Virgin Australia has pushed back its COVID credit travel window to May 2027 following public criticism from a federal senator who accused the airline of planning to pocket $93 million in unused customer funds.
Passengers holding outstanding credits – originally issued when pandemic restrictions forced flight cancellations between April 2020 and July 2022 – have until 30 June to make a booking, but will now have until 27 May 2027 to actually travel.
The backdown follows a strongly-worded intervention from Shadow Transport Minister Senator Bridget McKenzie, who wrote to CEO Dave Emerson this week demanding the airline return the money to customers rather than absorb it. McKenzie drew a sharp distinction between travel credits and loyalty points, arguing passengers who accepted credits rather than refunds during the pandemic had done so in good faith to support the aviation sector through an extraordinarily difficult period – and should not now be penalised for it.
‘Do the right thing’ – Senator slams Virgin Australia on plan to keep $93m Covid credits
Emerson confirmed the airline would also ramp up outreach to customers with remaining balances ahead of the June deadline. Virgin has pointed to the fact that more than 90 per cent of affected customers have already redeemed their credits, and that the expiry date has been extended four times over four years. Credits can also be used by friends and family, not just the original booker, and are valid across Virgin-operated flights and partner airlines.
As Travel Weekly reported in April, Virgin had maintained throughout that it went to considerable lengths to reach impacted customers.
The move comes with an eye on Qantas, which agreed a $105 million class action settlement earlier this year over its own pandemic-era credits handling and has since dropped expiry dates on COVID credits across both Qantas and Jetstar.
