Qantas’s big change to travel credits expiry date

Qantas has extended the deadline for customers to use $800m worth of travel credits but there is a catch.

Qantas is extending the deadline for Covid-related travel credits to be used, until December 2024. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Ian Currie

Qantas is giving customers an extra 12-months to use $800m in outstanding travel credits but the catch is they will still need to book any travel by the end of 2023.

After widespread criticism of the airline’s handling of $2bn worth of travel credits issued in the place of cancelled flights during the Covid pandemic, Qantas has made some changes.

These include an extension until December 31, 2024 to take flights booked using travel credits provided that booking is made by the end of 2023.

It is the third and according to Qantas the final extension of the deadline to use travel credits which are the subject of an ongoing Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation.

The consumer watchdog is examining complaints about difficulties using the credits and customers being directed to more expensive airfares when they are being paid for with credits.

At the height of the pandemic, Qantas held $2bn in fares for flights that never happened, and has since seen $1.2bn of those credits used.

In an effort to burn through the remaining funds, Qantas has installed a dedicated “travel credits concierge” at call centres, and promised double frequent flyer points when using credits.

The airline group will also launch a “find my credits” tool next month to help customers who may have lost track of their original booking details.

Qantas Group chief customer officer Markus Svensson said both Qantas and Jetstar were focused on helping customers use their credits.

“We literally had millions of bookings that were cancelled during several waves of lockdowns and border closures,” Mr Svensson said.

“No airline had systems that were designed to manage that in a seamless way and we realise

there’s been frustration for some customers as a result.”

He said a “huge amount of effort” had gone into making it easier to use travel credits and their main goal was for all outstanding credits to be put to good use.

“That’s why we’re doing one final extension of the travel expiry date by 12-months. This is on top of all the system changes we’re making, so people can be reunited with credits they might have forgotten they even have,” said Mr Svensson.

Recent analysis of the $800m in Covid-19 credits remaining, showed 76 per cent of customers had credits worth less than $500, and 24 per cent were worth between $500 and $5000.

Less than 1 per cent of customers had credits worth over $5000.

Mr Svensson said Covid credits could be used on sale fares and frequent flyer flight promotions giving customers “maximum value”.

The extension of time to take a flight booked with travel credits did not impress head of policy at CHOICE, Patrick Veyret, who said there was “much more to do to make all credits workable for all consumers.

“Some Qantas flight credits can only be used for a booking of equivalent or greater value - so if you have a $300 flight credit, you can’t use it to book a $290 flight. That is clearly unfair,” Mr Veyret said.

“Qantas customers also frequently complain that when they go to rebook a flight at the same time on the same route, they have to pay significantly more when using a credit than they paid for the original flight.”

Virgin Australia customers had until the year’s end to use outstanding “future flight credits” while the period for most international airlines’ credits had already expired.

Air New Zealand was an exception allowing passengers until the end of January 2024 to book flights with credits, with the requirement to complete travel by the end of next year.

The Qantas announcement came as new airfares data showed there was little relief for travellers in March, with best discount and business class fares at their highest since December.

The cheapest fares were about 5 per cent more expensive than the same time last year and business class was close to 15 per cent dearer than March 2022.