Claim travel credits where they’re due
Covid has caused mass cancellations and a rash of rebookings, so it’s important travellers know their rights.
If you’ve managed to navigate the pandemic without having to cancel any travel plans, either buy a lottery ticket or ask yourself whether you have commitment issues. In month eleventy-seven of Covid, most of us have accumulated a small pile of travel credits.
I’m on the verge of making a spreadsheet, as for the second year in a row I’ve unpicked a dream family holiday to Western Australia, with some operators offering refunds, others credits and one insisting I pay handsomely to convert my already expensive tour to a flexi-ticket (not an option when I originally booked) if I want a credit, otherwise bad luck.
Now we seem on the cusp of being able to use these credits to actually go somewhere, what are some of the likely issues?
“I’m really worried people will face restrictions on what they can book, with extra fees, higher costs or unreasonable limitations,” says Erin Turner, director of campaigns and communications with consumer advocacy group Choice. “We’ve seen some travel credits that you can’t transfer to a family member or friend, or move the money around in really reasonable ways, like you could with cash.”
It’s important consumers don’t roll over, says Tom Manwaring, executive chairman of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents. “The ACCC backs that credits are like cash, and you’re entitled to use the amount of the credit as full or part-payment for what you’d originally booked, whether it’s an airline, a hotel, a tour or a cruise,” he says.
Covid-19: Pressure for reform as travellers face pain
“Most credits are valid through to the end of 2022 or even 2023 and, if they’re not, I’d be taking that up with your travel agent or directly with the supplier and getting extensions on the credits, because as we know Covid itself has extended.”
The ACCC agrees that Delta needs to be taken into account. Says a commission spokesperson: “Travel providers should be prepared to extend the expiry period of any credits to take into account the extension of Covid-19 travel restrictions, to allow consumers a reasonable period in which to use the credit after the Covid-19 travel restrictions are lifted.”
A lot of us are at the point where we’d prefer to get our money back and make a fresh booking without having to juggle the confounded credits. Inconsistencies in terms and conditions are rife across the industry, and Choice has been lobbying for reform. “A lot of people will be trapped in credit purgatory, constantly renewing or trying to find ways to make it work,” says Turner. “That’s a really unfair situation. Businesses should be looking at refunds, but whether they will is really dependent on the terms and conditions, which the business sets, and there aren’t clear, consistent rules.
“We need rules that apply to every travel provider in Australia so people can book with confidence. The travel sector needs this. People who’ve been burnt are not going to book in advance as much, which is what we’re already seeing with consumer behaviour.”
Manwaring says travel agents have secured some $8bn worth of credits and refunds for their clients. Often, he says, their own commissions are recalled once the credit is issued, so they’ve lost the initial income and have worked for nothing to make the cancellation.
Over the past couple of decades, the internet has enabled travellers to book all of their travel directly, sidestepping agents. Those whose businesses have survived the pandemic could now be in for a renaissance.
Agents can certainly help with credits, says Manwaring, even if they didn’t make the original bookings. For a “service charge that wouldn’t be prohibitive”, a travel agent can take your credits and turn them into itineraries. Not only does that spare you the time and angst of rebooking, you may well get a more favourable outcome.
“That travel agent is generally doing hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars of business with airlines and other suppliers so, yes, they do carry a bit more weight,” he says.
This is all sounding pretty attractive – like handing your accountant a shoebox of receipts at tax time, only with guaranteed fun times at the end of the transaction.
While my airline loyalty points from flying have been close to zero since March last year, lockdown spending has seen my credit card points mount up for airline partners and I dream of using them to book a seat at the pointy end of a plane. Points Hacks and iFlyFlat are local outfits that offer great advice for Australians on this score, but it takes serious time to translate it into getting your derriere on a points-paid, business-class seat.
iFlyFlat will find those seats using points for a fee (a service that’s been on pause during the pandemic). Could a travel agent magic my points into some fancy trips, too?
It’s an emerging service, says Manwaring. “AFTA has been doing some surveys on this, because the pandemic has thrown the whole industry into reverse.” He thinks there will be more models where agents book air travel with a customer’s points, charging a service fee for that and earning commissions on other bookings for the trip. As well as recalling commissions on cancelled bookings, Manwaring says the travel industry is generally winding back commissions.
The fee-for-service mentality has long been accepted in corporate travel and he believes it will come into its own for leisure travel, too.
“I think a couple of years down the track, the normal will be that service fees are happily paid by clients to good agents who provide excellent service, knowledge and help get the best price for the customer as well.”
In the meantime, don’t be tempted to assign “sunk cost” to your travel credits. Dig in, or pay a friendly travel agent to do it for you.
