If you’ve had trouble using a Qantas flight credit or believe you were overcharged when doing so, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) would like to hear from you.
The ACCC is now calling for submissions from Qantas customers about their experiences when trying to use Qantas flight credits. Qantas customers are invited to complete a 5-minute online survey on the ACCC website, which includes questions about how you received your credit and whether you were charged more to redeem your credit than it would have cost you to book a new ticket on the same flight.
The ACCC says that it’s particularly interested “if the available fare prices for flights are higher when you try to book using your flight credit than when you try to book using other forms of payment (such as cash or credit card) on Qantas’ website”.
When completing this survey, you can also attach supporting documentation such as screenshots showing the difference in the cost of a flight that you booked using a flight credit, compared to booking with cash.
Qantas flight credits have become frustratingly inflexible
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Qantas made some changes to the way its flight credits worked to make them more flexible and more appealing to customers. This increased flexibility formed the basis of Qantas’ “Fly Flexible” offer, which was designed to encourage customers to continue booking flights with confidence, knowing they could change their dates or cancel for a credit voucher if the ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions in Australia meant they could no longer travel as planned.
The Qantas Fly Flexible offer is currently due to expire for domestic bookings at the end of this month, although there is a chance it could be extended again. It will remain in place a bit longer for international bookings.
Unfortunately, in October 2021, Qantas quietly changed the conditions of its flight credits to make them a lot harder to use. This was not widely publicised at the time, although the Qantas website does now contain this notice:
If you originally booked a Qantas flight on or after 1 October 2021, and cancelled your booking for a credit, you can now only redeem this credit for a new booking of equal or higher value. It is no longer possible to redeem these credits for a flight that is cheaper than what you originally booked (and use the surplus amount towards another booking). Any lower airfares simply won’t appear when you try to redeem your flight credit on the Qantas website – even if a cheaper fare is publicly available to customers making new bookings.
Qantas travel credits can also now only be redeemed for the same passenger/s that were on the original booking, and you can no longer redeem credits towards multiple new bookings. The credits also now expire after 12 months.
Some Qantas customers have also found that they were unable to redeem their flight credits online, requiring a phone call. But they couldn’t reach Qantas over the phone either – leaving them unable to use their credits at all.
The ACCC appears to be particularly concerned about Qantas only allowing customers to redeem their credits for a new flight that costs the same or a higher amount than the value of their credit, even if cheaper fares would otherwise be available on the same flight.
This has created plenty of situations like a recent example where an AFF member was asked to pay $309 for a flight from Adelaide to Sydney that was publicly available on the Qantas website for $199. This member was unaware that Qantas had changed the rules so that their $279 flight credit could only be redeemed for a new flight that cost at least this much.
Virgin Australia travel bank credits do not work this way and are much less restrictive. With Virgin Australia, you can redeem travel bank credits like cash towards an unlimited number of new Virgin Australia bookings of any value, including bookings for other people.
ACCC submissions close today
If you feel that Qantas has treated you unfairly when you tried to use your flight credit, you can submit feedback on the ACCC website until the end of today (7 April 2022).
Please note that this survey is specifically for issues relating to Qantas flight credits. The ACCC advises consumers to use its general feedback form for enquiries about other issues.
You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.
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