Yahoo Finance Qantas credit policy ‘unfair’ and ‘unworkable’
Australian travellers are growing increasingly frustrated with Qantas’s flight credit policy as restrictions ease across the country and travel begins again.
CHOICE spokesperson Dean Price said Qantas was placing unreasonable barriers in the way of travellers trying to redeem their credits or get a refund.
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“Qantas has made it difficult and confusing for their customers to use flight credits for cancelled travel,” Price said.
“This includes forcing many people to spend extra money, limits on available flights, problems with online services, unfair expiry dates, and long wait times in their call centres.
“The Qantas flight credits system is currently unworkable for most customers.”
One of the key problems Australians are facing is that they can only use credits for flights that cost the same or more than their original fare if they originally booked after September 30, 2021.
“Qantas revealed in its February 2022 half-yearly market update that it was holding around $1.4 billion in travel credits and advance sales,” Price said.
“A simpler and more accessible system for rebooking flights and getting refunds would assist customers to get value from the money they have paid to the company - whether that is a flight or a refund.”
CHOICE lodged a formal complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) about Qantas in March, calling on the airline to allow travellers to more easily rebook flights.
“CHOICE has asked the ACCC to determine if Qantas’s terms and conditions for flight vouchers amount to unfair contract terms under the Australian Consumer Law,” Price said.
“We’ve also asked them to investigate if Qantas’s communications to customers about flight credits could be classified as misleading and deceptive conduct.”
Price said CHOICE had made a number of policy recommendations to get Australians travelling again with confidence.
"CHOICE has put forward a clear plan to governments about how to fix the travel rights issues that Australians are facing,” Price said.
“We now need federal, state and territory governments to work together to make travel easier and fairer.”
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