refunds are processed as quickly as possible,’’ Moynihan said.

Visa has been approached for comment.