Qantas has renewed calls for customers holding so-called Covid credits to use them on bookings or request refunds where eligible.
A total of $2 billion in travel credits were issued across the group as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and Qantas said that around $400 million remained unused for customers in Australia.
In March the carrier announced a fourth and “final” extension to the validity of the credits, which must be used as part or full payment for bookings by December 31, 2023, for travel by December 2024.
To encourage customers to use their credits Qantas has launched a Find My Credit tool, which it says “can help locate bookings that are up to three years old, that may have been changed several times due to numerous waves of border changes during the pandemic”.
In addition, those booking flights using Covid credits by July 31, 2023, will receive double Frequent Flyer points.
The carrier also stressed that the majority of customers holding credits have the option to request a refund, and says it has streamlined the refund process by “automating a number of systems to reduce the amount of time taken by our call centre operators in processing refund requests and reducing the amount of paperwork required to access a refund if a customer’s details have changed”.
Qantas has also released figures showing the average travel credits held by individuals, with the majority (over 60 per cent) holding less than $500, 23 per cent holding between $500 and $1,000, and 15 per cent holding over $5,0000.
Commenting on the news Markus Svensson, Qantas group chief customer officer, said:
“We know the credits system has been challenging because of the sheer complexity of putting millions of bookings in a holding pattern for up to three years. We’ve made a number of improvements to our systems along the way and that’s clear from the amount of credit that has already been claimed.
“Qantas has one of the most flexible Covid credit policies of any airline, including among our global peers, and we’ve extended the booking expiry date three times. The majority of the Covid credits we hold can be converted into refunds but we can’t do it automatically as the credit cards used for the purchase as far back as 2019 may have expired.
“We’d obviously like customers to use their Covid credit to fly with us, but if they’d prefer a refund, we’re putting additional processes in place to help with that.”
