ACCC investigation ‘ongoing’ as clock ticks down on Qantas travel credits

The consumer watchdog’s investigation into Qantas’ handling of billions of dollars worth of travel credits is now into its second year.

An investigation into Qantas’ handling of billions of dollars worth of Covid-19 travel credits is now into its second year, as the clock ticks down towards their expiry.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission launched the investigation in April 2022, following revelations only a fraction of $2bn in travel credits issued to passengers whose flights were cancelled during the pandemic had been redeemed.

The most recent update by Qantas revealed $800m in travel credits was still outstanding, and on Monday the airline was not willing to say if that figure had come down any further.

Travel credits still unused by December 31, 2023 will expire, delivering the airline a post-Covid windfall.

Consumer group Choice and the Australian Federation of Travel Agents are among the groups keen to see the deadline extended or removed altogether, so customers are not left out of pocket.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb told The Australian they were still “reviewing the data and the answers given to us” in the course of the investigation.

“I’m not in a position to talk about the time frame,” she said.

“What I do note is that Qantas has assured customers it is moving as quickly as possible to satisfy the concerns customers have raised directly with it.”

The key concern being investigated by the ACCC was the practice of directing customers seeking to redeem travel credits to more expensive flights. The commission was also looking at the “single use term” preventing credits from being used across multiple bookings.

Ms Cass-Gottlieb said the ACCC was hopeful Qantas was moving to address “important questions raised directly with it by customers”.

In March, Qantas announced it was extending the time frame in which customers could travel on flights booked with credits, until December 2024.

However, the period in which the credits had to be used to make those bookings remained December 31, 2023.

Qantas also introduced a dedicated travel credit help line to assist customers, and began sending monthly reminder emails on credit balances, and prompts to use flight credits.

Choice head of policy and government relations Patrick Veyret said the “unfair flight credit system” had let Qantas customers down time and time again over the past few years.

“Flight credits should work like gift cards. People should have the choice to transfer the credits to other people, as well as split the credits over a number of transactions,” Mr Veyret said.

AFTA chief executive Dean Long said higher airfares post-Covid-19 were making it harder to use credits, and Qantas should allow customers to cash in their credit for a refund.

In January, the ACCC revealed Qantas was the most complained about company in Australia for the year to June 30, 2022 and NSW Fair Trading continued to receive dozens of complaints each month, mostly relating to refunds and cancelled flights.

The Queensland Consumers Association said the amount of issues airline customers had experienced in recent years only served to highlight the inadequacy of the “airline customer advocate”.

In a submission to the federal government’s aviation white paper, QCA secretary Max Howard said an independent ombudsman, with the power to make binding determinations, was needed to handle unresolved complaints from airline customers.

“Such schemes operate nationally for the telecommunications and finance industries and at state level for the energy and water industries,” wrote Mr Howard. “They are very beneficial for consumers.”