Travel frustration has airlines low on credit

A year of flight mayhem has left airline passengers with a mountain of travel credits they’re struggling to use.

After thousands of flight cancellations in 2020, airlines are struggling to cope with the flood of passengers seeking to use travel credits. Picture: Getty Images

After a year of COVID-related flight mayhem, passengers are struggling to use millions of travel credits issued by airlines.

Adding to their frustration are marathon call-waiting times, restrictions on the use of credits and ongoing uncertainty about travel.

In the case of Melbourne couple Peter and Ollie Watson, it took more than eight hours of “call waiting” to cash in their travel credits after being unable to use them online.

Mr Watson said on the four occasions he eventually got through to a person, they either had trouble understanding English or did not know what they were doing. “It’s a bit hard to stomach to hear Alan Joyce say how great Qantas is, how they’re the best and so on. I know we’re not the only ones — you only have to look at their Facebook page to know that. A lot of people are losing money because it’s so hard to use travel credits.”

Social media posts echoed Mr Watson’s sentiments, complaining about long call-waiting times, refunds never paid, and conflicting advice from customer service agents. “Qantas you still owe me a refund for a 2020 flight,” wrote Jayne Pearce. “Your website says it’s taking up to eight weeks for refunds and I’ve been waiting 16!”

Leese Sinclair wrote: “I’ve been on hold now for 3 hours. As a Qantas frequent flyer for the past 25 years, this is appalling.”

Virgin Australia was also feeling the wrath of travellers.

“To be told call centre is now closed after 40 minutes on hold is absolutely budget airline stuff,” wrote Hamish Fraser. “Virgin Australia have absolutely no loyalty to their loyal customers.”

Anthony Rumford complained he was still waiting for $3000 to be refunded for flights booked back in January 2020. “I’ve tried every avenue to try and speak to someone (including complaining using the online form) but haven’t heard anything back. Please can someone come back to me on this?” he posted on Virgin’s Facebook page.

Chief customer officer Steph Tully said Qantas recognised the past year had been incredibly challenging for customers.

“Constant border closures and openings have driven a huge number of calls to our call centres. Customers have been experiencing longer wait times as a result,” she said, adding most queries could be “self-managed using the Qantas website and smartphone app” in a few minutes.

Since the onset of the pandemic, more than 2.5 million Qantas and Jetstar customers had been assisted with affected flights, with call centres in Sydney, Hobart, Auckland and South Africa able to take queries 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The airline acknowledged technical issues had prevented some customers from redeeming flights credits online.