Qantas has come under pressure to extend, or scrap altogether, the expiry date of 31 December on its $800 million worth of unused COVID travel credits by many industry figures.
Among those includes the Australian Federation of Travel Agents’ CEO Dean Long, who said the issue isn’t customers or agents who forget to use their points.
“The increase in airfares is making it harder for Australians to use those credits he said,” Long said.
“People have significantly less buying power with the same amount of money that they used before the pandemic.
“It would be a really great PR move for Qantas to be able to issue refunds.”
Long’s comments come as Qantas received widespread criticism for its high air fares alongside a profit posting of $1 billion.
Qantas’ current terms on COVID travel credit outline that passengers who cancelled their flight that was booked after 30 September 2021 can only use credit on flights that cost the same or more than the initial amount. For fares that are lower than the credit amount, travellers will have to purchase a new ticket.
The flying kangaroo insists that most of the $800m in travel credits are not subject to this condition.
Andy Kollmorgen from the consumer advocacy group Choice, told the Sydney Morning Herald that a customer who cancelled a flight booked after 30 September, 2021 and received $500 of Qantas travel credit wouldn’t be able to use it on a $475 flight, even if they were happy to lose $25.
Customers whose flights were cancelled aren’t subject to this and can opt for a refund.
“We still hear from plenty of disgruntled Qantas customers, many of whom are having great trouble using their credits,” said Kollmorgen.
“They can book that revenue without having to deal with the person flying on the plane, and that goes into their coffers after a year. That’s a very short expiry period for flights, some people don’t travel that often, just for special occasions. So all these impediments to the credits seem quite deliberate.”
Choice made a formal complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate whether Qantas’ return policy was fair. This followed Choice’s survey which showed more than a third of passengers who used credits had to pay more and a fifth reported being unsuccessful in using credits.
Qantas’ COVID credit balance reduced from $1.4b to $800m in April last year. The airline’s CEO Alan Joyce said that the flying kangaroo was encouraging customers to use travel credits via reminder emails, a dedicated phone line, and sales promotions.
“We’re trying to incentivise you to use your credit,” he said.
“We’re doing more in this space than I think anyone around is.”
Qantas reported a gross profit of $1.4b for 1H23 following a $7b loss during the pandemic.
