caveat emptor...but this imo has revealed that the majority of these travel agents and service providers are nothing but elaborate Ponzi schemes. They have spent your money and I believe rely on new incoming dollars in cash flow to meet their obligations...hence no money for refunds.
I also had booked travel and accommodation thru a Qantas subsidiary for this month...never able to get them on the phone and they did not answer emails. They were too busy due to the covid thing to take phone calls...yeah right! Eventually i was notified that the travel and accommodation was canceled and a credit issued to be redeemed within 12 months...
It is possible I reckon that Flight Centre will be reduced to a smoldering ruin as they have taken what is likely millions of dollars in forward travel bookings but cannot pay any money back. I read of a woman who had paid around $60k to Flight Centre for travel which was cancelled due to the Corona thing and they will not refund the money as they claim Qantas hasn't returned it. Well that aint gonna happen as Qantas do not return money either and will only issue a credit.
Where we would always book well ahead for our trips, often up to 9 months ahead from now on it will be last minute bookings direct with the provider. Never ever will we be booking through a third party such as Flight Centre or even Webjet, as I had an issue with them too due to a cancelled flight some time ago.
